Carini

Carini (Latin:Hyccara or Hyccarum) is a town and comune in the Province of Palermo, Sicily, 21 kilometres (13 mi) by rail west-northwest of Palermo. It has a population of 37,752.

On the coast are some ruins of the ancient Hyccara, the only Sican settlement (probably a fishing village) on the coast. It was stormed and taken by the Athenians in 415 BC, and the inhabitants, among them the famous courtesan Lais, sold as slaves. At La Grazia Christian catacombs have been found (Not. degli Scavi, 1899, 362).

The first historical mention of a bishop of the see is in two letters of Pope Gregory the Great, in the 6th century, one addressed to Bonifacius of Reggio Calabria, the other to Barbarus of Carini. But many signs, including local catacombs, show that a Christian community existed at Carini from the 3rd century. A lead seal bears the name of a Felix, bishop of this see. One of Gregory the Great's letters show that the diocese was incorporated into that of Reggio Calabria in September 595, but by 602 it was again under its own bishop. A Bishop John of the see took part in a synod at Rome in 649. The last testimony to its existence dates from the 8th century, and the Muslim conquest of Sicily, which began in 827, brought it to an end as a residential bishopric. As a result, Carini/Hyccara/Hyccarum is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see.