Roman Catholic Diocese of Uzès
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The Ancient Diocese of Uzès (Lat.: Uceticensis) is a former Roman Catholic diocese in France. From the arrival of Christianity in the 5th century until the French Revolution the southern French city of Uzès, in the department of Gard, was the seat of a bishop, a competitor to the local lords.
History
[edit]The first reliably documented Bishop of Uzès was Constantius, who was present at the Council of Vaison in 442. Other notable bishops were the fourth, Saint Firminus (541-53), who is locally venerated as Saint Firmin and whose remains are kept in Uzès Cathedral. The cathedral is dedicated to Saint Theodoritus (Saint Théodorit), martyr, and patron saint of the town, and who was invoked against plague. Also honored is Saint Ferreol (553-81).[1]
On 15 October 879, Bishop Walefridus of Uzès participated in the election of Boso of Provence, the son of Bivin of Gorze, count of Lotharingia, and Richildis, the daughter of Boso the Elder, as King of Provence.[2]
As the power of territorial magnates dispersed,[vague] the bishops obtained the right to strike coinage,[3] a sure sign of their secular power, and the seigneurial right to dispense justice. In the 13th century, at the height of the see's power, the bishop was able to purchase a part of the signory of Uzès. Prior Guillaume de Grimoard held office as vicar-general of the bishop of Uzès, from 1357 to 1362, before becoming Pope Urban V.[4]
Like many cloth-manufacturing centers (Uzès manufactures serge), the city and the surrounding countryside were strongly Protestant during the Wars of Religion in the 16th century, which wreaked havoc in the Languedoc regions, and Bishop Jean de Saint Gelais (1531–60) became a Calvinist.[1] Many of the city's churches were burned by Huguenots and only two remain.
The missionary Jacques Bridaine (1701–67) was a native of the village of Chusclan in the diocese of Uzès.[5] Even before he was ordained a priest, he was commissioned by Bishop Michel Poncet de la Rivière of Uzès to preach in Vers, then in Saint-Quentin.[6]
For seventy days, from February to April 1813, the city of Uzès was the fortified residence of Cardinal Bartolomeo Pacca, the pro-Secretary of State of Pope Pius VII.[7] He had been deported from Rome along with Pope Pius VII when Napoleon annexed the Papal States to France. After his confinement at Fenestrelle (1812–1813), he was permitted to visit Pius at Fontainebleau, before being sent under guard to Uzès.[8]
The diocese of Uzès was a suffragan of the archdiocese of Narbonne.[9] The diocese had two religious houses, one for men, the Cluniac Pont-Saint Esprit; the other for women, the Cistercian Valsauve-de-Bagnols.[10] Both were closed during the French revolution, their members releaste from their vows by governmental order and pensioned off, the properties appropriated by the government. The Chapter of the cathedral was also dissolved.
After the bishopric of Nîmes was re-established as a separate diocese in 1821, a Papal Brief of 27 April 1877, granted to its bishop the right to add the titles Alais and Uzès to Nîmes, with the territory of the two suppressed dioceses combined with that of Nîmes.[1]
Bishops of Uzès
[edit]To 1150
[edit]- [Roricius][13]
- 581 : Marcellus
- ...
- 659 : Aurelien (Aurele)
- 661 : Mummolus
- ...
- 773 : Sigibert (Sigepert, Sigisbert)
- 791 : Arimundus (Arimond)
- 823–835 : Amelius I.
- 842 : Éliphas (Éléphant, Alphant, Alphonse)
- 858–879 : Walafrid (Wilfrid, Wilfred)
- 885 : Asaël
- 886–915 : Amelius II.
- ...
- 945 : Rostaing
- ...
- 994–1030 : Heribald (Aribald, Arbaud)
- ...
- 1030–1080 : Hugues (Hugo)
- ...
- 1096–1138 : Raymond (I.)
- 1139–1150 : Ébrard (I.) (Éverard)
From 1150 to 1400
[edit]- 1150–1188 : Raymond de Posquières
- 1188–1190 : Bertrand I.
- 1190–1204 : Guillaume de Vénéjan
- 1204–1208 : Ébrard (II.)
