[6] Ugo Benigni attributes this interest to the numbers of bishops and monks who emigrated from Africa as a result of the policy of the Arian Vandals to the Orthodox Christians.

In the ninth century, the patriarch of Constantinople raised the See of Palermo to the rank of metropolitan of all of Sicily.

A protest against these actions was entered by Pope Nicholas I (858–867),[7] in a letter of 25 September 860 to the Emperor Michael III.

[11] In 930, there was a seminary in operation under the direction of the archbishop of Palermo; when Eustatius was about to pay the 12,000 'krus' per annum which was owed, the collector, who noticed the extreme poverty of the students, gave part of the funds to the archbishop for the benefit of the seminary.

[16] Arab invasions of Sicily had begun at the beginning of the eighth century with the capture of the island of Cossura (modern Pantelleria).

The serious conquest of the island began in 827, from the Tunisian port of Susa, led by Asad Ibn Al-Furàt.

[21] On Christmas Day, 1130, Count Roger II was crowned King of Sicily in the Cathedral in Palermo.

One source names Count Roger of Capua, another Archbishop Peter of Palermo.

The Cathedral of Palermo is dedicated to the Bodily Assumption of the Virgin Mary into Heaven.