FRÉJUS, diocese of. — City and diocese in southern France; the territory corresponds to that of the department of Var. The diocese has an area of 5,609 sq. km., with a population of 377,104 inhabitants, of whom 376,000 are Catholics, distributed among 180 parishes, served by 209 diocesan priests and 150 religious priests; it has a major seminary at La Crau (Var), and 15 male and 79 female religious communities (1949).
It is suffragan to Aix. Patrons of the diocese: St. Leontius and St. Mary Magdalene.
Originally, it was one of the many villages along the Roman roads (vianti vicani), inhabited by several colonists who had received parcels of land. Cicero is the first to mention Forum Iulii, in 43 B.C. A small settlement along the great highway that traversed lower Provence, it was chosen (39–31 B.C.) as a shipyard for the construction of light and fast vessels. Strabo calls it navale Caesaris Augusti. After the victory at Actium, it became the port of the fleet of the Gallic coast, a classical colony, and received the veterans of the VIII Augusta legion; Pliny mentions it as « Forum Iulii Octavanorum Colonia quae Pacensis appellatur et classica ».
(photograph by Arellus photographicus)
FRÉJUS, diocese of — Exterior of the Baptistery (5th century), after restoration.
Among the bishops of F. are recalled: Leontius, mentioned in two letters, one from Pope Boniface I in 419 and another from Pope Celestine I in 431; Theodore, who took part in the Councils of Riez (439), Orange (441), and Vaison (442). In the 6th century, Victorinus, present at the Council of Agde in 506, is known, as is John, represented at that of Arles in 524, as well as Desiderius in 541 and Expectatus at those of Orléans in 549 and Paris in 552. In 632 Martin subscribed to the privilege of Rebaia of 636. After this, the names of bishops of F. are unknown until the 10th century. The diocese, suppressed in 1801, was re-established on 27 July 1817 and confirmed on 6 October 1822. The Cathedral stands on the site of an ancient church, restored in the 9th century and rebuilt in the 12th, with alterations in the 15th and 16th centuries; remains survive of the ancient Chapter and of the Romanesque façade, but the baptistery is more noteworthy: square in plan on the exterior, octagonal on the interior, with a circular ambulatory supported by 8 black-granite columns; Corinthian capitals with impost blocks; a circular bench runs around it; at the centre is an octagonal masonry pool lined with marble, covered by a ciborium with 8 columns. The cathedral of F., dedicated to Notre Dame and St. Leontius, possesses a 12th-century sacramentary, a 13th-century missal, and a 15th-century ritual of Uzes. The title of Toulon, a 5th-century diocese, is united with F. Its known ancient bishops are: Auguètale, present at the Councils of Orange (441) and Vaison (442), probably erroneously recalled as bishop of Arles on 7 September in the Hieronymian Martyrology; St. Cyprian, disciple and biographer of St. Caesarius of Arles, who took part in the Council of Orléans in 541, while Palladius took part in that of 549; Bishop Menna addressed a letter to St. Gregory the Great (Jaffé-Wattenbach, 1831).
The cathedral of Toulon has been entirely restored. The church of St. Maximin, begun at the end of the 13th century by Charles II of Sicily, was completed at the end of the 15th century; it is the finest example of architecture in southern France. The principal sanctuaries of the diocese are: Notre-Dame des Anges & Pignans, Notre-Dame de Benat, Notre-Dame des Graces & Cotignac. The basilica of St. Mary Magdalene & St-Maximin is notable. Its construction was begun in 1895 by Giovanni Bandici on the orders of Charles II of Anjou and was completed in 1532. It constitutes the most distinguished product of northern Gothic art in Provence. The apse is polygonal, and the vaults of the naves reach a height of 29 m., as in the cathedrals of Bourges and Le Mans. The crypt is a mausoleum containing Christian sarcophagi. It was served by the Benedictines until 1295, when they were replaced by the Dominicans, who remained there until the suppression of the religious orders at the beginning of the 20th century.