Diocese of Autun
Encyclopedia
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Autun, is a diocese
Diocese
A diocese is the district or see under the supervision of a bishop. It is divided into parishes.An archdiocese is more significant than a diocese. An archdiocese is presided over by an archbishop whose see may have or had importance due to size or historical significance...

 of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...

 in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. The diocese comprises the entire Department of Saone et Loire, in the Region
Régions of France
France is divided into 27 administrative regions , 22 of which are in Metropolitan France, and five of which are overseas. Corsica is a territorial collectivity , but is considered a region in mainstream usage, and is even shown as such on the INSEE website...

 of Bourgogne
Bourgogne
Burgundy is one of the 27 regions of France.The name comes from the Burgundians, an ancient Germanic people who settled in the area in early Middle-age. The region of Burgundy is both larger than the old Duchy of Burgundy and smaller than the area ruled by the Dukes of Burgundy, from the modern...

.

It was suffragan to the Archdiocese of Lyon under the old regime. The bishopric of Chalon-sur-Saône (since Roman times) and (early medieval) bishopric of Mâcon
Bishopric of Mâcon
The former bishopric of Mâcon was located in Burgundy.-History:The city of Mâcon, formerly the capital of the Mâconnais, now of the Department of Saône-et-Loire, became a civitas in the 5th century, when it was separated from the Æduan territory...

, also suffragans of Lyon, were united to Autun
Autun
Autun is a commune in the Saône-et-Loire department in Burgundy in eastern France. It was founded during the early Roman Empire as Augustodunum. Autun marks the easternmost extent of the Umayyad campaign in Europe.-Early history:...

 after the French Revolution, and it then was shortly suffragan to the Archbishop of Besançon in 1802, but since 1822 again to Lyon.

History

Christian teaching reached Autun
Autun
Autun is a commune in the Saône-et-Loire department in Burgundy in eastern France. It was founded during the early Roman Empire as Augustodunum. Autun marks the easternmost extent of the Umayyad campaign in Europe.-Early history:...

 at a very early period, as we know from the famous funeral inscription, in classical Greek, of a certain Pectorius inscription of Pectorius which dates from the 3rd century. It was found in 1839 in the cemetery of St. Peter l'Estrier at Autun and makes reference to baptism and the Holy Eucharist.

Local recensions of the "Passion" of St. Symphorianus of Autun exhibit St. Polycarp on the eve of the persecution of Septimius Severus
Septimius Severus
Septimius Severus , also known as Severus, was Roman Emperor from 193 to 211. Severus was born in Leptis Magna in the province of Africa. As a young man he advanced through the customary succession of offices under the reigns of Marcus Aurelius and Commodus. Severus seized power after the death of...

, assigning to St. Irenaeus
Irenaeus
Saint Irenaeus , was Bishop of Lugdunum in Gaul, then a part of the Roman Empire . He was an early church father and apologist, and his writings were formative in the early development of Christian theology...

 two priests and a deacon (Saints Benignus
Benignus of Dijon
Saint Benignus of Dijon was a martyr honored as the patron saint and first herald of Christianity of Dijon, Burgundy . His feast falls, with All Saints, on November 1; his name stands under this date in the Martyrology of St. Jerome. No particulars concerning the person and life of Benignus were...

, Andochius and Thyrsus), all three of whom depart for Autun. St. Benignus goes on to Langres
Langres
Langres is a commune in north-eastern France. It is a subprefecture of the Haute-Marne département in the Champagne-Ardenne region.-History:As the capital of the Romanized Gallic tribe the Lingones, it was called Andematunnum, then Lingones, and now Langres.The town is built on a limestone...

, while the others remain at Autun. According to this legendary cycle, which dates from about the first half of the 6th century, it was not then believed at Autun that the city was an episcopal see in the time of St. Irenaeus (c. 140-211). St. Amator, whom Autun tradition designates as its first bishop, probably occupied the see about 250.

