The French Roman Catholic diocese of Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne (San Giovanni di Moriana in Italian) has since 1966 been effectively suppressed, formally united with the archdiocese of Chambéry.[1] While it has not been suppressed, and is supposed to be on a par with Chambéry and the diocese of Tarentaise, it no longer has a separate bishop or existence.
Gregory of Tours's De Gloria Martyrum[2] relates how the church of Maurienne, belonging then to the Diocese of Turin, became a place of pilgrimage, after the holy woman Thigris or Thecla,[3] a native of Valloires, had brought to it as sacred relic from the East a finger[4] of John the Baptist,[5] the same figure which touched Jesus Christ during his baptism.[6] Jacob of Voragine, who is using the work of Gregory, says that the finger of John the Baptist suddenly appeared on the altar of the church at Maurienne, after a Gallic matron earnestly prayed God to give her a relic of the Baptist.[7] Bishop Étienne de Morel (1483–1499) procured for the cathedral a finger of the right hand of Saint Peter.[8]Guntram, King of Burgundy, took from the Lombards in 574 the valleys of Maurienne and Suse, and in 576 founded near the shrine a bishopric, detached from the then Diocese of Turin (in Piedmont, northern Italy), as suffragan of the Archdiocese of Vienne, also comprising the Briançonnais.[9]
Its first bishop was Felmasius, known from a document on the Baptist relic's first miracle.[10] In 599, Gregory the Great failed to make the Merovingian Queen Brunehaut oblige the protests of the Bishop of Turin against this foundation.
A letter written by John VIII in 878 acknowledged the claim of Archbishop Teutrannus of Tarantaise that the Bishop of Maurienne was suffragan of Tarentaise, but ordered the archbishop to settle his claim with the Archbishop of Vienne.[11] For four centuries this supremacy was the cause of conflicts between the archbishops of Tarentaise and the Metropolitans of Vienne, who continued to claim Maurienne as a suffragan see.
In 904 or 908, Pope Sergius III purportedly wrote to Archbishop Alexander of Vienne, according to Cardinal Billiet, confirming that the diocese of Maurienne was a suffragan of the archbishop of Vienne.[12] The document, however, is one of the notorious "Vienne Forgeries."[13]
In an apostolic brief of 26 April 1123, addressed to Bishop Amedeus, Pope Callistus II affirmed that Maurienne was a suffragan of the metropolis of Vienne, as it had been when he himself was archbishop of Vienne (1088–1119); he also ruled that the city of Susa belonged to the diocese of Maurienne.[14]
As its first see, a cathedral of John the Baptist was built in the 6th century, destroyed by invading Saracens in 943 and rebuilt in the 11th century.[15]
S. Jean-de-Maurienne was twice sacked by the Saracens, in 732 and 906.[16] After the Saracens had been driven out, the temporal sovereignty of the Bishop of Maurienne appears to have been very extensive. By the beginning of the 11th century, according to Cardinal Billiet, the bishop was temporal ruler of 19 parishes on the left bank of the River Arc, the parish of S. Jean at Valmeinier, and two or three on the right bank.[17] But there is no proof that such sovereignty had been recognized since Gontran's time.
At the death in 1032 of Rudolph III of Burgundy, the last ruler of the independent Kingdom of Burgundy, Bishop Thibaut was powerful enough to join a league against Holy Roman EmperorConrad II of Franconia.[18] In 1033 the city of Maurienne was destroyed by imperial troops.[19] The bishopric lost part of its territory (the Susa valley) to the diocese of Turin, which was promised all.
In 1038, it is claimed, the Emperor Conrad suppressed the see of Maurienne altogether, giving over its title and possessions to the Bishops of Turin.[20] This imperial decree was never executed though, due probably to the death of Conrad on 4 June 1039. At the death of Bishop Guido of Turin in 1044, it is stated, Bishop Thibaud was fully reinstated at Maurienne. The imperial diploma concerning the handing over of Maurienne to Turin, however, has been shown to be a forgery, and thus the entire story is called into question.[21]
Arvan
In February 1440, a major flood from the Bonrieu river to the west, overran the entire city of Maurienne. In a 1447 report of Canon Hugo de Fabrica, the vicar-general, to Bishop Louis de La Palud, the Cardinal de Varambone, a great part of the houses of the city as well as the cathedral were ruined. The cathedral was so badly damaged that the upper church had to be completely rebuilt, and the lower church was filled with debris and unusable. A bridge over the flooding Arvan river was washed away, as well as another bridge over the Arc river, which was also in flood.[22]
During much of the fifteenth century, the administration of the diocese was neglected. Saturnin Truchet notes that from 1441 to 1483 the bishops were non-residential, with the exception of the last five years of the life of Cardinal Louis de La Palud (1441–1451), the Cardinal de Varambon. The decima tax of the bishops was frequently not paid or was irregularly collected, due to the inattention and lack of supervision of the collectors.[23] Cardinal Guillaume d'Estouteville (1453–1483) was particularly remiss.[24]
