It was elevated to the status of a Metropolitan Archdiocese on Dec. 2, 2000.
Conference Region: Sicilia
Metropolitan (if applicable):
Suffragans (if applicable): Caltanissetta, Piazza Armerina
Area: 3,041km² (1,174 sq. miles).
In 2006 the diocese had a population of 461,000, 449,000
(97.4%) of which are Catholics. There are 194 parishes, 286 priests (237 Diocesan and 49 Religious), 34 permanent deacons, 59 male religious, and 443 female religious.
Agrigentum: Ancient Roman name for Agrigento.
Agrippa, Marcus Vipsanius: (b. 63/62 BC; d. 12 BC). Roman Statesman and general. He was the principal supporter of Octavian, and it was his talents as a general which allowed Caesar’s nephew to become Augustus, the first Roman emperor. Agrippa was the commander in charge of Octavian’s fleet which defeated that of Antony and Cleopatra at Actium (32 BC). He also defeated and drove Sextus Pompey from Sicily (38 BC), and was responsible for the development of the great Roman naval port at Misenum on the coast of Campania. Agrippa held the consulship 3 times and was governor of Syria twice. He married Julia, the daughter of Augustus.
Agrippa, Menenius: Roman consul (503/502 BC). He was noted for his defeat of the Sabines and Samnites.
Agrippina the Elder>: (d. AD 33, Pandataria (mod. Pantellaria)) Roman noblewoman. She was the daughter of M. Vipsanius Agrippa and Julia (daughter of the Roman Emperor Augustus). Having married Germanicus, she shared the affection given to her husband by the Roman people. This incurred the jealousy of Augustus’s successor, Tiberius, who, in AD 30, had her arrested and exiled to the small island of Pandataria. She starved herself to death there in AD 33. Her son, Gaius Caligula, succeeded Tiberius as Emperor in AD 37. One of her daughters, Agrippina the Younger, became the wife of Emperor Claudius and the mother of Emperor Nero.
Agrippina the Younger: (d. AD 59) daughter of Agrippina the Elder and Germanicus. She was both niece and wife of the Roman emperor Claudius and was the mother of Nero. History remembers her as a cruel and ruthless, yet highly intelligent and courageous woman who was able to obtain the Roman throne for Nero by poisoning Claudius (AD 54). During the first few years of Nero’s reign, she was a powerful force behind his throne. Nero finally sought to free himself from his mother’s control by having her assassinated (AD 59) in her villa in Campania.
Agrippina, St.>: (d. c.AD 256 or 262). Martyr. Born into a good family in Rome, she fell victim to the persecution under Emperors Valerian and Gallienus. Either tortured to death or beheaded, her remains were brought to the Sicilian town of Mineo by three Christian women, Bassa, Paula and Agatonica. Her shrine at Mineo remains a popular pilgrimage site because of the many miracles attributed to her intercession. According to an alternate version of her story, her remains were brought to Constantinople. Feast Day: June 23.
Agrippino (Agrippinus) (or Arpinus), St.>: (dates uncertain). Ecclesiastic. Bishop and former patron saint of Naples. He was renowned for his virtue and miracle-worker and his relics are preserved in the high altar in the Cathedral of Naples. His dating his uncertain with sources putting him anytime between the 2nd and mid-4th Centuries AD. His term is sometimes placed between St. Paulus and St. Eustatius. Feast Day: Nov. 9.
Agrippinus, St.>: (fl. AD 2nd and 3ed Centuries). Ecclesiastic. He served as bishop of Naples, in whose cathedral his remains are preserved. According to some sources, he was the 6th bishop of Naples. Feast Day: Nov 9.
Agrolas>: An architect from ancient Sicily. With Hyperbius, he built most of the walls surrounding the Acropolis at Athens.
Agropoli >(SA): A commune in the province of Salerno.>
Region: Campania. Province: Salerno.