REIMS, Archdiocese of
Reims is an archdiocese and the chief city of the Marne department, situated on the right bank of the Vesle River; it is surrounded by hills cultivated with vines.
The archdiocese corresponds in part to the Marne department and in part to that of the Ardennes, covering an area of 5,423 km². It has a population of 429,477 inhabitants, of whom 322,107 are Catholics, distributed across 614 parishes served by 456 diocesan priests and 66 regular clergy; it has a major and minor seminary; 13 male and 81 female religious communities (Ann. Pont. 1952, p. 337). Its suffragan dioceses are Châlons, Soissons, Amiens, and Beauvais. Patron of the archdiocese: V. JESUS AND THE HOLY WOMEN.
REIFFENSTUEL, Anacletus
Canonist and theologian of the Order of Friars Minor, born at Tegernsee in Bavaria on 2 July 1641, died at Freising on 5 October 1793. He taught philosophy, theology, and canon law in the Order’s internal schools, attaining the rank of emeritus lector. From 1683 until his death he held the chair of canon law. He wrote: *Abhandlungen von den vornehmsten Wahrheiten der natürlichen Religion* (Hamburg 1775), and especially *Apologie oder Schutzschrift für die vernünftigen Verehrer Gottes*, which he did not publish, deeming it beyond the mentality of his time. After R.’s death, Lessing published important fragments of it under the title *Fragmente des Wolfenbüttelschen Ungenannten* (1774–78), dealing with tolerance toward deists; the bad habit of disparaging reason from the pulpit; the impossibility of admitting the Israelites’ passage through the Red Sea; the impossibility of finding a religion in the Old Testament; contradictions in the accounts of Christ’s Resurrection; and the purpose of Jesus and His disciples. According to R., Jesus preached only the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven; the miracles were invented by the disciples of the Nazarene, who had died in despair on the Cross. R.’s ideas provoked heated controversy in Germany.
Its ancient name was Durocortorum, as is read on a milestone; by the 3rd or 4th century it was called Remi or Remes. In Roman times it was the metropolis of Gallia Belgica, and in its cathedral the kings of France were consecrated. The building suffered greatly from bombardments in the war of 1914–18, as did much of the city’s civil and religious buildings and dwellings; considerable damage was also sustained between 1939 and 1945. The baptism of Clovis took place on 25 December 496 in the cathedral built by St Nicasius. The king and later Charlemagne left the governance of the city to the archbishops, though in the 12th century the Chapter also took part. Archbishop William of Champagne, of the counts of Champagne, granted a communal charter in 1182. Following the marriage of Henry V to the daughter of Charles VI, the house of Burgundy occupied the city, driving out Archbishop Reginald of Chartres, who later returned.