The next bishop, Étienne de Morel (1483–1499) was also an absent pastor. He was papal datary of Pope Sixtus IV when he was appointed to the diocese of Maurienne on 31 January 1483.[25] He was still in Rome, and still functioning as datary at the pope's death on 12 August 1484; he was an official custodian at the main gate of the conclave that followed.[26] He participated in the papal consistory of 20 December 1484 on the subject of the canonization of Duke Leopold of Austria.[27] On 11 February 1485, he was present at the papal consistory in which Pope Innocent VIII received Cardinal Jean Balue on his return from his embassy to the French court; Bishop Morel had the honor of reading aloud in French the letter from King Charles VIII to the pope.[28] Morel was a Referendary of Pope Innocent VIII, who, on 17 November 1487, ratified an agreement between the bishop and the commune of Maurienne with regard to the wine decima.[29]
On 2 March 1506, Bishop Louis de Gorrevod de Challand (1499–1532) issued a set of Constitutions for the diocese of Maurienne. They were particularly concerned with taxation and the regulation of tax officials.[30]
In 1512, Bishop Louis de Gorrevod ordered the publication of an official liturgical book for the diocese of Maurienne, the Breviarium ad usum Maurianensis ecclesiae, based on that used by the cathedral Chapter. During his administration two collegiate churches were founded, Ste. Anne de Chamoux and S. Marcel de la Chambre. The house of the Celestines at Villard-Sallet and the convent of the Carmelites of la Rochette were also founded.[31]
As early as 1451, the dukes of Savoy had been interested in raising the profile of their ecclesiastical establishment. Louis, Duke of Savoy, sent an embassy to Pope Nicholas V, indicating his wish that Turin be made a metropolitan archdiocese, and that new dioceses be created at Bourg en Bresse and Chambéry.[32] In July 1515, at the urging of Charles III, Duke of Savoy, and over the objections of Francis I of France, the archbishop of Vienne, and the bishop of Grenoble, Pope Leo X established a new diocese, Bourg in Bresse, out of territory belonging to the diocese of Maurienne, and a new diocese at Chambéry. The church of S. Maria de Burgo in Bressia was elevated to the status of a cathedral.[33] The first bishop of Bourg was Bishop Louis de Gorrevod of Maurienne, who was allowed to hold both dioceses at the same time. He was also assigned an auxiliary bishop, Jean de Joly, O.P., titular bishop of Hebron, in 1524;[34] in 1544 the auxiliary bishop was Pierre Meynard, also titular bishop of Hebron.[35] In November 1515, Bishop de Gorrevod convened a synod of all the ecclesiastics in the new diocese of Bourg, and drew up a set of statutes, which were published in 1516.[36] Gorrevod was named a cardinal by Pope Clement VII on 9 March 1530,[37] and on the same day his nephew, Jean Philibert de Challant, was appointed bishop of Bourg-en-Bresse.[38]
In 1531, Cardinal de Gorrevod was appointed papal legate in all the territories possessed by the dukes of Savoy, and his powers were confirmed on 2 April 1531 by a letter of Duke Charles III .[39] He resigned the diocese of Maurienne on 10 April 1532, in favor of his nephew, Jean Philibert de Challant, thereby once again bringing the two dioceses together under the leadership of one bishop.[40] Challant was only bishop-elect of Bresse, however, since he did not receive episcopal consecration until 22 May 1541.[41]
In the struggle between France (King Francis I) and Spain (Emperor Charles V) over the duchy of Milan, the duke of Savoy found himself drawn, especially after the defeat and capture of Francis at the Battle of Pavia in 1525, into the orbit of Charles V.[42] By 1535, Francis I believed himself strong enough to confront Charles III of Savoy. He confronted Charles and the exiled bishop of Geneva who were besieging Protestant Geneva, raising the siege, capturing the Vaud, and expelling the bishop of Lausanne.[43] On 11 February 1536, the king gave the order to invade Bugey and Bresse, and on 24 February his troops entered Savoy. He immediately ordered the suppression of the diocese of Bourg-en-Bresse, whose establishment he had protested, and also refused the bishop-elect of Chambéry, Urbain de Miolans,[44] to take possession of his diocese.[45]
When Bishop de Challant died in 1544, the cathedral Chapter of Maurienne, in accordance with tradition, assembled on 20 July 1544 to elect a new bishop. They chose François de Luxembourg, vicomte de Martigues, who was not in holy orders. Their choice was rejected by King Francis, and he himself attempted to install Dominique de Saint-Séverin as bishop of Maurienne. The Chapter, however, rejected Saint-Severin, and therefore the diocese depended on an auxiliary bishop for several years.[46]Pope Paul III transferred bishop-elect Girolamo Recanati Capodiferro from Nice to Maurienne on 30 July 1544, but there is no evidence that he was in Holy Orders or ever consecrated a bishop; he was named a cardinal on 19 December 1444, and appointed papal legate in the Romandiola on 26 August 1545, where he continued to serve under Pope Julius III, and Marcellus II, and Paul IV.[47]
By the time of the Reformation, the cathedral Chapter possessed eleven parishes and were patrons of twenty-two others, as well as the hôpital de la Rochette and the priories of La Corbière, Aiton, and Saint-Julien.[48]
On 23 August 1489, Bishop Etienne de Morel (1483–1499) solemnly invested Charles I, Duke of Savoy (1482–1490) as a canon of the cathedral of Maurienne. All subsequent dukes, with papal permission, were granted the same privilege, as though it were a hereditary possession.[49] Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy, took solemn possession of a canonry in the cathedral of Maurienne in 1564.