- 1208–1212 : Raymond (III.) (Rainon, Raynier)
- 1212–1228 : Raymond (IV), named de Mas d'André (Mansus Andreae)
- 1228–1239 : Berlio (Berlion, Berlionc)
- 1240–1249 : Pons de Becmil
- 1249–1285 : Bertrand Armand
- 1285–1308 : Guillaume des Gardies
- Sede vacante (1308–1314)[18]
- 1314–1318 : André de Frédol, O.S.A.[19]
- 1318–1344 : Guillaume de Mandagout[20]
- 1344–1346 : Élias (Hélias de Saint-Yrieix)
- 1357–1365 : Pierre d'Aigrefeuille
- 1365–1366 : Pierre (II.) (Gérard de la Rovère)
- 1366–1371 : Bonuspar (Bompar)[21]
- 1371–1374 : Bernard de Saint-Étienne
- 1374–1398 : Martial[22]
From 1400 to 1801
[edit]- [1426 : Pierre Soybert][25]
- 1427–1441 : Bertrand de Cadoène
- 1441–1442 : Guillaume IV. de Champeaux
- 1442–1445 : Alain de Coëtivy Administrator[26]
- 1445–1446 : Guillaume V. Soybert
- 1446–1448 : Olivier du Châtel (Oliverius de Castro)
- 1448–1463 : Gabriel du Châtel
- 1463–1483 : Jean I. de Mareuil (de Marolio)
- 1483–1503 : Nicolas Malgras (Maugras, Malgrassi)
- 1503–1531 : Jacques de Saint-Gelais
- 1531–1570 : Jean de Saint-Gelais
- 1570–1591 : Robert de Girard
- 1591–1601 : François Rousset
- 1601–1624 : Louis de Vigne[27]
- 1621–1633 : Paul-Antoine de Fay de Peraut[28]
- 1633–1660 : Nicolas de Grillié (de Grillet)
- 1660–1674 : Jacques Adhémar de Monteil de Grignan
- 1674–1677 : Michel Phélypeaux de la Vrillière
- 1677–1728 : Michel Poncet de la Rivière[29]
- 1728–1736 : François de Lastic de Saint-Jal[30]
- 1737–1779 : Bonaventure Baüyn[31]
- 1779–1801 : Henri Benoît Jules de Béthizy de Mézières[32]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b c Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. .
- ^ D.P. Curtin, Frankish Royal Elections: Boso, Eudes, Louis & Guy, (Philadelphia: Dalcassian Pub. Co. 2005), pp. 7, 22.
- ^ Inge Lyse Hansen, Chris Wickham, The Long Eighth Century: Production, Distribution and Demand (Leiden-Boston: Brill 2021), p. 183: "The switch from emperor to king notwithstanding, the royal coinage is identical with its predecessor, is issued from the same four principal mints—Marsdeille, Arles, Uzès and Viviers—and continues to represent a centrally-inspired attempt to profit from trade on the Rhône-valley axis." Philip Grierson, "Le sou d'or d'Uzès," in: Le Moyen Age (1954), 293-309, rejecting the idea that the gold coins of Charlemagne are authentic contemporary currency. Robert Latouche, The Birth of the Western Economy: Economic Aspects of the Dark Ages (New York: Routledge, 2013), p. 151, note 1: "The only gold coins issued under the early Carolingians were struck at Aix-la-Chapelle. Consequently the mint at Uzès which turned out gold coins is a myth."
- ^ Jean Baptiste Magnan, Histoire d'Urbain V., (in French) (Paris, 1862), pp. 87-88.
- ^ Edwin Charles Dargan, A History of Preaching ...: Vol. II. From the Close of the Reformation Period to the End of the Nineteenth Century, 1572-1900. (New York: G.H. Doran Company, 1912), pp. 254-257.
- ^ J. Rance, "Bridaine en Provence," in: Annales de Provence, (in French), Volume 1 (Marseille: J. Chauffard 1883), p. 39.
- ^ Bartolomeo Pacca, Mémoires du Cardinal Pacca, sur la Captivité du Pape Pie VII. et le Concordat de 1813, pour servir à l'histoire du règne de Napoléon, troisième édition, Volume 2 (Paris: Ladvocat 1833), pp. 201-240.
- ^ Bartolomeo Pacca, Historical Memoirs of Cardinal Pacca, Prime Minister to Pius VII, Volume 1 (London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1850), passim.
- ^ Ritzler & Sefrin, Hierarchia catholica V, p. 400, note 1; VI, p. 428, note 1.
- ^ Jean, p. 279.
- ^ Bishop Constantius (Constantinus) participated in the Council of Vaison in 442: "Ex prouincia prima Narboninsi Eucesia oppido Constantius episcopus, Principius diaconus." (C. Munier, Concilia Galliae (Turnholt: Brepols 1965), p. 102); in the council of Arles in 451. In 462, he was appointed by Pope Hilarius to preside over the bishops of the ecclesiastical province of Narbonensis prima. Gallia christiana VI, p. 610. Duchesne, p. 314, no. 1.