The first bishop known to history is Saint Reticius, an ecclesiastical writer, and contemporary of the Emperor Constantine I (306-337). The Bishop of Autun enjoyed until the late 20th century the right of wearing the (normally archiepiscopal) pallium
Pallium
The pallium is an ecclesiastical vestment in the Roman Catholic Church, originally peculiar to the Pope, but for many centuries bestowed by him on metropolitans and primates as a symbol of the jurisdiction delegated to them by the Holy See. In that context it has always remained unambiguously...

, in virtue of a privilege accorded to the see in 599 by pope St. Gregory the Great (590-604).

During the Merovingian era it was a politically important see. Two Bishops of Autun figured prominently in political affairs: St. Syagrius of Autun
Syagrius of Autun
Saint Syagrius was a bishop of Autun. His feast day is August 27 .He was bishop of Autun from around 560 until his death and travelled to Nanterre with Gontram for the baptism of Clotaire II. He provided hospitality to Saint Augustine of Canterbury on the latter's way to England...

, bishop during the second half of the 6th century, a contemporary of St. Germanus, bishop of Paris
Germain of Paris
Saint Germain was a bishop of Paris, who was canonized in 754. He is known in his early vita as pater et pastor populi, rendered in modern times as the "Father of the Poor".-Biography:...

, who was a native of Autun, and Leodegar
Leodegar
Saint Leodegar or Leger, Bishop of Autun , was the great opponent of Ebroin— the mayor of the Palace of Neustria— and the leader of the faction of Austrasian great nobles in the struggles for hegemony over the waning Merovingian dynasty...

 (St. Léger), bishop from 663 to 680, who came into conflict with Ebroin
Ebroin
Ebroin was the Frankish mayor of the palace of Neustria on two occasions; firstly from 658 to his deposition in 673 and secondly from 675 to his death in 680 or 681...

 and put to death by order of Theoderic III.

The Abbaye de St. Martin was founded in 602
602
Year 602 was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 602 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.- Byzantine Empire :* Maurice, at war with the Avars and...

 by Queen Brunhilda
Brunhilda of Austrasia
Brunhilda was a Visigothic princess, married to king Sigebert I of Austrasia who ruled the eastern kingdoms of Austrasia and Burgundy in the names of her sons and grandsons...

 of Austrasia
Austrasia
Austrasia formed the northeastern portion of the Kingdom of the Merovingian Franks, comprising parts of the territory of present-day eastern France, western Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Metz served as its capital, although some Austrasian kings ruled from Rheims, Trier, and...

, and it was there that her remains were interred - the deposed monarch having been repeatedy racked for three days, torn apart by four horses, and then burnt on a pyre.
When the abbey was destroyed in 1793, Brunhilda's sarcophagus was removed, and it is now in the Musée Lapidaire in Avignon
Avignon
Avignon is a French commune in southeastern France in the départment of the Vaucluse bordered by the left bank of the Rhône river. Of the 94,787 inhabitants of the city on 1 January 2010, 12 000 live in the ancient town centre surrounded by its medieval ramparts.Often referred to as the...

.

Gabriel de Roquette was bishop from 1666 till 1702. According to Saint-Simon
Louis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon
Louis de Rouvroy commonly known as Saint-Simon was a French soldier, diplomatist and writer of memoirs, was born in Paris...

, he stood model for Molière
Molière
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, known by his stage name Molière, was a French playwright and actor who is considered to be one of the greatest masters of comedy in Western literature...

's Tartuffe
Tartuffe
Tartuffe is a comedy by Molière. It is one of his most famous plays.-History:Molière wrote Tartuffe in 1664...

.

Much later, Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, the future diplomat, was Bishop of Autun from 1788 to 1790, when he resigned.

The bishop appointed in 1882 was Cardinal Perraud (d. 1906), member of the French Academy.

In the Diocese of Autun are yet to be seen the ruins of the Benedictine
Benedictine
Benedictine refers to the spirituality and consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century for the cenobitic communities he founded in central Italy. The most notable of these is Monte Cassino, the first monastery founded by Benedict...

 Abbey of Tournus and the great Abbey of Cluny, to which 2,000 monasteries were subject, and which gave to the Church the great pope Gregory VII
Pope Gregory VII
Pope St. Gregory VII , born Hildebrand of Sovana , was Pope from April 22, 1073, until his death. One of the great reforming popes, he is perhaps best known for the part he played in the Investiture Controversy, his dispute with Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor affirming the primacy of the papal...

