Archbishopric of Vienne
Encyclopedia
The Archbishopric of Vienne, named after its episcopal see Vienne
in the Isère
département of southern France, was a metropolitan Roman Catholic archdiocese. It is now part of the Archdiocese of Lyon.
The legend according to which Crescens, the first Bishop of Vienne, is identical with the Crescens
of Saint Paul
's Second Letter to Timothy, iv, 20 certainly postdates the letter of Pope Zosimus
to the Church of Arles (417) and the letter of the bishops of Gaul in 451; because, although both these documents allude to the claims to glory which Arles owes to St. Trophimus, neither of them mentions Crescens. Archbishop Ado of Vienne
(860-75) set afoot this legend of the Apostolic origin of the See of Vienne and put down St. Zachary
, St. Martin and St. Verus, later successors of Crescens, as belonging to the Apostolic period. This legend was confirmed by the Recueil des privilèges de l'Eglise de Viene, which, however, was not compiled under the supervision of the future Pope Callistus II, as M. Gundlach maintained, but a little earlier, about 1060, as Louis Duchesne
proved. This collection contains the pretended letters of a series of popes, from Pius I to Paschal II, and sustains the claims of the Church of Vienne. Le Livre épiscopal de l'archevêque Léger (1030-1070) included both the inventions of Ado and the forged letters of the Recueil.
It is historically certain that Verus, present at the Council of Arles in 314, was the fourth Bishop of Vienne. In the beginning the twelve cities of the two Roman Viennese provinces were under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Vienne, but when Arles was made an archbishopric, at the end of the fourth century, the see of Vienne grew less important. The disputes that later arose between it and the metropolitan of Arles concerning their respective antiquity are well-known in ecclesiastical history.
In 450 Pope Leo I
gave the Archbishop of Vienne the right to ordain the Bishops of Tarantaise, Valence
, Geneva
and Grenoble
. Many vicissitudes followed, and the territorial limit of the powers of Metropolitan of Vienne followed the wavering frontier of the Kingdom of Burgundy
and in 779, was considerably restricted by the organization of a new ecclesiastical province
comprising Tarantaise, Aosta
(in Italy) and Sitten (or Sion in French; in Switzerland).
In 1120 Callistus II, who had been Bishop of Vienne under the name of Guy of Burgundy, decided that the Archbishop of Vienne should have for suffragans the Bishop of Grenoble, Bishop of Valence, Bishop of Die, Bishop of Viviers, Bishop of Geneva, and Bishop of Maurienne; that the Archbishop of Tarantaise should obey him, notwithstanding the fact that this archbishop himself had suffragans, that he should exercise the primacy
over the province of Bourges, province of Narbonne, province of Bordeaux, province of Aix, province of Auch and province of Embrun, and that, as the metropolitans of both provinces already bore the title of primate, the Archbishop of Vienne should be known as the "Primate of Primates".
In 1023 the Archbishops of Vienne became secular lords paramount. They had the title of Count, making them prince-archbishops, and when in 1033 the Kingdom or Arles was reunited to the Holy Roman Empire
, they retained their independence and obtained from the empire the title of Archchancellor
s of the Kingdom or Arles (1157).
Besides the four Bishops of Vienne heretofore mentioned, others are honoured as saints. According to the chronology created by M. Duchesne, they are: St. Justus, St. Dionysius
, St. Paracodes, St. Florentius (about 374), St. Lupicinus, St. Simplicius (about 400), St. Paschasius, St. Nectarius, St. Nicetas (about 449), St. Mamertus (d. 475 or 476), who instituted the rogation days
, whose brother Claudianus Mamertus
was known as a theologian and poet, and during whose episcopate St. Leonianus held for forty years the post of grand penitentiary at Vienne; St. Avitus
(494-5 February, 518), St. Julianus (about 520-533), St. Pantagathus (about 538), St. Namatius (d. 559), St. Evantius (d. 584-6), St. Verus (586), St. Desiderius
(Didier) 596-611, St. Domnolus (about 614), St. Ætherius, St. Hecdicus, St. Chaoaldus (about 654-64), St. Bobolinus, St. Georgius, St. Deodatus, St. Blidrannus (about 680), St. Eoldus, St. Eobolinus, St. Barnardus
(810-41), noted for his conspiracies in favour of the sons of Louis the Pious
, St. Ado
(860-875), author of a universal history
and two martyrologies, St. Thibaud (end of the tenth century).