No catalogue of the archbishops of Reims is known before the 11th century. The earliest, up to Archbishop Gervase (1055–67), is a liturgical book from Arras, now in the Library of Boulogne (no. 92), where another manuscript is also preserved, likewise from Arras (no. 42), which extends to Archbishop Rudolph le Vert (1106–24), as in ms. 4280 of the Bibliothèque nationale in Paris; while two manuscripts in the Library of Troyes (nos. 620 and H 186, now in Montpellier) continue to Henry of France (1162–75). The collection of Robert of Torigni goes as far as William of Champagne (1176–1202); Paris. 8865 ends with Henry of Dreux (1227–40). The first two catalogues give the title of saint to the bishops Sixtus, Sinicius, Donatian, Viventius, Nicasius, Remigius, Nivard, Rieul, and Regnobert. Incarno (Opuscula: PL 126, 334) recalls the church dedicated to the first two saintly bishops, Sixtus and Sinicius, celebrated on 1 September. Imbetasius took part in the Council of Arles in 314; Materinian is commemorated on 30 April; Nicasius was a victim of a Vandal invasion in 407 or of the Huns in 451. Flodoard knew the will of Bishop Bennagius, in which his predecessor Barnabas is also mentioned. Remigius, praised by Sidonius Apollinaris (Epist., IX, 7) and Gregory of Tours (Glory of the Confessors, 78), baptized King Clovis on 25 December 496. He wrote letters to fellow bishops (Ep., 1–4 in MGH, Epistolae, III, pp. 113–16). The Hieronymian Martyrology recalls him on 1 October. Flavius attended the Council of Clermont in 535; Mappinius wrote to St Nicasius of Trier (548–55); Egidius was deposed at Metz in 590 and exiled to Strasbourg (Gregory of Tours, Historia Francorum, V, 18). Sonnatius attended the Council of Paris in 614 and that of Clichy in 627; Lando was a contemporary of Sigebert III (634–56). Nivard or Nivo died in 673; Reolus, formerly Count of Champagne, was archbishop between 674 and 689; Rigobert, at the beginning of the 8th century, was for a time exiled in Gascony; Abel obtained the pallium from Pope Zachary and is styled archbishop in the capitulary of Pepin in 744. He was succeeded by the monk Tilpin (748–94), who attended the Council of Rome in 760 and received commissions from Pope Adrian I. His epitaph was composed by Incarno. Wulfar succeeded him after nine years; he signed Charlemagne’s will, was head of the Council of Reims in 813 and that of Noyon in 814, and died shortly after the consecration of Louis the Pious, performed at Reims by Pope Stephen IV in October 816. He was immediately succeeded by Ebbo, who after various vicissitudes became bishop of Hildesheim in 847; meanwhile, from the Council of Thionville (835), Reims was governed by Fucio (d. 843) and Notho, abbots of Saint-Remi. Later came Incarno (845–82), Fulco (883–900), Eriveus (900–22), then Actard (925–62), Adalbero (969–989), Gerbert (991–98), who later became Pope Sylvester II (999–1003), Gervase (1055–67); then Reginald of Felletin (1083–96), Henry of France (1162–75), Cardinal William of Champagne (1176–1202), Aubry de Humbert (1206–18), William of Joinville (1219–26), John of Courtenay (1266–70), Humbert (1352–55), Simon of Grimaud (1409–13), Reginald of Chartres (1414–44), William Briçonnet (1499), A. Barberini (1657–71), C. M. Le Tellier (1671–1710), A. de Talleyrand-Périgord (1777–1801), C.-M.-J. Gousset (1840–66), J.-B. Landriot (1867–74), B.-M. Langénieux (1874–1905), L.-H. Luçon (1906–30).
Reims has thirteen of its archbishops on the altars: Sixtus, Sinicius, Amantius, Materianus, Donatian, Viventius, Nicasius, Remigius, Romanus, Nivard, Rieul, Rigobert, and Abel; eighteen archbishops received the red hat, from William of Champagne to Cardinal Suhard, who in 1940 moved to the see of Paris. Cardinal Charles of Lorraine obtained from Pope Paul III in 1547 the foundation of the university.
