CHAMBERY, ARCHDIOCESE OF. — In the department of Savoie (France). It was erected at the request of King of Sardinia Victor Amadeus III by Pius VI in 1779 from part of the territory previously dependent on the diocese of Grenoble. After becoming vacant following the death of its bishop Consell, the see was suppressed. The Concordat of 1801 restored it with the title of C. and Geneva. In 1817 it was detached from the metropolitan see of Lyon to be elevated to an archdiocese with Aosta as its suffragan. At that time it comprised a total of 627 parishes. Subsequently, however, those parishes belonging to the canton of Geneva were annexed to the diocese of Lausanne (1819), which also took the title of Geneva (1821). Shortly after the erection of the bishopric of Annecy (1822) and the dioceses of Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne and Tarentaise (1825), the archdiocese of C. was reduced to its present dimensions.
Today it comprises part of the department of Savoie, 8 parishes in the district of Albertville and 10 in the department of Haute-Savoie, with 174 parishes divided into 21 archpriestships over an area of 2,400 sq. km. It has 130,000 Catholics, 282 diocesan priests and 91 regular clergy; 10 male religious communities with 112 religious, 76 female communities with 580 nuns. Secondary education is provided in 11 boys’ colleges with 1,484 pupils and 18 girls’ colleges with 1,790 pupils. Metropolitan of the province of Savoie, the archbishop of C. has as his suffragans the bishops of Tarentaise, Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne and Annecy. The see has been occupied by 2 bishops and 11 archbishops, among whom Cardinals Billiet and Dubillard. Capital of the department of Savoie, C. is situated at the confluence of the Albanne and the Leysse. The city has 28,000 inhabitants. It does not date back to great antiquity. The Roman city occupied the present suburb of Lémenc, whence the name of Laminacrum, by which it is sometimes designated. More common, however, is the name of Camerium, Camberiacum, Cívaro or Camerium from the names of now vanished localities. In 1230 it was ceded to Count Thomas I of Savoy, who had the famous castle built there, residence of the princes of his house. After fires in 1748 and 1798, it was restored at the beginning of the 19th century. C. remained the capital of Savoy until the 16th century, when it gave way to Turin.
A fine Gothic cathedral adorns the city. Within the diocesan territory are situated the abbeys of La Grâce-Dieu, of N.-D. de Tamié of the Cistercians founded in 1128, from 1677 and again from 1861 of the Trappists, and the Benedictine abbey of Hautecombe.
C. is also the birthplace of two writers: the brothers Xavier (d. 1852) and Joseph de Maistre (d. 1821), esteemed no less for their literary talent than for the sincerity of their faith.