The earliest figure in the traditional list of the bishops of Alba is a St. Dionysius, of whom the story is told that after serving in Alba for some years he became
Archbishop of Milan. He was the Dionysius who so energetically opposed
Arianism and was exiled in the year 355 by the
Emperor Constans. Daniel
Papebroch disputes the reliability of this tradition, since a
bishop of that period was forbidden to leave his diocese for another. A list of nine early bishops of Alba, from another St. Dionysius (380) down to a Bishop Julius (553), was compiled from sepulchral inscriptions found in the cathedral of Alba towards the end of the fifteenth century by
Dalmazzo Berendenco, an antiquarian.
Giovanni Battista De Rossi, however, on examination of the inscriptions proved them to be a forgery. The first bishop of Alba whose existence is certain is Lampradius who was present at the synod held in Rome in 499 under
Pope Symmachus. On 26 May 969,
Pope John XIII notified Archbishop Wilpertus of Milan that he had suppressed the diocese of Alba Pompeia, due to the devastation of the Saracens and the death of its bishop, and united it with the diocese of Asti. The decision was confirmed by
Pope Benedict VII on 19 October 982. It was restored by 997, when Bishop Constantinus is found in office.
Benzo of Alba was an adversary of
Pope Gregory VII and a partisan of thue Empire in the
Investiture controversy. The Emperor
Frederick Barbarossa spent Christmas of 1159 in Alba. The diocese of Saluzzo was established by
Pope Julius II on 29 October 1511, in his bull
Pro excellenti, on territory taken in part from the diocese of Alba Pompeia. The prominence of natives of Mantua among the bishops of Alba in the 16th and 17th centuries is accounted for by the grant of the
Marquisate of Montferrat to the Dukes of Mantua by the Emperor Charles V in 1536. With the marquisate came the patronage previously enjoyed by the Dukes of Savoy. This arrangement persisted until 1708, when the House of Savoy acquired Montferrat and the patronage over the bishopric of Alba. Bishop Lodovico Gonzaga held a diocesan synod in 1636. A diocesan synod, the first in more than thirty years, was held by Bishop Eugenio Roberto Galletti in September 1873.
Cathedral and Chapter The office of Penitentiary in the Cathedral Chapter was created by Bishop Paolo Brizio de Braida on 15 January 1644. In 1856 the Chapter was composed of five dignities and fourteen Canons. The dignities were: the Archdeacon, the Archpriest, the Provost, the Cantor, and the Dean. The cathedral was considered a parish church, and was supervised by the Archpriest; there were two residentiary chaplains.
French conquest When the French revolution guillotined King Louis XVI, King Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia declared war on the French Republic, but in three successive engagements, the
Battle of Montenotte (12 April 1796), the
Battle of Millesimo (13–14 April 1796) and the
Battle of Mondovi (21 April 1796), General Napoleon Bonaparte defeated the Piedmontese. In suing for peace, Victor Amadeus was forced to cede
Savoy and Nice to France. The territory became part of the Department of
Mont-Blanc. King Victor Amadeus died on 18 October 1796, and his son and successor,
Carlo Emanuele was forced to abdicate on 6 December 1798. Bonaparte crossed the Alps again in the Spring of 1800, intent on driving the Austrians out of the Po Valley. The victory at the
Battle of Marengo gave the French control of most of Lombardy. The French government, in the guise of ending the practices of feudalism, confiscated the incomes and benefices of the bishops and priests, and made them employees of the state, with a fixed income and the obligation to swear an oath of loyalty to the
French constitution. As in metropolitan France, the government program also included reducing the number of bishoprics, making them conform as far as possible with the civil administration's
"departments". Following the
Concordat of 1801 between Bonaparte and
Pope Pius VII, the Pope issued a bull,
Gravissimis causis (1 June 1803), in which the number of diocese in Piedmont was reduced to eight: Turin, Vercelli, Ivrea, Acqui, Asti, Mondovi, Alessandria and Saluzzo. Alba was suppressed, and its territory was handed over to the diocese of Asti. Bishop Vitale of Alba was required to resign. The Kingdom of Sardinia and the Papal States (which had been abolished by the Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte) were restored by the
Congress of Vienna. The confused situation of the dioceses in Piedmont was addressed by Pope Pius VII in his bull,
Beati Petri (17 July 1817) as far as the redrawing of diocesan boundaries was concerned. The diocese of Alba was restored, and it temporarily took control of the territory of the suppressed diocese of Mondovi, until it too was restored on 29 October 1817. ==Bishops==