Lesina

(PHARIA: HVAR; PHARENSIS, BRACHIENSIS, ET ISSENSIS)

Diocese in Dalmatia ; includes the three islands of Hvar (Lesina), the ancient Pharia colonized by the Greeks in 385 B.C.; Brac, formerly Brattia or Brachia, also colonized by the Greeks; and Lissa, formerly Issa. The residence is at Lesina, a small town on the island of that name, said to have been first evangelized by St. Doimus (Domnius), a disciple of St. Peter. The diocese was probably founded about 1145 by Lucius II ; its first bishop was Martinus Manzavini, elected in 1147. Its present bishop, the fifty-first, is Jordanus Zaninovic, O.P., consecrated 19 April, 1903, by Leo XIII. The diocese includes 6 deaneries, 2 vice-deaneries, 2S parishes, 14 chaplaincies, and 62,290 faithful. There are several religious orders: Dominicans, Franciscans, Beneclictine nuns, Sisters of Charity, and Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis. The cathedral (Lombard façade) was built in 1637, and contains a painting by the famous Giacomo Palma. In 1899 the head of St. Stephen , protomartyr, was given by Pius X, then Patriarch of Venice, to the Franciscan Fulgentius Carey Bishop of Lesina and Archbishop of Uskup. Two bishops of this diocese were created cardinals : Giovanni Battista Pallavicini in 1524; and Zaccarias II e gente Delphina in 1553. During the episcopate of Pietro Cedulini (1581-1634) two diocesan synods were held.

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