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The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dijon (
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
: ''Archidioecesis Divionensis''; French: ''Archidiocèse de Dijon'') is a
diocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associat ...
of the
Latin Rite Latin liturgical rites, or Western liturgical rites, are Catholic rites of public worship employed by the Latin Church, the largest particular church ''sui iuris'' of the Catholic Church, that originated in Europe where the Latin language onc ...
of the
Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
in France. The archepiscopal see is
Dijon Cathedral Dijon Cathedral, or the Cathedral of Saint Benignus of Dijon (french: Cathédrale Saint-Bénigne de Dijon), is a Roman Catholic church located in the town of Dijon, Burgundy, France, and dedicated to Saint Benignus of Dijon. The Gothic cathe ...
, which is located in the city of
Dijon Dijon (, , ) (dated) * it, Digione * la, Diviō or * lmo, Digion is the prefecture of the Côte-d'Or department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in northeastern France. the commune had a population of 156,920. The earlie ...
. The diocese comprises the entire department of
Côte-d'Or Côte-d'Or (; literally, "Golden Slope") is a département in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region of Northeastern France. In 2019, it had a population of 534,124.Region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...
of
Bourgogne Burgundy (; french: link=no, Bourgogne ) is a historical territory and former administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century. The c ...
. Originally established as the Diocese of Dijon in 1731, and suffragan to the
Archdiocese of Lyon The Archdiocese of Lyon (Latin: ''Archidiœcesis Lugdunensis''; French: ''Archidiocèse de Lyon''), formerly the Archdiocese of Lyon–Vienne–Embrun, is a Latin Church metropolitan archdiocese of the Catholic Church in France. The Archbisho ...
, the diocese was elevated to the rank of archdiocese in 2002. The most significant jurisdiction change occurred after the
Concordat of 1801 The Concordat of 1801 was an agreement between Napoleon Bonaparte and Pope Pius VII, signed on 15 July 1801 in Paris. It remained in effect until 1905, except in Alsace-Lorraine, where it remains in force. It sought national reconciliation b ...
, when the diocese annexed the department of Haute-Marne. In 1821, a Papal Bull re-established the
Diocese of Langres The Roman Catholic Diocese of Langres (Latin: ''Dioecesis Lingonensis''; French: ''Diocèse de Langres'') is a Roman Catholic diocese comprising the ''département'' of Haute-Marne in France. The diocese is now a suffragan in ecclesiastical p ...
. The current archbishop is Antoine Hérouard, appointed in 2022.


