papal elections and the Second Council of Lyon (1274). In 1693 the Cathedral Chapter consisted of four dignities and fifteen Canons. The dignities were: the Archdeacon, the Provost, the Archpriest and the Cantor. By 1757 the number of Canons had increased to twenty-four. There were also three collegiate churches in Asti. The first, the Collegiate Church of San Secondo, had a Chapter headed by a Provost and a Cantor, with ten Canons. A second was S. Martino, the third S. Paolo, which had Chaplains instead of Canons. They were all abolished in the 19th century. Seminary The Council of Trent in its 23rd Session, meeting on 15 July 1563, issued a decree whose 18th chapter required that every diocese have a seminary for the training of clergy. A seminary was therefore opened in Asti in 1577 by Bishop Domenico della Rovere in a house next to the church of S. Ilario, which had once been a parish church but had been suppressed and united with the Cathedral in 1565. Initial funding came from a 10% tax on all benefices in the diocese (cancelled in 1588), but eventually an endowment was created by attaching fourteen churches to the seminary to provide incomes for the clerics. The seminary had to be closed between 1630 and 1642, due to the war between France and the Emperor Charles V, fought mostly in Savoy. The number of students was supposed to be twenty-five, but in 1695 there were only twelve, and the premises were in a state of neglectful disrepair. Bishop Innocenzo Milliavacca (1693–1714), at the diocesan synod of November 1695, issued a set of statutes for the seminary and undertook repairs, and in 1699 the building was rededicated. In 1742 there were (from most advanced to least) 16 students in theology, 14 in philosophy, 2 in rhetoric, 16 in the humanities, and 9 in grammar. By 1762 the old building was completely decrepit, and Bishop Paolo Maurizio Caisotti, at the very beginning of his episcopate in 1762, launched the construction of a completely new building, which was completed in 1775. From 1764 to 1890 the seminary was under the direction of the Congregation of Oblate Priests of S. Eusebio of Villafranca d'Asti. Bishops of Asti to 1300 Pastor (c. 451) ... Maiorianus (c. 465) ... Benenatus (c. 680) ... Bernulfus (c. 800) ... Hilduinus (Ildoinus) (c. 876–c. 880) Josephus (881–887) Staurax (c. 892–899) Eilolfus