 (1073–85). Gelasius II (1118–19) died at Cluny, and there also was held the conclave that elected Calixtus II (1119–24).

The devotion to the Sacred Heart
Sacred Heart
The Sacred Heart is one of the most famous religious devotions to Jesus' physical heart as the representation of His divine love for Humanity....

 originated in the Visitation Convent at Paray-le-Monial
Paray-le-Monial
Paray-le-Monial is a commune in the Saône-et-Loire department in the region of Burgundy in eastern France.-History:Paray existed before the monks who gave it its surname of Le Monial, for when Count Lambert of Chalon, together with his wife Adelaide and his friend Mayeul de Cluny, founded there in...

, founded in 1644, and now the object of frequent pilgrimages.

20th century incumbents include: Armand Le Bourgeois
Armand Le Bourgeois
Armand Le Bourgeois was bishop of Autun in central France from 1966 until his retirement in 1987. The last bishop of Autun to wear the pallium, he was prominent in ecumenical relations. He chaired an episcopal committee that decided to offer communion in Catholic churches to Anglicans who found...

 (1966–1987).

The current bishop is Benoit Rivière.

To 1000

  • c.270: Saint Amator I (Amatre I.)
  • c.273: Saint Martin I.
  • c.310–334: Saint Reticius
    Reticius
    Saint Reticius was a bishop of Autun, the first one known to history, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia...

     (Rhétice)
  • 355: Saint Cassian of Autun
    Cassian of Autun
    Saint Cassian of Autun was a 4th century bishop of Autun. He may have been an Egyptian by birth. He traveled to Autun and was a follower of Saint Reticius, bishop of Autun....

     (Cassien)
  • c.374: Saint Egemoine
  • c.420: Saint Simplicius (Simplice)
  • Saint Evantius (Evance)
  • Saint Léonce
  • c.450–490: Saint Euphrone
  • c.495: Flavichon
  • c.517: Pragmace
  • Saint Proculus I.
  • Valeolus
  • Proculus II.
  • c.533–538: Agrippin
  • 540–549: Nectaire
  • Eupard
  • † 560: Rémi or Bénigne
  • c.560–600: Syagrius
    Syagrius
    Syagrius was the last Roman official in Gaul, whose defeat by king Clovis I of the Franks is considered the end of Roman rule outside of Italy. He came to this position through inheritance, for his father was Aegidius, the last Roman magister militum per Gallias...

  • Lefaste
  • Flavien
  • 625–630: Auspice
  • Racho of Autun
    Racho of Autun
    Saint Racho of Autun is venerated as a Roman Catholic saint. He was a bishop of Autun, with a feast day on 25 January. According to Pierre Bolle, the anhistorical Saint Roch is a hagiographic doublet of Saint Racho of Autun...

  • c.657: Ferréol
  • 659–678: Saint Leodegar
    Leodegar
    Saint Leodegar or Leger, Bishop of Autun , was the great opponent of Ebroin— the mayor of the Palace of Neustria— and the leader of the faction of Austrasian great nobles in the struggles for hegemony over the waning Merovingian dynasty...

  • c.678–c.690: Hermenarius
  • 692: Ansbert
  • c.732: Vascon
  • Amatre II.
  • c.744: Morannus
  • c.755: Gairon
  • 765: Hiddon
  • Rainaud or Renaud I.
  • Martin II.
  • Alderic
  • 815–c.840: Modoin
  • 840–842:Bernon or Bernhard
  • c.843: Altée
  • 850–866: Jonas
  • 874: Lindon
  • 893: Adalgaire
  • c.895–919: Wallon de Vergy
  • c.920–929: Hervée de Vergy
  • 935–968: Rotmond
  • c.970–976: Gérard

1000-1300

  • 1024: Gautier I.
  • 1055: Elmuin
  • 1098: Aganon
  • 1112: Norgaud
  • 1140: Etienne de Baugé (Stephen of Autun
    Stephen of Autun
    Stephen of Autun Stephen of Autun Stephen of Autun (b. at Baugé (hence in Anjou; d. at the abbey of Cluny in 1139 or early in 1140), surnamed Blagiacus or de Balgiaco, was a French liturgical writer and bishop of Autun.-Life:...