History


Myths

Between the years 506 and 540, it was revealed to Gregory, Bishop of Langres, an ancestor of
Gregory of Tours Gregory of Tours (30 November 538 – 17 November 594 AD) was a Gallo-Roman historian and Bishop of Tours, which made him a leading prelate of the area that had been previously referred to as Gaul by the Romans. He was born Georgius Florent ...
, that a tomb which the piety of the peasants led them to visit contained the remains of St. Benignus. He had a large
basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building gave its name t ...
erected over it, and soon travellers from Italy brought him the acts of this saint's martyrdom. These acts are part of a collection of documents according to which
Burgundy Burgundy (; french: link=no, Bourgogne ) is a historical territory and former Regions of France, administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Duke of Burgundy, Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11 ...
was evangelized in the 2nd century by St. Benignus, an Asiatic priest and the disciple of
St. Polycarp Polycarp (; el, Πολύκαρπος, ''Polýkarpos''; la, Polycarpus; AD 69 155) was a Christian bishop of Smyrna. According to the ''Martyrdom of Polycarp'', he died a martyr, bound and burned at the stake, then stabbed when the fire failed ...
, assisted by two ecclesiastics, Andochius and Thyrsus. The good work is said to have prospered at
Autun Autun () is a subprefecture of the Saône-et-Loire department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region of central-eastern France. It was founded during the Principate era of the early Roman Empire by Emperor Augustus as Augustodunum to give a R ...
, where it received valuable support from the youthful Symphorianus; at Saulieu where Andochius and Thyrsus had established themselves; at
Langres Langres () is a commune in northeastern France. It is a subprefecture of the department of Haute-Marne, in the region of Grand Est. History As the capital of the Romanized Gallic tribe known as the Lingones, it was called Andematunnum, then ...
where the three brothers, Speusippus, Eleusippus, and Meleusippus, were baptized, and finally at Dijon. In the meantime the persecution of
Marcus Aurelius Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (Latin: áːɾkus̠ auɾέːli.us̠ antɔ́ːni.us̠ English: ; 26 April 121 – 17 March 180) was Roman emperor from 161 to 180 AD and a Stoic philosopher. He was the last of the rulers known as the Five Good ...
broke out, and St. Benignus and his companions were put to death. The doubts first raised by Boulliau and Tillemont in the 17th century concerning the authenticity of these acts seem justified by the conclusions of G. Van Hooff and
Louis Duchesne Louis Marie Olivier Duchesne (; 13 September 1843 – 21 April 1922) was a French priest, philologist, teacher and a critical historian of Christianity and Roman Catholic liturgy and institutions. Life Descended from a family of Breton sailor ...
, according to which the ''Acts of St. Benignus'' and the martyrdom of the three brothers of Langres, on which the aforesaid traditions are based, are apocryphal and copied from
Cappadocian Cappadocian Greeks also known as Greek Cappadocians ( el, Έλληνες-Καππαδόκες, Ελληνοκαππαδόκες, Καππαδόκες; tr, Kapadokyalı Rumlar) or simply Cappadocians are an ethnic Greek community native to the ...
legends. Animated polemics arose among the scholars of France on the apostolate of St. Benignus.


Langres and Dijon

Under the Merovingians and Carolingians, most of the bishops of Langres resided at Dijon, e.g. St. Urbanus (5th century), St. Gregory, and St. Tetricus (6th century), who were buried there. When, in 1016, Lambert, Bishop of Langres, ceded the seigniory and county of Dijon to King Robert of France, the Bishops of Langres made Langres their place of residence.


Diocese

In 1731,
Pope Clement XII Pope Clement XII ( la, Clemens XII; it, Clemente XII; 7 April 16526 February 1740), born Lorenzo Corsini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 12 July 1730 to his death in February 1740. Clement presided over the ...
made Dijon a diocese. When formed, it was composed of 164 parishes divided among seven regional deaneries. 155 of these parishes had been part of the Diocese of Langres, and 19 others had come from the Diocese of Besançon. The seven deaneries were supervised by the two archdeacons. The Abbey of Saint-Etienne of Dijon (5th century) long had a Chapter of Canons Regular who observed the
Rule of St. Augustine The Rule of Saint Augustine, written about the year 400, is a brief document divided into eight chapters and serves as an outline for religious life lived in community. It is the oldest monastic rule in the Western Church. The rule, developed b ...
; the Chapter was altered to one of
secular canon A canon (from the Latin , itself derived from the Greek , , "relating to a rule", "regular") is a member of certain bodies in subject to an ecclesiastical rule. Originally, a canon was a cleric living with others in a clergy house or, later, i ...
s by
Pope Paul V Pope Paul V ( la, Paulus V; it, Paolo V) (17 September 1550 – 28 January 1621), born Camillo Borghese, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 16 May 1605 to his death in January 1621. In 1611, he honored ...
in 1611, and
Pope Clement XI Pope Clement XI ( la, Clemens XI; it, Clemente XI; 23 July 1649 – 19 March 1721), born Giovanni Francesco Albani, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 23 November 1700 to his death in March 1721. Clement XI ...
made its church the cathedral of Dijon; during the Revolution the Cathedral was transformed into a forage storehouse. The former abbatial church of Saint-Bénigne became the cathedral of Dijon early in the 19th century. From the 1730s the Chapter was composed of six dignities and twelve Canons. The city of Dijon had some 30,000 inhabitants, and was divided into seven parishes. There were two colleges for the education of the young, along with eight houses of male religious, and eight monasteries of men.


