ROUEN, ARCHDIOCESE of. — City and archdiocese that is the capital of the département of Seine-Inférieure in France; the diocese has the same area as the département, namely 6,146 sq. km, with a population of 915,628, of whom 870,000 are Catholics. It is divided into 5 archdeaconries and 46 deaneries comprising 717 parishes, served by 740 diocesan priests and 70 religious; it has two seminaries, 9 male and 39 female religious communities (Ann. Pont. 1952, p. 342). Its suffragan sees are the dioceses of Bayeux, Évreux, Séez, and Coutances. Patroness of the diocese: the Blessed Virgin Assumed into Heaven. Until the foundation of the episcopal see of Québec (1674), the archbishops of R. exercised jurisdiction over Canada.
The ecclesiastical province of R. formed most of Neustria in the Merovingian period, but suffered greatly because of the pirates coming from the North. The archbishop of R. bears the title of primate of Normandy. Many episcopal lists are known, which can be grouped into two categories of manuscripts: one written in prose, the other in verse, preserved in the Cathedral’s Ivory Book and in the Black Book of the abbey of St-Ouen. The difference lies in the name of St Nicasius, who appears at the head of the list in one group. The Acta episcoporum Rethomagenium are said to have been composed at the end of the 11th century by a monk of St-Ouen. The first is Mallonius, commemorated on 22 October; then Avitianus, present at the Council of Arles in 314; followed by Severus, Eusebius, Marcellinus, Peter, and Victricius, known from two letters of St Paulinus (Ep. 18, 37); he was in Rome in 403 and received a decretal from Pope Innocent on 15 February 404 (Jaffé-Wattenbach, 286); a friend of St Martin of Tours and in correspondence with St Ambrose, he built the church that later became the cathedral, placing many relics in it, which were solemnly received, as attested by his homily De laude Sanctorum (PL 20, 413 ff.); from it we learn that already in his time consecrated virgins, ascetics, and celibates constituted the “elite” of the population of his diocese (cf. L. Vacandard, St Victrice, Paris 1902; P. Andrieu-Guitancourt, La vie ascétique à R. au temps de st Victrice, in Mélanges Jules Lebreton, II, ibid. 1952, pp. 90–100). His successors were Innocent, Ivodio, Malsonus, Germanus, who was at the Council of Tours in 461, Gildaredus at that of Orléans in 511, and Flavius, present at the Councils held there in 538 and 541; Pretextatus took part in that of Tours in 567, and in those of Paris between 556 and 573; and at Mâcon in 585. Sent into exile and later returned, he was assassinated by Fredegund in his church on Easter Day, 14 April 586 (Gregory of Tours, Hist. Franc., V, 18; VII, 16; VIII, 20, 31, 41; IX, 20, 39). Melantius was supported by Queen Fredegund (id., Inc. ett., VII, 19; VIII, 31 and 41). In 601 Gregory I addressed Melantius “Rotumo” (MGH, Epist., II, p. 315), recommending to him the monks sent to St Augustine to evangelize England. In the 12th century, a Martyrology of the region of R., probably from St-Ouen, inserted under 16 January a notice concerning St Melantius, which spread first through Normandy, then into the regions of Liège and certain Italian monasteries connected with the Normans (B. De Gaiffier, St Mélanche de R. vénéré à Malmédy et st Melat de Rhinoculture, in Anal. Bolland., 64 [1946], pp. 54–71). Idulfus was at the Council of Paris in 614; Romanus is commemorated on 23 October; Edoneus (641–84) was at the Council of Chalon-sur-Saône in 650. Ausbertus, formerly abbot of Fonte Ile, died interned at Hautmont (Cambrai) in 687. Hugo, who was later bishop of Paris and Bayeux and abbot of Jumièges, belonged to the same abbey and died in 730; in 744 Grimo received the pallium from Pope Zachary, who mentions him in his letters (Jaffé-Wattenbach, 2270, 71); likewise Ragenfridus (Jaffé-Wattenbach, 2287). Remigius, son of Charles Martel, went to Rome to see Paul I, from whom he obtained the arcinautor Simeon to instruct his monks, whom he also sent to Rome (Jaffé-Wattenbach, 2344–2371). Then came Mainardus, Willeberdus, Ragnardus, present at the Council of Thionville in 835; Guntaldus was at the Councils of Germigny in 843 and Paris in 846, where Pope Sergius II chose him to settle the dispute between Ebbone and Hincmar (Jaffé-Wattenbach, 2589–91); Paul, who in 853 was missus dominicus; Wenilo, present at the Synod of Kiersy in 858; Adalardus, at that of Douzy in 875; and Witto, at the Council of Reims in 901 and at Trosly in 909. Giovanni of Avranches (1068–70) wrote De officiis ecclesiasticis (PL 147). Pietro of Colmieu (1236–45) was legate of Innocent IV and later a cardinal, as were his successors