    )
  • 1140: Robert von Burgund
  • 1148: Humbert de Baugé
  • 1170 or 1171: Heinrich von Burgund
  • 1189: Etienne II.
  • 1223: Gautier II.
  • 1245: Guy I. de Vergy
  • 1253: Anselin de Pomard
  • 1276: Girard de La Roche or de Beauvoir
  • 1286: Jacques I. de Beauvoir
  • 1298: Hugues d'Arcy

1300-1500

  • 1308: Barthélémy
  • 1323: Elie Guidonis
  • 1331: Pierre Bertrand
    Pierre Bertrand (cardinal)
    Pierre Bertrand was a French Cardinal, theologian, and canonist....

  • 1343: Jean I. d'Arcy
  • 1345: Guillaume I. d'Auxonne
  • 1351: Guy II de La Chaume
  • 1358: Guillaume II. de Thurey
  • 1361: Renaud II. de Maubernard
  • 1377: Geoffroi David or Pauteix
  • 1379: Pierre II. de Barrière Mirepoix
  • 1385: Guillaume III. de Vienne
  • 1400: Nicolas I. de Coulon
  • 1414: Milon de Grancey
  • 1436: Frédéric de Grancey
  • 1483: Cardinal Jean Rolin

1500-1800

  • 1500: Antoine I. de Chalon
  • 1501: Jean III. Rolin
  • 1503: Louis d'Amboise
  • 1505: Philippe de Clèves
  • 1546: Jacques II. Hurault de Cheverny
  • 1550: Ippolito II d'Este
    Ippolito II d'Este
    Ippolito d'Este was an Italian cardinal and statesman. He was a member of the House of Este, and nephew of the other Ippolito d'Este, also a cardinal.-Biography:...

  • 1557: Philibert Dugny de Courgengoux
  • 1558–1572: Pierre III. de Marcilly
  • 1585: Charles d'Ailleboust
  • 1588–1612: Pierre IV. Saunier
  • 1621–1652: Claude de la Magdelaine
  • 1653–1664: Louis II. Doni d'Attichy
  • 1666–1702: Gabriel de La Roquette
  • 1709: Bernard de Senaux
  • 1710: Maulévrier-Langeron
  • 1721: Charles-François d'Hallencourt de Dromesnil
  • 1724–1732: Antoine-François de Bliterswick
  • 1732–1748: Gaspard de Thomas de La Valette
  • 1748–1758: Antoine de Malvin de Montazet (later archbishop of Lyon)
  • ?–1767: Nicolas II. de Bouillé
  • 1767–1788: Yves-Alexandre de Marbeuf
    Yves-Alexandre de Marbeuf
    Yves-Alexandre de Marbeuf was a French bishop of Autun and archbishop of Lyon, and statesman. He was an opponent of the European Enlightenment thinking, and of Jansenism.He went into exile after the French Revolution....

     (later archbishop of Lyon)
  • 1788–1791: Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord
  • 1793: Jean-Louis Gouttes

From 1800

  • 9. April 1802–8. September 1802: Gabriel-François Moreau
  • 1802–1806: François de Fontanges
  • 1806–1819: Fabien-Sébastien Imberties
  • 1819–1829: Roch-Etienne de Vichy
  • 1829–1851: Bénigne-Urbain-Jean-Marie du Trousset d'Héricourt
  • 1851–1872: Frédéric-Gabriel-Marie-François de Marguerye
  • 1872–1873: Léopold-René Leséleuc de Kerouara
  • 1874–1906: Adolphe-Louis-Albert Perraud
    Adolphe Perraud
    Adolphe Perraud was a French Cardinal and academician.-Life and works:Perraud was born at Lyon, France. A brilliant student at the lycées Henri IV and St Louis, he entered the École Normale, where he was strongly influenced by Joseph Gratry. In 1850 he secured the fellowship of history and for...

