Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chambéry–Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne–Tarentaise
The Archdiocese of Chambéry, Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne, and Tarentaise (Latin: Archidioecesis Camberiensis, Maruianensis et Tarantasiensis; French: Archidiocèse de Chambéry, Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne et Tarentaise) is a Latin Church archdiocese of the Catholic Church in France and a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Lyon. The archepiscopal see is Chambéry Cathedral, located in the city of Chambéry. The archdiocese encompasses the department of Savoie, in the Region of Rhône-Alpes.
Archdiocese of Chambéry, Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne, and Tarentaise Archidioecesis Camberiensis, Maruianensis et Tarantasiensis Archidiocèse de Chambéry, Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne et Tarentaise | |
|---|---|
| Location | |
| Country | France |
| Ecclesiastical province | Lyon |
| Metropolitan | Archdiocese of Lyon |
| Statistics | |
| Area | 7,460 km2 (2,880 sq mi) |
| Population - Total - Catholics | (as of 2013) 454,000 (est.) 399,425 (92.1%) |
| Parishes | 141 |
| Information | |
| Denomination | Roman Catholic |
| Sui iuris church | Latin Church |
| Rite | Roman Rite |
| Established | United: 26 April 1966 |
| Cathedral | Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis de Sales in Chambéry |
| Co-cathedral | Co-Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne Co-Cathedral of St. Peter in Moûtiers |
| Patron saint | Saint Francis de Sales Saint John the Baptist Saint Peter and Saint Paul |
| Secular priests | 75 40 (Religious Orders) 30 Permanent Deacons |
| Current leadership | |
| Pope | Francis |
| Archbishop | Thibault Verny |
| Metropolitan Archbishop | Olivier de Germay |
| Website | |
| Website of the Archdiocese | |
The diocese was created in 1779, from the Diocese of Grenoble, after a complicated earlier history. It became an archdiocese in 1817, though at that point it was not within French territory.
History edit
In 1467, in the ducal chapel built for the relic which became known as the Shroud of Turin (Santo Sudario) by Amadeus IX of Savoy, and the Duchess Yolande of France, Pope Paul II erected a chapter of canons directly subject to the Holy See, and his successor Pope Sixtus IV, united this chapter with the deanery of Savoy.
In 1515 Pope Leo X published a papal bull making the deanery an archbishopric, but Francis I of France objected, and it was only in 1775 that this deanery was separated from the Diocese of Grenoble by Pope Pius VI, who, in 1779, created it a bishopric with the see at Chambéry.
The Duchy of Savoy, politically subject to the King of Sardinia, had thenceforth four bishoprics: Chambéry, the diocese of Saint-Jean de Maurienne, the diocese of Tarentaise, and Geneva (with residence at the diocese of Annecy).
French Revolution edit
In October, 1792, the commissaries to the Convention formed the constitutional Diocese of Mont-Blanc, with Annecy as the see and Lyons as the metropolitan. The four Savoyard dioceses were suppressed. The election of a new constitutional bishop was ordered.[1] On 8 February 1793, they published a proclamation concerning the religious affairs of the constitutional diocese, which was in fact the local application of the provisions of the Civil Constitution of the Clergy of 1789. Each member of the clergy was required to swear an oath to the Constitution or be deported from French territory; an exception was made for clerics over sixty years of age. Bishop Conseil refused the oath. He was 77, and therefore escaped deportation, but was placed under house arrest in his episcopal palace, where he died on 29 September 1793.[2] Unaware of the bishop's death, Pope Pius VI wrote a letter on 5 October 1793, commiserating with and encouraging the cathedral Chapter of Chambéry in their sufferings, and warnihg them of the dangers of schism.[3]
Under severe pressure from First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte,[4] Pope Pius VII issued the bull "Qui Christi Domini vices" on 29 November 1801. The bull first abolished all the metropolitan archdioces and dioceses in France, and then recreated fifty of them, arranged in ten metropolitan ecclesiastical districts; the others were suppressed. In the metropolitanate of Lyon, the pope created suffragan dioceses of [5] The Concordat of 1802 created a Diocese of Chambéry and Geneva, suffragan of the archdiocese of Lyons.
