[1][2] The diocese of San Severo was established on 9 March 1580 by Pope Gregory XIII, with the bull "In Eminenti".

The bull specifically states that the city of Civitas (Città),a town now called San Paolo di Civitate, was practically uninhabited and levelled to the ground, and that there were scarcely any traces of a cathedral.

[3] Therefore, the seat of the vacant bishopric and the name and title of cathedral was transferred to the town (oppidum) of San Severo, which was fortified by walls and towers, and had a moderate population and several nobles, as well as four parishes.

[11] The cathedral of San Severo, dedicated to the taking up (assumption) of the body of the Virgin Mary into heaven, was consecrated by Cardinal Vincenzo Maria Orsini, O.P., Archbishop of Manfredonia (Siponto).

[13] The cathedral was administered by a Chapter, composed of three dignities (the Archdeacon, the Archpriest and the Primicerius) and twelve Canons.

Following the Second Vatican Council, and in accordance with the norms laid out in the council's decree, Christus Dominus chapter 40,[25] the Episcopal Conference of Apulia petitioned the Holy See (Pope) that Foggio be made a metropolitan and that a new ecclesiastical province be organized; Foggia was, at the time, directly dependent upon the Holy See, even though it was the capital of a civil province of Italy.

After wide consultations among all affected parties, Pope John Paul II issued the bull "Sacrorum Antistites" on 30 April 1979, in which he, first of all, dissolved the ecclesiastical province of Siponto (Manfredonia), and elevated Foggia to the status of metropolitan see.