FREJUS
270
FREJUS
brother of St. Castor and friend of John Cassian, who in the Diocese of Toulon, and later Archbishop of
dedicated to him his first ten "CoUationes", and of Toulouse; and the virgin St. Rosaline, prioress of the
St. Honoratus, founder of the monastery of L^rins; monastery of La Celle-Roubaud, who died in 1329,
Theodore (433—1.55), Abbot of the lies d'Hyrres, to and whose shrine, situated at Les Arcs near Dragui-
whom Cassian dedicated the last seven " CoUationes " ; gnan, has been for six centuries a place of pilgrimage,
St. Auxilius (c. 475), formerly a
monk of Lerins, and later a martyr
under Eurie, Arian King of the
Visigoths; Riculfus (973-1000), who
restored the ruins made by the
Saracens, and built the cathedral
and the episcopal palace; Ber-
trand (1044-91), who founded the
collegiate church of Barjols; Ray-
mond Berengarius (1235-1248), who
arranged the marriage of Beatrice,
daughter of the Count of Provence,
with Charles of Anjou; Jacques
d'Euse (1300-1310), preceptor of St.
Louis of Toulouse, and later pope
under the name of John XXII;
Cardinal Nicolo Fieschi (1495-
1524), who at the time of his death
was dean of the Sacred College;
Andr^-Hercule de Fleury (1698-
1715).
II. Toulon. — The legend which states that a certain Cleon, who ac-
are likewise especially honoured in
the diocese. The sojourn in 1482
of St. Francis of Paula at Bormes
and at Frejus, where he caused the
cessation of the plague, made a last-
ing impression. The chief places of
pilgrimage in the Diocese of Frejus
and Toulon are those of Notre-
Dame des Anges at Pignans, the
chapel which King Thierry estab-
lished in 508, for the veneration of
a statue of the Blessed Virgin recov-
ered by a shepherd and which, it was
said, had been brought to Pignans
by St. Nympha, niece of St. Maxi-
minus and companion of St. Mary
Magdalen; Notre-Dame de B6nat,
a shrine dating from the sixteenth
century ; Notre-Dame de Graces at
Cotignac, which dates from 1519,
and later served by some priests
who formed themselves into a re-
ligious community under the rule
companied St. Lazarus to Gaul was the founder of of St. Philip Neri, and were the first Oratorians in
the Church of Toulon, is based on an apocryphal France. In 1037, as the result of an apparition of the
document composed in the fourteenth century and Blessed Virgin to Frere Fiacre, Louis XIII and Anne
a.scribed to a sixth-century bishop named liidier. of Austria sent him to Cotignac to offer up prayers.
Honoratus and Gratianus, according to the "Gallia Anne of Au.stria became the mother of Louis XIV,
Christiana", were the first bishops of Toulon whose antl in 1660 he went in solemn state to Cotignac to re-
names are known to history, but Duchesne gives turn thanks to Notre-Dame de Graces.
Augustalis as the first
historical bishop. He as-
sisted at councils in 441
and 442 and signed in 449
and 450 the letters ad-
dres.sed to Pope Leo I from
the province of Aries. St.
Cyprian, disciple and biog-
rapher of St. Ccesarius of
Aries, is also mentioned
as a Bishop of Toulon.
His episcopate, begun in
524, had not come to an
end in 541 ; he converted
to Catholicism the Visi-
goth chiefs, Mandrier and
Flavian, who became an-
chorites and martyrs on
the peninsula of Mandrier.
The Island of Lerins,
well known as the site of
the celebrated monastery
founded there in 410 (see
Lerins) was sold in 1859
by the Bishop of Frgjus
to an English purchaser.
A number of the saints of
Lerins are especially hon-
oured in the diocese.
Among them are Sts.
Honoratus, C!iEsarius,
Hilary, and Virgilius,
all of whom became
archbishops of Aries;
Q u i n i d i u s , Bishop of
Cathedral of Saint-Etienne, Fr^jub
The church of St. Maxi-
minus, begun towards the
end of the thirteenth cen-
tury by Charles II of Sic-
ily and completed by the
end of the fifteenth cen-
tury, is the most beautiful
example of pointed archi-
tecture in the south of
France. The head of St.
Mary Magdalen is hon-
oured here, and the crypt
contains tombs which
tlate from the first cen-
turies of the Christian
Era. (For an account of
the traditions on this sub-
ject, see Lazarus and
Mary Magdalen.) The
celebrated preacher Mas-
siUon (1003-1742) was
born at Hyeres in this
diocese. In 1905 (last
year of the Concordat)
the diocese numbered
320,384 inhabitants, 28
parishes, 142 succursal
parishes, and 07 vicariates
paid by the State. Before
the enforcement of the
law against the congre-
gations in 1901 there were
in the diocese communities
of Trappists, Capvichins,
Carthusians, 1 )ominic:ins.
Vaison; Valerius, Bishop of Nice; Maximus, Bishop Marists, Salesians,andSulpicians. An important dio-
of Riez; Veranus and Lambertus, Bishops of Vence; cesan congregation founded in 1838, for teaching and
Vincent of Li'^rins, author of the "Commonitorium", hospital work, was that of Notre-Dame de la Mis(';ri-
an<l his brother Lupus, Bishop of Troyes; Agricola, corde, the mother-lunise of which was at Draguignan.
Bishop of Avignon; Aigulphus and Porcarius, mar- Before the law of 1901 the religious congrogatioiispos-
tyrs. St. Tropesius, martyr during the persecution of sessed in the diocese 2 foundling asyhinis, 36 ilay
Nero; St. Loui.s (1274-1297), a native of Brignoles, nurseries, a seaside hospital for sick cliildrcti, 2