Abbey of Saint Vaast

 Vacancy

 Abbey of Vadstena

 Vaga

 François Vaillant de Gueslis

 Alfonso de Valdés

 Diocese of Valence

 Archdiocese of Valencia

 University of Valencia

 Flavius Valens

 St. Valentine

 Pope Valentine

 Valentinian

 Valentinus and Valentinians

 Valerian

 Validation of Marriage

 Lorenzo Valla

 Archdiocese of Valladolid

 Dominic Vallarsi

 Pietro della Valle

 Charles-Louis-Joseph-Xavier de la Vallée-Poussin

 Diocese of Valleyfield

 Thomas de Vallgornera

 Valliscaulian Order

 Vallumbrosan Order

 Henri Valois

 Valona

 Hyacinthe de Valroger

 Dioceses of Valva and Sulmona

 Vincent de Valverde

 Ludwig Van Beethoven

 Pierre-Joseph Van Beneden

 William Home Van Buren

 Archdiocese of Vancouver

 Albert Vandal

 Vandals

 Theodore J. Van den Broek

 Maximilian Van der Sandt

 Rogier Van der Weyden

 Peter Van de Velde

 Augustine Van De Vyver

 Thomas Vane

 Diocese of Vannes

 Andrea Vanni

 Francesco Vanni

 Luis de Vargas

 Francisco de Vargas y Mexia

 Giorgio Vasari

 Gabriel Vasquez

 François Vatable

 Vatican

 Vatican Council

 Vatican Observatory

 Philippe de Rigaud, Marquis de Vaudreuil

 Herbert Vaughan

 Roger William Vaughan

 Louis-Nicolas Vauquelin

 Laurence Vaux

 Vaux-de-Cernay

 Thomas Vavasour

 François Vavasseur

 Joseph Vaz

 Lorenzo di Pietro Vecchietta

 Vedas

 Andreas de Vega

 Johannes Veghe

 Maffeo Vegio

 Diocese of Veglia

 Michael Vehe

 Religious Veil

 Philipp Veit

 Johann Emanuel Veith

 Diego Rodriguez de Silva y Velazquez

 Venezuela

 Venice

 Veni Creator Spiritus

 Veni Sancte Spiritus Et Emitte Coelitus

 Veni Sancte Spiritus Reple

 Diocese of Venosa

 Diocese of Ventimiglia

 Gioacchino Ventura di Raulica

 Venturino of Bergamo

 Raffaele Venusti

 Diocese of Vera Cruz

 Archdiocese of Verapoly

 Ferdinand Verbiest

 Verbum Supernum Prodiens

 Archdiocese of Vercelli

 Carlo Vercellone

 Jacinto Verdaguer

 Giuseppe Verdi

 Diocese of Verdun

 Verecundus

 Paolo Vergani

 Pier Paolo Vergerio, the Elder

 Polydore Vergil

 St. Vergilius of Salzburg

 Friedrich Heinrich Vering

 Vermont

 La Verna

 Tommasina Vernazza

 Jules Verne

 Pierre Vernier

 Diocese of Veroli

 François Véron

 Diocese of Verona

 St. Veronica

 St. Veronica Giuliani

 Augustin Verot

 Giovanni da Verrazano

 Hospice-Anthelme Verreau

 Count Pietro Verri

 Andrea del Verrocchio

 Diocese of Versailles

 Versions of the Bible

 Richard Verstegan

 John Vertin

 Réné-Aubert Vertot

 Veruela

 Andreas Vesalius

 Vespasian

 Vespasiano da Bisticci

 Vespers

 Music of Vespers

 Sicilian Vespers

 Amerigo Vespucci

 Vestibule

 Vestments

 Diocese of Veszprém

 Royal Veto

 Conrad Vetter

 Louis Veuillot

 Vexilla Regis Prodeunt

 Antonio Francesco Vezzosi

 José Viader

 Viaticum

 Clerics of Saint Viator

 Vicar

 Vicar Apostolic

 Vicar Capitular

 Vicar-General

 Hermann von Vicari

 Vicar of Christ

 Vice

 St. Vicelinus

 Gil Vicente

 Diocese of Vicenza

 Diocese of Vich

 Francescoe de Vico

 Victimae Paschali Laudes Immolent Christiani

 Pope St. Victor I

 Pope Victor II

 Pope Bl. Victor III

 Victor IV

 Victor

 Diocese of Victoria

 Vicariate Apostolic of Northern Victoria Nyanza

 Vicariate Apostolic of Southern Victoria Nyanza

 St. Victorinus

 Caius Marius Victorinus

 Victor of Capua

 Victor Vitensis

 Feast of Our Lady of Victory

 Marco Girolamo Vida

 Antonio Vieira

 Nicolas Viel

 Vienna

 University of Vienna

 Council of Vienne (1311-12)

 Franz Michael Vierthaler

 François Vieta

 Denis-Benjamin Viger

 Jacques Viger

 Diocese of Vigevano

 St. Vigilius

 Vigilius, Bishop of Tapsus

 Pope Vigilius

 Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola

 Simon Vigor

 Juan Bautista Villalpandus

 Giovanni Villani

 Arnaldus Villanovanus

 Jacques-Melchior Villefranche

 Geoffroi de Villehardouin

 Jean-Paul-Alban Villeneuve-Barcement

 Louis-René Villermé

 Abbey of Villers

 Diocese of Vilna

 St. Vincent (Maldegarius)