Restoration edit
The Bull "Beati Petri," signed by Pope Pius VII on 17 July 1817, made Chambéry, which had been assigned to the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861) by the Congress of Vienna, the seat of an archdiocese, with the diocese of Aosta as a suffragan.[6] The Dioceses of Annecy (re-established in 1822), Saint-Jean-Maurienne, and Tarentaise (in 1825), soon also became suffragans of Chambéry. After the annexation of Savoy to France, in 1860, this condition continued, except that the Diocese of Aosta was made a suffragan of the archdiocese of Turin.
The Cistercian Abbey of Hautecombe, founded in 1135, is one of the burial places of the House of Savoy. The relic known as the Holy Shroud of Christ was kept at Chambéry until 1598, in which year the Duke of Savoy had it transported to Turin, where St. Charles Borromeo wished to venerate it. Notre-Dame de Myans (antedating the twelfth century), where St. Francis de Sales officiated, and Notre-Dame de l'Aumone at Rumilly (thirteenth century), whither Francis I of France went as a pilgrim, are still places of pilgrimage.
The Sisters of St. Joseph, an order devoted to teaching and charitable work, established a house, which became a mother-house, at Chambéry in 1812.
On 16 December 2002 the Archdiocese of Chambéry became a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Lyon and ceased to be a Metropolitan.
Bishop edit
- 1780–1793 Michel Conseil[7]
Archbishops edit
- 1802–1805, René de Moustier de Mérinville[8]
- 1805–1823, Irénée-Yves Desolle[9]
- 1824–1827, François-Marie Bigex[10]
- 1828–1839, Antoine Martinet, also bishop of Tarentaise
- 1840–1873, Cardinal Alexis Billiet[11]
- 1873–1880, Pierre-Athanase Pichenot, also bishop of Tarbes
- 1881–1893, François-Albert Leuillieux, also bishop of Carcassonne
- 1803–1907, François Hautin, also bishop of Évreux
- April–August, 1907, Gustave-Adolphe de Pélacot, also bishop of Troyes
- 1907–1914, Cardinal François-Virgile Dubillard, also bishop of Quimper-Cornouailles
- 1915–1936, Dominique Castellan, also bishop of Digne
- 1937–1947, Pierre-Marie Durieux, also bishop of Viviers
- 1947–1966 Louis-Marie-Fernand de Bazelaire de Ruppierre
- 1966–1985, André Bontemps, also bishop of Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne
- 1985–2000, Claude Feidt, also archbishop of Aix
- 2000–2008, Laurent Ulrich, also archbishop of Lille
- 2009–2022, Philippe Ballot
See also edit
References edit
- ^ Paul Pisani, Répertoire biographique de l'épiscopat constitutionnel (1791-1802), (in French), (Paris: A. Picard 1907), pp. 306-310.
- ^ Billiet, pp. 53-55.
- ^ Augustin Theiner, Documents inédits relatifs aux affaires religieuses de la France, 1790 à 1800, (in French), Vol. 1 ((Paris: Didot 1857), pp. 202-203.
- ^ Pius VII, Bullarii Romani continuatio, (in Latin), Tomus decimus primus (Volume 11), (Rome: ex typographia Reverendae Camerae Apostolicae, 1849), pp. 245-249, at p. 245 § 2 "Hae fuerunt causae, quae Nos superioribus mensibus conventionem inter hanc apostolicam Sedem, et primum consulem reipublicae Gallicanae ineundamm impulerunt, eae eaedem cogunt nunc ad coetera illa progredi...."
- ^ Bullarii Romani continuatio,, pp. 245-249, at p. 247 § 8: "ecclesiam archiepiscopalem Lugdunensem, et ecclesias episcopales Mimatensem, Grationopolitanam, Vanentinensem, et Camberiensem, quas ei in suffraganeas assignamus...."
- ^ Bullarii Romani continuatio, (in Latin), Tomus decimus quartus (Volume 14), (Rome: ex typographia Reverendae Camerae Apostolicae, 1849), pp. 356-357, § 36.
- ^ Conseil was appointed in the papal consistory of 20 March 1780. He died a prisoner of the French revolution on 29 September 1793. Ritzler & Sefrin Hierarchia catholica VI, p. 162 with note 2.
