VALENCE
250
VALENCE
Alfmae el Juan de Valdes (Geneva. 1880); Bohmeb, Lives of
Juan and Alfonso Valdes (London, 1882).
Klemens Loffler.
Valence, Diocese of (Valentinensis), comprises the present Department of Drome. It was re-estab- lished by the Concordat of 1802, being formed of the ancient Diocese of Valence, less the portion com- prised in the new Diocese of Viviers, and of various jiortions of the Dioceses of Die, Saint Paul-Trois- Chateaux, Vienne (see Lyons, Archdiocese of), (Jrange, Vaison, Gap, Sisteron (see Digne, Diocese OF). From 1802 to 1821 Valence was a suffragan of Lyons; since 1821 it has been dependent on Avignon.
Ancient Diocese of Valence. — A tradition of the early sixth century attributes the establishment of Chris- tianity at Valentia to three missionaries sent from Lyons by St. Irensus; the priest St. Felix and the deacons Sts. Achilles and Fortunatus, aU martyrs. The "Chronicles of the Bishops of Valence", prob- ably compiled about the middle of the twelfth cen- tury, gives only confused information with regard to bishops prior to the ninth century. The first his- torically known bishop was St. jEmilianus (second half of the fourth century), who signed at the (Council of Valence in 374. St. Sextus, martyred during the invasion of Chrocus, was erroneously introduced into the list of bishops by the Carthusian Polycarpe de la Riviere. In 4.50 Poiie St. Leo made Valentia a suf- fragan of Vienne. St. ApoUinaris, brother of St. Avitus, occupied the see for thirty-four years during the first half of the sixth century, and after the con- version of Sigismund, King of Burgundy, was exiled by the latter; he is the patron of tlic diocesan cathe- dral. Other bishops were: Maxinuis II (.')ti7), during whose episcopate the city was delivered from besieg- ing Lombards by the prayers of St. Galla, a virgin of Bourg-les- Valence; Gonfard (1082), who received Urbanllat Valence, 109.5; St.John I (1141-6), formerly a Cistercian Abbot of Bonnevaux, disciple of St. Peter of Tarentaise; Bl. Humbert de Miribel (1200- 20) ; Ceroid (1220-27), formerly Abbot of Cluny, later Patriarch of Jerusalem; St. Boniface of Savoy (1240- 42), later Archbishop of Canterburv; Amadeus II, Cardinal of Saluces (138.3-89); John VI, Cardinal of Lorraine (1521); FrangoLs-Guillaume de Castelnau, Cardinal of Clermont-Lodeve (1.524-31); Jean de Montluc, brother of the historian Blaise, who assisted in the nomination of the Duke of Anjou as King of Poland (1553-79), and was suspected of Protestant tendencies. During the Middle Ages Valence recog- nized only the sovereignty of the emperor, as King of Burgundy and Aries; under him the bishops exercised real dominion. The neighbouring territories bore the title of Count ship and Duchy of Valentinois. In 950 Gontard, of the house of the counts of Poitiers, made himself master of the Countship of Valentinois, which passed to the Duke of Savoy in 1419, and to the Dauphin Louis, son of Charles VII, in 1440, be- coming imited to the Crown of France. In 1498 Louis XII made Valentinois a ducal peerage which he gave to (Ja.'.'iar Borgia.
Diocese of Sl-Faul-Trois-ChAlc.aux. — According to a legend of the fifteenth century, St. Restitutus, first Bishop of St-Paul-Trois-C^hiiteaux, was the man born blind, mentioned in the Gospel. Local traditions also make Sts. Eu.sebius, Torquatus, Paulus, Amantius, Sulpicius, Bonifalius, (^astoriniis, and Michael early bishops of St-Paul-Troi.s-Chateaux. Mgr Duchesne regards St. Paulus (fourth or sixth century), patron of the city, as the only known bishop. Owing to Saracen ravages (827-29)" t he Church of St-Paul-Trois- Chdteaux, by Decree of Gregory IV, was united with the C'hurch of Orange until th(> end of the eleventh cent ur\', when ( he Diocese of Orange was re-established. The Diocese of St-Paul-Trois-Chateaux was always dependent on Aries. Among its bishops were Ile-
raclius (525-42), correspondent of St. Avitus; Saint
Martin des Ormeaux (seventh century), who became
a solitary.
