Clermont-Ferrand, Diocese of

CLERMONT-FERRAND, DIOCESE OF. - In France, currently formed by the department of Puy-de-Dôme; it is a suffragan of Bourges, comprises 5 archpriestries (Clermont, Ambert, Thiers, Issoire and Riom), 53 deaneries, and 520 parishes, and has about 500,000 inhabitants. The major seminary is at Riche-Lieu (Chamalières). The bishop of C. has the privilege of the sacred pallium (28 Jan. 1894). The city of C., anciently Arverni, became an episcopal see in the second half of the 3rd century. At first it comprised the whole ancient civitas Arvernorum (Auvergne); in 1317 the diocese of St-Flour was detached from it. The first bishop was Austremonius; among the other more notable ones are remembered: Sidonius Apollinaris (v.), formerly prefect of Rome in 468 and bishop of C. from 470 to 489; Stephen Aubert (1340-42), cardinal in 1342, pope under the name of Innocent VI in 1352; and the celebrated preacher Massillon (1717-42). Gregory of Tours (d. 594) and Blaise Pascal (1623-62) were born at C.

In 1095 Pope Urban II held there the council at which the first Crusade was proclaimed.

C. possesses a state university comprising the faculties of Law, of Letters and of Sciences; a preparatory school of medicine and pharmacy. The patron of the diocese is St. Austremonius. The cathedral, Notre-Dame, is a fine French Gothic building begun in 1248 and consecrated in 1346. The church of Notre-Dame du Port, in Romanesque style (11th century), is a place of pilgrimage.

Ella Griffe

ARCHAEOLOGY - Gregory of Tours collected with great care the records relating to the martyrs, sanctuaries, and bishops of his homeland (Historia Francorum, I, 33; De gloria martyrum, 43, 64, 66; De gloria confessorum, 35). From Gregory of Tours we thus learn that C. had its own local martyrs (such as Antolian); over his tomb a basilica was built at the beginning of the 6th century; a second basilica contained the tombs of Sts. Cassius and Victorinus; a Martyr Liminius was buried in the church of St. Venerandus. But martyrs of other churches were also honored there, namely St. Peter, St. Andrew, St. Stephen, St. Lawrence and St. Quiricus.

Around the middle of the 5th century the bishop of C., Namatius (442-62 ca.), sent a priest to Bologna and obtained some relics of Sts. Vitalis and Agricola, which were solemnly received at C.; a great procession went out to meet them (Gregory of Tours, De gloria martyrum, 44); they were deposited in the principal church. The Jeronymian Martyrology preserves two anniversaries: on May 14 the dedication of the church: Arvernus dedicatio ecclesiae s. Agricolae, and on Dec. 10: in civitate Arvernis Agricolae et Vitalis martyrum. Renowned sanctuaries are also commemorated in the region; on Aug. 28 the same Martyrology places in Averno vico Bricatense passio s. Iuliani martyris; his tomb became the most venerated sanctuary of Auvergne. At Riom St. Polycarp was venerated, and at Thiers the stones wet with the blood of St. Symphorian of Autun, where likewise the bishop Avitus in 571 built the church of St. Genesius, a saint distinct from the one of Arles. Gregory of Tours devotes three chapters (De gloria confessorum, 35-37) to describing the cemetery basilica of St. Venerandus (d. 380); the underground area was entirely full of tombs; inside stood the altars of St. Julian and of St. Basilissa of Antioch. From them come many carved sarcophagi. Another church full of tombs was that of St. Illidius or Allirius, a bishop buried in the suburban area, where other bishops also rested; the church was later called St. Mary inter Sanctos.

The church of St. Stephen in the suburban area of C. was erected by Bishop Namatius (446-62), and the subjects of the frescoes that were to decorate its walls were indicated to the painters by the illustrations of a manuscript containing historias actionis antiquus (Gregory of Tours, Histor. Francor., II, 17). The fine series of Christian sarcophagi carved with scenes drawn from the New and the Old Testament shows how flourishing the community of the church of C. was. They were published first by Le Blant, more recently by Wilpert. Sidonius Apollinaris (d. 489) was buried in the church of St. Saturninus and later translated to that of St. Genesius. His metrical epitaph was copied and is preserved by a manuscript in Madrid (E. Le Blant, II, no. 562). Also known is the sepulchral poem of the uncle of Gregory of Tours, Gallus (d. 551), who was buried in the basilica of St. Lawrence (ibid., no. 559). Known too are the inscriptions of a priest named Privatus, of two deacons, Innocent (CIL, XIII, I, 1489) and Emellius, who died in the 37th year of Chlothar (A.D. 548 if Chlothar I; 621 if Chlothar II); in St. Cassius was buried a Georgia sacrata Christi (CIL, XIII, I, 1491). Gregory of Tours reports the metrical inscription composed by Sidonius Apollinaris for the tomb of Abraham, abbot of St. Quiricus (d. c. 477), whose church he built (Vitae patrum, 3). The epitaph of a Lupa is from 555, in the time of King Theudebald; the other, of a Remestus, is from 612. - See Pl. CXX.

Enrico Josi