A major plague struck the diocese of Maurienne in 1630.[50]
Before the appointment of Hercule Berzetti as bishop of Maurienne in 1658, Pope Alexander VII ordered Cardinal Antonio Barberini to provide a report on the state of the diocese and the suitability of the candidate. The report stated that in civil affairs the diocese was subject to the Dukes of Savoy, and in ecclesiastical matters to the metropolitan of Vienne. The cathedral, which was in need of extensive repairs, was administered by a Chapter of 18 canons, though it had no dignities, and there was no special provision for a theologus or penitentiarius. The canons were responsible for the spiritual care of the cathedral parish. The episcopal palace, which was near the cathedral, was in good repair. Besides the cathedral, there were two parishes in the city, a convent of men and one of women, and a hospice for pilgrims. There were around 100 parishes in the diocese, most of them so poor that the incumbent priest relied to an extent on alms.[51]
In 1792, Savoy was invaded and occupied by forces of the French National Assembly. Bishops and priests were ordered to swear a prescribed oath to the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, or to lose their offices; on 23 April 1792, Pope Pius VI ordered that any clergy who did swear the oaths were automatically suspended.[52] Four of the five bishops then in office went into exile, including the bishop of Maurienne; the fifth was too aged to flee. Commissioners sent from Paris imposed a revolutionary government, and on 8 March 1793 issued an ecclesiastical decree which followed metropolitan French policy by reducing the number of dioceses from 5 to 1, to be centered in Annecy and called the diocese of Mont-Blanc.[53] A new bishop for each diocese was to be elected by an assembly of electors chosen for loyalty to the French constitution. Electors did not have to be Catholic or even Christian. Papal participation in any form was forbidden. These arrangements were uncanonical and schismatic,[54] as were the consecrations of any of the "Constitutional bishops."[55]
There was already a charity hospital in Maurienne by the 13th century, established and subsidized by the bishops. It had fallen into decay in the 15th century, and was revived in the 16th by the Confraternity of the Bienheureuse Vierge Marie de la Miséricorde. The agents of the French Revolution abolished both the confraternity and the diocese of Maurienne in 1801. The operation of the hospital was placed in the hands of nine administrators, including a lawyer, a physician, a surgeon, and a pharmacist; there was a staff of 14, for 28 sick and 9 orphans. In 1805, the administrators petitioned the Emperor Napoleon for assistance with their dilapidated building; he assigned them the former Major Seminary in Maurienne, which had been used as a military hospital by the French, and was in a bad sanitary condition. In 1821, the priest of the city wrote about the state of the hospice to his friend, who was the spiritual director of the Soeurs de Saint-Joseph-de-Chambéry, who were not able to respond immediately. In May 1822, the administrators made an official request of the sisters. In the first week of June, Mother St.-Jean of Chambéry and three other sisters took charge of the hospital. In November 1822, another sister was requested from Chambéry to organize a school for poor girls; the school opened in January 1824, and in January 1825 was authorized to accept paying students.[57]
The papacy was already interested in stabilizing the establishment at Maurienne, and, in May 1824, Cardinal Giulio-Maria della Somaglia was engaged in negotiations with the bishop of Chambéry and with the archbishop of Lyon to make the sisters in Maurienne an independent congregation.[58]
The Sisters of St. Joseph, a nursing and teaching order, with mother-house at St-Jean-de-Maurienne, are a branch of the Congregation of St. Joseph at Lyon. At the end of the nineteenth century, they were in charge of 8 day nurseries and 2 hospitals. In Algeria, the East Indies[59] and Argentina houses were founded, controlled by the motherhouse at Maurienne.[60]
In the Treaty of Paris, signed on 30 May 1814, Chambéry became part of France.[61] In the General Treaty of the Congress of Vienna, signed on 9 June 1815, the ancient boundaries of the Kingdom of Sardinia were restored. This act returned Maurienne to the control of King Charles Felix.[62]
At the request of King Charles Felix of Sardinia and his ambassador at the Vatican, Giovanni Nicolao Ludovico Crosa, on 5 August 1825, with the papal bull "Ecclesias quae antiquitate", Pope Leo XII restored the Diocese of Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne with territory consisting of 80 parishes removed from the diocese of Chambéry. The parish church of S. John the Baptist was restored to cathedral status, and it was assigned a cathedral chapter consisting of three dignities (Provost, Archdeacon, and Cantor) and ten canons, two of whom would be the Theologus and the Penitentiarius. The right of the king to nominate a candidate for an episcopal vacancy, as well as a vacancy in the office of archdeacon and cantor, as well as the vacancy in a canonry (except for the theologus and penitentiarius) was confirmed or granted. The pope retained the right to nominate the provost. The restored diocese of Maurienne was made a suffragan of the archbishop of Chambéry.[63]
Bishop Alexis Billiet was installed on 18 April 1826, and he immediately set to work to recover the diocese's rights and property, as well as to unify a clergy and people who had been thrown into confusion by the French occupation. He began the process of canonically separating the house of the Sisters of S.-Joseph from their mother-house in Chambéry, which was approved by King Charles Felix on 18 April 1827. In 1828, the Sisters signed a contract to purchase the château of the comtes d'Arves as a new mother-house.[64]
Marinus, monk of Chandor (monasterium candorense) in Maurienne, martyred by the Saracens (eighth century)
Landry of Paris, pastor of Lanslevillard (eleventh century), drowned in the Arc during one of his apostolic journeys
Bénézet (Benedict) (1165–84), born at Hermillon, a northern suburb of St.-Jean-de-Maurienne in the diocese, and founder of the guild of Fratres Pontifices of Avignon
Cabert or Gabert, disciple of St. Dominic, who preached the Gospel for twenty years in the vicinity of AiguebelIe (thirteenth century)
The chief shrines of the diocese were:
Notre Dame de Bonne Nouvelle, near St-Jean-de-Maurienne, which dates from the sixteenth century
Notre Dame de Charmaix, in a mountain pass south of Modane
Notre Dame de Beaurevers at Montaimon, dating from the seventeenth century.
