Page:Uniate Eastern Churches.pdf/134

104 rite. That it remained so long in spite of all obstacles is due to the persistent way in which Rome maintains it.

We may now see some typical examples, showing how the older tradition of the Byzantine rite in Italy gradually disappeared.

In the diocese of Policastro the Byzantine rite remained till at least the year 1567. At Rivello in this diocese were two collegiate churches, S Maria del Poggio of the Byzantine rite, and S Niccolò of the Roman rite. Between them there was an old rivalry as to which should have precedence of the other. This situation occurs frequently in such cases. About the year 1572 the clergy of S Maria del Poggio petitioned Pius V that they might adopt the Roman rite. This time the Pope granted their request. Later, having reconsidered the matter, they wanted to go back to the Byzantine rite. But the bishop, Mgr. Spinelli, who had welcomed the opportunity of getting rid of the foreign use in his diocese, was now able to prevent this. Although both colleges were now Latin, the canons of S Maria still claimed that they had precedence over those of S Niccolò. They said their church was the "Matrice" of the town and a "Collegiata insigne." There was a lawsuit about this in 1746. Such quarrels about precedence between churches, originating in the difference of rite, but continuing long after all had become Roman, are very common in the South of Italy.

At Brindisi the Byzantine rite declined under the Normans. It was revived by colonists from Crete in the seventeenth century. Meanwhile a vestige of the older Byzantinism remained in a ceremony once a year. On Palm Sunday the procession went to a church called "Sannà." Here the Epistle and Gospel were sung in Greek. But for a long time there were no more clerks of the Byzantine rite to sing; so the subdeacon and deacon were Latins. In 1659 the Archbishop, Denis Odriscol, wanted to put down this ceremony. The zeal of many of these bishops is very strange. One would not have thought that there was any danger in this interesting little relic of the past. Fortunately the Pope (Alexander VII, 1655-1667) protected the ceremony and snubbed the Archbishop. Now all trace even of this has disappeared. At Brindisi only some tombs with Greek inscriptions remain. At Messagne there is a memory of the old rite in a church still called "S Maria della Greca"; but it is now Latin in rite.