METZ, DIOCESE OF. - The chief city of the Moselle department, situated at the confluence of the Seille with the Moselle, which branches out to the north forming the islands of St-Symphorien, Sauley, and Chambière. It has an area of 6,227 sq. km. with a population of 795,000, of whom 660,000 are Catholics, distributed in 59 deaneries comprising 589 parishes and 128 vicariates served by 139 diocesan priests; it has 2 seminaries, 12 male religious communities and 25 female ones. The protomartyr St Stephen is a patron of the diocese. The diocese is directly subject to the Holy See.
Metz is the "Divodurum" of the Gauls and under the Romans was the capital of the Mediomatrices; after the death of Clovis it became the capital of Austrasia under the name of Mettis (from Mediomatrices). The Treaty of Verdun in 843 assigned Metz to Lothar, but gradually it became a free imperial city, defending itself against the powerful dukes of Lorraine. Metz was occupied in 1552 by King Henry II and was defended by Francis of Guise against the siege of Charles V.
The oldest catalogue of its bishops is transmitted in the Sacramentary of Drogo (MGH, Script., VIII, p. 303 ff.), composed c. 778. It is in verse and includes 33 bishops, from Clement to Angilram (768-91); a second list contained in the same codex goes up to the election of Rother. A third list with the obituary date and the duration of each episcopate is in a codex of the Library of Bremen (c. 36) and extends to the bishop Wala (876-82); a fourth list, up to Adalbero (962-64), is in a codex formerly of the monastery of St Symphorian, now in Paris in the Bibliothèque nationale (ms. lat. 5294). At the request of Bishop Angilram, Paul the Deacon composed the *Libellus de*
Bishop Bruno was blinded by the inhabitants and the bishop retired to Einsiedeln (927). With Adalbero (928-62) the civil power of the bishops of Metz increased; he was followed by Dietrich II (946-84), Adalbero II (984-1005) and III (1006); Dietrich III (1006-47), Adalbero IV (1047-1072); Herman (1073-90) was deposed by the Emperor; after the Concordat of Worms the see was governed by Stephen of Bar (1120-63), then Bertrand (1179-1212) and Conrad I of Scharfenberg (1212-24) who welcomed the mendicant orders into the diocese; John of Aspremont (1224-38) was elected by the Cathedral Chapter; then James of Lorraine (1239-60). Among others may be mentioned Adhemar of Montiel (1237-61), Dietrich IV (1365-84), Rudolph of Coucy (1387-1415), Conrad II (1415-59) and George I (1459-84); then comes the series of bishops of the House of Lorraine: Henry II (1484-1505), Cardinal John IV (1518-43 and 1548-50), Cardinal Robert of Lenoncourt (1551-55); Cardinal Louis of Lorraine (1568-78), Cardinal A. of Givry (1608-12) and Henry of Bourbon (1612-52). Then Metz passed to France by the Treaty of Westphalia and the "province des trois évêchés" was formed with Metz, Toul and Verdun.
Among the bishops may be recalled G. of Aubusson (1668-97), E. C. of Cambout (1697-1732) and C. of Rouvray St-Simon who became prince-bishop of Metz (1733-60), succeeded by Cardinal L. of Montmorency (1761-1802). In 1874 Metz, which by the Concordat of 1801 had become a suffragan of Besançon, became immediately subject to the Holy See; in 1871 Metz returned to Germany, but Catholic institutions suffered serious damage during the Kulturkampf. In 1919 Metz returned to France. During the Middle Ages many synods were held in Metz. Among its recent bishops are G. Jauffret (1806-23); F. J. Besson (1824-42); P. G. M. Dupont des Loges (1843-86); F. L. Fleck (1886-99), the Benedictine W. Benzler (1901-19).
