Roman Catholic Diocese of Saint-Dié
Encyclopedia
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 has the same boundaries as the department of the Vosges
Vosges
Vosges is a French department, named after the local mountain range. It contains the hometown of Joan of Arc, Domrémy.-History:The Vosges department is one of the original 83 departments of France, created on February 9, 1790 during the French Revolution. It was made of territories that had been...
. The bishop has his throne at Saint-Dié Cathedral
Saint-Dié Cathedral
Saint-Dié Cathedral is a Roman Catholic cathedral, and national monument of France, located in the town of Saint-Dié-des-Vosges in Lorraine.It is the seat of the Bishop of Saint-Dié, created in 1777....
in the town now named Saint-Dié-des-Vosges
Saint-Dié-des-Vosges
Saint-Dié-des-Vosges, commonly referred to as Saint-Dié, is a commune in the Vosges department in Lorraine in northeastern France.It is a sub-prefecture of the department.-Geography:...
, but since 1944 has lived in Epinal
Épinal
Épinal is a commune in northeastern France and the capital of the Vosges department. Inhabitants are known as Spinaliens.-Geography:The commune has a land area of 59.24 km²...
, capital of the département. The diocese is currently a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Besancon. The current bishop is Jean-Paul Marie Mathieu, who was appointed in December 2005.
History
The Diocese of Saint-Dié originated in the celebrated abbey of that name. Saint DeodatusDeodatus of Nevers
Deodatus of Nevers was a bishop of Nevers from 655. Deodatus lived with Arbogast in the monastery of Ebersheim, established by Childeric II near Sélestat in the forest of Hagenau....
(Dié) (b. towards the close of the sixth century; died 679) came, according his legendary written in 1050 by benedictin monks of Moyenmoutier
Moyenmoutier
Moyenmoutier is a commune in the Vosges department in Lorraine in northeastern France.Inhabitants are called Médianimonastériens.-Geography:...
, from Nevers
Nevers
Nevers is a commune in – and the administrative capital of – the Nièvre department in the Bourgogne region in central France...
and the Nivernais
Nivernais
Nivernais is former province of France, around the city of Nevers and the département of Nièvre.The raw climate and soils cause the area to be heavily wooded.- References :* Chamber's Encyclopedia Volume 10 page 50...
.
According to some historians, we do not known where Deodatus comes from : a hypothesis proposed from Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
which explained the Latin reading confusion between Niverniensis and hiberniensis, others searchers think he could be a Christian who has travelled a lot, and may be lived in the North of Britain's Islands. He may be educated too in Austrasia by Scottish monks attracted by the reputation of Saint Columbanus.
Some sceptical scientists add this legend would definitely distinguish Déodat as a holy itinerant who was not a benedictin monk : he comes from nowhere. Maybe he was just a Christian chief. Only one fact is sure : Déodat is the foundator and first patron of a Merovingian district with political and religious power, a ban decided by the king of Austrasia Childeric II
Childeric II
Childeric II was the king of Austrasia from 662 and of Neustria and Burgundy from 673 until his death, making him sole King of the Franks for the final two years of his life. He was the second eldest son of Clovis II. His elder brother Chlothar III was briefly sole king from 661, but gave...
. And, after his dead, he was considered and consacred by local populations as a holy man. As, for orthodoxic thinkers of these times, only monk could be perfect, Déodat was becoming gradually a monk.
Legendary versions show this holy man, in old French Bonhomme on little mountainous paths between Rambervillers
Rambervillers
Rambervillers is a commune in the Vosges department in Lorraine in northeastern France.Inhabitants are called Rambuvetais.-Geography:The town is built on the banks of the Mortagne, some to the west of Saint-Dié and to the north-east of Épinal....
and Colmar
Colmar
Colmar is a commune in the Haut-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France.It is the capital of the department. Colmar is also the seat of the highest jurisdiction in Alsace, the appellate court....
. They tell us he made the acquaintance of Saints Arbogast
Saint Arbogast
Saint Arbogast has been claimed as a native of Scotland, but this is owing to a misunderstanding of the name "Scotia", which until late in the Middle Ages really meant Ireland.- Biography :...
and Florentius and walked with through the passes. From Alsace, sometimes from the Heilige Wald, German term for Hollywood, near Haguenau
Haguenau
-Economy:The town has a well balanced economy. Centuries of troubled history in the buffer lands between France and Germany have bequeathed to Haguenau a rich historical and cultural heritage which supports a lively tourist trade. There is also a thriving light manufacturing sector centred on the...
