ORANGE. - A city and ancient diocese in the department of Vaucluse in southern France. It is the ancient *Arausio* of Gallia Narbonensis. It was founded by Augustus as the "colonia Iulia Secundorum Arausio" with veterans of the II Legion. The city flourished during Roman rule, as evidenced by a triumphal arch in honor of Tiberius, a theatre seating about 7,000 spectators, and a gymnasium extending over 400 meters.
Orange was devastated by the Visigoths in 412. In 1173 the Baux family became lords of Orange; in 1413 the Chalon family took control. Meanwhile, in 1364 a university was founded there, which was suppressed by the French Revolution. By the Treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis, the lordship of Orange passed to William of Nassau. At the beginning of the 17th century, Maurice of Nassau fortified the city, which was then dismantled and occupied in 1673 by the army of Louis XIV. Under the Treaty of Ryswick of 1697, Orange passed to William of Orange, King of England, in 1713. By the Treaty of Utrecht, the King of Prussia, who had inherited it, returned Orange to France, but the House of Nassau obtained permission to transfer the title of the Principality of Orange to a part of Guelders.
In 314, Orange was represented at the Council of Arles by the priest Faustinus; Bishop Constantius attended the councils of Aquileia in 381 and Milan in 390; Justus was present at the Council of Orange in 441. The succession of bishops is known up to the end of the 6th century, then resumes when the diocese of St-Paul-Trois-Châteaux was united to II. The last bishop was Msgr. G. L. de Tillet, from 1774 to 1790, when the diocese was suppressed by the Revolution. Pius VII restored it in 1817, appointing Msgr. P. T. D. Astros as bishop, but it was again suppressed shortly afterward and united to Avignon.
The Synod of 8 November 441 was presided over by St. Hilary of Arles; the second, on 3 July 529, by Caesarius of Arles. The latter is of special importance in the history of dogma, for it condemned the semi-Pelagian tendency that had its center among the monks of Lérins. Based on propositions drawn from the works of St. Augustine and Prosper of Aquitaine and sent by Pope Felix IV, 25 dogmatic canons were proposed (v. GRACE, II, d. and SEMI-PELAGIANISM).
Bishop Eutropius was deposed in the basilica he had built outside the city, which later took the name of St. Eutropius. Part of his epitaph survives, inscribed on the lid of a reused pagan sarcophagus (E. Le Blant, *Inscriptions chrétiennes de la Gaule*, II, Paris 1865, pl. 67, nos. 402 ff.; CIL, XII, 1272-73). The church of St. Eutropius was sacked by the Huguenots in 1561, as was the Cathedral, from which its treasure was stolen, along with the churches of the Cordeliers, the Nuns, and St. John. King Charles IV endowed Orange with a university in 1365, which was suppressed by the Revolution.
MARTYRS OF ORANGE, Blessed. - On 10 May 1794, 29 religious women from Bollène (diocese of Avignon), who had refused to take the oath prescribed by the French republican government, were arrested and taken to Orange.
Imprisoned in the *Cure* prison, where four companions were already held (later joined by others), they transformed the prison into a new community, with their own superior, a schedule, and intense, prolonged acts of piety. Accused of "fanaticism and superstition," 32 of them were condemned to death by the revolutionary tribunal. Between 6 and 26 August 1794, in batches, they suffered martyrdom with joyful hearts in the square of Orange. Sixteen belonged to the Order of the Ursulines, thirteen to the Congregation of Perpetual Adoration, two were Cistercians, and one was a Benedictine.
They were beatified by Pius XI on 10 May 1925. Feast day: 9 July.