Nusco is in the Italian civil
province of Avellino. The town is 22.08 mi (35.54 km) from Salerno in a direct line, but 44.3 mi (71.3 km) by land transportation, which takes one hour and ten minutes. In 1753, the town had a population estimated at 1,100 persons. In 2017, there were 4,148 inhabitants. In 1980, the entire diocese had a population of 32,775. The diocese of Nusco dates from the eleventh century. The cathedral of Nusco was originally dedicated in honor of S. Stephen the Protomartyr, but as its bishop Amatus came to be honored as a saint, the title of the cathedral was changed to S. Amatus. The cathedral was administered by a Chapter, composed of four dignities (the Archdeacon, the Archpriest, the Primicerius Major, and the Primicerius Minor) and six canons. In 1614, there were four dignities and eight canons. The diocese of Nusco was a suffragan of the archdiocese of Salerno.
Concordat of 1818 Following the extinction of the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy, the
Congress of Vienna authorized the restoration of the
Papal States and the Kingdom of Naples. Since the French occupation had seen the abolition of many Church institutions in the Kingdom, as well as the confiscation of most Church property and resources, it was imperative that
Pope Pius VII and
King Ferdinand IV reach agreement on restoration and restitution. Ferdinand, however, was not prepared to accept the pre-Napoleonic situation, in which Naples was a feudal subject of the papacy. Lengthy, detailed, and acrimonious negotiations ensued. In 1818, a new concordat with the
Kingdom of the Two Sicilies committed the pope to the suppression of more than fifty small dioceses in the kingdom. On 27 June 1818, in the bull "De Utiliori",
Pope Pius VII restored the ecclesiastical provinces in the Kingdom of Naples, and reorganized the suffragans. The archdiocese of Salerno was assigned as its suffragans the dioceses of Capaccio, Policastro, Marsico, and Nusco; the diocese of Acerno was given to the archbishop of Salerno in administratorship. In the case of Nusco, the
diocese of Montemarano was completely suppressed, and its territory and town incorporated into the diocese of Nusco.
Diocesan Reorganization Following the
Second Vatican Council, and in accordance with the norms laid out in the council's decree,
Christus Dominus chapter 40, Pope Paul VI ordered a reorganization of the ecclesiastical provinces in southern Italy.
Pope Paul VI ordered consultations among the members of the Congregation of Bishops in the Vatican Curia, the Italian Bishops Conference, and the various dioceses concerned. After twenty years, problems and objections were still apparent. On 18 February 1984, the Vatican and the Italian State signed a new and revised concordat. Based on the revisions, a set of
Normae was issued on 15 November 1984, which was accompanied in the next year, on 3 June 1985, by enabling legislation. According to the agreement, the practice of having one bishop govern two separate dioceses at the same time,
aeque personaliter, was abolished. The Vatican continued consultations which had begun under
Pope John XXIII for the merging of small dioceses, especially those with personnel and financial problems, into one combined diocese. On 30 September 1986,
Pope John Paul II ordered that the dioceses of Sant'Angelo dei Lombardi, Conza, Nusco, and Bisaccia be merged into one diocese with one bishop, with the Latin title
Archidioecesis Sancti Angeli de Lombardis-Compsana-Nuscana-Bisaciensis. The seat of the diocese was to be in Sant'Angelo dei Lombardi, and the cathedral of Sant'Angelo dei Lombardi was to serve as the cathedral of the merged diocese. The cathedrals in Conza, Nusco, and Bisaccia were to become co-cathedrals, and their cathedral Chapters were each to be a
Capitulum Concathedralis. There was to be only one diocesan Tribunal, in Sant'Angelo dei Lombardi, and likewise one seminary, one College of Consultors, and one Priests' Council. The territory of the new diocese was to include the territory of the suppressed dioceses of Conza, Nusco, and Bisaccia. The new archdiocese was to be a suffragan of the
archdiocese of Benevento. The first archbishop of the new
archdiocese of Sant'Angelo dei Lombardi-Conza-Nusco-Bisaccia was
Antonio Nuzzi, who had been Bishop of Nusco from 21 February 1981 to 30 September 1986. ==Bishops of Nusco==