Revolution

The diocese of Dijon was abolished during the
French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are consider ...
by the Legislative Assembly, under the Civil Constitution of the Clergy (1790). Its territory was subsumed into the new diocese, called 'Côte-d'Or ', which was part of the Metropolitanate called the 'Metropole de l'Est' (which included eight new 'départements'). The Civil Constitution mandated that bishops be elected by the citizens of each 'département', which immediately raised the most severe canonical questions, since the electors did not need to be Catholics and the approval of the Pope was not only not required, but actually forbidden. Erection of new dioceses and transfer of bishops, moreover, was not canonically within the competence of civil authorities or of the Church in France. The result was schism between the 'Constitutional Church' and the Catholic Church. The legitimate bishop of Dijon, René de Mérinville, refused to take the oath, and therefore the episcopal see was declared vacant. He was in fact one of the thirty bishops who subscribed to the ''Exposition des principes, sur la Constitution civile du Clergé'' (30 October 1790). He emigrated to Germany and took up residence at Karlsruhe. On 15 February 1791 the electors of 'Côte-d'Or' were assembled, and elected the former Jesuit Jean-Baptise Volfius, whose brother was a member of the Constituent Assembly, as their President; they then proceeded to elect him as their bishop. Volfius travelled to Paris for his consecration, which was carried out on 13 March by Jean-Baptiste Gobel, the Bishop of Lydda ''in partibus'', who had just been installed as Constitutional Bishop of Paris. Volfius, and all the Constitutional Bishops, were required to resign in May 1801 by First Consul Bonaparte, who was negotiating with
Pope Pius VII Pope Pius VII ( it, Pio VII; born Barnaba Niccolò Maria Luigi Chiaramonti; 14 August 1742 – 20 August 1823), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 14 March 1800 to his death in August 1823. Chiaramonti was also a ...
the
Concordat of 1801 The Concordat of 1801 was an agreement between Napoleon Bonaparte and Pope Pius VII, signed on 15 July 1801 in Paris. It remained in effect until 1905, except in Alsace-Lorraine, where it remains in force. It sought national reconciliation b ...
(15 July 1801). Once the Concordat went into effect, Pius VII was able to issue the appropriate bulls to restore many of the dioceses and to regulate their boundaries, most of which corresponded closely to the new 'départements'. The Bull ''Qui Christi Domini'' created the Diocese of Dijon out of the two 'départements' of Côte-d'Or and Haute-Marne. The diocese of Langres was reestablished in principle in 1817, but difficulties between the King and the Pope postponed the implementation of Langres until 1823.


Separation of Church and State

Pope Pius X Pope Pius X ( it, Pio X; born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto; 2 June 1835 – 20 August 1914) was head of the Catholic Church from 4 August 1903 to his death in August 1914. Pius X is known for vigorously opposing modernist interpretations of ...
's request in 1904 for the resignation of Albert-Léon-Marie Le Nordez, Bishop of Dijon since 1899, was one of the incidents which led to the Law of Separation of 1905 and the rupture of relations between France and the Holy See.