^Billiet (1861), Mémoires... Maurienne, pp. 290-291; 293-294, places the dramatic date of Thecla c. 545–550. R.L. Poole, p. 4, places the insertion of Thecla into Gregory of Tours' narrative between 907 and 915.
^The cathedral of Troyes possessed another finger; another was held at Brienne-le-Château; the entire right hand was at Cîteaux until the French Revolution. Pierre-Marie-Jean-Baptiste Gauthier, La Légende de Saint Jean-Baptiste,(in French) (Plancy: Société de St-Victor, 1850), pp. 177-183. Jacques Albin Simon Collin de Plancy, Grande vie des saints, (in French), Volume 16 (Paris: Louis Vivès 1878), pp. 663-665. There were three heads of the Baptist in Italy, in Rome, Florence, and Reggio: S. I. Mahoney, Six Years in the Monasteries of Italy, and Two Years in the Islands of the Mediterranean and in Asia Minor (Boston: Jordan, Swift and Wiley, 1845), p. 217. There was another at Amiens: Charles Salmon, Histoire du Chef de Saint Jean Baptiste conservé à Amiens depuis 1206,(in French), Amiens: Langlois, 1876.
^Billiet & Albrieux, Chartes du diocèse de Mauriennep. 289: "...videlicet proprii manus digiti qui Christum baptizando tetigerunt." The Latin text appears to state that Maurienne possessed more than one finger. The pope owned another.
^Jacobus de Voragine, Legenda aurea (the Golden Legend, ed. Th. Graesse, 1890), ch. 125. 2: "Apud Mariennam urbem Galliae matrona quaedam Johanni baptistae valde devota Deum instantius exorabat, ut sibi de reliquiis Johannis aliquando donaretur aliquid. Cum autem orando nihil proficere se videret, sumta de Deo fiducia juramento se adstrinxit, quod hactenus non comederet, donec, quod petebat, acciperet. Cum autem diebus aliquibus jejunasset, pollicem super altare miri candoris vidit et Dei donum laeta suscepit...."
^Jean-Barthélemy Hauréau, Gallia christiana, vol. XVI, Paris 1865, coll. 611-654
^J.P. Migne (ed.), Patrologiae Series Latina Tomus 126 (Paris 1855), p. 781-782; Monumenta Germaniae Historica. Epistolarum Tomus VII (Berlin: Weidmann 1928), p. 107, no. 117: "... Innotescimus denique quia venerabilis frater et coepiscopus noster Bernarius, nostram nuper audiens praesentiam, reclamavit se super fratre Adalberlo suffraganeo tuo, de quo jam Romae proclamaverat et libellum suae reclamationis ostenderat. Unde tibi et Viennensi arcbiepiscopo epistolas direximus, ut amborum querimonias ventilantes, quae canonum sunt instituta dijudicaretis...."
^Billiet (1861), Mémoires... Maurienne, p. 328, quoting an unpublished document: "Utque largiter admodum Guntramnus ecclesiam maurianensem per concessum apostolicæ sedis cum omnibus pagis suis subjectam jure perenni sanctæ viennensi fecit ecclesiæ, ità unà cum ecclesia Secusina et ecclesiis de eadem valle ad eam pertinentibus cum omnibus pagis integram eam illi subjectam esse firmamus."
^R.L. Poole (1916), p. 5. Wilhelm Grundlach, "Der Streit der Bisthümer Arles und Vienne um den Primatus Galliarum. (Zweiter Theil. )," (in German), in: Neues Archiv der Gesellschaft für Ältere deutsche Geschichtskunde 15 (Hannover: Hahn 1890), 9-102, esp. pp. 58, 71-77.; Monumenta Germaniae Historica. Epistolarum Tomus III. Merowingici et Karolini aevi, I (Berlin: Weidmann 1892), pp. 100-102, no. 23.
^Besson (1759), pp. 344-345, no. 6: "...sanctae Ecclesiae Taurinensi... donamus, Episcopatum scilicet Maurianensis civitatis, domos cum omnibus ædificiis suis; curtem videlicet... decimas quoque ipsius Episcopatûs, nec non Ecclesias eidem Episcopatui pertinentes, montes verò et valles, aquas, molendina, piscationes, foresta, sylvas, pascua; buscalia omnia in integrum, quidquid videtur esse de appenditiis supradictæ civitatis Moriennæ, donamus, concedimus atque delegamus jam dictæ Ecclesiæ S. Joannis-Baptista Taurinensis sedis...."