- ^ Probatus, Probacius, Probasius: Munier, p. 213: "Probatius in Christi nomine episcopus de Vcetia subscripsi." Duchesne, p. 315, no. 2.
- ^ According to the "Legend of Saint Firminus", Roricus was the father and predecessor of the saint on the episcopal throne of Uzès. Gallia Christiana VI, p. 611. Duchense (p. 315, note 1), however, considers the source 'hardly reassuring', and excludes Roricius from the list of bishops: "Le G. C. insère ici un Roricius, père du suivant, d'après la légende de celui-ci, laquelle est des moins rassurantes."
- ^ Bishop Firminus attended the council of Orleans in 541; the council of 549 in 549; and the council of Paris in 552. Duchesne, p. 315, no. 3.
- ^ Duchesne, p. 315, no. 4.
- ^ Albinus was bishop for only three months, according to Gregory of Tours, Historia Francorum Book VI, § 7: "Post cuius obitum Albinus ex praefecto per Dinamium rectorem Provinciae extra regis consilium suscepit episcopatum ; quem non amplius quam tribus utens mensibus, cum ad hoc causa restitisset, ut removeretur , defunctus est." He had failed to secure the consent of the king (the praeceptio), and was deposed. O.W. Dalton, The History of the Franks, Volume 1 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1927), p. 288, 296. Duchesne, p. 315, no. 5, with note 6.
- ^ His name is omitted both by Gallia Chrsistiana and by Duchesne. Gregory of Tours, Historia Francorum Book VI, § 7: "Iovinus iterum, qui quondam & Provinciae rector fuerat, regium de episcopatum praeceptum accipit. Sed praevenit eum Marcellus diaconus, Felicis senatoris filius. Qui, convocatis conprovincialibus, per consilium Dinamii episcopus ordinatus est. Sed et ipse vi pulsatus deinceps a Iovino, ut removeretur, conclusus in civitate, virtute se defensare nitebatur; sed cum non valeret, muneribus vicit." Gallia Christiana VI, p. 614.
- ^ Following the death of Bishop Guillaume on 30 December 1308, the canons of the cathedral met to elect a successor. They agreed on one of their own canons, Gaucelmus de Mayreriis. But one of the canons, Pontius de Alayraco, who opposed him, filed an appeal at the papal court against the election. According to the usual procedures, Pope Clement V appointed a committee of three cardinals to investigate the election, who declared the election void. After timely deliberation with other cardinals, with bishops, and with and others, the pope, on 30 March 1314, appointed Andreas de Fredol, a canon of the cathedral of Maguelonne, to the bishopric of Uzès. The pope died three weeks later. Eubel I, p. 510 with note 2. Regestum Clementis Papae V (Rome: Typographia Vaticana 1888), Year 9, p. 89, no. 10284.
- ^ Andreas was appointed bishop of Uzès on 30 March 1314. He was transferred to the diocese of Maguelonne by Pope John XXII on 8 February 1318. He died on 29 February 1328. Eubel I, pp. 320; 510 with note 2.
- ^ Guillaume had been Bishop of Lodève from 1313 to 1318. He was transferred to Uzès by Pope John XXII on 14 February 1318. He died inh 1344, after 21 April, and before 5 September. Eubel, Hierarchia catholica I, pp. 309 ith note 3; 511.
- ^ Bonuspar was a doctor of laws. He had been Provost of the cathedral of Mende, and was appointed bishop of Uzès by Pope Urban V on 11 August 1366. He was appointed Bishop of Mende by Pope Gregory XI on 16 June 1371. Eubel I, pp. 511.
- ^ Martialis held a licenciate in law. He had been Provost of the cathedral of Liège. He was appointed bishop of Uzès by Pope Gregory XI on 14 July 1394. He died in 1398. Eubel I, p. 511.
- ^ Petrus, the archdeacon of Otta in the diocese of Evreux, was elected by the Chapter of Uzès, confirmed, and consecrated. But he was not granted his bulls of installation by Pope Benedict XIII (Avignon Obedience). Benedict had been repudiated by King Charles VI of France, the bishops of France, and the University of Paris in 1398, and therefore his consent made no difference. He was transferred to the diocese of Séez, a suffragan of Rouen, by Benedict XIII on 16 September 1405. He died in 1408. Gallia christiana VI, p. 639. Eubel I, pp. 428; 511, note 7.