Rigalduo (1248–75), Gilles Ayechi (1311–18), later archbishop of Narbonne, Pietro Roger, later Clement VI, and Cardinal Guglielmo d’Estouteville (1453–83). These were followed by the two Cardinals Giorgio d’Amboise (1494–1510 and 1511–50); Carlo I di Bourbon Vendôme (1550–82); Carlo II di Bourbon Vendôme (1582–94); Francesco de Joyeuse (1605–15); the two Francesco de Harlay (1615–51 and 1651–71); J. N. Colbert (1691–1707); D. de la Rochefoucauld (1759–1800); E. H. de Cambacères (1802–18); the prince de Croy-Sobre (1823–44); H. M. G. de Bonnechose (1851–83); L. B. Thomas (1884–94); E. F. Fuget (1899–1915); E. Dubois (1916–20); and A. Du Bois de la Villerabel. At R., on 30 May 1431, St Joan of Arc was burned (v.).
Monuments. Archbishop Roberto of Normandy, who died in 1037, built a new cathedral, which was consecrated by Archbishop Maurilio in 1062; work was still continuing, however, in the time of Archbishop Ugo (1145). The tower known as that of St Romanus dates from the end of the 12th century. But on the night of Easter 1200 part of the Cathedral burned down and was immediately repaired. An episcopal consecration was celebrated there in 1206. In 1302 Archbishop G. de Flavacourt gave the land for the chapel of Our Lady. The interior measures 135 m × 31; the vaults of the central nave are 28 m high; the western façade is 38.65 m high; the towers measure: that known as St Romanus, 82 m; that known as the “de Beurre,” 75 m; the spire measures 151 m. The “de Beurre” tower was erected in 1487 and includes the chapel of St Stephen. The numerous side chapels belonged to the various guilds and confraternities established at R. during the 14th century. On the exterior, in the western façade, the two portals of St Stephen and St John date from between the end of the 12th century and the first quarter of the 13th. In the tympanum of the former are represented the Stoning of the Protomartyr, Christ in Majesty, episodes from the life of St Paul, and scenes from the life of the Baptist. The portal known as “de la Calende” has in its tympanum The Coronation of the Virgin and scenes from the Passion; on its jambs are Jesus Christ, the Apostles, the deacons, and episodes from the Old and New Testaments and from the lives of St Romanus and St Ouen (late 13th century). The portal known as “des Libraires” has an unfinished Last Judgment carved in its tympanum, the crucifixion of St Peter, and, in 150 medallions, episodes from the Creation to the killing of Abel, alternating with fantastic animals (late 13th century).
To the north of the Cathedral stood the cloister and the chapter house; the present sacristy is situated in the ancient Treasury of the thirteenth century. Of the ancient archbishop’s palace built in the twelfth century by G. Bonne-Ame, several rooms remain: the Palace was connected to the Cathedral by covered galleries; major alterations were carried out by Cardinal d’Estouteville (1462–65) and subsequently by Cardinal G. d’Amboise. At the end of the fifteenth century the conciergerie was erected; in 1716, the present Chapel; and in 1738, the monumental Library. The restoration work begun by Mons. Fuzet was interrupted by the law of separation. In the Chapel of S. Giovanni Battista, the stained-glass windows offer scenes from the life of the precursor; these are followed by windows depicting the life of s. Severo, bishop of Avranches, and the legends of s. Caterina and s. Stefano, all from the thirteenth century. In the ambulatory, the stained-glass windows date from between 1220 and 1240; that of s. Giuliano l’ospitaliero was donated by the fishermen of R., while the other, depicting the story of s. Giuseppe, was donated by the cloth shearers and bears the signature: Clemens vitrarius Carnotensis (of Chartres) me fecit. Other windows contain scenes from the life of Christ; those in the transept date from the fourteenth century. In the Chapel of the B. Vergine is a series of the archbishops of R.; the three great rose windows also date from the fourteenth century, although the western one was restored at the beginning of the sixteenth. The stained-glass windows of the choir were executed by L. le Doyen (1430–31), G. de Grainville (1432), and J. de Senlis (1432–33); those of the lesser aisles are by G. Barbe (1459–85). The confraternity of s. Romano decorated the chapel of that Saint with his legends, including the distinctive scene of all the virtues gathered around his deathbed. There are also the tombs of the archbishops Maurilio; of Cardinals de Bonne-Chose and Thomas; of Giorgio I (1460–1510) and Giorgio II d’Amboise (1488–1550); and of Cardinal Prince de Croy (1835). The choir stalls were donated by Cardinal d’Estouteville (1457–69).
