The Roman Catholic diocese of Sansepolcro was a Latin rite see in Tuscany, central Italy. It was erected in 1515, as the Diocese of (Borgo) Sansepolcro (Italian), though difficulties prevented the appointment of a bishop until 1520. On 30 September 1986, the diocese was suppressed and united with the Diocese of Arezzo and the Diocese of Cortona to form the Diocese of Arezzo-Cortona-Sansepolcro.
The diocese has always been a suffragan of the archbishop of Florence.
History
The ecclesiastical entity was established in 1013 as Benedictine monastery of S. Giovanni Evangelista di San Sepolcro, on canonical territory within the Diocese of Città di Castello. In May 1046, Pope Gregory VI removed the monastery from the jurisdiction of the bishop of Arezzo. On 18 January 1106, Pope Paschal II granted the monastery the privilege of baptisms in the Borgo, and confirmed the right to hold an annual fair in the Borgo, and the right to the tithe of the monastery's properties. The Camaldolese monks, coming from their house in Arezzo, first appear in documents relating to the abbey of San Sepolcro on 11 January 1137. In 1148, Pope Eugenius III confirmed the monastery's privileges, and granted the abbot the use of the mitre, staff, and other pontifical vestments. In 1163, the Imperial Archchancellor, Archbishop Raynaldus of Cologne, promulgated an imperial decree of the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, forbidding the Camaldolese from having any authority to depose and deprive an abbot of San Sepolcro, without the license and permission of the emperor.
From 1350 to 1353, Borgo San Sepolcro was occupied by Ghibelline troops of the ambitious Archbishop Visconti of Milan, who was attempting to seize all of Tuscany and Umbria, with the help of local Ghibelline adherents, the Boccagnini, the Pallavicini and the Tarlati of Arezzo. On the withdrawal of the Milanese forces after the Peace of Sarzana in 1353, a civil war broke out between Guelphs and Ghibellines, between Borgo San Sepolcro and Città di Castello.
On 25 December 1352, a major earthquake struck the areas of Borgo San Sepolcro and Città di Castello, causing more than 500 deaths in Borgo. The bell tower of the monastery was destroyed, and there was major damage to the buildings of the cloister. Many sections of the town wall were thrown down.
Creation of the diocese
On 22 September 1515, Pope Leo X issued a bull which erected the Camaldolese monastery church of S. Giovanni into a cathedral, creating Abbot Galeazzo, who had consented to the suppression of his monastery, the first bishop of Borgo San Sepolcro. The bull was not put into effect immediately, however, due to various difficulties. It was not until 18 September 1520 that Graziani was preconised and obtained his bulls of institution. At the same time the prelature gained territories from the Diocese of Arezzo and Diocese of Città di Castello.
In the same bull of 1515, "Praeexcellenti praeeminentia", Pope Leo created the Chapter of Canons of the cathedral, composed of three dignities (the Provost, the Archdeacon, and the Archpriest) and nine other Canons. The cathedral was also a parish church, and the Archpriest had the "cure of souls" (i.e. served as pastor).
On 7 October 1975, the diocese lost territories to the Diocese of Cesena and Diocese of Forli.
Suppression of the diocese
On 18 February 1984, the Vatican and the Italian State signed a new and revised concordat. Based on the revisions, a set of Normae was issued on 15 November 1984, which was accompanied in the next year, on 3 June 1985, by enabling legislation. According to the agreement, the practice of having one bishop govern two separate dioceses at the same time, aeque personaliter, was abolished. Instead, the Vatican continued consultations which had begun under Pope John XXIII for the merging of small dioceses, especially those with personnel and financial problems, into one combined diocese. In Tuscany, this particularly affected three dioceses: Arezzo, Cortona, and Borgo San Sepolcro (Biturgensis).