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 Archidioucèsi de z'Ais e Arle) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in France. The archepiscopal see is located in the city of Aix-en-Provence. The diocese comprises the department of Bouches-du-Rhône (minus the arrondissement of Marseilles), in the Region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. It is currently a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Marseilles and consequently the archbishop no longer wears the pallium.
After the Concordat, the archdiocese gained the titles of Arles and Embrun (1822), becoming the Archdiocese of Aix (–Arles–Embrun) (Latin: Archidioecesis Aquensis in Gallia (–Arelatensis–Ebrodunensis); French: Archidiocèse d'Aix (–Arles–Embrun); Occitan Provençal: Archidiocèsi de Ais (–Arle–Ambrun) or Archidioucèsi de z'Ais (–Arle–Ambrun)). The dioceses of Fréjus and Toulon had been suppressed and parts of Toulon and Riez were attributed to Aix. But in the Concordat of 1817, Arles was reestablished as a metropolitanate (which lasted only until 1822, when it became suffragan to Aix), and the metropolitanate of Aix was assigned the suffragan dioceses of Fréjus (including Toulon, where its bishop now resides), Digne, and Gap. From 1838 to 1867 the diocese of Algiers was also suffragan (subordinate) to the archbishop of Aix.Fisquet, p. 7.
In 2007, the name of the diocese was changed again to the Archdiocese of Aix (–Arles) (Latin: Archidioecesis Aquensis in Gallia (–Arelatensis); French: Archidiocèse d'Aix (–Arles); Occitan Provençal: Archidiocèsi de Ais (–Arle) or Archidioucèsi de z'Ais (–Arle)). In 2008, the title of Embrun was reattached to the Diocese of Gap by decision of Pope Benedict XVI.
The current archbishop is Christian Delarbre.
History Certain traditions make Saint Maximinus, one of the seventy-two Disciples and the companion of Mary Magdalen in Provence (for which there is no biblical justification), the first bishop of Aix. Louis Duchesne seems to have proved that this saint, the object of a local cult, was not considered the first bishop of Aix, or connected with the life of Saint Mary Magdalen, except in later legends, written towards the middle of the 11th century by the monks of Vézelay and by Bishop Rostan de Fos, who was seeking funds for the building of a cathedral.Duchesne, pp. 321–359.
The Roman Empire The city of Aix became a matter of controversy at the beginning of the fifth century. The Council of Nicaea, in its fourth canon, had decreed that each ecclesiastical province, which was coterminous with the Imperial Roman province, should have as its metropolitan the bishop of the capital city of the province. Aix had been the capital of the Roman Imperial province of Gallia Narbonensis Secunda, one of the seventeen Roman provinces in Gaul. Gallia Narbonensis Secunda included the cities of Aix, Gap, Sisteron, Apt, Riez, Fréjus, Antibes and Nice.Albanés, pp. 17–18. Nice presents something of a problem, since it was not a city, but only a port and a colony of Marseille. By the end of the fourth century, certainly by the time of Theodosius the Great in 381,, at 291. however, the number of provinces had been reduced to fifteen, and Gallia Narbonensis Secunda had been combined with Gallia Narbonensis Prima.The acts of the Council of Aquileia (381), contain a letter written to the bishops of Narbonensis prima et secunda. Albanes, pp. 15–16. Who, then, was the metropolitan of the ecclesiastical province of Gallia Narbonensis Prima et Secunda? The Council of Turin, which met in September 401 (?), The date of the Council of Turin is controversial, perhaps as early as 398, perhaps as late as 417, perhaps actually two councils. Marcos Mar, p. 162 note 16, in: was faced with competing claims, from the metropolitan of Viennensis, the metropolitan of Arles, and Proculus the bishop of Marseille (who had been the delegate of the Gauls at the Council of Aquileia in 381). The decision of the council was that the bishop of Marseille had no claim to the metropolitan status over Gallia secunda, since it was not in his own province. Bishop Proculus could continue to hold the title of metropolitan during his lifetime, but only out of respect for his personal qualities, not as a matter of principle. Thereafter, with regard to the claims of the archbishops of Vienne and Arles, whichever of the two could prove his right to metropolitan status over Gallia secunda should be the metropolitan. There seems to have been no bishop of Aix present, nor even a representative, to speak for the city of Aix or present proof of its status.
The first historically known bishop of Aix, Lazarus, occupied this see about the beginning of the 5th century. He had been ordained by Bishop Proculus of Marseille, which caused a scandal and reproaches from Pope Zosimus, since he had been condemned at the Council of Turin as a calumniator.Albanés, p. 27 He was ordained under the reign of the usurper Constantine, and on his fall in 411, Lazarus resigned.Fisquet, pp. 13–15. Duchesne, pp. 279–280 no. 1.
The issue of metropolitan status was settled by Pope Zosimus in a letter of 29 September 417 to the bishops of the province of Vienne and the province of Gallia Narbonensis Secunda, declaring that the archbishop of Arles was the metropolitan, not Proculus of Marseille or Simplicius of Vienne. In a letter of May or June 514, Pope Symmachus (498–514) wrote to Archbishop Caesarius of Arles that, if the bishop of Aix, or any other bishop, should be summoned by the metropolitan and he refuses to obey, he should be submitted to ecclesiastical discipline. Albanés, pp. 15–16.
