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| | CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Principality and Diocese of Monaco |
 | | Monaco dates from the time of the Phoenicians, who, on the promontory upon which the old town is built, erected a temple to the god Melkarth, called Monoicos, solitary, that is, not connected with the cult of Ashtoreth; whence the town derived its name, which is Moneque, in Provencal. |
 | | In the early Middle Ages the neighbouring lords often contended with each other for the possession of this important port, which later was occupied by the Saracens; it was taken from them in the tenth century by Count Grimaldi, in whose family the principality remains to this day. |
 | | Monaco belonged to the Diocese of Nice, but, in 1868, it became an abbey nullius, and at the instance of Prince Charles III, Leo XIII raised it to a diocese, immediately dependent upon the Holy See, making the abbot, Mgr. |
| www.newadvent.org /cathen/10447a.htm (513 words) |
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