Ancient Diocese of Sisteron

The former French diocese of Sisteron existed until the French Revolution. Its see was at Sisteron in southern France and at Forcalquier, in the modern department of Alpes-de-Haute-Provence. Sisteron was the only diocese in France which had two cathedrals. Each cathedral had a Chapter, and the two Chapters voted together when an election was held to elect a new bishop of Sisteron.[1] The diocese of Sisteron was part of the ecclesiastical province of Narbonensis Secunda, whose Metropolitan was the Archbishop of Aix-en-Provence.

In 1789, before the Revolution the Cathedral Chapter of Sisteron consisted of a Provost, twelve Canons, and twelve beneficiaries (two of whom were curés). They were all abolished by the Civil Constitution of the Clergy in 1790 and by the confiscation of church property. The Canons of Sisteron were officially notified of their suppression on 6 December 1790 by the municipal authorities. The Chapter of the co-cathedral of Forcalquier were similarly notified. Bishop de Bovet was also notified, but he replied that he could not comply since he had no bishop or other competent authority into whose hands he could commit his charge. [2]

On 20 March 1791 the electors of the 'departement' of Basses-Alpes, into which Sisteron had been swept, met at Digne to choose a new bishop. On the third ballot they elected Jean-Baptiste-Romé de Villeneuve, the sixty-four year old curé of Valensole as their Constitutional Bishop. On 2 June he was consecrated in the Cathedral of Nîmes by Constitutional Bishop Roux. By 1795 most of the people had abandoned the Constitutional Church and returned to their old allegiances. Villeneuve died on 23 December 1798 without having reconciled with Rome.[3]

After the Concordat of 1801 agreed to by First Consul Bonaparte and Pope Pius VII, the diocese of Sisteron was not revived and its territory passed to the diocese of Digne.[4]

Bishops

to 1000

  • [Chrysaphius (ca. 449–452)][5]
  • Johannes I (500–516 ?)[6]
  • Valerius (517)[7]
  • Avolus (ca. 541–554)[8]
  • Genesius (573)
  • Polychronius (Pologronius) (584–585)
  • Secundinus I (614)
  • Johannes II (812–860)
  • Viventius (ninth century)
  • Magnibert (ninth century)
  • Amantius (ninth century)
  • Secundinus II. (ninth century)
  • Virmagnus (ninth century)
  • Bonus (867)
  • Vincent (end of ninth century)
  • Eustorgus (tenth century)
  • Arnulphus (925 ?)
  • Johannes III. (930–965 ?)
  • Ours (967)
  • Rudolf I. (981)

1000 to 1400

  • Frodon (999–1015)
  • Durandus (1015 ?–1020)
  • Pierre I (1023–1043) [9]
  • Géraud ? (1031 ?–1045 ?)
  • Pierre II[10] (1043) (then bishop of Vaison)
  • Gérard I. Chevrier (1060–1080 ?)
  • Carl (1082)
  • Nitard (end of eleventh century)
  • Bertrand I. (1102–1105 ?)
  • Gerardus II. (1110–1124)
  • Raimbaud (1125 ?–1145)
  • Pierre de Sabran (1145–1171)
  • Bertrand II. (1172–1174)
  • Bermond d'Anduse (1174–1214)
  • Rodolphe II. (1216–1241)
  • Henri de Suze (1244–1250) (then archbishop of Embrun)
  • Humbert Fallavel, O.P.[11] (1250–1256)
  • Alain de Lusarches (1257–1277)
  • Pierre Giraud (1277–1291)
  • Pierre d'Alamanon (1292–1304)
  • Jacques Gantelmi (1306–1310)
  • Raimond d'Oppède (1310–1328)
  • Rostan I. (1328–1348)
  • Pierre Artaudi (1349–1360)
  • Gérard III. (1362–1369)
  • Ranulphe de Gorze (1370–1382) (Urbanite)[12]
  • Artaud de Mélan (1382–1404)(Clementine)[13]
  • Antoine de Viale (1383–1386) (Urbanite)[14]

from 1400

  • Nicolas Sacosta, O.Min.[15] (1404–1414)
  • Robert du Four (1414–1437)[16]
  • Mitre Gastinel (1437–1440)
  • Raimond Ralon (1437)
  • Gaucher de Forcalquier (1440–1442)
  • Charles de Borna (1442–1456)
  • Jacques Radulphi (1456–1463)
  • André de Plaisance (1463–1477)
  • Jean Esquenart[17] (1477–1492)
  • Thibaud de la Tour d'Auvergne[18] (1493–1499)
  • Laurent Bureau (1499–1504)
  • Pierre Filholi (1504–1506) (then archbishop of Aix)
  • François de Dinteville (1506–1514) (then bishop of Auxerre)
  • Claude de Louvain (1514–1520) [19]
  • Michel de Savoie[20] (1520–1522) (then bishop of Beauvais)[21]
  • Claude d'Aussonville (1523–1531)
  • Antoine de Narbonne (1531–1541)
  • Albin de Rochechouard (1542–1543)
  • Émeric de Rochechouard (1543–1580) (brother of predecessor)
  • Antoine de Couppes (1582–1606)[22]
  • Toussaint de Glandevès[23] (1606–1648)
  • Antoine d'Arbaud (1648–1666)
  • Michel Poncet (1667–1675) (then archbishop of Bourges)
  • Jacques Potier (1677–1681) (then bishop of Évreux)
  • Louis de Thomassin (1682–1718)
  • Pierre-François Lafitau (1720–1764)[24]
  • Louis-Jérôme de Suffren[25] (1764–1789)
  • François de Bovet[26] (1789–1801)

