The Diocese of Verdun (; ) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in France. It is a suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Besançon. The Diocese of Verdun corresponds to the département of Meuse in the région of Lorraine. The diocese is subdivided into 577 parishes.
History
The beginnings of Christianity in Verdun is associated with the name Sanctinus.
Contradictions in Sanctius legends
One legend, recorded by Bertarius of Verdun (early 10th century), states that Saint Denis (mid-3rd cent.) sent Sanctinus, Bishop of Meaux, and the priest Antoninus to Rome to Pope Clement (c. 91–c. 101) with a report on their sufferings, and that their journey passed through Verdun, both going and returning, where they preached Christianity.G. Waitz, Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptorum Tomus IV, , (Hannover: Hahn 1841), p. 40. This legend, like many similar ones referring to a diocese's earliest connection with the Apostle Peter or one of his disciples, hardly needs refutation.Duchesne, pp. 67–68. Denis of Paris and Meaux is often confused with Dionysius the Areopagite.
Bertarius also reports that he read in a "Life of Saint Servatius the bishop" that Sanctinus, Clavorum episcopus was present at the Council of Cologne (Colonia AgrippinensisGaston Rasneur, "Le concile de Cologne de 346," in: Bulletins de la Commission royale d'histoire de Belgique Vol. 72 (1903), pp. 27–59, at p. 27, points out that Ammianus Marcellinus (History XV. 5.31) that in 355 Christians in Cologne constituted only a "conventiculum."), summoned to depose its archbishop. It has been argued that there was no such council.Duchesne, p. 67. Waitz, p. 40: "Legitur vero in vita sancti Servatii episcopi, ubi de Agripinensis aecclesiae archiepiscopi depositione res agitur, quod interfuisset Sanctinus urbis Clavorum episcopus." The acts and subscriptions of the "Council of Cologne", and therefore the evidence for Sanctinus, were declared forgeries as early as 1679, by Noël Alexandre, Selecta historiae ecclesiasticae capita, , Volume 7 (Paris: Antonius Dezallier, 1679). pp. 288–291. More recently, the objections have been amplified by Louis Duchesne, "Le faux concile de Cologne (346)," , in: Revue d'histoire ecclésiastique, Volume 3 (Louvain: Université catholique de Louvain 1902), pp. 16–29. In favor of the authenticity of the council: G. Monchamp, "Pour l'authenticité des actes du concile de Cologne de 346," , in: Bulletin de la classe des Lettres et des Sciences morales et politiques et de la classe des Beaux-Arts (Bruxelles 1902), pp. 245–288; however, at p. 277 he does not know what to do about Sanctinus: "La désignation de Sanctinus ( Sanctino Articlavorum ou Articlavo ) est une énigme; mais il nous semble qu'il faut assimiler le thème articlavorum à angusticlavorum."
In another tradition, the city was first evangelized around 332 by St Sanctinus, Bishop of Meaux, who became the first bishop.Louis Duchesne, "Le faux concile de Cologne (346)," in: Revue d'histoire ecclésiastique Vol. 3 (Louvain 1902) 16–29, at pp. 25, 28. Sanctinus erected the first Christian oratory dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul.
The diocese dates to the 4th century.Fernand Cabrol (ed.), Dictionnaire D'archéologie Chrétienne et de Liturgie, , Volume 6, part 1 (Paris: Letouzey 1924), pp. 415–416.
The first bishop known to history is Polychronius (Pulchrone) who lived in the fifth century and was a relative and disciple of St. Lupus de Troyes.Georges Goyau, "Diocese of Verdun." "Other noteworthy bishops are: Vitonus (Vanne) (502–529); St. Agericus (Airy) (554–591), friend of St. Gregory of Tours and of Fortunatus; Paulus of Verdun (630–648), formerly Abbot of the Benedictine Monastery of Tholey in the Diocese of Trier; and Madalvaeus (Mauve) (753–776)."
In 916 or 917, the 37th year of Bishop Dado, the cathedral suffered a major fire, and nearly all the ancient records of the church were destroyed, according to the chronicler Bertarius of Verdun.G. Waitz, Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptorum Tomus IV, , (Hannover: Hahn 1841), p. 36.
Cathedral and Chapter
Bishop Polychronius is credited with the establishment of the cathedral dedicated to Nôtre-Dame, after the middle of the fifth century.Robinet, p. 61. Gallia christiana XIII, p. 1164. This cathedral burned to the ground in a fire in the time of Bishop Madalveus (753–c. 775), and was rebuilt immediately, with enlargements made by Bishop Hatto (847–870) in 865. It was burned again twice, under the NormansClouet, I, pp. 281–282. and by Duke Boso, in the episcopate of Bishop Dado (880–923). It was damaged again by the Hungarians in 923,Clouet, I, pp. 302–306. and rebuilt by Bishop Heimon (990–1024). Duke Godefroy burned it in 1047, and Bishop Theirry repaired it in 1050. Count Renaud de Bar reduced it to ruins in 1114.Robinet, pp. 65–66.
The new cathedral of Verdun, built by Bishop Adalbero of Chiny, was consecrated on 11 November 1147, by Pope Eugenius III.Clouet, Histoire de Verdun, Vol. 2, pp. 226–227.
The cathedral was served and administered by a corporation called the Chapter. Until the 10th century, the canons of the Chapter lived in common with the bishop at his expense. Bishop Dado (880–923) divided the diocesan income into two portions, one of which was given to the canons.Robinet, p. 62. The Chapter consisted of ten dignities (the Princerie, the Dean, the Archdeacon of Argonne, the Archdeacon of the Woëvre, the Archdeacon of la Rivière, the Cellerer, the Treasurer, the Cantor, the Scholasticus and the Chancellor) and forty-two prebends.Robinet, p. 67. Gallia christiana XIII, p. 1162. The office of Princerie was abolished by a bull of Pope Clement VII on 9 February 1385.Robinet, p. 68. Until 1695, the deans were elected by the Chapter; thereafter, the kings of France made the appointment. The last dean, Claude-Elizabeth de la Corbière, was arrested in October 1792, taken to Paris, tried by a revolutionary tribunal, and executed on 25 April 1794.Robinet, p. 73.