^H. Bresslau, Monumenta Germaniae Historica. Diplomatum Regum et Imperatorum Germaniae(in Latin and German), Tomus IV: Conradi II Diplomata (Hannover: Hahn 1909), pp. 411-413, no. 291. If the diploma is a forgery, then the transfer of Maurienne to Turin did not take place, which explains why Conrad's decree did not go into effect, and why Maurienne continued independent after 1044. Harry Bresslau, Jahrbücher des deutschen Reichs unter Konrad II,(in German), Volume 2 (Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot, 1884), pp. 475-476. R.L. Poole, p. 1: "The influence of the fabrications of the church of Vienne has not been finally extirpated; the forged charter of King Boso (887) is still appealed to as an authority; and the spuriousness of the diploma of the Emperor Conrad II (1038) has not yet everywhere been recognized." On the Boso charter being a forgery, see also: Réné Poupardin, Le royaume de Provence sous les Carolingiens (855-933?), (in French), (Paris: É. Bouillon, 1901), p. 111 with note 2: "La donation, faite par Boson à l'église de Maurienne, du château d'Hermillon (Hist. de Fr., t. IX, p. 672) est un faux datant probablement du XIe siècle."
^Truchet, Saint-Jean de Maurienne au XVIe sièclepp. 27-28. Billiet & Albrieux, Chartes du diocèse de Mauriennepp. 258-260.
^Truchet (1887), Saint-Jean de Maurienne au XVIe siècle, p. 247.
^"Guillaume d'Estouteville n'y avait jamais résidé . Les droits de l'évêché avaient été fort mal défendus; ses revenus avaient même été réduits sous la main de l'Etat pendant la plus grande partie de l'épiscopat de Guillaume d'Estouteville."
^Hauréau, Gallia christiana XVI, p. 644. Billiet & Albrieux, Chartes du diocèse de Mauriennepp. 303-307.
^Eugène Burnier, "Les constitutions du cardinal Louis II de Gorrevod, évêque de Maurienne et prince (1506). Étude historique," in: Mémoires et documents publiés par la Société savoisienne d'histoire et d'archéologie, (in French and Latin), Vol. 7 (Chambéry: A. Bottero 1863), pp. 225-271, text at pp. 255-271.
^Eubel III, p. 238, note 3: "1530 Mart. 9 el. in episc. Burgien. (Bourg) (cfr. AC 3 f. 165), qui ep(iscop)atus de novo e partibus eccl(esiae) Maurianen(sis) erectus et nunc cum eodem iterum conjungitur."
^Besson, Mémoires pour l'histoire ecclésiastique des diocèses de Genève, Tarantaise, Aoste et Maurienne,p. 303.
^The diocese was established and Urbain de Miolans was appointed in 1515 by Pope Leo X at the urging of Duke Charles III, but Pope Leo was compelled by Francis I of France to void the bull. Picolet d'Hermillon, "Note sur la fondation du diocèse de Chambéry", (in French), in: Bulletin mensual de l'Académie delphinale 4e série, Tome 19 (Grenoble: Allier 1904 [1905]), pp. 51-83, at p. 69.
^Final Act of the Congress of Vienna/General Treaty: Article 85: "The frontiers of the states of his Majesty the King of Sardinia shall be: On the side of France, such as they were on the 1st of January 1792, with the exception of the changes effected by the Treaty of Paris of 30th May 1814. On the side or the Helvetic Confederation, such as they existed on the 1st of January 1792, with the exception of the change produced by the cession in favour of the canton of Geneva, as specified by the 80th Article of the present Act."
^A. Barberi; R. Segreti (edd.), Bullarii Romani continuatio,(in Latin), Tomus decimus sextus, Volume 16 (Rome: 1854), pp. 336-340 (nonis Augusti 1825).
^Bouchage, Chroniques de la Congregation des Soeurs de Saint-Joseph de Chambéry,p. 240.
^Pope Paul VI, "Animorum bonum," in: Acta Apostolicae Sedis 58 (1966), pp. 625-626: "Maurianensem et Tarantasiensem dioeceses archidioecesi Chamberiensi aeque principaliter unimus, ita scilicet ut unus idemque Antistes tribus praesit Ecclesiis sitqüe simul Archiepiscopus Chamberiensis atque Episcopus Maurianensis et Tarantasiensis."
^Billiet (1865), Memoires..., p. 290, quotes an 11th century manuscript that names Felmasius the first bishop of Maurienne, consecrated by Bishop Isicius of Vienne: "{Isicius] ecclesiam maurianensem consecravit, et sanctum Felmasium primum episcopum ordinavit, agente Gumteramno rege propter reliquias sancti Iohannis Baptiste que ibi ab Iherosolimis translate fuerunt; Seusiam que est in Italia mauriannensi ecclesie subditam fecit, ad ius viennensis ecclesie sicut in eiusdem auctoritatis scr .. ... legitur..."