The Cathedral, dedicated to St Stephen, was begun c. 1220, and was built so as to include, in its first three bays towards the façade, the 8th-century church of St Mary the Round, to which a choir and apse were added. The interior is 123 m. long, 31 m. wide and almost 42 m. high. The central nave is divided from the two side aisles by pillars with columns supporting ribbed vaults, partially decorated with paintings of the 14th-16th centuries. On the entrance wall opens a large rose window with stained glass by Herman of Münster in Westphalia (d. at Metz in 1392). In the right aisle the ancient choir chapel of St Mary the Round is now the chapel of Our Lady of Mount Carmel with paintings of the early 14th century; moreover the ancient chapel of the bishops has been transformed into the chapel of the Sacred Heart. In the left aisle is preserved a large porphyry basin, coming from the baths, long used as a baptistery. The transept is lit by a series of stained-glass windows executed by Valentine Bousch and Theobald of Lixheim in the 16th century; in the southern part there are fragments of 13th-century stained glass. The choir is raised with an apse of five chapels and with stained glass also of the 16th century. In the ambulatory open three chapels containing the tombs of the bishops of Metz, Mgr Dupont des Loges (1886), of Mgr Fleck his successor (1899) and of Cardinal A. of Givry (d. 1612). Two large towers flank the building; the taller one, to the south, is the *tour de la Mutte* from the name of its bell. In the tower called of the Chapter is a decoration in bas-reliefs executed c. 1275 representing David and Goliath, David and Saul, the Empress Helena and Constantine, the translation of the Holy Cross to Constantinople and the Holy Cross raising a dead man, the stories of St Stephen and St Margaret. In the Treasury are preserved: the so-called cloak of Charlemagne, in Byzantine fabric of the 11th century; a portable altar of the 12th century; croziers in ivory of the 12th and 14th centuries; an enamelled casket of the 17th and 19th centuries. The church of St Martin dates from the beginning of the 13th century. The ancient abbey of St Clement, destroyed in the siege of 1552, was rebuilt in 1668; the façade is of 1737; the abbey is now used as a college. St Symphorian, originally dedicated to the Holy Innocents, was dedicated to the saint when Bishop Adalbero brought his relics there in 608 (PL 139, 1551;
Metz, diocese of - Plan of the Cathedral (13th-14th c.).
number vel ordine episcoporum qui sibi ab ipso praedicationis exordio in Mettensi civitate successerunt (MGH, Script., II, p. 261; PL 95, 709). L. Duchesne considers that the foundation
S. Vincenzo, a Benedictine abbey, was founded by Bishop Teodorico in 968; the church dates from between 1248 and 1316 (PL 135, 880; 143, 659; 151, 452; 155, 1651). The church of Ste-Ségolène, dating from the 11th century, contains a late 13th-century fresco depicting the legend of the Three Living and the Three Dead, in the style of the Arsenal miniatures (ms. 3142 f. 3117), and a crypt attributed to the 10th century. The church of Notre-Dame is that formerly belonging to the Jesuits, built in 1665 with a façade from 1740. Remains have also been found of the church of St-Pierre-aux-Nonnains, belonging to the ancient Benedictine nunnery (11th–15th centuries), which also possessed a cloister; recent excavations have revealed traces of a much older structure. The former convent of the “Petits Carmes,” now a museum, houses archaeological, sculptural, and painting collections, as well as natural history and numismatic holdings (including coins of the bishops of Metz from the 10th to the 17th century); it also contains the Mignette collection of enamels and ivories from the 13th to the 16th century. The municipal library largely consists of collections confiscated during the Revolution from religious institutions and of the library of the Baron de Sales. Part of the books are housed in the former chapel of the “Petits-Carmes,” built in 1686 by the Italian architect G. Betto. Unfortunately, many manuscripts, incunabula, and books were destroyed by the Germans in 1944. The former Jesuit church (1665) is now dedicated to Notre-Dame. During the 9th century, Metz was home to a school of miniatures and ivory carvings under the influence of Reims. Notable works include the Sacramentary of Drogo, numerous gospel books, and the binding of the said Sacramentary, adorned with liturgical scenes, as well as a gospel book now in the Bibliothèque nationale in Paris (ms. lat. 9388). — See pl. LVIII.