, he withdrew to the Vosges, sojourning at Romont
Romont
Romont may refer to:*Romont, Fribourg, Switzerland*Romont, Berne, Switzerland...
where he began a lot of miracles, and Arentelle, where the inhabitants were hostile. For some time he was a solitary at Wilra or Wibra, maybee near the present Katzenthal in Alsace
Alsace
Alsace is the fifth-smallest of the 27 regions of France in land area , and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the seventh-most densely populated region in France and third most densely populated region in metropolitan France, with ca. 220 inhabitants per km²...
, but being persecuted by the inhabitants, he walked with a big stick who planted in soil created always a spring of water. Above the pass of Bonhomme, on the top of Rossberg, he launched an ironed arm until a locus called Petit-Saint-Dié under the Kemberg, a mountain, precisely under rocks Saint-Martin. Springs of flowed on this left side of the Meurthe, and he founded a refuge under rocks and near above springs. Once he received this lands in 669 he decided to work. His first monastery hardly built with new brothership, he was tied and dreamed to build a monastery in a little hill "Juncturae" in the right side of the river, the future Galilée. Longtime a prairie, then a little town, and now the center of Saint-Dié-des-Vosges
Saint-Dié-des-Vosges
Saint-Dié-des-Vosges, commonly referred to as Saint-Dié, is a commune in the Vosges department in Lorraine in northeastern France.It is a sub-prefecture of the department.-Geography:...
stand between this two places.
Before this time, Leudin Bodo, Bishop of Toul, had founded to the north-west of Saint-Dié the monastery of Bonmoutier for his daughter and to the south of Bonmoutier that of Etival; Saint Gondelbert, perhaps after resigning the Archbishopric of Sens, had just founded Senones Abbey
Senones Abbey
Senones Abbey was a Benedictine abbey located in the valley of the Rabodeau, in the present village of Senones in Lorraine, France.-History:...
to the east. These four monasteries formed, by their geographical position the four extremities of a cross. Later, Saint Hidulphus, Bishop of Trier (d 707), erected between them at the intersection of the two arms of the cross, the monastery of Moyenmoutier. Villigod and Martin (disciples of Saint Dié), Abbot Spinulus (Spin), John the priest, and the deacon Benignus
Benignus
The male first name Benignus may refer to one of the following saints:*Benignus of Todi , in Todi*Benignus of Milan, bishop of Milan 465-472*Benignus of Dijon , in Gallic territory*Benignus of Armagh , in Ireland...
(disciples of Saint Hidulphus) are honoured as saints.
In the 10th century the Abbey of Saint-Dié grew lax, and Frederick I, Duke of Lorraine
Frederick I, Duke of Lorraine
Frederick I was the duke of Lorraine from 1205 to his death. He was the second son of Matthias I and Judith, daughter of Frederick II, Duke of Swabia. He succeeded his brother, Simon II, who had already given him the county of Bitche in 1176 and had recognised him over the northern, germanophone...
, expelled the Benedictines, replacing them by the Canons Regular of St. Augustine. Pope Gregory V
Pope Gregory V
Pope Gregory V, né Bruno of Carinthia , Pope from May 3, 996 to February 18, 999, son of the Salian Otto I, Duke of Carinthia, who was a grandson of the Emperor Otto I the Great . Gregory V succeeded Pope John XV , when only twenty-four years of age...
, in 996, agreed to the change and decided that the grand prévôt, the principal dignitary of the abbey, should depend directly upon the Holy See.
During the sixteenth century, profiting by the long vacancy of the see of Toul, the abbots of the several monasteries in the Vosges, without actually declaring themselves independent of the diocese of Toul, claimed to exercise a quasi-episcopal jurisdiction as to the origin of which, however, they were not agreed; in the eighteenth century they pretended to be nullius dioceseos. In 1718, Thiard de Bissy, Bishop of Toul, requested the election of a see at Saint-Dié. Leopold, Duke of Lorraine
Leopold, Duke of Lorraine
Leopold , surnamed the Good, was Duke of Lorraine and Bar from 1690 to his death.-Early life:Leopold Joseph Charles Dominique Agapet Hyacinthe was the son of Charles V, Duke of Lorraine, and his wife Eleonora Maria Josefa of Austria, a half-sister of Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor.At the time of...
, was in favour of this step, but the King of France opposed it; the Holy See refrained for the time from action.
This diocese was erected in 1777 after the French annexation of the duchy of Lorraine. The territory consists of numerous monastic Vosgian territories and other lands, belonging to the venerable Diocese of Toul
Diocese of Toul
The Diocese of Toul was a Roman Catholic diocese seated at Toul in present-day France. It existed from 365 until 1824. From 1048 until 1552 , it was also a state of the Holy Roman Empire.- History :...
