BELLEY, DIOCESI of. — In the department of Ain, between the Rhône and Saône rivers. It has an area of 5,825 sq. km.; it comprises 443 parishes, 718 diocesan priests and 421 religious priests, and 290,000 Catholics out of a population of 306,864 (1948). B. is the ancient Vicus Bellicensis (CIL, XII, 2500). Duchesne regards the diocese of B. as the continuation, with a reduced territory and a transfer of its seat, of the diocese of Nyon, originally located in the civitas Equestrium, in order to escape the raids of the Alemanni.
According to others, B. was founded either by Vienne, Besançon, or Lyon.
In the library of Besançon Cathedral there is a threefold catalogue of the bishops of B.; the first two copies date from the 11th century, the third from the 13th century. If Bishop Vincenzo, present at the Council of Paris in 552, is the same person as the one who became bishop of B. in 570, this means that the city was already subject to the Merovingians. Other bishops were Felice, a signatory at the Council of Mâcon in 585; Aquilino, who was present at the Council of Paris in 614; and Fiorentino, who signed at the Council of Chalon-sur-Saône in 650.
It subsequently passed to the Carolingians and was later incorporated into the kingdom of Burgundy. For a few years in the 16th century, Bourg (v.) and its dependencies formed a separate diocese. The Constituent Assembly made B. a departmental diocese subject to Lyon. The Concordat of 1801 suppressed it, and it was reestablished in 1822 as a suffragan of Besançon.
The Cathedral, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, patron of the diocese, is a 12th-century building with alterations dating from the 15th century.
A center of frequent pilgrimages is the tomb of St. Giovanni Maria Vianney (v.) at Ars.
Abbeys. The Cistercian abbey of St. Sulpice was founded by Amedeo III, count of Savoy, in 1130, with a convent for women founded at Bons by his daughter Margherita of Savoy under its authority. The Charterhouse of Pierre-Châtel was founded by Amedeo VI of Savoy in 1383; its church is
closely connected with the Annunciation (v.). Also noteworthy are the abbey of St-Rambert and the Charterhouse of Sélignac.
BBL.: L. Duchesne, Fautre épiscopaux de l'ancienne Gaule, III, Paris 1915, pp. 24, 216–19; M. Perraud, Les origines du diocèse de B., les limites du diocèse de B., 2 vols., Belley 1927–29; L. Allonig, Le diocèse de B., histoire religieuse des pays de l'Ain, Belley 1938; id., s. V. in DHG, VII, cols. 886–902.