the peninsula. It had a chapter of Byzantine canons, who celebrated their rite with great pomp. The head of this chapter was the Protopapa. Down to about the seventeenth century the Protopapa of Reggio had quasi-episcopal jurisdiction over those of his rite throughout the diocese. Second to him was the "Ditereo" (δευτερεύων).[1] This church and chapter were said to have been founded by Count Roger I (1072-1101). The canons kept his anniversary and sang πρεσβείας for the repose of his soul every year.[2] There was also a church "d' Osanna," whither they went on Palm Sunday to bless the palms, according to their rite. In 1595 a canonical visitation of the diocese reports nine Greek priests in the city and fifty more in other parts.[3] But already the rite was decadent. The report says that many of these heroes did not know the elements of Greek grammar. So the Archbishop appointed a subdeacon to teach them. But he, Hannibal d'Afflitto,[4] was a determined enemy of the Byzantine rite. As Rodotà says: "He, abusing the exercise of his sacred ministry, artfully suppressed the Greek ceremonies, and introduced Latin ones in this church [S Maria della Cattolica], in order that, when no vestige of the old rite should remain, he could so open for himself by this path a free field to exercise jurisdiction over it and its clergy."[5] It was, in fact, jealousy of the exempt position of the Byzantine canons and of the jurisdiction of their Protopapa that made d'Afflitto so great an enemy of their rite. Not only in this church, but throughout his diocese, he sup-
- ↑ These titles, "Protopapa" and "Ditereo," still remain in many places of Southern Italy as memories of the old rite. Joseph Morisani, Canon of Reggio, wrote a whole book about them, "de Protopapis et Deutereis Græcorum et Catholicis eorum ecclesiis Diatriba" (Naples, 1768). In this he traces the history and meaning of the titles (πρωτοπαππᾶς = ἀρχιερεύς), and gives much valuable information about the Italo-Greeks in general.
- ↑ Schirò, in his report of 1742, says that the Collegiate Chapter of the Cattolica at Reggio is already incorporated with the Cathedral Chapter (Karalevsky, "Documenti inediti," i, 7).
- ↑ Quoted by J. Gay, "Étude sur la décadence du rite grec" (Rev. d'hist. et de lit. rel., vol. ii, 1897, p. 489).
- ↑ D'Afflitto (1594-1638) was in most ways a very zealous and praiseworthy bishop. His one fault was the mistaken idea of procuring uniformity in his diocese by making everyone a Latin. His Life has been written by Canon G. Minasi, "Vita di Annibale d'Afflitto, Arcivescovo di Reggio" (Naples, Lanciano e Pinto, 1898); see also "Roma e l'Oriente," viii (1914), 106-111. Morisani tries vainly to maintain that d'Afflitto was not really opposed to the Byzantine rite ("de Protopapis," 294).
- ↑ Rodotà, i, 406.