^Bishop Hiconius (Aeconius) participated in the church councils of Macon in 581 and 585. In 601 or 602, he presided at the moving of the remains of Saints Ours and Vctor. Fredegarius, "Chronica" IV, 22, in: Monumenta Germaniae Historica. Scriptorum rerum Merovingicarum Tomus II, (in Latin), (Hannover: Hahn 1888), p. 129. Charles De Clercq, Concilia Galliae, A. 511 – A. 695,(in Latin) (Turnholt: Brepols 1963), pp. 230, 249. Duchesne, pp. 240-241.
^Bishop Leporius (Leborius) was present at the council of Chalon-sur-Saône in 650. De Clercq, Concilia Galliae, A. 511 – A. 695, p. 309. Duchesne, p. 241.
^Joseph: c. 853. Savio, p. 229. Duchesne, p. 241. no. 5.
^Bishop Abbo was present at the concilium Tullense apud Saponarias in 859, and at the council of Tusiacum (Thusey) in 860. Jacques Sirmond, Concilia antiqua Galliae,(in Latin), Volume 3 (Paris: Sebastiani Cramoisy, 1629), pp. 144, 163. Savio, p. 229.
^Bishop Adalbertus was present at the council of Pontigny in June and July 876, and at the assembly of Mantaille in October 879. He was summoned to Rome by Pope John VIII to appear at the synod to be held in September 882, to explain his behavior in seizing Bishop Barnerius of Grenoble. Hauréau, Gallia christiana XVI "Instrumenta", p. 292, no. III. Sirmond, Concilia antiqua Galliae, p. 443. Savio, p. 229. Philippus Jaffé, Regesta pontificum Romanorum, (in Latin), Vol. 1, second edition (Leipzig: Veit 1885), pp. 420-421, nos. 3375-3376.
^Boso, King of Burgundy and Provence, granted the castle of Chatel to the bishop of Maurienne. Billiet & Albrieux, Chartes, pp. 5-7, no. 1: "Interfuit quoque noster dilectus Asmundus Secusinæ civitatis vel Maurianorum episcopus, una cum proprio fratre Leotmanno Cremonensis ecclesiæ presule qui ... suadentes ditari regalibus opibus ecclesiam proprii episcopii sancti Johannis Baptistæ in confinio Burgundiæ positam, quæ admodum destituta esse cognoscitur sævitia hostium euntium vel redeuntium."
^In 899, Bishop Guillelmus was present at the election of the archbishop of Vienne, Ragenfridus. Savio, p. 229. Duchesne, p. 242.
^Bishop Odilard took part in the council of Chalons in 915: Savio, p. 229. He also took part in the council at Carilocum in 926: Sirmond, Concilia antiqua Galliae III, p. 579: "Anno Incarnationis dominica DCCCCXXVI. domnus Anchericus sanctæ Lugdunenfis Ecclesiæ Archiepiscopus, domnus quoque Geraldus Matiscensis Ecclesiæ venerabilis Pontifex, necnon Odelardus Maurianensis Episcopus, ad Carilocum monasterium conuenerunt..." The notion that he was slain by the Saracens (916), together with Benedict, Archbishop of Embrun, has been rejected by Hauréau, Gallia christiana XVI, p. 620.
^Eberardus (Ebraldus< Urardus). Bishop Urardus was present at the council of Anse in 1025: J.D. Mansi (ed.), Sacrorum Conciliorum nova et amplissima collectio, editio novissima (in Latin) Vol. 19 (Venice: A. Zatta 1774), p. 425. Hauréau, Gallia christiana XVI, pp. 621-622. Savio, p. 230.
^Theobaldus (Thibaud). Savio, p. 230, states that Theobaldus was present at a council held at Romans-sur-Isère. Hauréau, Gallia christiana XVI, p. 622. Savio, pp. 230-231.
^Burchardus (Brochard, Burchard): Hauréau, Gallia christiana XVI, p. 622.
^Artaldus is attested in 1080: Savio, p. 231, no. XIX.
^Conon: Pope Urban II announced his election to the bishops of the province of Vienne in a letter of March 1088; the name of the bishop of Maurienne is not specified. In 1093, he witnessed a donation of Count Umberto II of Savoy. He was still governing the diocese in 1108. Savio, p. 231, no. XX.
^Ayrald was once a monk of the Charterhouse of Portes [fr]. Truchet (1867), Histoire hagiologique du diocèse de Maurienne., pp. 223-236. Antoine Mottard, "Documents sur le B. Ayrald, évêque de Maurienne," (in French), in: Travaux de la Société d'histoire et d'archéologie de la Maurienne (Savoie),(in French), Vol. 4 (Chambéry: F. Puthod 1876), pp. 141-154.
^Bernard was transferred to the diocese of Tarentaise by Pope Innocent III. He was in office there in 1213. Eubel I, pp. 331, 472.
^The election of Joannes, Dean of the cathedral of Maurienne, by the cathedral Chapter, was far from unanimous, and some of the canons appealed to the pope to provide (appoint) a bishop. Pope Honorius III ordered the archbishop of Vienne, in a letter of 24 April 1221, to investigate whether Joannes was suitable and the choice of "the better part" of the canons, in which case he was to confirm him. Gams, p. 830. Savio, p. 236. Eubel I, p. 331. P. Pressutti, Regesta Honorii papae III,(in Latin), vol. 1, p. 535, no. 3281 (giving a misleading summary). César Auguste Horoy, Honorii III romani pontificis opera omnia,(in Latin), Tomus tertius, Volume 3 (Paris: Imprimerie de la Bibliothèque ecclésiastique 1879), pp. 778-779, no. 341.