When Pope Leo IX visited Verdun in the second week of October 1049, he consecrated the collegiate church of La Madeleine, which had just been rebuilt by the Archdeacon of Woëvre, Canon Ermenfroy; at the archdeacon's request, the pope united the archdeaconate and the provostship of the church of La Madeleine in perpetuity. An addition to the provost, there was a dean and a cantor According to local tradition, the church had been founded by Saint Rémi of Reims in the 6th century.Robinet, pp. 76–77; [https://books.google.com/books?id=Zmi9dNzVf0sC&pg=PA174 pp. 174–194]. Philippus Jaffé; S. Loewenfeld, Regesta pontificum Romanorum, second edition (Leipzig: Veit 1885), p. 533. Longnon & Carrière, Pouilles de la province de Trèves, p. 355.
The collegiate church of Sainte-Croix of Verdun was founded by the Princier Amicus at the beginning of the 11th century, with a Chapter composed of twelve canons. Within a century, the church was in ruins. Bishop Henri reorganized the establishment in 1126, with six canons, and annexed it to the abbey of Benedictine nuns of Saint-Maur, where the canons, headed by a Treasurer, served as chaplains. The abbess had the right to appoint to vacancies. The collegiate church was destroyed in 1552, at the time of the French invasion under King Henri II. The canons were transferred to the chapel of S. Laurence, near the cathedral. In 1777, Pope Pius VI suppressed the entire establishment.Robinet, pp. 195–196.
Bishop Henri d'Aspremont (1312–1350) established the collegiate church of Saint-Maur in Hattonchâtel in 1328, providing that the title of Provost be united to the title of the archdeacon de la Rivière, with a prebendal canonicate, and that the incumbent need not be resident. There was also a Dean and six canons. The right of nomination belonged to the bishops of Verdun until 1530, when it was transferred to the Duke of Lorraine.Robinet, p. 78. Longnon & Carrière, Pouilles de la province de Trèves, p. 356.
On 30 September 1389, King Charles VI of France and Bishop Liébauld de Cousans concluded a treaty, in which the bishops of Verdun acquired dominium and jurisdiction in high, middle and low justice over the city of Verdun. The treaty was confirmed by Pope Clement VII on 13 February 1390.Clouet, Histoire de Verdun Vol. 3, pp. 438–444.
French diocese The three bishoprics (Metz, Toul, and Verdun) had been under control of the French since 1552,Berthold Zeller, Henri II, l'occupation des trois-evêches (1547–1552), , (Paris: Hachette, 1890, pp. 183–184. but the dioceses resisted, and it was not until the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 that their acquisition was formally recognized. In the reign of King Louis XIV, in 1664, the kings of France were granted the right to nominate the bishop when a vacancy occurred. This concession did not immediately extend to any other benefice in the dioceses, as it had in the concordat of 1516 with King Francis I. It was not until 1668 that Clement IX removed the limitation.Joseph Bergin, Church, Society and Religious Change in France, 1580–1730, (New Haven: Yale 2009), p. 24. Joseph Bergin,, Crown, Church, and Episcopate Under Louis XIV, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004), p. 27.
In 1565, Bishop Nicolas Psaume (1548–1575) invited the Jesuits to establish themselves in the diocese of Verdun, with episcopal authority. He provided them with the hospital of Saint-Nicolas as their church, their residence, and their school (collège). Later papal approval was obtained. The Jesuit house in Verdun became the novitiate for most of France.Longnon & Carrière, p. 360. Lynn Martin, The Jesuit Mind: The Mentality of an Elite in Early Modern France (Ithaca NY: Cornell University Press 2019), p. 20. The other Jesuit novitiate was at Avignon.
From 1624 to 1636, a large bastioned citadel was constructed. following the plans of Jean Errard of Bar-le-Duc, on the site of the Abbey of Saint Vanne. The Church of Saint-Vanne was destroyed in 1832 and its cloister, which had been converted into barracks, was burned in 1870 during the Franco-Prussian War.Alexandre Martin, Le frays Barrois: géographic et histoire, , (Bar-le-Duc: Contant-Lagnerre, 1912), pp. 170–171.
Seminary
Bishop Armand de Monchy d'Hocquincourt (1668–1679) took the first steps toward the erection of a seminary in the diocese of Verdun. In November 1678 he obtained letters patent from King Louis XIV, granting permission for the establishment. The bishop committed 1,000 livres per year to the project, and imposed on the clergy a tax amounting to 1,500 livres. The seminary opened in December 1678, in the episcopal palace, but soon moved to larger quarters, since, by 1 November 1682, there were twenty students. Bishop Hippolyte de Béthune (1681–1720) brought the Canons Regular from the abbey of Saint-Nicolas-des-Prés to form the staff. But within 50 years, the buildings were nothing but a mass of ruins. Through royal generosity, Bishop Charles-François D'Hallencourt (1721–1754) was granted the income of the abbey of Saint-Airy fir eight years, and from 1741 to 1749 built a proper seminary and chapel. When Pope Clement XI published the bull Unigenitus against Jansenism in 1713, the bishop and clergy of the seminary joined the opposition; but under Bishop d'Hallencourt, in 1737, the canons regular were forced to leave the seminary, and secular priests filled the posts. The seminary was closed in January 1791 by the French National Assembly.Robinet, pp. 143–147.
French Revolution