Among its later bishops were Guy of Burgundy (1084-1119), who became pope under the title of Callistus II, Christophe de Beaumont
, who occupied the see of Vienne for seven months of the year 1745 and afterwards became Archbishop of Paris
, Jean Georges Le Franc de Pompignan (1774-90), brother of the poet and a great enemy of the "philosophers", and also d'Aviau (1790-1801), illustrious because of his strong opposition to the civil constitution of the clergy and the first of the émigré bishops to re-enter France (May, 1797), returning under an assumed name and at the peril of his life.
Michael Servetus
was living in Vienne, whither he had been attracted by Archbishop Pierre Palmier, when Calvin
denounced him to the Inquisition
for his books. During the proceedings ordered by ecclesiastical authority of Vienne, Servetus fled to Switzerland (1553).
In 1605 the Jesuits founded a college at Vienne, and here Massillon
taught at the close of the 17th century. The churches of Saint-Pierre and Saint-André le Haut are ancient Benedictine foundations. The famous council of Vienne
was held at Vienne in 1311 (see also Templars
).
After the Napoleonic Concordat of 1801, the archiepiscopal title of Vienne passed to the see of Lyon, whose Metropolitan was henceforth called "Archbishop of Lyons and Vienne", although Vienne belongs to the Diocese of Grenoble.
Vienne, Isère
Vienne is a commune in south-eastern France, located south of Lyon, on the Rhône River. It is the second largest city after Grenoble in the Isère department, of which it is a subprefecture. The city's population was of 29,400 as of the 2001 census....
in the Isère
Isère
Isère is a department in the Rhône-Alpes region in the east of France named after the river Isère.- History :Isère is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790. It was created from part of the former province of Dauphiné...
département of southern France, was a metropolitan Roman Catholic archdiocese. It is now part of the Archdiocese of Lyon.
History
Crescens
Crescens was an individual who appears in the New Testament. He was said to be a missionary in Galatia and became a companion of Paul. The name 'Crescens' is the present-active participle of the Latin word crescere, and means 'increasing'....
of Saint Paul
Paul of Tarsus
Paul the Apostle , also known as Saul of Tarsus, is described in the Christian New Testament as one of the most influential early Christian missionaries, with the writings ascribed to him by the church forming a considerable portion of the New Testament...
's Second Letter to Timothy, iv, 20 certainly postdates the letter of Pope Zosimus
Pope Zosimus
Pope Saint Zosimus was Pope from March 18, 417 to December 26, 418 .He succeeded Innocent I, and was followed by Boniface I. Zosimus took a decided part in the protracted dispute in Gaul as to the jurisdiction of the see of Arles over that of Vienne, giving energetic decisions in favour of the...
to the Church of Arles (417) and the letter of the bishops of Gaul in 451; because, although both these documents allude to the claims to glory which Arles owes to St. Trophimus, neither of them mentions Crescens. Archbishop Ado of Vienne
Ado (archbishop)
Ado , archbishop of Vienne in Lotharingia, belonged to a famous Frankish house, and spent much of his middle life in Italy. He held his archiepiscopal seat from 850 till his death on the 16 December 874. Several of his letters are extant and reveal their writer as an energetic man of wide...
(860-75) set afoot this legend of the Apostolic origin of the See of Vienne and put down St. Zachary
Zachary, Bishop of Vienne
Zachary was the Christian Bishop of Vienne, Gaul during the Roman Empire, before he was martyred during the reign of Emperor Trajan.-Notes:...
, St. Martin and St. Verus, later successors of Crescens, as belonging to the Apostolic period. This legend was confirmed by the Recueil des privilèges de l'Eglise de Viene, which, however, was not compiled under the supervision of the future Pope Callistus II, as M. Gundlach maintained, but a little earlier, about 1060, as Louis Duchesne
Louis Duchesne
Louis Marie Olivier Duchesne was a French priest, philologist, teacher and a critical historian of Christianity and Roman Catholic liturgy and institutions....
proved. This collection contains the pretended letters of a series of popes, from Pius I to Paschal II, and sustains the claims of the Church of Vienne. Le Livre épiscopal de l'archevêque Léger (1030-1070) included both the inventions of Ado and the forged letters of the Recueil.
It is historically certain that Verus, present at the Council of Arles in 314, was the fourth Bishop of Vienne. In the beginning the twelve cities of the two Roman Viennese provinces were under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Vienne, but when Arles was made an archbishopric, at the end of the fourth century, the see of Vienne grew less important. The disputes that later arose between it and the metropolitan of Arles concerning their respective antiquity are well-known in ecclesiastical history.