^On 26 January 1223, Bishop Aimarus entered into an agreement with the canons of the cathedral. Savio, p. 236. He was transferred to the diocese of Embrun in 1236 (according to Gams, p. 830). Savio, p. 236. Eubel I, p. 331.
^Aymon is attested first on 5 February 1276, and last on 23 April 1299. Billiet and Albrieux, Chartes du diocèse de Maurienne,pp. 152-155, no. 78. Duchesne, p. 237.
^Antelmus de Clermont was appointed by Pope John XXII on 10 September 1334. He died on 23 February 1349. Eubel I, p. 331.
^Amadeus was the son of Philippe de Savoie, Prince of Piedmont, of Achaia, and of the Morea; and of Isabelle de Villehardouin. He had been a canon of Orléans, and a canon and count of Lyon. He was appointed bishop of Maurienne by Pope Clement VI on 18 March 1349. He died on 13 June 1376. Hauréau, Gallia christiana XVI, p. 639. Eubel I, p. 331.
^Louis de La Palud de Varembon as Bishop of Lausanne had taken an active part at the Council of Basle in favour of the pope of the Council of Basel, Felix V, who named him Bishop of Maurienne in 1441 and afterwards Cardinal. The cardinal de Varembon was confirmed in both appointments by Pope Nicholas V in 1449.
^John of Segovia, at the Council of Basle, was representative of the King of Aragon; he also worked for Pope Felix V, who appointed him Cardinal in 1441, and whom pope Nicholas V ten years later gave the see of Maurienne. He is the author of "Gesta Concilii Basileensis," on the council.
^D'Estouteville was made cardinal in 1439, and had been bishop of Angers (1439–1447) and of Digne (1439–1445). He was appointed bishop of Maurienne by Pope Nicholas V, and his bulls were issued on 26 January 1453; on 20 April 1453, he took possession of the diocese by proxy. He was appointed Archbishop of Rouen on 20 April 1453, and allowed to keep Maurienne as its Administrator. He stopped in Maurienne on his way to Rouen on 12 June 1454. He granted the cathedral Chapter all the revenues of the bishopric during his lifetime, which amounted to more than 16,000 florins, for the completion of the cloister. Saturnin Truchet, Saint-Jean de Maurienne au XVIe siècle, pp. 29-30. Eubel II, pp. 179, 188.
^Morel (Moriel, Morelli) was a protonotary apostolic and the papal datary of Pope Sixtus IV; he was also Abbot commendatory of Ambronay (Bresse), of S. Pierre de Berne, and Prior commendatory of La Boisse (Bresse). He was appointed bishop of Maurienne on 31 January 1483. He died on 24 July 1499. He is credited with building the choir of the cathedral and stalls for the canons. Besson, Mémoires pour l'histoire ecclésiastique des diocèses de Genève, Tarantaise, Aoste et Maurienne.p. 302. Eubel II, p. 188.
^Gorrevod was the brother of Laurent de Gorrevod, a councillor of Marguerite of Austria. Louis' certificate of election, dated 29 July 1499, is printed by Billiet & Albrieux, Chartes du diocèse de Maurienne: Documents recueillis., pp. 314-318. He was made cardinal on 9 March 1530 by Pope Clement VII. He resigned the diocese in 1532; his successor and nephew was appointed on 10 April 1532. He died on 22 April 1535. André Chagny, Correspondance politique et administrative de Laurent de Gorrevod ...: 1509-1520 ..., Volume 1 (Macon: Protat, 1913, pp. lxix-lxxi. Truchet (1887), Saint-Jean de Maurienne au XVIe siècle, pp. 333-350. Eubel II, pp. 188 with note 5; III, p. 21, no. 21; 238 note 2.
^Nephew of Louis de Gorrevod. Challant did not receive episcopal consecration until 22 May 1541. Besson, p. 303. Hauréau, Gallia christiana XVI, p. 645. Eubel III, p. 238 with note 3.
^Recanati was a member of the official family of Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, seniore, who became Pope Paul III in 1534. In 1541 Recanati was sent as papal nuncio to Portugal and France to promote the Council of Trent. On his return, he was appointed papal datary (1541–1544). On 6 February he was named bishop of Nice, but he was still bishop-elect when he was transferred to Maurienne on 30 July 1544. Recanati was named a cardinal by Paul III on 19 December 1544, and on 26 August 1545 was named papal legate of the Romandiola, which appointment was renewed by Pope Julius III. In 1547, he was twice sent to the king of France, to encourage attendance at the Council and to attempt to arrange a marriage for the pope's son Orazio. He attended the conclaves of 1549–1550, 1555, and 1559 (5 September to 25 December), but he died on 1 December 1559. Eubel III, pp. 29, no. 59; 238 with note 4; 257.
^Brandelisio Trotti was a cleric of Ferrara, and served as a conclavist of Cardinal Ippolito d'Este in the conclave of 1550. He was provost of the cathedral of Ferrara. Pope Paul IV named him bishop of Maurienne in the consistory of 27 March 1560. He delayed entering his diocese for three years, dying in 1563 while he was on his way to Savoy. Hauréau, Gallia Christiana XVI, p. 646. Eubel III, p. 238 with note 5. S. Merkle, Concilii tridentini Diariorum Pars Secunda: Massarelli Diaria V–VII, (in Latin), (Friburg im Breisgau: Herder 1911), p. 125.