- ^ Mérinville was nominated Bishop of Dijon by King Louis XVI on 25 February 1787, and confirmed by Pope Pius VI on 23 April 1787. He was nominated bishop of Chambery by First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte on 12 April 1802, and confirmed by Pope Pius VII on 4 May 1802. He resigned in January 1805, for reasons of health. Billiet, pp. 387-414. Ritzler & Sefrin VI, p. 198; VII, p. 147.
- ^ Desolle (also spelled De Solle and Dessole) was bishop of Digne from 1802 to 1805. He was transferred to the diocese of Chambéry by consular decree on 28 January 1802, and preconised (approved) by Pope Pius VII on 22 March. He was summoned to the Council of Paris in 1811 and attended; he made a proposal that a delegation approach the emperor at Saint-Cloud and demand the release of the imprisoned Pius VII. His resignation from the archdiocese on the grounds of ill health was announced on 26 November 1823. He retired to Paris, where he died on 30 December 1824. Honoré Fisquet, La France pontificale (Gallia Christiana), Metropole d'Aix. Digne, (in French), (Paris: Repos 1864), pp. 142-144. Ritzler & Sefrin, Hierarchia catholica VII, pp. 147, 176.
- ^ Bishop Bigex had previously been bishop of Pinerolo from 1817 to 1824. Ritzler & Sefrin, Hierarchia catholica VII, pp. 147, 307.
- ^ Billiet had been bishop of Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne from 1825 to 1840. He was made a cardinal by Pope Pius IX in 1861. Bräuer, Martin (2014). Handbuch der Kardinäle: 1846-2012 (in German). Berlin: De Gruyter. p. 61. ISBN 978-3-11-026947-5.
Bibliography edit
Reference works edit
- Gams, Pius Bonifatius (1873). Series episcoporum Ecclesiae catholicae: quotquot innotuerunt a beato Petro apostolo. Ratisbon: Typis et Sumptibus Georgii Josephi Manz. (Use with caution; obsolete)
- Ritzler, Remigius; Sefrin, Pirminus (1952). Hierarchia catholica medii et recentis aevi (in Latin). Vol. V (1667-1730). Patavii: Messagero di S. Antonio. Retrieved 2016-07-06.
- Ritzler, Remigius; Sefrin, Pirminus (1958). Hierarchia catholica medii et recentis aevi (in Latin). Vol. VI (1730-1799). Patavii: Messagero di S. Antonio. Retrieved 2016-07-06.
- Ritzler, Remigius; Sefrin, Pirminus (1968). Hierarchia Catholica medii et recentioris aevi (in Latin). Vol. VII (1800–1846). Monasterii: Libr. Regensburgiana.
- Remigius Ritzler; Pirminus Sefrin (1978). Hierarchia catholica Medii et recentioris aevi (in Latin). Vol. VIII (1846–1903). Il Messaggero di S. Antonio.
- Pięta, Zenon (2002). Hierarchia catholica medii et recentioris aevi (in Latin). Vol. IX (1903–1922). Padua: Messagero di San Antonio. ISBN 978-88-250-1000-8.
Studies edit
- Billiet, Alexis (1865). Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire ecclésiastique du diocèse de Chambéry. (in French). Chambéry: F. Puthod, 1865.
- Jean, Armand (1891). Les évêques et les archevêques de France depuis 1682 jusqu'à 1801 (in French). Paris: A. Picard.
- Karmin, Otto (1920). Le transfert de Chambéry à Fribourg de l'Evêché de Genève (1815-1819): recueil de documents tirés des Archives suisses. (in French). Genève: Impr. centrale, 1920.
- Lovie, Jacques (1979). Les Diocèses de Chambéry, Tarentaise, Maurienne. (in French). Paris: Editions Beauchesne, 1979. [Histoire des Diocèses de France. Volume 11].
- Pelletier, Victor (1864). Des chapitres cathédraux en France devant l'Église et devant l'État. (in French). Paris: J. Lecoffre, 1864.
External links edit
- Goyau, Georges. "Chambéry (Camberium)." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 3. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1908. Accessed 23 February 2024.