In 450 Pope Leo I
Pope Leo I
Pope Leo I was pope from September 29, 440 to his death.He was an Italian aristocrat, and is the first pope of the Catholic Church to have been called "the Great". He is perhaps best known for having met Attila the Hun in 452, persuading him to turn back from his invasion of Italy...
gave the Archbishop of Vienne the right to ordain the Bishops of Tarantaise, Valence
Valence, Drôme
Valence is a commune in southeastern France, the capital of the Drôme department, situated on the left bank of the Rhône, south of Lyon on the railway to Marseilles.Its inhabitants are called Valentinois...
, Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
and Grenoble
Grenoble
Grenoble is a city in southeastern France, at the foot of the French Alps where the river Drac joins the Isère. Located in the Rhône-Alpes region, Grenoble is the capital of the department of Isère...
. Many vicissitudes followed, and the territorial limit of the powers of Metropolitan of Vienne followed the wavering frontier of the Kingdom of Burgundy
Kingdom of Burgundy
Burgundy is a historic region in Western Europe that has existed as a political entity in a number of forms with very different boundaries. Two of these entities - the first around the 6th century, the second around the 11th century - have been called the Kingdom of Burgundy; a third was very...
and in 779, was considerably restricted by the organization of a new ecclesiastical province
Ecclesiastical Province
An ecclesiastical province is a large jurisdiction of religious government, so named by analogy with a secular province, existing in certain hierarchical Christian churches, especially in the Catholic Church and Orthodox Churches and in the Anglican Communion...
comprising Tarantaise, Aosta
Aosta
Aosta is the principal city of the bilingual Aosta Valley in the Italian Alps, north-northwest of Turin. It is situated near the Italian entrance of the Mont Blanc Tunnel, at the confluence of the Buthier and the Dora Baltea, and at the junction of the Great and Little St. Bernard routes...
(in Italy) and Sitten (or Sion in French; in Switzerland).
In 1120 Callistus II, who had been Bishop of Vienne under the name of Guy of Burgundy, decided that the Archbishop of Vienne should have for suffragans the Bishop of Grenoble, Bishop of Valence, Bishop of Die, Bishop of Viviers, Bishop of Geneva, and Bishop of Maurienne; that the Archbishop of Tarantaise should obey him, notwithstanding the fact that this archbishop himself had suffragans, that he should exercise the primacy
Primate (religion)
Primate is a title or rank bestowed on some bishops in certain Christian churches. Depending on the particular tradition, it can denote either jurisdictional authority or ceremonial precedence ....
over the province of Bourges, province of Narbonne, province of Bordeaux, province of Aix, province of Auch and province of Embrun, and that, as the metropolitans of both provinces already bore the title of primate, the Archbishop of Vienne should be known as the "Primate of Primates".
In 1023 the Archbishops of Vienne became secular lords paramount. They had the title of Count, making them prince-archbishops, and when in 1033 the Kingdom or Arles was reunited to the Holy Roman Empire
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...
, they retained their independence and obtained from the empire the title of Archchancellor
Archchancellor
An archchancellor or chief chancellor was a title given to the highest dignitary of the Holy Roman Empire, and also used occasionally during the Middle Ages to denote an official who supervised the work of chancellors or notaries....
s of the Kingdom or Arles (1157).
Besides the four Bishops of Vienne heretofore mentioned, others are honoured as saints. According to the chronology created by M. Duchesne, they are: St. Justus, St. Dionysius
Dionysius of Vienne
Dionysius was Bishop of Vienne. He was among the ten missionaries sent by Pope St. Sixtus I with St. Peregrinus to Gaul. Dionysius later succeeded St. Justus as Bishop of Vienne, in Dauphiné, France.-References:...
, St. Paracodes, St. Florentius (about 374), St. Lupicinus, St. Simplicius (about 400), St. Paschasius, St. Nectarius, St. Nicetas (about 449), St. Mamertus (d. 475 or 476), who instituted the rogation days
Rogation days
Rogation days are, in the calendar of the Western Church, four days traditionally set apart for solemn processions to invoke God's mercy. They are April 25, the Major Rogation, coinciding with St...
, whose brother Claudianus Mamertus
Claudianus Mamertus
Claudianus Mamertus was a Gallo-Roman theologian and the brother of St. Mamertus, Bishop of Vienne.Descended probably from one of the leading families of the country, Claudianus Mamertus relinquished his worldly goods and embraced the monastic life...
was known as a theologian and poet, and during whose episcopate St. Leonianus held for forty years the post of grand penitentiary at Vienne; St. Avitus
Avitus of Vienne
Alcimus Ecdicius Avitus was a Latin poet and archbishop of Vienne in Gaul.Avitus was born of a prominent Gallo-Roman senatorial family in the kinship of Emperor Avitus.-Life:...