^There is no evidence that Cardinal d'Este was ever consecrated a bishop. Eubel III, p. 238.
^Lambert, the son of Philibert de Lambert and Philippa Lotier of Cambrai, was the brother of Bishop Francçois Lambert of Nice and Bishop Pietro Lambert of Caserta. Pierre was a canon of Geneva in 1535 and compelled to flee by Protestant activists. He returned to Cambrai, where he became Dean of S. Sindonis (the Holy Shroud). He was appointed bishop of Maurienne in the consistory of 21 November 1567 by Pope Pius V. In Maurienne he established the Schola Lambertina, restored the episcopal palace, and embellished the cathedral. He died on 6 May 1591. Hauréau, Gallia Christiana XVI, p. 646. Eubel III, p. 238 with note 7.
^Berzetti belonged to the family of the counts of Burontium, Balloci and Bastia, and was related to important families of Savoy and Piedmont. He was a priest of the diocese of Vercelli and a master of theology; he held the degree of Doctor in utroque iure. He was a domestic prelate in the papal household and an assistant at the papal throne, as well as a Roman patrician and senator-for-life. He was appointed, around the age of 42, by Pope Alexander VII in the consistory of 6 May 1658. He died on 4 March 1686. E. Burnier, "Pièces inédits relatives à la province de Maurienne, et tirées des archives du Sénat de Savoie," in: Travaux de la Société d'histoire et d'archéologie de la Maurienne (Savoie), Vol. 1 (1878), pp. 393-396. Gauchat, Hierarchia catholica IV, p. 235. Ritzler & Sefrin V, p. 261, note 2.
^Grisella held the degree of Doctor in utroque iure (Bologna 1716). He was nominated bishop of Maurienne by King Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia on 15 February 1741, and confirmed by Pope Benedict XIV on 6 March 1741. He died on 21 or 22 September 1756. Ritzler & Sefrin, Hierarchia catholica VI, p 281 with note 2.
^Filippa was the son of Carlo Baldassare Filippa, count della Martiniana. He held a doctorate in theology from the University of Turin (1757). He was rector of the charity hospital in Turin, and held the priorship of S. Nicholas de Gerry. He was nominated bishop of Maurienne by King Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia on 25 May 1757, and confirmed by Pope Benedict XIV on 18 July 1757. He was made a cardinal by Pope Pius VI on 1 June 1778. He was nominated bishop of Vercelli on 21 April 1779, and confirmed by Pope Pius VI on 12 July 1779. He was the first to whom Napoleon I Bonaparte, after the battle of Marengo, confided his intention of concluding a concordat with Rome. He died on 7 December 1802. Ritzler & Sefrin, Hierarchia catholica VI, pp. 281, 438; VII, p. 40.
^Brichtanteau was born in Turin in 1737, and earned the degree of Doctor in utroque iure from the University of Turin in 1760. He was eleemosynary to the King of Sardinia, who nominated him to the diocese of Maurienne on 26 January 1780; he was confirmed by Pope Pius VI on 20 March 1780. He was nominated bishop of Acqui on 20 July 1796, but was not confirmed. He wrote his Last Will and Testament on 18 August 1796: Adolph Gros (1916), L'instruction publique en Maurienne avant la Révolution,(in French), parts 2-3 (Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne: J. Salomon, 1916), p. 149. He died in Biella in the Piedmont on 27 August 1796: François Molin, Souvenirs de la persécution soufferte par le clergé du Diocèse de Maurienne pendant la révolutionnaire de 1792 à 1802,(in French), (A. Pouchet et Cie, 1868), pp. 83-84. Ritzler & Sefrin VI, p. 281 with note 4.
^He and Rogès were elected vicars-capitular on 7 November 1796, by the Chapter of Maurienne, meeting in a parish church in Susa. Molin, Souvenirs..., p. 84.
^Rogès had been Vicar General of the diocese. Billiet (1865), pp. 325, 371.
^Mérinville was nominated bishop of Dijon by King Louis XVI on 25 February 1787, and confirmed by Pope Pius VI on 23 April 1787. He was nominated bishop of Chambéry on 12 April 1802 by First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte, and approved by Pope Pius VII on 4 May 1802. He resigned in January 1805. Ritzler and Sefrin, Hierarchia catholica VII, p. 147.
^Desolle was nominated bishop of Digne by Napoleon on 29 April 1802, and confirmed by Pope Pius VII on 10 July 1802. He was nominated bishop of Chambéry on 30 January 1805, and confirmed on 22 March 1805. He was promoted Archbishop of Chambéry on 7 December 1817. He resigned on 11 November 1823, at the age of 79. He died on 31 December 1824. Ritzler & Sefrin VII, pp. 147, 176.
^On the resignation of Archbishop Louis-Marie-Fernand de Bazelaire de Ruppierre of Chambéry on 26 Apr 1966, the diocese of Maurienne was suppressed, and Bishop Bontemps of Maurienne was transferred by Pope Paul VI to the archdiocese of Chambéry. He retired/resigned on 14 May 1985.