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In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries another central concern of the
governors sent to Corfù was that of the relationship between the Greek
and Roman Catholic clergies. A Latin-rite archbishop of the same rite followed
by the bishops of
Zante and Cephalonia was sent to Corfù .
The same hierarchical structure operated in the Greek clergy, and the
Greek Orthodox pope ,
who presided over the bishops of Zante and
Cephalonia, corresponded to the Latin archbishop in Corfù. Subordinate
to this governing structure was the parochial clergy, a numerous Greek
contingent which was widely spread throughout the countryside, where there were
few followers of the Latin rite. These last were instead primarily concentrated
in the city of Corfù, its fortress, and the ships of the fleet. These
contrasting styles, traditions, and languages were reflected on countless
public occasions, in both religious rites and civil ceremonies. An example in
point was the dispute over precedence at the arrival of a new
Provveditore Generale ,
involving a controversy over who was to be the first to pay him
homage. These were conflicts and demands that rarely reached the courts and
city councils, which were resolved instead by the practical mediation of the
Provveditore in loco. In 1632, for example, Provveditore Vendramin settled a
dispute which might have had dangerous consequences. This involved Greeks and
Latins, who both felt strongly about the removal of the relics of Sant'Arsenio,
from the old cathedral located in the citadel, to the new cathedral of San
Giacomo built in the city.
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