History
The Diocese of Matera was originally a separate diocese. Its origins are not well documented. Apart from an unreliable reference to a bishop at Matera in 482, the first evidence of the bishops here dates from 968, when the Patriarch of Constantinople ordered the diocese of Matera, with several other dioceses of the region, to be subordinated to the Archdiocese of Otranto and the Byzantine Rite.
The diocese of Matera was combined by a papal bull of Pope Innocent III of 4 May 1203 with the Archdiocese of Acerenza to form the Archdiocese of Acerenza and Matera, and the building of the present Matera Cathedral on the site of the church of Saint Eustace began in the same year.
By a papal bull of 2 July 1954 the Archdiocese of Acerenza and Matera was split into two, forming the Archdiocese of Acerenza and the Archdiocese of Matera, which by a further bull of 21 August 1976 lost their status as archiepiscopal sees. Matera was united on 11 October 1976 with the Diocese of Gravina-Irsina to form the Diocese of Matera e Irsina. On 3 December 1977 however this was elevated to an archdiocese. The name was changed to its present form - "Matera-Irsina" rather than "Matera e Irsina" - on 30 September 1986.
Read more about this topic: Roman Catholic Archdiocese Of Matera-Irsina
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