CONSTANCE
287
CONSTANCE
( ill. Cone, VIII, 565.) He was succeeded by Gram-
lii ii ills, who attended a Frunkish synod at ("lorniont in
.">:..". I ibid., VIII, 863), one at Orleans in 541 (ibid., IX,
IJii). and a third at Orleans in 549 (ibid., IX, 1.36).
AfiiT this time history makes no further mention of
till 1 )ii)cese of Vindonissa. Since, however, the neigh-
iHMiiing city of Constance is for the first time nien-
ti'Mid as an e[)iscopal see about this time, it becomes
- iliiinst a certainty that from Vindonissa the see was
triiisfcrred to Constance. The episcopal catalogues (.1 I I instance designate Maximus as the first and Kuilolph as the second bishop, but nothing further is ki nil about them. AValafrid Strabo, in his "Vita ^^ I i:illi", speaks of a certain Gaudentius as Bi.shop of Ciwihtance, after whose death (c. 613) the bishopric \\ : 1 ^ offered to
I iall
who,
I the diL'-
i:id rocoMi-
l.d liisdis-
.f.ihiiinhis
I. 'I'hesiT- iiM.ii ulnch St. (M!l|Mvachc,lat JiilinV consecra- tion is still ex- tant (H. Cani- sius, ".-Vntiiiua' Lectiones", ed- ited by Basnage, TsTxiKTr,,, r.f r.Tiimmi
,? » INTERIOR OF *..\TIIK1JH.\I.
' 1 hesaurus
monum. eccl. et hist.", Antwerp, 1725, I, 785). Nothing is known of Marcian, Boso, Gangolf, Fidelis, and Rudolph, who are generally desig- nated as successors of John.
The limits of the Diocese of Constance were fixed during the seventh century. The river Iller separated it from the Diocese of Aiigshuri;. From the influx of the Iller into the Danulir thr l)Oundary turned towards the north-west past (inuiiid.acrii.ss the Neekar, north of Marliach, thence .south-westerly till it reached the lUiiiic Boiith of Brcisach (.\ltbreisach). It followed the Rhine upwaril to the influx of the Aar, then tip this river to the St. Gotthard, whence it turned ■ orth-easterly across Canton St. Gall to the source if the Iller. The dioceses surrounding it were ugsburg, Speyer, Strasburg, Basle, Lausanne, Chur, d (since 742) Wurzburg. There was not a diocese in ermany which surpassed Constance either in area or iopulation. It belonged to the province of Besan(;on ntil it became a suffragan of Mainz in 747. With few changes it retained the above-mentioned dimensions till the time of the Reformation. In the year 1435 the diocese had 17,060 priests, 1760 parishes, and 3.50 Diona.steries and convents. During the eighth and ninth centuries the liishojis of Constance repeatedly infringed upon the rights of the Abbots of Reichenau andSt.Galland sometimes conibincd the ahliatial with the episcoiial dignitv. Bislmii Siilnnius (746 TiiO) was instrumental in the unjust deposition and iTn|iris- Oiunent of St. Othmar, the Abliot of St. Gall, in 7.58 or 7.5<t illefcle, Conciliengeschichte, III, ,596). Most hi^hiips of the tenth century- were great and holy men. ~ Miiin III (890-919) had previously (885) been im- ! chancellor and was equally beloved as .\bl)ot of iii'nau and St. Gall and ;is Bishop of Constance. St. Conrad (934-975) was a great friend of the poor, made three pilgrimages to the Holy Land, built three new churches and renovated many old ones. He was canonized in 1123 and became patron of the diocese. St. Gebhard II (979-995) founded the Abbey of Peters- hausen in 983, began to be honoured as a saint soon after his death, and became patron of the city of Con- stance. During the conflict between Pope Gregory VII and Emperor Henry IV, concerning the right of
investiture, the episcopal See of Constance was occu-
pied by Otto I (1071-1086), who sided with the em-
peror and was excommunicated because he took part
in the deposition of Gregory VII at the Synod of
Worms (1076). His successor Gebhard III (1084-
1110) was an intrepid defender of the papal rights
against Henry V, became Vicar Apostolic for Germany
under Urban II (Mansi, Ampl. Coll. Cone, XX, 666
and 715), consecrated the new cathedral at Constance
in 1089, held a synod in 1094, at which wholesome
ecclesiastical reforms were decreed, and with the con-
sent of the pope freed Henrj' V from the ban in 1095.
During the papal conflicts with the Emperors Freder-
ick I and Frederick II the Ijishops sidctl with the em-
perors until Bishop Henry I, von Thann (1233-1248)
retiirncd to papal allegiance in 1246. Bishop
Rudolph von Montfort (1.322-1334) supported
Pope John XXII in his struggle against Louis the
Bavarian until 1332, when he joined the party of
the emperor. His successor Nicholas, von Krenz-
lingen (1334-1344), sided with the iiopes. While
the Council of
Constance (q.
v.) was in ses-
sion (1414-
1418) the epis-
copalSeeof Con-
stance was oc-
cupied by Otto
III, von Hoch-
berg (14 11-
1434). From
the thirteenth
century the
bishops of Con-
stance were
princes of the
German Em-
pire. Their ter-
ritory, as tein-
|)Oral rulers, ex-
tended over
twenty - two
German (about
482 English)
square miles,
with a popula-
tion of about
50,000, and Ixsted until it was divided between Baden
an<l .Switzerland in 1802.
The decline of the diocese begins with the Protestant Reformation. The Swiss Cantons Zurich, Bern, St. Gall, Schaffhausen, and Thurgau were first to adopt the new tloctrine (Zwinglianism). They were followed in 1526 by the city of Constance and in 1534 by the Duchy of A\'iirteinberg. Baden became Protestant in 1556, but here the Catholic religion was restored in 1571. The old Faith was also slowly restored in the city of Constanc(> from 1548 when that city came un- der .\ustrian rule. From 152(> the bislmps of Con- stance resided at .Meershurg. Despite the great los.ses sustained during the Reformation, the diocese in 1750 still nunibereil 3774 .secular priests, 2764 monks, 3147 nuns, and a Catholic population of 891,948. In 1814 the portion of tln^ diocese situated on Swiss territory was detached and apjiortioned to the Swiss dioceses of Chur. Basle, and St. Gall. After the death of Bishop Karl Theodor von Dalberg in 1817, the portion of the diocese lying in Wiirtemberg came under the jurisdic- tion of the vicar-general of Ellwangcn-Rottenburg, and all the Bavarian territory was attached to the Diocese of .\ugsburg. In 1821 Pope Pins VII dissolved the Diocese of Constance and joined itsS remaining terri- tory' to the newly erected Archdiocese of Freiburg. The most important rulers of the diocese since the Reformation were: Cardinal Marcus Sitticus von Hoheneins (Altemp.s), 1.561-1589; Cardinal Andrew
, Constance
