**AUTUN, DIOCESE OF**
In central-eastern France, in the department of Saône-et-Loire. The episcopal see is in Autun, situated on a small hill in the area between the Côte d'Or and the Morvan mountains; the city today has 14,873 inhabitants. It was founded between 15 and 10 BC by the Emperor Augustus, who gave it his name: *Augustodunum*. It was intended to replace *Bibracte*, the ancient *oppidum* of the Aedui, located 25 km away on the summit of Mont Beuvray. Nothing was spared to give it splendor. The Menian Schools (*Scholae Menianae*) were established there, where the rhetorician Eumenes taught. The city had its own Forum of Mars, built by order of Augustus, and a thriving emporium until, in the 2nd century, Lugdunum (Lyon) became the capital of Gallia Lugdunensis.
We possess a precious document of the faith of the first Christian Aedui PETTORIO (v.), discovered near Autun in 1893.
The martyr greatly venerated in Autun from antiquity is St. Symphorian, commemorated on August 22 in the *Martyrologium Hieronymianum*; his *passio* is not without value (BHL, 7967; W. Meyer, *Fragmenta Burana*, Berlin 1901, pp. 161-63).
The first historically attested bishops of Autun are: Reticius, who took part in the Councils of Rome in 313 and of Arles in 314 against the Donatists, and Cassian, who was alive in 337. Around 450, Eufronius, a friend of Sidonius Apollinaris, was bishop of Autun. Worthy of mention are also the bishops: Siagrius (v.), Leodegarius (v.), and Adalgarius, who lived at the end of the 9th century.
Originally, the diocese encompassed the entire *Civitas Aeduorum*, but in the 5th century it was divided to form the diocese of Chalon, and at the beginning of the 6th century the dioceses of Mâcon and Nevers were established. From then on, it retained its boundaries until 1790.
Today it is the first suffragan see of the metropolitan see of Lyon and, since July 19, 1855, its bishops have borne the titles of the suppressed dioceses of Chalon and Mâcon. Its boundaries coincide with those of the department of Saône-et-Loire. Its population is 525,796, of whom 520,000 are Catholic. It has 551 parishes, 531 diocesan priests, and 30 religious. At the site of the ancient Christian cemetery of Autun arose the basilica of St. Stephen, mentioned by St. Gregory of Tours (*In gloria confessorum*, ch. 72), which was destroyed in 1775; the ancient basilica of St. Peter, converted into a civil building in 1792, is also remembered.
Among the numerous abbeys, in addition Cluny (v.), we recall the abbey and basilica of St. Symphorian, erected at the end of the 5th century by Euponius, later bishop of Autun, sacked by the Saracens in 731; the church, rebuilt between the 11th and 12th centuries, burned in 1570, rebuilt in 1734, and demolished in 1806, with its high altar transferred to the parish church of Notre-Dame.
The abbey of St. Martin, founded by Queen Brunhilda in 589, had a three-aisled basilica with precious brown marble columns and an apse decorated with mosaics, traces of which still remained in 1724; it too was sacked in 731, rebuilt and reconsecrated in 870, and transformed in 1795.
The cathedral dedicated to St. Lazarus, begun in 1120, was consecrated by Innocent II on December 30, 1132. It is in the shape of a Latin cross, with three naves and a transept. At the end of the 12th century, a porch with three richly sculpted portals was added to the façade, depicting scenes from the Old and New Testaments or the lives of the saints (Conversion of St. Eustace, St. Jerome removing a thorn from a lion). In the central tympanum, the Last Judgment with the characteristic *psychostasia* or weighing of souls; the artist signed: *Gislebertus hoc fecit*.
The ancient chapel of the hospital of St. Nicholas, with a fresco of a *Maiestas Domini*, was converted into a lapidary museum in 1861. — See Plate XXXIII.
PARAY-LE-MONIAL, SANTUARIO DI (v.) also belongs to this diocese.
Councils of Autun. — The first was convened under the episcopate of St. Leodegarius (659-70), but the date is uncertain; it is generally placed around 670. Since the original text is not extant, we must rely on the version from Angers, now represented by manuscripts in Berlin, Vienna, and St. Gall. The first canon reads as follows: “If a cleric does not know the Apostles’ Creed or the attestation of faith of St. Athanasius exactly, let him be condemned by the bishop.” Among the other canons that follow, there is also one of excommunication for laypeople who do not approach the sacred table on the days of Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost.
In 1065, Hugh, abbot of Cluny, convened an assembly to put an end to the violence and depredations of Robert I, Duke of Burgundy. The bishop of Autun, Agon, had cause to complain about disorders caused by the Duke of Burgundy. Seeing this, Hugh went to meet the duke and, through his words, so moved him that Robert, deeply touched, made peace with his people. In 1077, under the presidency of Hugh of Die, papal legate, the Fathers of the Council reached an agreement with Hugh I, Duke of Burgundy and nephew of Robert I, to compensate for the damages and violence committed by his grandfather. The case of the archdeacon of Reims, Manasse, accused of having purchased his episcopate, was also examined. Manasse, who had not appeared to defend himself, was deposed.
In 1094 the Council, presided over by Hugh of Die, excommunicated Emperor Henry IV and the antipope Guibert. Eudes I, Duke of Burgundy, who was present, undertook to restore to the church of Autun the lands that belonged to II.
Up to 1359, when the city was occupied by the English, abbeys and sacred buildings flourished in A.
Of the abbey church of St Germanus there still remains part of the crypt adorned with Carolingian paintings of the 9th century. Above it a new building was constructed in the 13th century. The cathedral was erected by Bishop William of Seignelay (1215–34) on the remains of the previous one, of which the crypt survives beneath the present choir.
The abbey church of St Eusebius, now a parish church, was built in the 12th century; its choir is Renaissance.
The church of the ancient Augustinian abbey of A., St Peter-in-the-Valley, dates from the 16th century. The Premonstratensian abbey of St Marian was demolished in 1570.
The Concordat of 1801 suppressed the diocese of A. and that of Sens, forming the diocese of Troyes. The Concordat of 1817 reconstituted the diocese of A. But the bull of Pius VII, *Paternae charitatis*, of 10 Oct. 1822, suppressed it again, assigning its territory to the diocese of Sens. A brief of the same Pontiff, dated 3 June 1823, added to the archbishop of Sens the title of bishop of A.
Council of A. – At an unspecified date, but certainly after 23 Oct. 585, a provincial synod was convoked there for the promulgation of the canons published at the second Council of Mâcon. Bishop Aunacharius presided, surrounded by seven abbots, thirty-three priests and three deacons. Forty-five canons survive from it; the first condemn certain superstitious practices, while the rest deal with Baptism, the celebration of Mass, the sacrament of Penance, burial, fasting, etc. – See Pl. XXXIV.