It is claimed that
Pope Gregory I (590–604) alludes to the episcopal see of
Ales (anciently Uselli), in his letter to Januarius of Cagliari in 591. This assertion is now rejected. After this there is no reference to a diocese of Ales until 1147, when the name of Bishop Maurellu appears in a diploma. The manuscript actually reads:
Pelius Episcopus Dusselieanas. When the seat of the bishop was still in Usellus, the church of SS Giusta, Giustina and Enedina When the seat moved to Ales, eight km to the southwest, the church of S. Pietro became the cathedral. The cathedral was served and administered by a corporation called the Chapter, consisting of a Dean and eighteen Canons. The climate of Ales and Usellus was so inhospitable that the bishops would spend the summer and autumn in Cagliari. The diocese of Terralba has no memory of bishops before the 12th century. The local traditions of
Terralba record a Bishop Mariano, who erected the cathedral about 1144. The diocese occurs in the
Liber Censuum of the late 12th century.
Union of dioceses In the second half of the 15th century, several dioceses on the island of Sardinia were in difficulties due to financial shortages, as well as the movements of peoples. After extensive consultations had taken place between
King Ferdinand of Aragon and Sardinia,
Isabella I of Castile, and
Pope Alexander VI, and after discussions with members of the College of Cardinals (including Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere) and other interested parties, plans were advanced to consolidate the troubled dioceses. Alexander VI died, however, before the decisions were announced or implemented. After additional consultations,
Pope Julius II, on 8 December 1503, in the bull "Aequum Reputamus," united the diocese of Ales and Terralba.
Pope Clement VII granted
the Emperor Charles V the privilege of nominating candiddates to vacant archbishoprics, bishoprics and cardinalatial monasteries in the kingdom of Sardinia in 1533. The grant was for the emperor's lifetime.
Pope Sixtus V renewed the grant to Charles' son, King
Philip II of Spain in 1586.
Pope Paul V granted it to King
Philip III of Spain and his successors in 1609. Bishop Francesco Masones y Nin (1693–1704) conducted a diocesan synod in 1696.
Populations The population of Ales in 1692 was around 1,000 persons. In 1761, it was reckoned at around 2,000. In 1820, the village of Ales had a population of 749, and the village of Terralba a population of 3,040. In 1920, there were reported to be 59,530 Catholics in the entire diocese, organized into 42 parishes. In 2017, the inhabitants of
Ales were numbered at 1,410 by the National Institute of Statistics; the
comune of
Terralba had a population of 10,201.
Contemporary arrangement The Bishop of Ales-Terralba, Roberto Carboni, O.F.M. Conv., was promoted on 4 May 2019 to be Archbishop of Oristano and on the same date was appointed Apostolic Administrator of his former diocese of Ales-Terralba. However, on 3 July 2021, without losing his position as Archbishop of Oristano, he was reappointed Bishop of Ales-Terralba. The announcement specifies that this act unifies the two dioceses
in persona Episcopi ('in the person of the Bishop'). ==Bishops==