: the new Diocese of Saint-Dié was until the end of the ancien régime, was a suffragan of Trier.
The diocese was transformed by the Civil Constitution of the Clergy
Civil Constitution of the Clergy
The Civil Constitution of the Clergy was a law passed on 12 July 1790 during the French Revolution, that subordinated the Roman Catholic Church in France to the French government....
in 1790 and officially called of Vosges and especially of Epinal: it had indeed been established in the new departemantal area. Nevertheless it was sometimes referred to at that period as the diocese of Saint-Dié, because the bishop Monsieur de Chaumont decided to stay and keep his episcopal seat. During the Revolutionary period it was suppressed, after an overnight flight by the bishop.
The Holy See and the French Republic, represented by Napoléon Bonaparte, validated this state of fact as many others in the peaceful Concordat of 1801
Concordat of 1801
The Concordat of 1801 was an agreement between Napoleon and Pope Pius VII, signed on 15 July 1801. It solidified the Roman Catholic Church as the majority church of France and brought back most of its civil status....
. It was decided to give this territory to the diocese of Nancy. The King Louis XVIII and Roman Catholic ecclesiatics later restored it in name by the Concordat of 1817
Concordat of 11 June 1817
The Concordat of 11 June 1817 was a concordat between the kingdom of France and the Holy See, signed on 11 June 1817. Not having been validated, it never came into force in France and so the country remained under the regime outlined in the Concordat of 1801 until the 1905 law on the Separation of...
, but local Christians waited much later, after a Papal bull
Papal bull
A Papal bull is a particular type of letters patent or charter issued by a Pope of the Catholic Church. It is named after the bulla that was appended to the end in order to authenticate it....
of 6 October 1822, and a royal ordinance of 13 January 1823, as a suffragan of Besançon. According to a principle sanctioned by this last Concordat, the diocesan boundaries were realigned, however, to follow those of the civil department of the Vosges.
The Franco-German War closed by the Treaty of Frankfurt (1871)
Treaty of Frankfurt (1871)
The Treaty of Frankfurt was a peace treaty signed in Frankfurt on 10 May 1871, at the end of the Franco-Prussian War.- Summary :The treaty did the following:...
removed eighteen communes in the valley of the River Bruche from the department of the Vosges and the diocese of Saint-Dié, adding them respectively to Nieder-Elsass (Bas-Rhin) and the Diocese of Strasbourg.
Louis Caverot, who died as Cardinal Archbishop of Lyon, was Bishop of Saint-Dié from 1849 to 1876.
Saints and religious of the diocese
Besides the saints mentioned above and some others, bishops of Nancy and Toul, the, following are honoured in a special manner in the Diocese of Saint-Dié:- Saint SigebertSigebert IIISigebert III was the king of Austrasia from 634 to his death; probably on 1 February 656, or maybe as late as 660. He was the eldest son of Dagobert I....
, Merovingian King of AustrasiaAustrasiaAustrasia 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...
(630-56) - Saint Germain, a hermit near Remiremont, a martyr, who died Abbot of Grandval, near Basle (618-70)
- Saint Hunna, a penitent at Saint-Dié (d. about 672)
- Saint DagobertDagobert IIDagobert II was the king of Austrasia , the son of Sigebert III and Chimnechild of Burgundy. The Feast Date of St Dagobert II is 23 December -Biography:...
, another King of Austrasia, slain by his servant GrimoaldGrimoald the ElderGrimoald I , called the Elder , was the Mayor of the Palace of Austrasia from 643 to 656. He was the son of Pepin of Landen and Itta....
in 679 and honoured as a martyr - Saint Modesta, a nun at Remiremont, afterwards foundress and abbess of the monastery of Horren at TrierTrierTrier, historically called in English Treves is a city in Germany on the banks of the Moselle. It is the oldest city in Germany, founded in or before 16 BC....
(seventh century) - Saint Simeon, Bishop of Metz (eighth century), whose relics are preserved at Senones
- Saint Goéry, Bishop of Metz (d. about 642), whose relics are preserved at Epinal and who is the patron of the butchers of the town
- Saint WilliamSaint William-Saints:* Saint William of Æbelhot - French ecclesiastic active in Denmark...
and Saint Achery, hermits near Ste. Marie aux Mines - RichardisRichardisSaint Richardis, also known as Richgard and Richardis of Swabia , was the Holy Roman Empress as the wife of Charles the Fat. She was renowned for her piety.-Life:...
(wife of Charles the FatCharles the FatCharles the Fat was the King of Alemannia from 876, King of Italy from 879, western Emperor from 881, King of East Francia from 882, and King of West Francia from 884. In 887, he was deposed in East Francia, Lotharingia, and possibly Italy, where the records are not clear...