(494-5 February, 518), St. Julianus (about 520-533), St. Pantagathus (about 538), St. Namatius (d. 559), St. Evantius (d. 584-6), St. Verus (586), St. Desiderius
Desiderius of Vienne
Desiderius of Vienne was archbishop of Vienne and a chronicler.In conflict with Brunhilda of Austrasia, the legitimacy of whose children he had attacked, he was deposed in 603 when she combined forces with Aridius, bishop of Lyon...
(Didier) 596-611, St. Domnolus (about 614), St. Ætherius, St. Hecdicus, St. Chaoaldus (about 654-64), St. Bobolinus, St. Georgius, St. Deodatus, St. Blidrannus (about 680), St. Eoldus, St. Eobolinus, St. Barnardus
Bernard of Vienne
Saint Bernard was bishop of Vienne from 810 until his death.Before his monastic career, Bernard was a soldier under Charlemagne. Death of his mother and father after 7 years of his military service had deep impact on Bernard and caused him to spent all his wealth on charity purposes, dividing it...
(810-41), noted for his conspiracies in favour of the sons of Louis the Pious
Louis the Pious
Louis the Pious , also called the Fair, and the Debonaire, was the King of Aquitaine from 781. He was also King of the Franks and co-Emperor with his father, Charlemagne, from 813...
, St. Ado
Ado (archbishop)
Ado , archbishop of Vienne in Lotharingia, belonged to a famous Frankish house, and spent much of his middle life in Italy. He held his archiepiscopal seat from 850 till his death on the 16 December 874. Several of his letters are extant and reveal their writer as an energetic man of wide...
(860-875), author of a universal history
Universal history
Universal history is basic to the Western tradition of historiography, especially the Abrahamic wellspring of that tradition. Simply stated, universal history is the presentation of the history of humankind as a whole, as a coherent unit.-Ancient authors:...
and two martyrologies, St. Thibaud (end of the tenth century).
Among its later bishops were Guy of Burgundy (1084-1119), who became pope under the title of Callistus II, Christophe de Beaumont
Christophe de Beaumont
Christophe de Beaumont , French ecclesiastic and archbishop of Paris, was a cadet of the Les Adrets and Saint-Quentin branch of the illustrious Dauphin family of Beaumont....
, who occupied the see of Vienne for seven months of the year 1745 and afterwards became Archbishop of Paris
Archbishop of Paris
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Paris is one of twenty-three archdioceses of the Roman Catholic Church in France. The original diocese is traditionally thought to have been created in the 3rd century by St. Denis and corresponded with the Civitas Parisiorum; it was elevated to an archdiocese on...
, Jean Georges Le Franc de Pompignan (1774-90), brother of the poet and a great enemy of the "philosophers", and also d'Aviau (1790-1801), illustrious because of his strong opposition to the civil constitution of the clergy and the first of the émigré bishops to re-enter France (May, 1797), returning under an assumed name and at the peril of his life.
Michael Servetus
Michael Servetus
Michael Servetus was a Spanish theologian, physician, cartographer, and humanist. He was the first European to correctly describe the function of pulmonary circulation...
was living in Vienne, whither he had been attracted by Archbishop Pierre Palmier, when Calvin
John Calvin
John Calvin was an influential French theologian and pastor during the Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the system of Christian theology later called Calvinism. Originally trained as a humanist lawyer, he broke from the Roman Catholic Church around 1530...
denounced him to the Inquisition
Inquisition
The Inquisition, Inquisitio Haereticae Pravitatis , was the "fight against heretics" by several institutions within the justice-system of the Roman Catholic Church. It started in the 12th century, with the introduction of torture in the persecution of heresy...
for his books. During the proceedings ordered by ecclesiastical authority of Vienne, Servetus fled to Switzerland (1553).
In 1605 the Jesuits founded a college at Vienne, and here Massillon
Jean Baptiste Massillon
Jean Baptiste Massillon was a French Catholic bishop and famous preacher, Bishop of Clermont from 1717 until his death.-Early years:Massillon was born at Hyères in Provence where his father was a royal notary...
taught at the close of the 17th century. The churches of Saint-Pierre and Saint-André le Haut are ancient Benedictine foundations. The famous council of Vienne
Council of Vienne
The Council of Vienne was the fifteenth Ecumenical Council of the Roman Catholic Church that met between 1311 and 1312 in Vienne. Its principal act was to withdraw papal support for the Knights Templar on the instigation of Philip IV of France.-Background:...
was held at Vienne in 1311 (see also Templars
Knights Templar
The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon , commonly known as the Knights Templar, the Order of the Temple or simply as Templars, were among the most famous of the Western Christian military orders...
).
