Some historians claim that Ancient
Petelia already was a bishopric, established perhaps in 546 or then adopting the city's new medieval name Strongoli, but without solid evidence, and the
see in never mentioned in the Byzantine imperial
Notitia Episcopatuum of the
Patriarchate of Constantinople, which most dioceses in Calabria belonged to in the 9th till 11th centuries, so its foundation may rather date from the Normans, probably late 12th century. The first historical record of the Diocese of Strongoli (Curiate Italian) / Strongulen(sis) (Latin adjective) is a
papal bulla from
Pope Lucius III in 1183, naming it among the suffragans of the
Archdiocese of Santa Severina (while confirming the Metropolitan's privileges). The tiny bishopric, comprising solely the municipality of Strongoli, was confined by the
Ionian Sea,
Diocese of Crotone (separated by the river Neto), the
Diocese of Umbriatico and its Metropolitan, the
Archdiocese of Santa Severina. Its
Cathedral was the Church of Peter and Paul (chiesa dei Santi Pietro e Paolo), the episcopal city's only parish. Yet between the 14th and 16th centuries, the diocese harbored a monastery of the
Conventual Friars Minor (Santa Maria delle Grazie), an
Augustinian convent (Santa Maria del Popolo), a Capuchin monastery (San Francesco d'Assisi) and some fifteen churches and chapels. On 1818.06.27 the see was suppressed, its territory being merged into the then
Diocese of Cariati.
Residential Ordinaries (all
Roman Rite) :incomplete : first centuries lacking ;
Suffragan Bishops of Strongoli • Madio ? (mentioned in 1178)[7] • Ireneo =Irenaeus (il 1179) • Anonymous (bishop(s?) (mentioned in 1215; in 1219; in 1223)[8] • Wiliam = Guglielmo (in 1246)[9] • Peter = Pietro I,
Benedictine Order (O.S.B.) (30 January 1255 - 1266/1267)[10] • Johannes = Giovanni (fl. June 1284 - April 1286) : TO ELABORATE from the Italian Wiki • Ruggero (1282 – 1290.11.11), next Bishop of
Rapolla (Italy) (1290.11.11 – 1305) • Francesco (1291 – death 1297) • Uguccio,
Dominican Order (O.P.) (1297.03.18 – ?) • Simone (? – ?) • Ruggero (1322? – ?) • Pietro (1330.09.10 – 1342) • Tommaso de Rosa, ?Conventual
Friars Minor (O.F.M.) (1342.11.13 – death 1351) • Alamanno (1351.05.30 – ?) • Pietro (? – ?) • Raimondo (? – ?) • Paolo de’ Medici, ?Conventual O.F.M. (1374.07.14 – ?) • Vito (1375.09.27 – 1385.04.28); next
uncanonical Bishop of Tricarico (Italy) (1385.04.28 – 1399.11), then canonical Bishop of Tricarico (Italy) (1399.11 – death 1403) • Antonio (1389.06.18 – ?) • Giacomo (1400.04.28 – 1402.10.09), previously Bishop of
Anglona (1399.05.17 – 1400.04.28); later Bishop of
Ales (Italy) (1402.10.09 – 1403.08.03), Bishop of
Lavello (1403.08.03 – ?) • Pietro (1407.07.23 – death 1413) • Antonio de Podio (1418.03.09 – 1429.12.23), previously
uncanonical Bishop of Bosa (Italy) (1410.05.23 – 1418.03.09); later Metropolitan Archbishop of
Santa Severina (Italy) (1429.12.23 – death 1453) • Tommaso Rossi (1429.12.23 – death 1433), previously Bishop of
Cerenzia (1420.12.23 – 1429.05.18), Bishop of
Oppido Mamertina (Italy) (1429.05.18 – 1429.12.23) • Domenico Rossi (1433.12.14 – death 1470) • Nicola Balestrari (1470.03.11 – ?) • Giovanni di Castello (1479.04.21 – 1486.05.10), next Bishop of
Carinola (Italy) (1486.05.10 – death 1501?) • Giovanni Antonio Gotti (1486.05.10 – ?) • Girolamo Lusco (1496.12.02 – death 1509) • Gaspare de Murgiis (1509.11.21 – ?) •
Apostolic Administrator Cardinal