), who died as Abbess of AndlauAndlauAndlau is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department in Alsace in north-eastern France.The village owes its origin to Andlau Abbey which was founded in AD 880 by Richardis, the Empress of Charles the Fat...
in Alsace - Blessed Joan of ArcJoan of ArcSaint Joan of Arc, nicknamed "The Maid of Orléans" , is a national heroine of France and a Roman Catholic saint. A peasant girl born in eastern France who claimed divine guidance, she led the French army to several important victories during the Hundred Years' War, which paved the way for the...
, b. at DomrémyDomremyDomremy or Domrémy is part of the name of several communes in France:* Domremy-la-Canne, in the Meuse department* Domrémy-la-Pucelle, in the Vosges department, formerly Domrémy, which was the birthplace of Joan of Arc...
in the diocese - Saint Pierre Fourier (b. at Méricourt, 1565; d. 1640), curé of MattaincourtMattaincourtMattaincourt is a commune in the Vosges department in Lorraine in northeastern France.Inhabitants are called Mattaincurtiens.-Geography:Mattaincourt lies on the southern part of the Lorraine Plateau, in a wooded area of gentle hills known as the Vôge. It is some to the east-northeast of Vittel and...
, who founded the Order of Notre-Dame - Venerable Mére Alix le Clerc (b. at Remiremont, 1576; d. 1622)
Elizabeth de Ranfaing (born at Remiremont, 1592; died 1649) founded in the Diocese of Toul
Diocese of Toul
The Diocese of Toul was a Roman Catholic diocese seated at Toul in present-day France. It existed from 365 until 1824. From 1048 until 1552 , it was also a state of the Holy Roman Empire.- History :...
the congregation of Our Lady of Refuge; Catherine de Bar (b. at Saint-Dié, 1614; d. 1698), known as Mére Mechtilde of the Blessed Sacrament
Mechtilde of the Blessed Sacrament
Mechtilde of the Blessed Sacrament , was born at at Saint-Dié, Lorraine in northeastern France. At first an Annunciade nun and then a Benedictine, in 1654 she founded the Order of the Benedictines of the Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament in Paris...
, at first an Annunciade
Annunciade
Annunciade is a denomination common to several orders, both religious and military, instituted with a view of the Annunciation.-Religious orders:...
nun and then a Benedictine, founded at Paris, in 1654, the Order of the Benedictines of the Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. Elizabeth Brem (1609–68, known as Mother Benedict of the Passion), a 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...
nun at Rambervillers
Rambervillers
Rambervillers is a commune in the Vosges department in Lorraine in northeastern France.Inhabitants are called Rambuvetais.-Geography:The town is built on the banks of the Mortagne, some to the west of Saint-Dié and to the north-east of Épinal....
, established in that monastery the Institute of the Perpetual Adoration. The remains of Brother Joseph Formet (1724–84, known as the hermit of Ventron
Ventron
Ventron is a commune in the Vosges department in Lorraine in northeastern France....
), are the object of a pilgrimage. Venerable Jean Martin Moye (1730–93), founder in Lorraine of the Congrégation de la Providence for the instruction of young girls and apostle of Su-Tchuen, was director for a brief period of the seminary of Saint-Dié, and established at Essegney
Essegney
Essegney is a commune in the Vosges department in Lorraine in northeastern France....
, in the diocese, one of the first novitiates of the Soeurs de la Providence (hospitallers and teachers), whose mother-house at Portieux
Portieux
Portieux is a commune in the Vosges department in Lorraine in northeastern France.Inhabitants are called Portessiens.-Geography:The traditional village of Portieux sits on the right bank of the Moselle upstream from Charmes and across the river from Vincey...
ruled over a large number of houses before the Law of 1901. Grandclaude, a village teacher who was sent to the Roman College in 1857 by Bishop Caverot, contributed, when a professor in the grand seminaire of Saint-Dié, to the revival of canon law
Canon law
Canon law is the body of laws & regulations made or adopted by ecclesiastical authority, for the government of the Christian organization and its members. It is the internal ecclesiastical law governing the Catholic Church , the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox churches, and the Anglican Communion of...
studies in France.