After the Napoleonic Concordat of 1801, the archiepiscopal title of Vienne passed to the see of Lyon, whose Metropolitan was henceforth called "Archbishop of Lyons and Vienne", although Vienne belongs to the Diocese of Grenoble.
Archbishops
- Blessed Burchard ca. 1010-ca. 1030
- Léger 1030-1070
- Armand 1070-1076
- Warmond 1077-1081
- Gontard 1082-1084
- Guido of Burgundy 1088-1119
- Peter I. 1121-1125
- Stephan I. ca. 1125-ca. 1145
- Humbert I. D'Albon 1146-1147
- Hugo I. ca. 1148-1155
- Stephan II. ca. 1155-1163
- Guillaume de Clermont 1163-1166?
- Robert de La Tour du Pin ca. 1170-1195
- Aynard de Moirans 1195-ca. 1205
- Humbert II. 1206-1215
- Bournon 1216-1218
- Jean de Bernin 1218-1266
- Guy d'Auvergne de Clermont ca. 1268-1278 (House of Auvergne)
- Guillaume de Livron (or de Valence) 1283-ca. 1305
- Briand de Lavieu (Lagnieu) 1306-1317
- Simon d'Archiac 1319-1320, Cardinal
- Guillaume de Laudun 1321-1327 (then Archbishop of Toulouse)
- Bertrand de La Chapelle 1327-1352
- Pierre Bertrand 1352-1362
- Pierre de Gratia 1362-1363 (also Archbishop of Naples)
- Louis de Villars 1363-1377
- Humbert de Montchal 1377-1395
- Thibaud de Rougemont 1395-1405 (also Archbishop of Besançon)
- Jean de Nant 1405-1423 (also Bishop of Paris)
- Jean de Norry 1423-1438 (also Archbishop of Besançon)
- Geoffroy Vassal 1440-1444 (then Archbishop of Lyon)
- Jean Gérard de Poitiers 1448-ca. 1452 (also Bishop of Valence)
- Jean du Chastel 1452-1453 (also Bishop of Nîmes)
- Antoine de Poisieu (Poisieux) 1453-1473, died 1495
- Guy de Poisieu (Poisieux) 1473-1480
- Astorge Aimery 1480-1482
- Ângelo Catho de Supino 1482-1495
- Antoine de Clermont 1496-1506, died 1509
- Frédéric de Saint-Severin 1506-1515, Cardinal
- Alexandre de Saint-Severin 1515-1527
- Scaramuccia TrivulzioScaramuccia TrivulzioScaramuccia Trivulzio was a cardinal of the Catholic Church. He was bishop of Como in Italy, from 1508 to 1518. He was then bishop of Piacenza, from 1519 to 1525....
March to August 1527 - Pierre Palmier (Paumier) 1528-1554
- Charles de MarillacCharles de MarillacCharles de Marillac was a French prelate and diplomat.-Career:De Marillac was, by the age of twenty-two, an advocate in parliament in Paris...
1557-1560 (also Bishop of Vannes) - Jean de La Brosse 1561-1567 oder 1569
- Vespasien Gribaldi 1569-1575
- Pierre de Villars I 1576-1587
- Pierre de Villars II 1587-1598
- Jérôme de Villars 1598-1626
- Pierre de Villars III 1626-1662
- Henri de Villars 1662-1693
- Armand de Montmorin de Saint-Hérem 1694-1713
- François de Bertons de Crillon 1714-1720
- Henri Oswald de La Tour D`Auvergne 1721-1745
- Christophe de BeaumontChristophe de BeaumontChristophe de Beaumont , French ecclesiastic and archbishop of Paris, was a cadet of the Les Adrets and Saint-Quentin branch of the illustrious Dauphin family of Beaumont....
du Repaire 1745-1746 (also Archbishop of ParisArchbishop of ParisThe Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Paris is one of twenty-three archdioceses of the Roman Catholic Church in France. The original diocese is traditionally thought to have been created in the 3rd century by St. Denis and corresponded with the Civitas Parisiorum; it was elevated to an archdiocese on...
) - Jean d'Yse de Saléon 1747-1751 (also Bishop of Rodez)
- Guillaume d'Hugues 1751-1774
- Jacques de Condorcet ? 1754-
- Jean Georges Lefranc de PompignanJean Georges Lefranc de PompignanJean Georges Lefranc de Pompignan was a French clergyman, younger brother of Jean-Jacques Lefranc, Marquis de Pompignan.Pompignan was the archbishop of Vienne against whose defence of the faith Voltaire launched the good-natured mockery of Les Lettres d'un Quaker...
1774-1789 - Charles François d'Aviau du Bois-de-Sanzay 1790-1801