Lesina, (PHARIA: Hvar), Diocese of (PHARENSIS, BRACHIENSIS, ET ISSENSIS), in Dalmatia; includes the three islands of Hvar (Lesina), the ancient Pharia colonized by the Greeks in 385 B. c.; Braé, yt or Brachia, also colonized by the Greeks; and Lissa, formerly Issa. The residence is at Lesina, a small town on the island of that name, said to have been first evangelized by St. Doimus (Domnius), a disciple of St. Peter. The diocese was probably founded about 1145 by Lucius II; its first bishop was Martinus Manzavini, elected in 1147. Its present bishop, the fifty-first, is Jordanus Zaninovic, O.P., consecrated 19 April, 1903, by Leo XIII. The diocese includes 6 deaneries, 2 vice-deaneries, 28 parishes, 14 chaplaincies, and 62,890 faithful. There are several religious orders: Dominicans, Franciscans, Benedictine nuns, Sisters of Charity, and Sisters of the Third Order of St, Francis. The cathedral (Lombard facade) was built in 1637, and contains a painting by the famous Giacomo Palma. In 1899 the head of St. Stephen, protomartyr, was given by Pius X, then Patriarch of Venice, to the Franciscan Fulgentius Carev, Bishop of Lesina and Archbishop of Uskup. Two bishops of this diocese were created cardinals: Giovanni Battista Pallavicini in 1524; and Zaccarias II e gente Delphina in 1553. During the episcopate of Pietro Cedulini (1581-1634) two diocesan synods were held.
FARLATI-COLETI, Illyricum sacrum (Venice, 1751-1817); PETERMANN, Guide en Dalmatie (Paris, 1900); Status personalis et localis dioecesis Pharensis, Brachiensis et Issensis (Split, 1902, 1909); Boeuié, Studi storici sull’ isola de Lesina, (Zadar, 1873)
Anthony Lawrence Ganevi.