one village, Calimera, it was used as late as 1663; at another, Zollino, in 1688.[1] These are two of the places where Greek is still spoken by the peasants; but their rite is now Roman.
At Galatina till 1507 practically the whole population was Byzantine. But the Franciscans had a church there, in which they used to romanize the people. A chronicle of the order in these parts tells us that the intention of the founder of this church "was solely to introduce the Latin rite, since all then lived in the Greek rite. ... Here the Fathers administered to those few Latins who were mixed with the Greeks; they administered Sacraments, practised the Gregorian chant, and sang according to the rite of the Roman Church, while their Superior acted as parish priest." So after 1507 they managed to latinize all the people.[2]
At Corigliano d'Otranto there was a revival of the Byzantine rite in the fifteenth century. Carlantonio de Monti, Lord of Corigliano in the time of Ferdinand I of Naples (1458-1494), protected it, established schools for Greek, and so on. A Greek lady, Maria Bucali, then founded a monastery for Basilian monks and left property to it, on condition that it should always be occupied by them. In spite of that, her grandson handed it over to the Capuchins in 1587. Still the Byzantine rite was used in the parish church till 1600. In that year the last Byzantine parish priest, Sergio de Paulis, died. His successor, Damasceno Comi, was a Latin. A few other priests remained. The last of them, Antony Indrini, died in 1683. "With him," says Rodota, "the Greek rite was buried in perpetual oblivion."[3]
At Gallipoli till the end of the fourteenth century the bishops were alternately Byzantine and Roman. The Byzantine rite was extinct here by 1513.[4] At Nardò the old see was abolished by Pope Paul I (757-767) in 761. The Bishop of Brindisi, who thereby became the ordinary, appointed an archpriest (Protopapa) of the Byzantine rite for Nardò. The revenues of the see were given to a Basilian monastery. Urban II (1088-1099) replaced the Basilian monks by Latin Benedictines. There remained two archpriests, one for each rite. The public rites in the monastery church were mixed. The lessons were read in Latin and Greek. A ritual of the year 1348 describes how they sang: "Meanwhile, the Greek and Latin choirs alternating, the Responsale is sung."[5] In 1402 Philip, Archbishop of Otranto