Ordinaries
- Jacques-Alexis Jacquemin † (13 Aug 1823 Appointed - Jan 1830 Retired)
- Jacques-Marie-Antoine-Célestin du Pont † (9 May 1830 Appointed - 1 May 1835 Appointed, Archbishop of Avignon)
- Jean-Joseph-Marie-Eugène de Jerphanion † (1 May 1835 Appointed - 15 Jul 1842 Appointed, Archbishop of Albi)
- Jean-Nicaise Gros † (15 Jul 1842 Appointed - 3 Mar 1844 Appointed, Bishop of Versailles)
- Daniel-Victor Manglard † (21 Apr 1844 Appointed - 17 Feb 1849 Died)
- Louis-Marie-Joseph-Eusèbe Caverot † (16 Mar 1849 Appointed - 20 Apr 1876 Appointed, Archbishop of Lyon)
- Albert-Marie-Camille de Briey † (20 Apr 1876 Appointed - 10 Nov 1888 Died)
- Etienne-Marie-Alphonse Sonnois † (21 Dec 1889 Appointed - 26 Nov 1892 Appointed, Archbishop of Cambrai)
- Alphonse-Gabriel-Pierre Foucault † (3 Jan 1893 Appointed - 28 May 1930 Died)
- Louis-Augustin Marmottin † (2 Aug 1930 Appointed - 21 Aug 1940 Appointed, Archbishop of ReimsArchbishop of ReimsThe 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...
) - Emile-Arsène Blanchet † (6 Oct 1940 Appointed - 10 Oct 1946 Resigned)
- Henri-René-Adrien Brault † (29 Sep 1947 Appointed - 11 Jul 1964 Died)
- Jean-Félix-Albert-Marie VilnetJean-Félix-Albert-Marie VilnetJean-Félix-Albert-Marie Vilnet is an French Prelate of Roman Catholic Church.Jean-Félix-Albert-Marie Vilnet was born in Chaumont, ordained a priest on October 22, 1944. Vilnet was appointed bishop of the Diocese of Saint-Dié on September 24, 1964 and ordained bishop on December 13, 1964...
(24 Sep 1964 Appointed - 13 Aug 1983 Appointed, Bishop of Lille) - Paul-Marie Joseph André Guillaume (29 Oct 1984 Appointed - 14 Dec 2005 Retired)
- Jean-Paul Mary Mathieu (14 Dec 2005 Appointed - )
Pilgrimages of the diocese
The principal pilgrimages of the diocese are: Notre-Dame de Saint-Dié, at Saint-Dié, at the place where Saint Dié erected his first sanctuary; Notre-Dame du Trésor, at Remiremont; Notre-Dame de Consolation, at EpinalÉpinal
Épinal is a commune in northeastern France and the capital of the Vosges department. Inhabitants are known as Spinaliens.-Geography:The commune has a land area of 59.24 km²...
; Notre-Dame de la Brosse, at Bains; Notre-Dame de Bermont, near Domrémy
Domremy
Domremy or Domrémy is part of the name of several communes in France:* Domremy-la-Canne, in the Meuse department* Domrémy-la-Pucelle, in the Vosges department, formerly Domrémy, which was the birthplace of Joan of Arc...
, the sanctuary at which Joan of Arc
Joan of Arc
Saint Joan of Arc, nicknamed "The Maid of Orléans" , is a national heroine of France and a Roman Catholic saint. A peasant girl born in eastern France who claimed divine guidance, she led the French army to several important victories during the Hundred Years' War, which paved the way for the...
prayed; and the tomb of Saint Peter Fourier at Mattaincourt.
Religious institutions in the diocese up to 1905
There were in the diocese before the application of the Law of 1901 against the congregations: Augustianian Canons of Lateran; Clerks Regular of Our SaviourClerks Regular of Our Saviour
-History:They were instituted in its present form in 1851, at Benoite-Vaux in the Diocese of Verdun, France. The constitutions and spirit of the congregation are those of the Canons Regular of Our Saviour, who were established as a reform among the various bodies of regular canons in Lorraine by St...
; Eudistes; Franciscans, Fathers of the Holy Ghost and the Holy Heart of Mary and various teaching orders of brothers. Among the congregations of nuns founded in the diocese may be mentioned besides the Soeurs de la Providence, the Soeurs du Pauvre Enfant Jésus (also known as the Soeurs de la bienfaisance chrétienne), teachers and hospitallers, founded in 1854 at Chemoy l'Orgueilleux; the mother-house was transferred to Remiremont.
At the close of the nineteenth century the religious congregations in the diocese directed 7 créchés, 55 day nurseries, 1 orphanage for boys and girls; 19 girls' orphanages, 13 workshops, 1 house of refuge; 4 houses for the assistance of the poor, 36 hospitals or hospices, 11 houses of nuns devoted to the care of the sick in their own homes and 1 insane asylum. The diocese of Saint-Dié had in 1905 (at the time of the rupture of the Concordat), 421,104 inhabitants in 32 parishes, 354 succursal parishes and 49 vicariates supported by the State.