Bishops

* Jean Bouhier (1731–1743) * Claude Bouhier (1743–1755) * Claude-Marc-Antoine d'Apchon (1755–1776) * Jacques-Joseph-François de Vogüé (1776–1787) * René des Monstiers de Mérinville (1787–1790) (1801) ** Jean-Baptiste Volfius (1791–1793) (Constitutional Bishop of Côte-d-Or). * Henri Reymond (1802–1820) * Jean-Baptiste Dubois (1820–1822) * Jean-François Martin de Boisville (1822–1829) * Jacques Raillon (1829–1830) (also
Archbishop of Aix The Archdiocese of Aix-en-Provence and Arles (Latin: ''Archidioecesis Aquensis in Gallia et Arelatensis''; French: ''Archidiocèse d'Aix-en-Provence et Arles''; Occitan Provençal: ''Archidiocèsi de Ais de Provença e Arle'' or ''Archidioucès ...
) * Claude Rey (1831–1838) * François-Victor Rivet (1838–1884) * Jean-Pierre-Bernard Castillon (1885–1885) * Victor-Lucien-Sulpice Lécot (1886–1890) (later
Archbishop of Bordeaux The Archdiocese of Bordeaux (–Bazas) (Latin: ''Archidioecesis Burdigalensis (–Bazensis)''; French: ''Archidiocèse de Bordeaux (–Bazas)''; Occitan: ''Archidiocèsi de Bordèu (–Vasats)'') is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or a ...
) * Fédéric-Henri Oury (1890–1898) (later Archbishop of Algiers) * Albert-Léon-Marie Le Nordez (1898–1904) * Pierre Dadolle (1906–1911) * Jacques-Louis Monestès (1911–1915) * Maurice Landrieux (1915–1926) * Pierre-André-Charles Petit de Julleville (1927–1936) (also
Archbishop of Rouen The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Rouen (Latin: ''Archidioecesis Rothomagensis''; French: ''Archidiocèse de Rouen'') is an archdiocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in France. As one of the fifteen Archbishops of France, the Ar ...
) * Guillaume-Marius Sembel (1937–1964) * André-Jean-Marie Charles de la Brousse (1964–1974) * Albert Florent Augustin Decourtray (1974–1981) (also
Archbishop of Lyon The Archdiocese of Lyon (Latin: ''Archidiœcesis Lugdunensis''; French: ''Archidiocèse de Lyon''), formerly the Archdiocese of Lyon–Vienne–Embrun, is a Latin Church metropolitan archdiocese of the Catholic Church in France. The Archbishop ...
) * Jean Marie Julien Balland (1982–1988) (also
Archbishop of Reims The Archdiocese of Reims (traditionally spelt "Rheims" in English) ( la, Archidiœcesis Remensis; French: ''Archidiocèse de Reims'') is a Latin Church ecclesiastic territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in France. Erected as a diocese a ...
) * Michel Coloni (1989–2004) * Roland Minnerath (2004–2022) * Antoine Hérouard (2022–present), (11/02/2022)


Architecture

Romanesque architecture was very popular in Burgundy; its masterpiece is the Cathedral of Saint-Bénigne of Dijon, consecrated by Paschal II in 1106 and completed in 1288. The Gothic style, although less used, characterizes the churches of Notre-Dame de Dijon (1252–1334), Notre-Dame de Semur, and l'Abbaye Saint-Seine; it was also the style of the Sainte-Chapelle of Dijon, which is no longer in existence. Under the dukes of Burgundy, at the close of the 14th and beginning of the 15th century, Burgundian art flourished in a surprising degree. The
Chartreuse de Champmol The Chartreuse de Champmol, formally the ''Chartreuse de la Sainte-Trinité de Champmol'', was a Carthusian monastery on the outskirts of Dijon, which is now in France, but in the 15th century was the capital of the Duchy of Burgundy. The monast ...
, on which
Philip the Bold Philip II the Bold (; ; 17 January 1342 – 27 April 1404) was Duke of Burgundy and ''jure uxoris'' Count of Flanders, Artois and Burgundy. He was the fourth and youngest son of King John II of France and Bonne of Luxembourg. Philip II was t ...
had
Claus Sluter Claus Sluter (1340s in Haarlem – 1405 or 1406 in Dijon) was a Dutch sculptor, living in the Duchy of Burgundy from about 1380. He was the most important northern European sculptor of his age and is considered a pioneer of the "northern reali ...
, the sculptor, at work from 1389 to 1406, and which was the acme of artistic excellence, was almost totally destroyed during the Revolution; however, two superb traces of it may still be seen, namely the Puits des prophètes and the portal of the church. The Beaune hospital (1443) is a fine specimen of the Gothic style, and the church of Saint-Michel in Dijon (1497) has 16th- and 17th-century porches covered with fantastic bas-reliefs. The Abbeys of Cîteaux, Fontenay, and Flavigny (where in the 19th century Père Lacordaire installed a Dominican novitiate) were all within the territory of Dijon.


