Bishop Sergio Melillo

Bishop Sergio Melillo, Bishop of Ariano Irpino-Lacedonia, was born on November 16, 1955, in Avellino, in the province and Diocese of Avellino. In 1983, after a short period working in public administration, he entered the Campanian Interregional Pontifical Seminary of Posillipo in Naples, where he obtained a licentiate in dogmatic theology with a specialisation in ecclesiology. He was ordained a priest for Avellino on September 9, 1989. He then served as parish priest of Parolise and of Sarza Irpina (1989-1994); urban vicar of Avellino (1994-2002); vice-director of the diocesan Caritas and head of the formation of volunteers, of civil service and of listening centres, as well as a member of the international area commission of Caritas Italiana (2000-2005); lecturer in dogmatic theology at the San Giuseppe Moscati Higher Institute of Religious Sciences in Avellino from 1991; parochial vicar of the cathedral (1995-2013); lecturer in religious culture at the University of the Third Age of Avellino from 1997; and vicar general and moderator of the curia from 2005. From 2013 he has been parish priest of the cathedral of Avellino. In 2009 he was named a chaplain of His Holiness. He is a member of the presbyteral council and of the college of consultors, was formerly ecclesiastical assistant of Catholic Action for children and director of the diocesan bulletin, and from 2013 has been ecclesiastical assistant for the AGESCI scouts of the Hirpinia zone. He taught for some years at the Pietro Colletta lyceum of Avellino, has collaborated with several local newspapers, and is the author of publications on local ecclesiastical history and of a humanistic, philosophical and literary character. On May 23, 2015, he was appointed Bishop of Ariano Irpino-Lacedonia. He received episcopal ordination on July 31, 2015, at Avellino, with Francesco Marino as principal consecrator and Adriano Bernardini and Giovanni D'Alise as co-consecrators. He was installed as Bishop of Ariano Irpino-Lacedonia on August 9, 2015.