Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 13.djvu/786

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SENS


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SENS


cardinal in 1788, and who during the Revolution swore to the ci\-il constitution of the clergy but re- fused to consecrate the first constitutional bishops, returned to the pope his cardinal's hat, refused to become constitutional Bishop of Toulouse, was twice imprisoned bj- the Jacobins of Sens and died in prison of apoplexy-; Anne, Cardinal de la Fare (1S21-9), cardinal in 1S23; Victor Fehx Bernadou (1867-91), cardinal in 1SS6.

The Archdiocese of Sens, which perhaps became a metropolitan see at the middle of the fifth century, until 1622 numbered seven suffragans: Chartres, Auxerre, INIeaux, Paris, Orleans, Nevers, and Troyes; the Diocese of Betlileem at Clamecy (see Nevers) was also dependent on the metropolitan See of Sens. In 1622 Paris having been raised to a metropolitan see, the Sees of Chartres, Orleans, and Meaux were separated from the Archdiocese of Sens. As indem- nity the abbey of Mont Saint-Martin in the Diocese of Cambrai was united (1668) to the archiepiscopal revenue.

II. Diocese of Auxerre. — The "Gestes des ^veques d'Auxerre", written about 875 by the canons Rainogala and Alagus, and continued later down to 1278, gives a list of bishops which, save for one detail, Mgr Duchesne regards as accurate; but the chrono- logical data of the "Gestes" seem to him very arbi- trary' for the period prior to the seventh century. No other church of France glories in a similar list of bishops honoured as saints; already in the Middle Ages this multiplicity of saints was remarkable. St. Peregrinus (Pelerin) was the founder of the see; according to the legend, he was sent by Sixtus II and was martyred under Diocletian in 303 or 304.

After him are mentioned without the possibility of certainly fixing their dates: St. Marcelhanus, St. Valerianus, St. Helladius, St. Amator (d. 418), who had been ordained deacon and tonsured by St. Helladius and who thus affords the earliest example of ecclesias- tical tonsure mentioned in the religious history of France; the illustrious St. Germain d'Auxerre (q. v.; 418-48); St. EUadius; St. Fraternus; St. Censurius, to whom about 475 the priest Constantius sent the Life of St. Germain; St. Ursus; St. Theodosius, who assisted in 511 at the Council of Orldans; St. Gre- gorius; St. Optatus; St. Droctoaldus; St. Eleu- therius, who assisted at four Councils of Orleans be- tween 533 and 549; St. Romanus; St. Actherius; St. Aunacharius (Aunaire; 573-605), uncle of St. Lupus, Archbishop of Sens; St. Desiderius (Didier); St. Palladius, who assisted at several councils in 627, 650, and 654; St. Vigilius, who was assassinated about 684, doubtless at the instigation of Gilmer, son of Waraton, mayor of the palace; St. Tetricius (692- 707); Venerable Aidulf (perhaps 751-66); Venerable Maurin (perhaps 766-94); Blessed Aaron (perhaps 794-807); Blessed Angelelmus (807-28); St. Heri- baldus (829-57), first chaplain of Louis the Pious, and several times given ambassadorial charges; St. Abbo (857-69); Bles.sed Chri.stian (860-71); Ven. Wibaldus (879-87), Ven. Herifridus (Herfroy; 887-909); St. G6ran (909-14); St. Betto (933-61); Ven. Guy (933- 961) ; Bl. John (997-998) ; Ven. Humbaud (109.5-1 1 14), drowned on the way to Jerusalem; St. Hugues de Montaigu (1116-1136), a friend of St. Bernard; Bl. Hugura de M^.on (1137-51), Abbot of Pontigny, often chargerl by Evigene III with adjusting differences and re-<istabli.sliing order in monasteries; Ven. Alanus (1152-67), author of a life of St. Bernard; Ven. Guillaume de Toucy (1167-81), the first French bishop who went to Rome to acknowledge the au- thority of Alexander III.