Saints

The following saints are specially honoured: * Saint Sequanus (Saint Seine), b. at Mesmont, Côte-d'Or, d. 580, founder of the monastery of Réomé around which sprang up the town of Saint-Seine-l'Abbaye * St. William (961-1031), a native of Novara, Abbot of Saint Bénigne at Dijon in 990, and reformer of the Benedictine Order in the 11th century; * St. Robert of Molesme, joint founder with St. Alberic and Stephen Harding of the monastery of Cîteaux in 1098 *St. Stephen Harding, who died in 1134, third Abbot of Cîteaux, under whose administration the monasteries of La Ferté Abbey,
Pontigny Pontigny () is a commune in the Yonne department in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in north-central France. Sight Its principal distinction is as the home of Pontigny Abbey. See also *Communes of the Yonne department The following is a list of th ...
, Clairvaux, and Morimond were established *
St. Bernard of Clairvaux Bernard of Clairvaux, O. Cist. ( la, Bernardus Claraevallensis; 109020 August 1153), venerated as Saint Bernard, was an abbot, mystic, co-founder of the Knights Templars, and a major leader in the reformation of the Benedictine Order through ...
(1090–1153) * St. Jane Frances de Chantal (1572–1641), b. at Dijon, who, having heard
St. Francis de Sales Francis de Sales (french: François de Sales; it, Francesco di Sales; 21 August 156728 December 1622) was a Bishop of Geneva and is revered as a saint in the Catholic Church. He became noted for his deep faith and his gentle approach to ...
's Lenten discourses at Dijon in 1604, conceived a friendship for him *the Venerable Bénigne Joly, canon of Saint-Etienne de Dijon (17th century) *the Venerable Sister Marguerite of the Blessed Sacrament (1619–48), surnamed the "little saint of Beaune", noted for having visions of the Infant Jesus, in consequence of which the pious association known as the Family of the Holy Child Jesus was organized and later raised by
Pope Pius IX Pope Pius IX ( it, Pio IX, ''Pio Nono''; born Giovanni Maria Mastai Ferretti; 13 May 1792 – 7 February 1878) was head of the Catholic Church from 1846 to 1878, the longest verified papal reign. He was notable for convoking the First Vatican ...
to the dignity of an archconfraternity. Among the famous persons of Dijon the Seneschal Philippe Pot (1428–94) is remembered for his exploits against the Turks in 1452 and his deliverance from his captors. The illustrious
Bossuet Bossuet is a French surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet Jacques-Bénigne Lignel Bossuet (; 27 September 1627 – 12 April 1704) was a French bishop and theologian, renowned for his sermons and other addr ...
was a native of Dijon.
Hubert Languet Hubert Languet (1518 – 30 September 1581, in Antwerp) was a French diplomat and reformer. The leading idea of his diplomacy was that of religious and civil liberty for the protection and expansion of Protestantism. He did everything in his pow ...
, the Protestant publicist (1518–81), was born at
Vitteaux Vitteaux () is a commune in the Côte-d'Or department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a ge ...
.


See also

*
Catholic Church in France , native_name_lang = fr , image = 060806-France-Paris-Notre Dame.jpg , imagewidth = 200px , alt = , caption = Cathedral Notre-Dame de Paris , abbreviation = , type ...


References


Sources


Reference Works

* pp. 548–549. (Use with caution; obsolete) * p. 284. (in Latin) * * *


Studies

* * * * *


External links

* Centre national des Archives de l'Église de France
''L’Épiscopat francais depuis 1919''
retrieved: 2016-12-24.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dijon, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of
Dijon Dijon (, , ) (dated) * it, Digione * la, Diviō or * lmo, Digion is the prefecture of the Côte-d'Or department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in northeastern France. the commune had a population of 156,920. The earlie ...
1731 establishments in France