The September 23, 1806 Pope Pius VII erected the Church of the Assumption in Foggia (where he retained the dell’Iconavetere image) in a minor basilica and December 2, 1808 granted to the canons that officiated the privilege of wearing the prelate clothes.
At the request of Foggia citizenship, supported by the bishop of Troy Anthony Monforte and King Ferdinand II, June 25, 1855 Pope Pius IX, with the Bull Ex hoc Summi Pontificis, Foggia erected in the diocese immediately subject to the Holy See: the jurisdiction of the bishop It stretched on the territory of the city of Foggia and of that of the former abbey nullius of San Marco in Lamis, at the time subject to the archdiocese of Manfredonia.
Foggia was originally included in the diocese of Troy destroyed by an earthquake in 1731, the city was rebuilt and experienced a remarkable economic and demographic development, so much so that in 1806 Joseph Bonaparte made it the capital of Capitanata.
At the time of its inception, the diocese had about 50,000 inhabitants with eight parishes, including 5 in Foggia (Cathedral, St. Francis Xavier, St. Thomas, St. Michael the Archangel, St. John the Baptist) and 3 in San Marco in Lamis (collegiate, Sant ‘ Antonio Abate, San Bernardino). “The first bishop of Foggia was Bernardino Maria Frascolla (1856-1869); He was accused of being the cause “of the disorder and anarchy” that reigned in dauna cities in the post-unification period, and therefore condemned to exile in Como; this charge was acquitted in 1866.