Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 13.djvu/248

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ROUEN


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ROUEN


obtain from Charles \'1I certain modifications of the Pragmatic Sanction; Robert of Croismare (1483-93) an.l Cardinal Georges d'Amboise (1493-1510), both of whom played an important part in the Renaissance movement; the two Cardinals Charles of Bourbon (1550-90 and 1590-94), the first of whom was at one time a candidate for the throne of France; Francois, Cardinal de Joyeuse (1604-15) who negotiated peace in the name of Henry IV between Paul V and the Republic of Venice; the two Francois de Harlay (1015- 51) and (1651-71); John Nicholas Colbert (1691- 1707), son of the minister; Nicholas de Saulx Tavannes (1733-59), cardinal in 1756; Dominic de la Roche- foucauld (1759-lSOO), cardinal in 1778, president of the clergy at the States General, emigrated after 10 August, 1792, and died in exile at Miinster; Etienne Hubert de Cambaceres (1802-18), brother of the arch- chancellor of Nai)oleon, cardinal in 1803; Prince de Croy (1823-44), chief almoner of France under the Restoration, and cardinal in 1825; Henry de Bonne- chose (18.58-83), cardinal in 1863; Leon Thomas (1884-94), cardinal in 1893; WilUam Sourrieu (1894- 99), cardinal in 1897.

It is not known exactly whether Rouen became a metropolitan at the time of St. Victricius or under Bishop Grimo, who in 744 received the palUum from Pope Zachary; in the Middle Ages it exercised metro- politan rights over E^Teux, Avranches, Seez, Bayeux, Lisieux, and Coutances. It seems that in the seventh century Lillebonne (Juliobona) was for a short time the see of a bishop suffragan of Rouen. The Arch- bishop of Rouen assumed at an early date the title of Primate of Normandy and Neustria, to indicate the entire independence of his metropohtan see which was directly subject to the Holy See. In vain did Gebuin, Archbishop of Lyons, obtain from Gregory VII two Bulls in 1070 which recognized his primacy over Rouen ; they remained unexecuted as well as a similar hnW of Celestine II given in 1144. On 12 November, 1455, Cardinal Dominic Cai)ranica, papal delegate, recognized the independence of the Church of Rouen bv giving a definite decision, confirmed in 1457 and 1458 by two Bulls of Callistus III. The Archdeacon of Rouen was known as the "grand archidiacre de la chn'tiente". The Chapter, in virtue of a Bull from Gregory XI in 1371, was completely exempt from the archbishop's jurisdiction both spiritual and temporal. Nicholas Oresme (d. 1382) was head master of the College of Navarre and Bishop of Lisieux; he trans- lated Aristotle and was dean of the Church of Rouen; tlic famous Peter d'Ailly and the historian Thomas Basin, later Bishop of Lisieux, belonged to the Chap- ter of Rouen. St. Remy, Bishop of Rouen, was after Chrodigang, Bishop of Metz, the principal initiator in the reform which under Pepin replaced the Gal- lican with the Roman liturgy. In 1729 the cathedral of Rouen accepted the breviary of Urbain Robinet, vicar-general of Rouen, who revised the liturgy in a Galilean sense. Later Cardinal Bonnechose insisted on the use of the Roman liturgy in the diocese. The Chapter of Rouen preserved the custom until the Revolution of chanting the Office by heart; it was forbidden even to bring a book into the choir. The faculty of Catholic theology of Rouen was founded in 1808 and organized in 1809; it was however suppressed in 1885.

No town of France has produced such marvels of religious architec^ture as Rouen. The oUlest part of the Cathedral, which has survived all fires, is the belfry of St. Piomanus's tower, which dates from about 1 160; the construction of the nave began about 1200; the Calende portal, so called from an imaginary animal, and the portals of the libraries, famous for the richness of their ornamentation, were finished in the first

?iuarter of the fourteenth century. The Butter Tower la Tour de Beurre), m called because it was built with the alms derived from the Lenten dispensalioDS,


dates from the end of the fifteenth and the beginning of the sixteenth century, and is one of the most famous edifices in the flamboyant style. The ninety-six choir stalls were carved in the fifteenth century under the direction of Philippot Viart and represent in their workmanship all the professions of the period. There are three celebrated tombs preserved in the cathedral; one, whether correctly or not, is said to be the tomb of Archbishop Maurille, and dates from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries; that of the two cardinals dWm- boise dates from 1520 to 1525, and on it is the statue of George d'Amboise, the work of Jean Goujon; that of Louis de Brez6, attributed in part to Jean Goujon, was executed from 1535 to 1544 at the expense of Diane de Poitiers, widow of Louis de Br6z6. The present Church of St. Ouen, where a small Roman apse is still preserved and some bases of Roman pillars dating from the eleventh century, is one of the rare exami)les that exists in France of a large and beautiful church of the fourteenth century, almost complete, and one of the most delicate pieces of archi- tecture extant. The Church of St. Maclou dates frona the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries; the folding doors are attributed to Jean Goujon. On one side of the church is a monument unique in its way, the ailre St. Maclou. The word aitre is derived from Atrium. Uaitre St. Maclou, the old cemetery of the parish, is a large rectangular space surrounded by porticoes built in 1.526-40, and shows the Renaissance style in all its purity. A Dance of Death (Danse Macabre) sculptured on its columns was unfortunately badly defaced by the Huguenots. The Palace of Justice in Rouen is one of the most celebrated buildings be- longing to the end of the Gothic period.

Among the twelve Benedictine abbeys for men which the Diocese of Rouen possessed under the old regime must be mentioned, besides Fontenelle and Jumieges, the Benedictine Abbey of St. Ouen de Rouen, founded in 548, where a school of theology flourished which was recognized by Gregory IX in 1238; and the Abbey of Fecamp, dedicated to the Trinity in 658 by St. Waningus (Vaning), Governor of Neustria and Count of the Palace under Clovis II. This was first occupied by nuns under the direction of St. Hildemarche, was ruined by the Normans in 841, and reopened for priests by Richard, first Duke of Normandy, who had the present beautiful church dedicated in 990. St. William (1001-28) was the first Abbot of P'ecamp; he had among his successors the future Pope Clement VI and Jean Casimir, King of Poland, who, after abdicating his throne, became Abbot of F6camp in 1669. The Abbey of St. George de Boscherville was founded in 1060 by Raoul de Tancarville, chamberlain of William the Conqueror. The abbey of Trdport was founded in 1056-59 by Robert, Count d'Eu, companion of William the Con- queror. During the religious wars the Calvinists committed great ravages in Rouen; having become masters of the city 16 April, 1562, they devastated St. Ouen, made a pyre in the centre of the church with the stalls and fragments of the superb screen, and then burnt the body of St. Ouen and other relics of the basilica. Rouen was retaken 26 October, 1562, by FranQois de Guise anfl Antoine de Bourbon; the majority of Charles IX was proclaimed there in 1563. Rouen, which hafl declared for the League, was in- effectually besieged by Henry IV from December, 1.591, to April, 1.592, and only surrendered in 1594 to the new Bourbon king.

In the eleventh century an association of distin- guished men was founded at Rouen in hf)nour of the Immaculate Conception. Its chief or president was called "prince". In 1486 Pierre Dar<5, lieutenant- general of the bailiwick of Rouen, was "prince" and converted the association into a literary society which awarded a prize for the best poems written on the Inamaculate CoQception. Every stanza of the poems,