Bishop of Oria
Bishop Vincenzo Pisanello, Bishop of Oria, was born on May 3, 1959, in Galatina, in the province of Lecce and the Archdiocese of Otranto. He obtained a scientific secondary school leaving certificate at the lyceum of Galatina. A student of the Pontifical Roman Major Seminary from 1978, he attended the Gregorian University and obtained a doctorate in utroque iure from the Lateran University. He was ordained a priest for Otranto on June 23, 1984, by Bishop Vincenzo Franco. He then served as vocations animator at the Pontifical Roman Major Seminary (1984-1987); parochial vicar in Galatina (1987-1992); and parish priest of San Rocco in Galatina (1992-2008). He has been diocesan bursar since 1987, rector of the church of the Madonna del Carmine in Galatina since 1990, judicial vicar since 2004, and parish priest of Santi Pietro e Paolo Apostoli in Galatina since 2008. He is also a member of the diocesan council for economic affairs, of the episcopal council, of the presbyteral council and of the diocesan pastoral council; episcopal vicar for administrative affairs; director of the service for church building; lecturer in canon law at the diocesan Institute of Religious Sciences; president of the board of auditors of the Pio XI Pontifical Regional Seminary of Molfetta; and a member of the board of the Apulian Theological Faculty of Bari. On January 23, 2010, he was appointed Bishop of Oria. He received episcopal ordination on April 8, 2010, at Otranto, with Donato Negro as principal consecrator and Michele Castoro and Francesco Cacucci as co-consecrators. He was installed as Bishop of Oria on April 24, 2010.