Girolamo Grimaldi (1534.05.10 – 1535.11.15), while
Cardinal-Deacon of
S. Giorgio in Velabro (1528.04.27 – 1543.11.27), Apostolic Administrator of
Diocese of Brugnato (Italy) (1528.09.25 – 1535.06.06), Apostolic Administrator of
Diocese of Venafro (Italy) (1528.10.09 – 1536.06.02), Apostolic Administrator of
Archdiocese of Bari e Canosa (Italy) (1530.09.02 – 1540.08.20); later Apostolic Administrator of
Diocese of Albenga (Italy) (1538.11.15 – 1543.11.27) • Pietro Ranieri (1535.11.15 – ?) • Girolamo Zacconi (1541.05.20 – 1558.06.15) • Matteo Zacconi (1558.06.15 – death 1565) • Tommaso Orsini (1566.08.15 – 1568.01.23), next Bishop of
Foligno (Italy) (1568.01.23 – 1576.01.25) • Timoteo Giustiniani,
Dominican Order (O.P.) (1568.04.05 – death 1571); previously last Bishop of
Ario (Crete, insular Greece) (1550.06.27 – 1551.10.05), first Bishop of
Retimo–Ario (Crete, insular Greece) (1551.10.05 – 1564.04.15), Bishop of
Chios (insular Greece) (1564.04.15 – 1568.04.05) • Gregorio Forbicini (1572.01.23 – death 1579) • Rinaldo Corso (1579.08.03 – death 1582) • Domenico Petrucci (1582.04.27 – 1584.07.23), next Bishop of
Bisignano (Italy) (1584.07.23 – death 1598) • Giovanni Luigi Marescotti (1585.01.14 – death 1587.01.03) • Claudio Marescotti,
Benedictine Confederation (O.S.B.) (1587.02.18 – death 1590.02.24) • Claudio Vico (1590.03.21 – ?) • Marcello Lorenzi (1600.01.31 – death 1601) • Sebastiano Ghislieri (1601.04.30 – death 1627.10.02) •
Archbishop-bishop Bernardino Piccoli (1627.10.02 – death 1636), succeeding as former
Titular Archbishop of
Nicæa (1621.12.15 – 1627.10.02) and
Coadjutor Bishop of Strongoli (1621.12.15 – 1627.10.02) • Sallustio Bartoli (1636.11.10 – death 1637.05) • Giulio Diotallevi (1637.12.14 – death 1638.09) • Carlo Diotallevi (1639.05.02 – death 1652.03) • Martino Denti de’ Cipriani,
Barnabites (B.) (1652.08.26 – death 1655) • Biagio Mazzella, O.P. (1655.10.25 – 1663.02.26), next Bishop of
Sant’Agata de’ Goti (Italy) (1663.02.26 – death 1664) • Antonio Maria Camalda (1663.07.02 – death 1690.12) • Giovanni Battista Carrone (1691.12.19 – death 1706.04) • Domenico Marzano (1719.03.28 – 1735.07.27), next Bishop of
Bova (Italy) (1735.07.27 – death 1752) • Gaetano de Arco (1736 – 1741.03.06), next Bishop of
Nusco (Italy) (1741.03.06 – death 1753.05.25) • Ferdinando Mandarani (1741.07.31 – 1748.01.29), next Bishop of
Oppido Mamertina (Italy) (1748.01.29 – 1769.11.09) • Domenico Morelli (1748.01.29 – death 1793?) • Pasquale Petruccelli (1793.06.17 – death 1796?98) •
Sede vacante (1798 - see suppressed 1818)
Titular see The diocese was nominally restored in 1969 as
Titular bishopric of Strongoli (Italian) / Strongulen(sis) (Latin adjective). It has had the following incumbents, so far of the fitting Episcopal (lowest) rank : • Nicolaas Verhoeven,
Sacred Heart Missionaries (M.S.C.) (1969.06.26 – resigned 1976.09.15) as emeritate, died 1981; previously
Titular Bishop of
Hermonthis (1947.03.13 – 1961.01.03) as last
Apostolic Vicar of
Manado (
Indonesia) (1947.03.13 – 1961.01.03), (see) promoted first Bishop of
Manado (Indonesia) (1961.01.03 – 1969.06.26) • Olavio López Duque,
Augustinian Recollects (O.A.R.) (1977.05.30 – death 2013.06.11) as Apostolic Vicar of
Casanare (
Colombia) (1977.05.30 – 1999.10.29), as
Apostolic Administrator of
Diocese of Yopal (Colombia) (1999.10.29 – 2001.06.22) and on emeritate • Barthol Barretto (2016.12.20 – ...),
Auxiliary Bishop of
Archdiocese of Bombay (
India) (2016.12.20 – ...). == Economy ==