Medieval Aix In 737 the city of Aix was taken and sacked by the Saracens. The people fled to hilltop refuges, and the city was deserted.Constantin, pp. 75–76. The damage to the ecclesiastical system was so extensive that it called forth a letter from Pope Hadrian I to Archbishop Bertherius of Vienne on 1 January 774. He advised the archbishop that King Charles (Charlemagne) had visited Rome with reports of the devastation, and had promised to help in restoring things. The Pope therefore sent letters informing the metropolitans that the status of eighty years earlier should be maintained, and that the privileges of metropolitans should be maintained even if, at the request of the Frankish kings, the pallium should be bestowed on a suffragan (subordinate) bishop. The situation as it had been in the time of Pope Leo II (662–663) should be restored.Albanés, pp. 15–16. This letter does not add any powers, rights, or privileges to those already existing, nor does it grant new privileges. The diocese of Aix is not mentioned, either as a metropolitan or as a suffragan.
Aix perhaps became an archbishopric only at the end of the 8th century; but it was a subordinate of the metropolitan archbishop of Arles.Palanque, pp. 28–29. The Council of Frankfort, in 796, was uncertain about the status of Aix, and decided to refer the matter to the pope.
Up to the end of the eleventh century the cathedral of Aix was at Notre-Dame-de-la-Sed, which was situated to the west of the town, outside the walls.Albanés, pp. 13–14. The new Cathedral of Saint-Sauveur was begun c. 1070, with the appeal for funds made by Archbishop Rostan de Fos (1056–1082). It was consecrated by Archbishop Petrus (III) (1101–1112) on 7 August 1103.Albanés, p. 54. He was assisted by Archbishop Gibelinus of Arles, Joannes of Cavaillon, Berengar of Fréjus, and Augerius of Riez, as well as the dignitaries of Aix: the provost, the archdeacon, the sacristan, two archpriests, and at least six canons.Gallia christiana I (Paris 1716), Instrumenta, p. 66 no. XI. It is said that Bishop Foulques (c. 1115 – c. 1132) increased the number of canons in the cathedral chapter from twelve to twenty, and that he obtained the sanction of Pope Honorius II (1124–1130) for his actions.Albanés, p. 55. In 1693, and again in 1771, there were only two dignities and eighteen canons.Ritzler-Sefrin, V, p. 92 note 1. Rtizler-Sefrin, VI, p. 92 note 1.
On 6 November 1097, Pope Urban II removed the diocese of Aix from the province of Arles and attached it as suffragan (subordinate) to the ecclesiastical province of Narbonne.Albanés, p. 53. P. Jaffé and S. Loewenfeld, Regesta pontificum Romanorum Tomus I, editio altera (Leipzig 1885), p. 692, nos. 5688–5690. In 1099, shortly after his coronation, Pope Paschal II repeated this decision in a letter to Archbishop Bertrand of Narbonne."Praeterea primatum Aquensis metropolis, quae est Narbonensis secunda, et quidquid dignitatis vel honoris eamdem Narbonensem Ecclesiam antiquitus iure habuisse constiterit, nos quoque presentis decreti pagina inconcussum et inviolabile perpetuo manere decrevimus." Not content with that arrangement, the new archbishop, Pierre (III) (1101–1112), began a campaign to influence the papacy. He succeeded in obtaining the pallium from the new Pope Paschal II on 28 March 1104.Gallia christiana I (Paris 1716), Instrumenta, pp. 66–67, no. XII. Albanés gives the year as 1102. This was the first time that an archbishop of Aix had ever been granted the use of the pallium.Albanés, p. 54. Gallia christiana I (Paris 1716), Instrumenta, p. 66. Jaffé and Loewenfeld, I, p. 711, no. 5904.
Renaissance The University of Aix was founded in 1409 by Pope Alexander V, which was confirmed by Count Louis (II) of Provence on 30 December 1413. Additional privileges were granted by King Henri IV in 1603 (a refoundation, in fact, since the university had become moribund in the face of the Huguenot challenge); by Louis XIII in 1622; by Louis XIV in 1660 and 1689; and by Louis XV in 1719. The archbishop of Aix was the chancellor of the university, ex officio. The rector of the university was elected. The university had faculties in theology, law, and medicine. Fisquet, p. 4.
Count Louis II also established a Parliament for Provence in Aix, on 14 August 1415. When Count Charles III of Provence, the nephew of René of Anjou, died in 1481, he named as his heir King Louis XI of France and his heirs. Louis XII established a full royal administrative apparatus in Province in 1501.Fisquet, p. 4.
In 1580 King Henri III of France established a network of seven Sovereign Ecclesiastical Chambers in France, to deal with legal matters arising from appeals concerning all taxes imposed by diocesan agencies, as well as appeals against decisions of the diocesan agencies. Aix was the center of one of these chambers, which included the dioceses of Aix, Apt, Gap, Fréjus, Riez, Sisteron; Marseille, Toulon, Orange (suffragans of Arles); Digne, Glandèves, Grasse, Senez and Vence (suffragans of Embrun). The archbishop of Aix was the president of the Chamber of Aix. The sees of Avignon, Carpentras, Cavaillon and Vaison were directly dependent upon the pope, and did not come under the jurisdiction of the king of France. They were therefore exempt from the jurisdiction of the Ecclesiastical Chamber.Fisquet, pp. 5–6.
Revolution