References

  1. Albanès, pp. 663-664.
  2. Maurel, pp. 87-88; 305-306.
  3. Paul Pisani (1907). Répertoire biographique de l'épiscopat constitutionnel (1791-1802). (in French). Paris: A. Picard et fils. pp. 328–331.
  4. G-Catholic, Diocese of Sisteron, France Archived February 4, 2014, at the Wayback Machine.
  5. Albanès (p. 663-665) points out that Chrysaphius is undoubtedly a bishop, but there is no evidence to assign him to Sisteron. Duchesne, p. 288, declines even to put him on the list of bishops.
  6. Joannes belonged to a rich senatorial family, and during his administration he built twelve churches and founded two monasteries using his own funds. He was bishop in the time of King Gundebaud of Burgundy (473-509). Albanès, pp. 665-666.
  7. Valerius took part in the Council of Epaona on 6 September 517: Sirmond, p. 899.
  8. Albanes, pp. 667-668. Duchesne, p. 288.
  9. Pierre was brother of Feraud, bishop of Gap.
  10. Pierre II was nephew of Pierre I.
  11. Humbert was a native of Lyon, and a councillor of Beatrice of Savoy, who was countess of Forcalquier. His choice as Bishop of Sisteron was due to Cardinal Hugues de Saint Cher, to whom Humbert had been recommended by Enrico di Susa. Humbert was forced to resign in 1256 by Beatrice's son-in-law Charles of Anjou, with whom she was engaged in a quarrel. Albanès, pp. 714-717.
  12. Ranulf de Gorze, a nephew of Pope Innocent VI, was removed from his bishopric because he supported Urban VI of the Roman Obedience. Eubel, I, p. 454, note 7.
  13. Artaud de Melan was appointed by Pope Clement VII of the Avignon Obedience. In 1`404 he was promoted to the See of Arles. Eubel I, p. 454.
  14. Antoine de Viale was appointed by Urban VI after Ranulphe de Gorze had been deposed.
  15. Bishop Nicolas was appointed by Pope Benedict XIII of the Avignon Obedience.
  16. Robert du Four was appointed by Pope John XXIII of the Pisan Obedience.
  17. Esquinart held a degree in Medicine. He treated Charles d'Orleans in his last illness (1464-65). He lived in Angers and treated King René (who was also Count of Provence) and his wife Jeanne de Laval. He was Canon of Le Mans, Seneschel of St. Martin of Tours, and secretary and notary to Charles VII. Ernest Wickersheimer (1979). Dictionnaire biographique des médecins en France au Moyen Âge (in French). Geneva: Librairie Droz. p. 397. ISBN 978-2-600-04664-0.
  18. Thibault was the natural son of the Comte d'Auvergne et Boulogne. E. Baluze, Histoire généalogique de la Maison d'Auvergne (Paris: Antoine Dezallier 1708), I, p. 247. He was elected by the Chapter of Sisteron, who had not summoned the Chapter of Forcalquier to the election. After some altercations, an agreement was reached.
  19. Claude de Lorraine had previously been bishop of Soissons, Abbot of Saint-Jean d'Amiens and of Saint-Pierre de Bèze.
  20. Michel de Savoie was Archdeacon of Angers and Sacristan in the Chapter of the Co-Cathedral of Nôtre-Dame de Forcalquier. He was nominated by King Francis I of France and approved (preconised) by Pope Clement VII on 20 September 1520. He was promoted to the diocese of Beauvais on 2 October 1521. He died in December 1522. Albanes, pp. 760-762.
  21. Michel de Savoie was never enthroned at Beauvais: Eubel, III, p. 131, note 3.
  22. In October 1591, Antoine de Couppes, an ardent supporter of The League, was declared guilty of lèse-majesté and the diocese was put in the hands of a Vicar-General.
  23. Albanes, pp. 770-771. Toussaint's brother was Sieur de Glandèves. His Testament: Hyacinthe de Boniface (1689). Arrests notables de la Cour de Parlement de Provence, cour des comptes, aydes et finances du mesme Pays (in French). Tome 5. Lyon: Guignard. p. 147. Édouard de Laplane (1843). Histoire de Sisteron: tirée de ses archives (in French). Tome II. Guichard. pp. 194–270.
  24. Lafitau was Chargé d'Affaires of the French government in Rome from 1720 to 1722, during which he helped manage the Conclave of 1721. Abbé Pierre de Tencin, the conclavist of Cardinal de Thiard de Bissy, was one of his agents. His principal task, however, was to get the French First Minister Dubois made a cardinal. Albanès, pp. 776-778.
  25. (brother of Pierre André de Suffren, bishop of Nevers)
  26. François de Bovet was nominated by King Louis XVI one month before Bastille Day. He was approved by Pope Pius VI on 3 August 1789. He emigrated to Italy, then Germany, and then England, but returned to France with the Bourbons in 1814. He resigned in 1812. He was promoted to the diocese of Toulouse on 1 October 1817, which he resigned in 1820 due to ill health. He died in 1838 at the age of 92. Jean, p. 29; Albanès, pp. 780-782. Ritzler, VI, p. 382 and note 3.

Bibliography


Reference works

Studies



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