Acquapendente, a diocese in Italy under the immediate jurisdiction of the Holy See, comprising seven towns of the Province of Rome. Acquapendente was under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of Orvieto until 1649. That year, in consequence of a conspiracy, Cristoforo Girarda, a Barnabite of Novara, Bishop of Castro, was assassinated. In punishment of this crime, Innocent X ordered Castro to be destroyed, and raised Acquapendente to the dignity of an episcopal city (Bull, 13 September, 1649). Its bishops, however, retain the appellation “post Castrenses.” The first incumbent of the new See was the Jerusalemite (il gerosolimitano) Pompeo Mignucci of Offida, who had been Archbishop of Ragusa. He took possession 10 January, 1650. This diocese contains 13 parishes; 80 churches, chapels, and oratories; 47 secular clergy; 35 seminarians; 15 regular priests; 49 religious (women); 30 confraternities. Population, 19,350.
Uceue ut, Italia Sacra (Venice, 1722), I, 583; CAPPELLETTI, Le chiese d 'Italia (Venice, 1866), V, 549; Gams, Series Episcoporum Ecclesiae Catholicae (Ratisbon, 1873), 660; RHANGIASI, Bibliografia istorica della città e luoghi dello Stato Pontificio (Rome, 1772).
Ernesto Buonaiuti.