The cathedral of Notre-Dame, begun in 1211, was completed about a century later, except for the towers, which were finished in 1480. Its architects were Jean d’Orbais (1211–31), Jean Le Loup (1231–47), Gaucher of Reims (1247–55), Bernard of Soissons (1255–90), Robert of Coucy (1291–1311), and later Collard, Gilles, Jean of Dijon, and Colard de Givry. On 24 July 1481 it was devastated by fire. It was restored in the 17th–19th centuries and bombarded from 4 September 1914 to July 1918. The great rose window’s stained glass, depicting the story of the Blessed Virgin and known as the “Consacration” window (late 13th–14th century), was restored using ancient fragments. The central nave has ten bays; on the sixth pier to the right is the capital of the Vendanges. The cathedral derives from the church of Saint-Nicaise, demolished during the Revolution. The western façade is a Gothic masterpiece of the 13th century and has recently been carefully consolidated and restored. The lower level has five sections, with three portals. The central portal is dedicated to the Madonna and presents scenes from her life; the right portal to the triumphant Redeemer, the left to the Crucified. Above the central portal, in the great rose window, is the combat between David and Goliath. Above this is the gallery called the Glory, with the Baptism of Clovis, and around it the galleries of the kings, with royal figures. Of the eight bells in the north tower, six were destroyed; in the south tower the bell called Charlotte, donated by the Cardinal of Lorraine in 1570, weighs 11,500 kg. In the cathedral treasury are preserved a 13th-century chasuble with the Tree of Jesse; vestments for the consecrations of Kings Louis XIII, XIV, XVI, and Charles X; Byzantine crosses, 13th-century processional crosses; objects recovered from the tombs of Bishops Adalbero (d. 988) and Gervase (d. 1067); some ivories, a 14th-century diptych with scenes of the Blessed Virgin; the chalice known as of St Remy, in gold, enamel, filigree, and precious stones of the late 12th century; and notable reliquaries, such as that of the Holy Thorn (1458) in crystal, of the Resurrection (15th century), offered by Henry II, of St Samson (12th century), and of St Ursula (early 16th century), offered by Henry III.
The ancient episcopal palace was destroyed by the fire of 19 September 1914, and with it burned the library and an ethnographic museum. On the site a lapidary museum is being formed, gathering fragments from the cathedrals and the churches of Saint-Nicaise and Saint-Remi. Near the archbishop’s residence the Carnegie Library was built and inaugurated in 1928. In its exhibition hall are admired precious manuscripts, including a 9th-century Georgian Sacramentary and two 9th-century Gospels, as well
The church of Saint Maurice is already mentioned in the will of St Remigius, but the present building, which was attached to the Jesuit College, dates from the Renaissance; its façade and bell tower were redone in 1867 and it suffered damage from a fire in 1943. Following demolitions, remains of the church of Saint Julian (11th century) have come to light. The church of Saint Andrew was partly rebuilt between 1925 and 1929; the church of Saint John is also modern. Modern too is the basilica of Saint Clotilde in the suburb of Flechambault.
A Christian hypogeum was discovered in 1738 beneath the tower of the parish church of S. Martino: it was accessed by a staircase and decorated with paintings depicting the sacrifice of Abraham and the paralytic. This hypogeum, located beside the ancient road called Caesarea in the interpolated testament of St. Remigius, is now destroyed (E. Le Blant, *Inscriptions chrétiennes de la Gaule*, I, Paris 1856, pp. 448-50).
In the crypt of S. Nicasio, a sarcophagus was found, notable for a drawing discovered among the papers of Peiresc and published by E. Le Blant (*Sarcophages chrétiens de la Gaule*, Paris 1886, p. 17), featuring scenes of Moses receiving the Law, the Lord delivering the Law to St. Peter, and Job; a fragment of the sarcophagus is now in the British Museum (L. Demaison, *Bas-relief du sarcophage de St-Nicaise*, in *Bulletin de la Société des Antiquaires de France*, 1926, pp. 124-36).
The museum of the old R. is housed in the former Le Verguer palace, which preserves a Gothic hall from the 13th century. It contains documents relating to the Cathedral, the abbeys of S. Remigius, S. Nicasio, and S. Denis, the Jesuit College, and ancient palaces of the city. It is home to the *Société des Amis du vieux R.* The Musée des Beaux-Arts occupies the site of the abbey of S. Denis, rebuilt under Louis XV, later the Grand Seminary, and since 1908 a municipal building. It preserves a valuable collection of tapestries from the 15th to the mid-17th century; a series of painted canvases from the 14th-16th centuries; portraits by the two Cranachs; and the French school from the 17th century to the present day.
The following synods were held at R.: in 627-30; in 1813; in 991; in 1049; in 1119; in 1148; in 1408; in 1564; a provincial council in 1857. V. tav. XXXV.