- ^ Geraldus was appointed on 18 September 1405, by Pope Benedict XIII (Avignon Obedience). Gallia christiana VI, p. 639. Eubel I, p. 511.
- ^ Pierre Soybert, a doctor of Canon Law, and a canon of Albi and archdeacon, was elected by the Chapter of Uzès, but was rejected by Pope Martin V; on the same day, 28 January 1426, the pope appointed him bishop of S. Papoul. Eubel I, pp. 390, note 11; 511, note 9.
- ^ Coetivy was bishop of Avignon. Gallia christiana VI, p. 641.
- ^ De Vigne was appointed on 18 September 1598. had restored the cathedral, which had been damaged by the Huguenot wars. Gauchat, Hierarchia catholica IV, p. 354, with note 1.
- ^ Fay was named titular bishop of Helenopolis and coadjutor bishop of Uzès on 21 October 1613. He succeeded Bishop de Vigne in 1624. Gauchat, pp. 200 with note 1; 354 with note 3.
- ^ Michel Poncet de la Rivière: Jean, p. 278.
- ^ Lastic: Jean, p. 278.
- ^ Bauyn: Jean, pp. 278-279.
- ^ Mézières refused to take the compulsory oath to the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, as demanded by the National Constituent Assembly. He was therefore considered deposed by the French government (who did not have canonical authority to do so), and he was forced to flee the country. When Pope Pius VII abolished the dioceses of France on 29 November 1801, Mézières lost his diocese, which he had refused to resign, even at the pope's request. He died in exile in London on 8 August 1817. Ritzler & Sefrin, Hierarchia catholica VI, p. 428 with note 3.
Bibliography
[edit]Sources: Episcopal lists
[edit]- Gams, Pius Bonifatius (1873). Series episcoporum Ecclesiae catholicae: quotquot innotuerunt a beato Petro apostolo (in Latin). Ratisbon: Typis et Sumptibus Georgii Josephi Manz. pp. 548-549. (Use with caution; obsolete)
- Eubel, Conradus, ed. (1913). Hierarchia catholica (in Latin). Vol. 1 (second ed.). Münster: Libreria Regensbergiana.
- Eubel, Conradus, ed. (1914). Hierarchia catholica (in Latin). Vol. 2 (second ed.). Münster: Libreria Regensbergiana.
- Eubel, Conradus; Gulik, Guilelmus, eds. (1923). Hierarchia catholica (in Latin). Vol. 3 (second ed.). Münster: Libreria Regensbergiana.
- Gauchat, Patritius (Patrice) (1935). Hierarchia catholica (in Latin). Vol. IV (1592-1667). Münster: Libraria Regensbergiana. Retrieved 2016-07-06.
- Ritzler, Remigius; Sefrin, Pirminus (1952). Hierarchia catholica medii et recentis aevi (in Latin). Vol. V (1667-1730). Patavii: Messagero di S. Antonio.
- Ritzler, Remigius; Sefrin, Pirminus (1958). Hierarchia catholica medii et recentis aevi. Vol. VI (1730-1799). Patavii: Messagero di S. Antonio.
Studies
[edit]- Congregation of St. Maur, O.S.B. (edd.) (1739. Gallia Christiana, In Provincias Ecclesiasticas Distributa. (in Latin). Tomus Sextus, Volume 6. Paris: Typographia regia, 1739. [pp. 609-663; "Instrumenta", pp. 293-312].
- Albiousse, Lionel d' (1903). Histoire de la ville d'Uzès. (in French). Uzès: H. Malige, 1903.
- Charvet, Gratien (1870). La première maison d'Uzès, étude historique et généalogique de la première maison d'Uzès suivi du catalogue analytique des évêques d'Uzès. (in French). Alais: J. Martin 1870.
- Devic, Claude; Vaissete, J. (1872). Histoire générale de Languedoc: avec des notes et les pièces justificatives. (in French and Latin). Volume 4. Toulouse: E. Privat, 1872. [chronological annotated list, pp. 298-304; 864-870].
- Duchesne, Louis (1907). Fastes épiscopaux de l'ancienne Gaule (in French). Vol. Tome I: Provinces du Sud-Est (deuxieme ed.). Paris: A. Fontemoing. pp. 314–316.
- Jean, Armand (1891). Les évêques et les archevêques de France depuis 1682 jusqu'à 1801 (in French). Paris: A. Picard. p. 520.
- Pisani, Paul (1907). Répertoire biographique de l'épiscopat constitutionnel (1791-1802) (in French). Paris: A. Picard et fils.