Roman Catholic Diocese of Casale Monferrato
The Diocese of Casale Monferrato (Latin: "Dioecesis Casalensis") is a Roman Catholic diocese in northwest Italy, a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Vercelli which forms part of the ecclesiastical region of Piedmont. The diocese, which adheres to the Roman Rite, was established on 18 April 1474 for political reasons, to transform the Marquisate of Montferrat into an ecclesiastic territory; in 2013 it had a population of 104,900 of whom 99,000 were baptised. In that year there was one priest for every 1,125 Catholics. Alceste Catella has been bishop of the diocese since 15 May  2008. History. Casale Monferrato, the ancient Bodincomagus, is a city in the province of Alessandria, Piedmont (Italy), on the River Po, and has been a stronghold since the time of the Lombards. Liutprand, King of the Lombards enlarged it, and Emperor Otto II made it the chief town of a marquisate, giving it to the sons of Aleran, Duke of Saxony; later it was inherited by Emperor Michael VIII, Palaeologus, who sent thither his son Theodore. In 1533, the dynasty of the Palaeologi being extinct, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor gave Casale to the House of Gonzaga. From 1681 to  1706 it was in the hands of the French, from whom, in 1713, it passed to the House of Savoy. Casale was created a see in 1474 by Sixtus IV; previously it belonged to the Diocese of Asti. Its first bishop was Bernardino de Tebaldeschi; his successor was Gian Giorgio Paleologo (1517), who also governed the marquisate for his nephew, a minor. Among its noteworthy bishops were: the Dominican Benedetto Erba (1570), most zealous for the Christian instruction of children and the introduction of the Tridentine reforms, in which good work he was associated with St. Charles Borromeo; he was  also the founder of the monti di pietà; Giulio Careta (1614), who imitated other contemporary bishops and founded an oratory for priests, and when the plague was ravaging Casale (1630) himself nursed the sick; Scipione Pasquali (1645), author of a history of the campaign of Charles Emmanuel of Savoy against Montferrat. Among the churches of Casale are the cathedral, one of the finest monuments of Lombard architecture, and that of Sant’Ilario (Hilary of Poitiers). Parishes. The diocese, which covers an area of 970 km², is divided into 115 parishes. The majority, like Casale itself, are in the Province of Alessandria , while the rest are divided between the provinces of Asti and Turin. A list of parishes by province and commune follows; locations (villages or neighbourhoods) "within" a commune are shown in brackets. Statistics. At the end of 2006 the diocese had a population of 103,900 of whom 97.7% had been baptised as Catholics.