There is no historical proof for early beginnings of Christianity in Brindisi, except the account given by
Arnobius, who died c. 330, of the fall of
Simon Magus, who withdrew to Brindisi and cast himself from a high rock into the sea. According to a local legend, the first Bishop of
Brindisi was
Leucius of Brindisi, about 165, who later underwent martyrdom. Leucius is called a confessor or, by
Pope Gregory I, a martyr. He is said to have been from Alexandria in Egypt, to have come to Brindisi already a bishop, with his archdeacon, and to have baptised some 27,000 people. The earliest account of his life says he died under the Emperor Theodosius; Theodosius I ruled from 379–395, and Theodosius II from 408–450. Other versions put his death under Commodus, between 180 and 192, and yet others place his martyrdom under Valerianus, 253–259. That he was made a bishop from the east rather than one connected with Rome suggests that his story was worked on when Brindisi was subject to Constantinople, between the 8th and 10th centuries.
Oria The Diocese of Brindisi at first embraced the territory comprised within the present
diocese of Oria. After Brindisi had been conquered by the Arabs in 839, the bishops of Brindisi took refuge in the better fortified town of Oria and took the double title as bishops of Brindisi and Oria. Some time after the Saracens had been evicted from Brindisi, bishop
Theodosius was successful in obtaining back the relics of Saint Leucius which he placed in a basilica above the
martyrium where the relics had originally been placed. Theodosius also introduced the veneration of
Saint Barsanuphius to his diocese and acted as papal legate for popes
Hadrian III and
Stephen V for whom he went to imperial court of
Constantinople. In 1572–1591, during the tenure of the Spanish Bishop
Bernardino de Figueroa movements were made to separate Oria as seat of a new diocese. The town was erected into an
episcopal see on 8 May 1591 by
Pope Gregory XIV, after the death of the Spaniard, Archbishop
Bernardino de Figueroa. After an interval of four and a half years first bishop of Oria was appointed, Vincenzo del Tufo, in 1596. In the reorganization of the dioceses of the
Kingdom of Naples in 1818 Brindisi was combined with the Diocese of Ostuni, formerly its suffragan. Brindisi has been an archiepiscopal see since the tenth century. The ancient cathedral was located outside the city, but in 1140
Roger II of Sicil built the present cathedral in the centre of the city.
Synods A diocesan synod was an irregularly held, but important, meeting of the bishop of a diocese and his clergy. Its purpose was (1) to proclaim generally the various decrees already issued by the bishop; (2) to discuss and ratify measures on which the bishop chose to consult with his clergy; (3) to publish statutes and decrees of the diocesan synod, of the provincial synod, and of the Holy See. In 1608, Bishop Juan de Falces (1605-1636) presided over a diocesan synod. He held another, his third, on 10 September 1615. A fourth took place on 16 October 1616. A fifth diocesan synod was held on 9 April 1617, and a sixth on 22 April 1618. His seventh synod was held on 8 September 1618, his eighth on 2 May 1621, and his ninth on 10 April 1622. ==Bishops of Brindisi==