SYRACUSE
397
SYRACUSE
progressed more and more, particularly after Palermo
became the capital In the attempted reconquest
by the Byzantines, George Maniakis, after having
taken Messina, captured Syracuse (1038). In lOStj
it was taken by Count Ruggiero, and from this time
it followed the fate of Sicily. In 119-1 it was besieged
and captured by the Emperor Henry VI; on the other
hand, in 129S, it successfully resisted the Aragonese
fleet, and in hke manner the blockade by the French
admiral, Vivonne (1677). In 1504 it became the
residence of the Spanish viceroys, but after a century
this honour was given to Palermo, whither the noble
families were also transferred. In 1.542 and again
in 1693 it was damaged bj' earthquakes. In 1798
and 180.5 the port of Syracuse was of great importance
for the operations of the English fleet against the
French.
Among the illustrious S>Tacusans of antiquity were; the poets Theocritus, Callimachus, and Mos- chus; Epicharmas, the writer of comedies; the phil- osojiher Philolaos; the orators Ctesias, Dion, and Lysias; the historian Flavins Vopiscus, and St. Alothodius, monk and Patriarch of Constantinople, (d. 1847). Syracuse claims to be the second Church founded by St. Peter, after that of Antioch. It also claims that St. Paul preached there. As the first bishop it venerate.s St. Marcianus, the date of who.se life is not an ca.sy matter to establish, since too little authenticity can be assigned to the list of the seven- teen bi.shops who were predecessors of Cherstus, to whom the Emperor Constantine WTote a letter. In the times of St. Cyprian (the middle of the third century), Christianity certainly flourished at Syra- cuse, and the catacombs clearly show that this was the ca.se in the second century. Besides its mar- tyred bishops, Sj'racuse boasts of not a few other mart\TS, .such as Sts. Benignus and Eugarius (204), St. Ba.ssianus (270) ; and the martyrdom of the deacon Euphus and the virgin Lucy under Diocletian are beyond doubt true. The names of the known bishops of the following century are few in number: Germanus (346); Eulahus (465); Agatho (5.53), during whose rule Pope Virgilius died at Syracuse; Maximianus and Joannes (586), who received letters from St. Gregory the Martyr; while another bishop was de- nounced by Pope Honorius for the protection which he accorded to women of the streets; St. Zozimus (640), who founded the monastery of Santa Lucia fuori-le-miu-a; St. EHas (d. 660). Of Marcia- nos II it is related that he was consecrated not at Rome, bvit at Syracuse, since the Emperor Leo the Isaurian (726) had removed Southern Italy from the jurisdiction of Rome, and had then elevated Syracitse to the dignity of a metropolitan see, over the thirteen other dioceses of Sicily. Stephen II (76S) carried to Constantinople the relics of St. Lucy for safety against the Saracen incursions. Gregorios Asbesta.s (about 845) was depo.sed by St. Ignatius, Patriarch of Constantinople, and then became the principal abettor of the schismatic Photius. In 878 St. Sophro- nius, together with the monk Theodosius, was thrown into prison at Palermo where he died in a dungeon. Until the Xorman Conquest the names of further bishops are not known. The series reopens in 1093 with Bishop Roger, who received the pallium from Urban II; in 1109 the Englishman Richard Palmer was also invested by papal authority. In 11S8 the .see became suffragan of Monreale. Among the bishops of this perio<l are: Rin.aUlo de Lusio. killed in 11.54; Pietro de Moncada (1313) and Ruggero Bellomo (1419), who restored the cathedral; Jacopo Venerio (1460), afterivards cardinal; Pietro de Ur- ries (1516), araba-ssador of Charles V to the Lateran Council; Gerolamo Bononi (1.541), a distinguishefl reformer at the Council of Trent; Jacopo Orozco (1.562), who introduced the Rom.an ritual in place of the Gallican, and who founded the seminary.
During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries,
celebrated synods were frequently held at Syra-
cuse. Bishop Annibale Termini (1695) rebuilt the
church, thirty-five monasteries, and the seminary,
which had been destroyed by an earthquake. In
1816 the Diocese of Caltagirone w-as detached from
Syracuse. Piazza Armerina and Noto were made
its suffragan sees, but the latter was detached in the
same year.
The archdiocese has 31 parishes, 400 secular and 70 regular clergy, with 300,000 souls; six monasteries for men and eight convents for women; it pubhshes a Catholic weekly and "II Foglio Ecclesiastico".
Cappelletti, Z,c Chiesed' Italia. XXI (Venice. 1857); Privi- TERA, .Siracu-si antir^ e moderna (Naples, 1879) : Cavall.ari AND Holm. Topo<irfifia archeologica di Siracw^a (Rome. 188i); Lupu.s, St/rak-iis im AUertum: FiJHRER, Forschungen zur Sicilin Knttrrrnii'ui fMunich, 1897); Strazzulla, Dei Tecenli
sam . -i "1'. nnileri di Sicilia (Palermo. 1896); Musejim
epigr<ii>> , i ( ( rriptionum qua: in Syracusanis catacombix reperi r : /'(/m (Palermo. 1897); Oust in Notizie degti
Scan. A ' ', i ' i I: .laf).
U. Benigni.
Syracuse, Diocese of (Syracusensis), in the State of New York, comprises the counties of Broome, Chenango, Cortland, Madison, Oneida, Onondaga, and Oswego, and contains an area of 5626 square miles, a little more than one-ninth of the entire state. Out of a population of 609,041, about 161,000, or a little more than one-fourth, are Catholics.
Missions Among the Indians. — The Oneidas and the Onondagas occupied lands near the shores of the lakes which bear their names. The first chosen president of the Iroquois was the venerable .\to-tao-ho, a famous Onondaga chief. The Onondagas were the central nation of the League, and not far from the present episcopal city, on Indian Hill, between the ravines formed by the west and middle branches of Limestone Creek in the town of Pompey, about two miles south of ManUus, was the village of Onondaga, the seat of government for the League of the Five Nations. It is probable that some of the Francis- can Fathers of the Recollect reform, whom Champlain obtained from France in 1614 to minister to the French settlers and convert the natives, visited this territorj' and offered up the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass on the shores of Lakes Onondaga or Oneida, and per- haps in what is no!v Oswego as early as 1615. Father Le Moyne, S.J., however, must be considered the real founder of the Church in the Diocese of Syracuse. Fathers Joseph Chaumonot and Claude Dablon were selected to begin the work of evangelization. They said Mass on the chosen site Sunday, 14 November, 1654. A little bark chapel was soon constructed with the a.ssistance of the Indians. St. John the Baptist had been adopted as the patron of the mission, and it was doubtless under his patronage that this first chapel on the soil of New York was dedicated. Another chapel was built for the French settlers, St. Mary's of Ganantaa (Lake Onondaga). But these first missions among the Onondagas and the Oneidas had but an ephemeral existence. The Iroquois were constantly incited against the French missionaries by both the Dutch and English in .\lbany. J;imes II a,scended the throne of England in 1685 and openly professed the Catholic Faith. While Duke of York (1682) he had appointed Colonel Thomas Dongan Governor of the Colony of New York. Dongan, an Irishman and a ('atholic, pre- sided over the first representative as.sembly of New York which gave us the charter of liberties. Loyal to his Faith and cotmtry alike he sought to preserve and perpetuate the Catholic missions among the Iroquois without strengthening French influence in the colony. For this pnrpo.se he brought over with him three English Jesuits: Thomas Harvey, Charles Gage, and Henrj' Harrison. He established a Latin school in New York and placed it in charge
