ANSE, COUNCILS OF. — It is a town in the diocese of Lyon that was the site of important provincial councils. At the first (994), the archbishops of Lyon, Vienne, and Tarentaise, assisted by other bishops, confirmed the possessions of the abbey of Cluny at the request of s. Odilo, who was its abbot, and restored the canons to the church of S. Romanus. Nine disciplinary canons were promulgated there, ordering, among other things, that the consecrated hosts be renewed every Sunday and imposing upon priests the obligation of carrying the viaticum to the sick.
At another council, convened in 1025 in the church of S. Romanus, Gauslinus, bishop of Mâcon, reproached Burcardus, archbishop of Vienne, for having ordained certain monks of the abbey of Cluny, which was located in the diocese of Mâcon. The archbishop replied that he had acted at the invitation of the abbot of Cluny. Then s. Odilo, who was present, invoked in his own favor the papal privilege by which the monastery was granted exemption from diocesan authority. The bishops contested the legitimacy of the grant because it was contrary to the canons of Chalcedon (can. 4), and the privilege of Cluny was suspended for some time. s. Odilo nevertheless had his revenge at the Roman Synod of March 1027, where he obtained its confirmation by a new bull.
At the third council, celebrated in 1070, Acardus, bishop of Châlon-sur-Saône, donated the cloister of S. Lawrence to the monastery of S. Martin of Ile-Barbe near Lyon. The fourth, in 1076, regulated disciplinary matters. At the fifth (1100), those who, having taken the cross, did not depart for the crusade were excommunicated.
BIBL. Mansi, XIX, coll. 177, 423; XX, coll. 481, 1127; XXI, col. 77; Nefcke-Leclercq, IV, pp. 871-72; 968-90; 1272; V, p. 219; A. Prévost, s. V. in DHG, III, col. 443. Romualdo Souza