  • 1906–1914: Henri-Raymond Villard
  • 1915–1922: Désiré-Hyacinthe Berthoin
  • 1922–1940: Hyacinthe-Jean Chassagnon
  • 1940–1966: Lucien-Sidroine Lebrun
  • 1966–1987: Armand-François Le Bourgeois, C.I.M.
  • 1987–2006: Raymond Gaston Joseph Séguy
  • 2006–present Benoît Marie Pascal Rivière

Councils of Autun

The first council, held in 663
663
Year 663 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 663 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.- Byzantine Empire :* Byzantine Emperor Constans II...

 or 670
670
Year 670 was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 670 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.- Europe :* On the death of his brother Clotaire,...

, for the purpose of regulating the discipline of the Benedictine
Benedictine
Benedictine refers to the spirituality and consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century for the cenobitic communities he founded in central Italy. The most notable of these is Monte Cassino, the first monastery founded by Benedict...

 monasteries, ordered all ecclesiastics to learn by heart the Apostles Creed and the Athanasian Creed
Athanasian Creed
The Athanasian Creed is a Christian statement of belief, focusing on Trinitarian doctrine and Christology. The Latin name of the creed, Quicumque vult, is taken from the opening words, "Whosoever wishes." The Athanasian Creed has been used by Christian churches since the sixth century...

, and this seems to be the earliest mention of the latter in France. Cardinal Pitra says in his "Histoire de St. Léger" that this canon may have been directed against Monothelitism
Monothelitism
Monothelitism is a particular teaching about how the divine and human relate in the person of Jesus, known as a Christological doctrine, that formally emerged in Armenia and Syria in 629. Specifically, monothelitism teaches that Jesus Christ had two natures but only one will...

, then seeking entrance into the Gallican churches, but condemned beforehand in the latter of these creeds. The Rule of St. Benedict was also prescribed as the normal monastic code.

In the Council of 1065, Saint Hugh
Hugh of Cluny
Hugh of Cluny was an Abbot of Cluny. He is sometimes referred to as "Hugh the Great" or "Hugh of Semur" and was canonized by the Roman Catholic Church as Saint Hugh . He was one of the most influential leaders of one of the most influential monastic orders of the Middle Ages.Abbot Hugh built the...

, Abbot of Cluny
Abbot of Cluny
The Abbot of Cluny was the head of the powerful monastery of Cluny Abbey in medieval France. The following is a list.-List of abbots:-References:...

, accomplished the reconciliation of Robert, Duke of Burgundy, with the Bishop of Autun.

In 1077 Hugues, Bishop of Die, held a council at Autun, by order of pope St. Gregory VII; it deposed Manasses
Manasses I, Archbishop of Reims
Manasses I, known as Manasses de Gournay, was the Archbishop of Reims, and thus primate of France, from 1069 to his deposition on 27 December 1081....

, Archbishop of Reims
Archbishop of Reims
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Reims is an archdiocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in France. Erected as a diocese around 250 by St. Sixtus, the diocese was elevated to an archdiocese around 750...

, for simony
Simony
Simony is the act of paying for sacraments and consequently for holy offices or for positions in the hierarchy of a church, named after Simon Magus , who appears in the Acts of the Apostles 8:9-24...

 and usurpation of the see, and reproved other bishops for absence from the council. In 1094 Hugues, by then Archbishop of Lyon, and thirty-three other bishops, renewed at Autun the excommunication
Excommunication
Excommunication is a religious censure used to deprive, suspend or limit membership in a religious community. The word means putting [someone] out of communion. In some religions, excommunication includes spiritual condemnation of the member or group...

 of Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV, the Antipope Guibert and their partisans, also that of King Philip of France, guilty of bigamy
Bigamy
In cultures that practice marital monogamy, bigamy is the act of entering into a marriage with one person while still legally married to another. Bigamy is a crime in most western countries, and when it occurs in this context often neither the first nor second spouse is aware of the other...

. Simony, ecclesiastical disorders and monastic usurpations provoked other decrees, only one of which is extant, forbidding the monks to induce the canons to enter monasteries.
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