Among later bishops may be mentioned: Hugues de Noyers (1183-1206), known as the "hammer of heretics" for the vigour with which he sought out in hie diocese the sects of the Albigenses and the "Caputids"; Guillaume de Scignelay (1207-20), who


took part in the war against the Albigenses and in 1220 became Archbishop of Paris; Ven. Bernard de SuUy (1234-44); Guy de Mello (1247-70), who was Apostolic delegate in the crusade of Charles of Anjou against Manfred; Pierre de Mornay (1296-1306), who negotiated between Boniface VIII and Philippe le Bel and in 1304 became chancellor of France; Pierre de Cros (1349-51), cardinal in 1350; Philippe deLenoncourt (1560-62), cardinal in 1586; Philibert Babou de la Bourdaisiere (1562-70), cardinal in 1561; the Hellenist Jacques Amyot (1571-93), translator of the works of Plutarch and Diodorus Siculus, tutor of Charles IX, grand almoner of Charles IX and Henry III; Charles de Caylus (1704-54), who made his diocese a centre of Jansenism and whose works in four volumes were condemned by Rome in 1754. The Cathedral of St-Etienne of Sens, founded in 972 and rebuilt under Louis VII and Philip Augustus, is re- garded by several archseologists as the most ancient of pointed style churches. When in 1241 the Domin- icans brought to Sens the Crown of Thorns which St. Louis had obtained from Baldwin II, the king went at the head of a procession to within five leagues of Sens, took the relic, and with his brother Robert entered the city barefoot and deposited the relic in the metropolitan church until the Sainte Chapelle of Paris was built to receive it. The cathedral of Auxerre, completed in 1178, contains numerous sculptures in the Byzantine style.

The Dioceses of Sens and Auxerre contained illus- trious Abbeys; for that of Ferrieres, located in a region which now depends on the Diocese of Orleans, see Ferrieres. Tha Abbey of St-Pierre le Vif dates from the sixth century, but M. Maurice Prou has proved that the diploma of Clovis and the testament of "Queen" Theodechilde, in the archives of the monas- tery, lack authenticity. The Theodechilde who founded the monastery was not the daughter of Clovis but his granddaughter, the daughter of Thierry first king of Austrasia. The schools instituted by Rainard, Abbot of St-Pierre le Vif, were celebrated during the Mid- dle Ages. The Abbey of St. Columba, the great primi- tive saint of the City of Lyons, was founded about 590. Her "Passion" dates beyond doubt from the end of the sixth century, in the time of Bishop St. Loup, who translated the relics of St. Columba to the monastery church. It is probable that her martyrdom took place in the time of Aurelian. Her cultus was widespread, extending to Rimini, Barcelona, and Cordova. The Acts of the martyrdom of Sts. Sanctian, Augustine, and Beata, companions of St. Columba, seem to date from the end of the eighth century or the beginning of the ninth century. In the Abbey of St. Columba, whose third church was consecrated 26 April, 1164, by Alexander III, were buried Raoul, King of France, and Richard, Duke of Burgundy. The Abbey of St- Germain d'Auxerre, founded in 422 by the bishop St. Germain, in honour of St. Maurice, took the name of St. Germain when it was rebuilt by Queen Clotilde about 500. In 850 Abbot Conrad, brother-in-law of Louis the Pious, had crypts built in the monastery in which were deposited many bodies of saints. Urban V was Abbot of St-Germain before becoming pope; King Charles VI of France did not disdain the honour of seeing his name inscribed among those of the monks. The crypts were ravaged by the Calvinists in 1567. The abbey followed the Benedictine rule; it was twice reformed, from 995-9 by St. Mayeul of Cluny and his disciple Heldric, and in 1029 by the Benedictines of St-Maur.

The Abbey of St-Edmond of Pontigny, the second daughter of Clteaux, was founded in 1114 by Thibaud IV the Great, Count of Champagne. Hugh, Count of M&con, one of the first thirty companions of St. Bernard, was the first abbot. Louis VII, King of France, was its benefactor. St. Thomas k Becket took refuge at Pontigny before seeking shelter at