 St. Vincent

 St. Vincent de Paul

 St. Vincent Ferrer

 Bl. Vincent Kadlubek

 Vincent of Beauvais

 St. Vincent of Lérins

 Leonardo di Ser Piero da Vinci

 St. Vindicianus

 Vineam Domini

 Violence

 Eugène-Emmanuel Viollet-Le-Duc

 Giovanni Battista Viotti

 St. Virgilius

 Virgin Birth of Christ

 Virginia

 Virginity

 Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary

 Bl. Virgin Mary

 Virtue

 Peter Vischer

 Claude de Visdelou

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 Visitation Order

 Visitors Apostolic

 Visits to the Blessed Sacrament

 Visitation Convent, Georgetown

 Vincenzo de Vit

 Pope St. Vitalian

 Bonifazio Vitalini

 St. Vitalis

 Sts. Vitalis and Agricola

 St. Vitalis of Savigny

 Muzio Vitelleschi

 Lucius Vitellius

 Diocese of Viterbo and Toscanella

 Diocese of Vitoria

 Vittorino da Feltre

 Sts. Vitus, Modestus, and Crescentia

 Domenico Viva

 Vivarini

 Juan Luis Vives

 Diocese of Viviers

 Moral Aspect of Vivisection

 Diocese of Vizagapatam

 Diocese of Vizeu

 St. Vladimir the Great

 Ecclesiastical and Religious Vocation

 George Joseph Vogler

 Eugène-Melchior, Vicomte de Vogüé

 Wilhelm Volk

 Volksverein for Catholic Germany

 Alessandro Volta

 Daniele da Volterra

 Diocese of Volterra

 Voluntarism

 Voluntary

 Völuspá

 Joost van Den Vondel

 Freiherr Max Von Gagern

 Votive Mass

 Votive Offerings

 Votive Offices

 Vows

 Philibert Vrau

 Theodoric Vrie

 Revision of Vulgate

Dioceses of Valva and Sulmona


(VALVEN. ET SULMONEN.)

Located in Italy; united aeque principaliter. Valva, a medieval castle belonging to the Bishop of Sulmona, Baron of Valva, is situated near the ancient Corfinium, chief town of the Peligni, A Samnite tribe. In the Social War it was the capital of the Italici, who called it Italia, a name found on some coins. Of the ancient city there remains the Church of S. Pelino, which recalls the race of the Peligni rather than a saint. The ruins contained a great number of inscriptions. Corfinium, like Valva, had apparently its own bishop; S. Pelino was the cathedral. In the vicinity of Valva is the sanctuary of S. Michele, near which is a large natural grotto. Sulmona, formerly Sulmo, is situated in a fertile plain, watered by the Gizzio, a tributary of the Pescara, at the base of the Maiella and Monte Morrone. The inhabitants are engaged in agriculture, the manufacture of liquors, confetti, and musical strings, and tanning. Among the churches are S. Maria della Tomba, the Annuziata, S. Francesco. Near the city is the monastery of the Spirito Santo, erected by Celestine V for his monks; it is noted for its architecture. The town hall dates from the fifteenth century. Sulmona was a Pelignian city, and is first mentioned in the wars of Hannibal, during which is remained faithful to the Romans. In the Social War it was destroyed by Sulla. Ovid, who celebrates the salubrity of its climate, was born there. There are ruins of temples and ancient buildings in the vicinity. In the Lombard period the city was subject to the Duchy of Spoleto; later it belonged to the counts of the Marsi. When the Normans conquered the Abruzzi, Sulmona increased in importance. Frederick II made it the capital of the "Gran Giustizierato" of the Abruzzi. In 1451 Alfonso of Aragon defeated there Count Ruggierone, an ally of Rene of Anjou; the city was regained by Piccinino, who was later defeated and slain by Ferdinand I.

Legend associates the evangelizing of the district with the name of St. Britius, Bishop of Spoleto, in the second century. The first known Bishop of Sulmona is Palladius (499); in 503 a Fortunatus Valvensis is mentioned. St Pamphilus, Bishop of Valva, renowned for his sanctity and miracles, died about 706; as he was buried in the cathedral of Sulmona, the sees had possibly been united then. Four or five other bishops of Valva are known, but none of Sulmona until 1054, when Leo IX named as Bishop of Valva, the Benedictine Domenico, and determined the limits of the Dioceses of S. Pelino (Valva) and S. Pamphilus (Sulmona), which were to have only one bishop, elected by the two chapters. Under Bishop Giacomo di Penne, a monk of Casa Nova (1252), it was arranged that the two chapters should unite in making the election, as frequent disputes had arisen when they acted separately. Other bishops were: Bartolomeo of Tocco (1402), highly esteemed for his learning by Innocent VII, who gave him his own mitre; Donato Bottini (1448), an Augustinian, who enriched the cathedral; Pompeo Zambeccari (1547), nuncio in Poland, who restored the episcopal residence; Francesco Bonapaduli (1638), who founded the seminary; Pietro Antonio Corsignani (17380, the historian of the Abruzzi. During the dispute between the Holy See and the Kingdom of Naples the see remained vacant from 1800 till 1818. The See of Sulmona is immediately subject to the Holy See. It contains; 58 parishes; 150,000 inhabitants, 200 secular, and 48 regular, priests; 3 houses of monks; 3 convents of nuns; 2 educational institutes for boys, and 1 for girls.

CAPPELLETTI, Le chiese d'Italia, XXI; DI PIETRO, Memorie storiche della citta di Sulmona (Naples, 1804); CORSIGNNI, Regia marsicana (Naples, 1738).

U. BENIGNI