Diocese of Die. — The Carthusian Polycarpe de la Riviere gives St. Martinus (220) as first Bishop of Die. The oldest historically known bishop is St. Nicasius, who attended the Council of Nica>a in 325. Aft^er him are mentioned: St. Petronius, followed by his brother St. Marcellus (c. 463), confessor and mir- acle-worker; Lucretius (541-73), to whom St. Fer- reolus of Uzes dedicated his monastic rule. For various reasons Abbe Jules Chevalier omits from the episcopal list: St. Ma.ximus (sixth century); Wul- phinus (end of eighth century); Exuperius and Satur- ninus (ninth century). Other bishops were: Hugh (1073-83), consecrated at Rome by Gregory VII, became a legate of the latter, presided over numerous councils for the reform of the Church, and subse- quently became Bishop of Lyons; St. Ismido (1098- 1115) of the noble house of Sassenage; Bl. Ulric (1129- 42), who opposed the Petrobrusian heresy in his diocese and became a Carthusian; Bl. Bernard (1173- 76); St. Stephen (120.3-S), formerly a Carthusian at the monastery of Portcs; Bl. Didier (Desiderius) de Lans (1213-20). After the eleventh century the Diocese of Die, long disputed between the metropoli- tans of Vienne and Aries, became dependent on Vienne. By Bull of 25 September, 1275, in order to strengthen the Church of Valence in its struggle with the House of Poitiers, Gregory X united the Diocese of Die with that of Valence. This union, which lasted four centuries, was unfortunate for Die. It was an- nulled in 1687 by Louis XIV, who, to combat Protes- tantism, appointed a Bishop of Die.
Councils were held at Valence in: 374, at which measures were taken for ecclesiastical discipline; 530, against Pelagianism; 585, King Gontran's dona- tions to the Church were confirmed; 855, against Gottschalk's heresy; 890, Louis, son of Boson, was proclaimed King of Provence; 1100, the Bishop of. Autun was suspended as a simoniac; 120!(. dealt with the conditions on wfiich the Count of Toulouse should be admitted to absolution. A so-called Council of Valence, held at Montelimar (1248), anathematized Emperor Frederick II and organized the Inquisition in Southern France. The Benedictine Abbey of Notre-Dame-d'Aiguebelle, which was founded in 1045 through Hughues Adhemar, Baron de Grignan, and visited by Paschal II in 1107, subsequently fell to decay. In 1137 the Cistercians of ISIorimond were summoned by Gontard Dupuy, Lord of Hochefort, to found a new abbey in the neighbourhood of the first. From the end of tlic fifteenth century it belonged to commendatory abbots. Since 1816, when Pierre- Frangois de Paul Malmy (Pere Etienne), a Trappist, secured possession of it, there has been a Trappist congregation at the Abbey d'Aiguebelle. The Canons Regular of St. Rufus, founded at Avignon in 1039, opened at Valence in 1158 a house which became their mother-house in 1210, were secularized in 1774. Among the canons were: Anastasius IV, Adrian IV, and Julius II.
Among the saints of the diocese were: May (Ma- rius), Abbot of Bodon (d. 5,50); Barnard (778-842), Archbishop of Vienne, who became a solitary at Ro- mans, where he founded a large Benedictine monas- tery and built a church which still stands: Hugh (10.53-1132), formerly a canon of Valence anil Bi.shop of Grenoble, one of the founders of the Carthusians; Hugh, Abbot of Lioncel, nephew of the pn'ccding (twelfth century). Blessed Bertrand of (iarriguc, com- panion of Saint Dominic, died at Bouchet in the Dio- cese of St-l'aul-Tniis-Chateaux during a mission (1230); Blessed lluinbert of Romans, general of the Dominicans, author of a,scetical writings, died at the convent of Valence (1277). Adhemar de Monteil, a native of Cirignan, Bishop of Lc Puy, was accon\-