The church of St-Maclou or St-Malo was begun in 1437 to the design of P. Robin in Flamboyant Gothic; the two Cardinals d’Amboise were its patrons, and the second consecrated it in 1521. The present bell tower dates from 1868–70. The façade opens onto a portico. On the central portal are represented the Circumcision and the Baptism of Christ, surmounted by seven statuettes. On the tympanum is the Last Judgment. In the door on the left, called that of the Fonts (baptismal), is the Parable of the Good Shepherd, with the Allegories of the Four Seasons. Inside, the central nave has three bays; above the transept is a tower, followed by an ambulatory and a choir with a four-sided apse; the stained-glass windows are Renaissance in date. Particularly remarkable are Jesse’s Tree and the Crucifixion in the transept. S. Andrea: the cloister, or atrium, dates from 1526–33, except for the south side, which dates from 1640. The central area was used as a cemetery; it is surrounded by ambulatories supported by stone columns whose capitals were carved with scenes of the Dance of Death, now badly mutilated. The church of St-Vivien is likewise in Flamboyant Gothic of the fifteenth century, with a stone bell tower.
The church of St-Eloi is in sixteenth-century Gothic and is now occupied by Protestants. The church of Ste-Madeline was begun in 1761 and completed in 1767; a dome rises above the crossing, surmounted by a kind of slate obelisk. The church of St-Vincent is famous for its fifteenth-century stained-glass windows and for its square central tower in Flamboyant Gothic. An elegant portico precedes the façade; above the portal, a mutilated bas-relief represents the Ascension of the Lord. Inside, the choir is raised and has stained-glass windows from 1515 representing the Triumph of the B. Vergine; in the chapel on the left, the windows bear the signatures of Engrand le Prince and his son (1515–30) and represent the Works of Mercy and episodes from the life of s. Antonio di Padova. The sacristy contains Renaissance and seventeenth-century tapestries. The church of S. Patrizio, also in Flamboyant Gothic, was built in 1535. The interior has no transept; the stained-glass windows, dating from between 1538 and 1625, have been extensively restored, except for those in the right-hand aisle, in which the scene of the adulterous woman dates from 1549, as do those depicting episodes from the life of the Baptist, the Adoration of the Magi and of the shepherds, the Story of Job, and the Works of Mercy. Some of the windows in the left-hand aisle are also ancient, with episodes from the life of s. Marta (1543), of s. Luigi (1583), and, above all, the Annunciation (1538). Of the ancient church of St-André-aux-Fèbvres, only the 32-metre-high Gothic tower remains, built in 1452.
The ancient Seminary, founded in 1515 by Cardinal de Joyeuse, became the Jesuit College (seventeenth–eighteenth centuries); today it is occupied by the «Petit collège de Joyeuse» and the Corneille Lycée. The artistic chapel was built between 1614 and 1656. The «Musée d’Antiquité» is now housed in the cloister and buildings of the former Visitation convent (1681–91), with notable statuettes of Tanagra, sarcophagi, inscriptions, bronzes and Roman mosaics, bas-reliefs, medieval reliquaries, stained-glass windows from ancient churches, and statues of Apostles from Jumièges, etc. The church of S. Romano is the former chapel of the Carmelite convent built between 1676 and 1730. The church of St-Godard is in fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Gothic, with an unfinished square tower in Renaissance style. Columns divide it into three aisles. In the Chapel of the B. Vergine are sixteenth-century stained-glass windows depicting the Life of the Madonna and Jesse’s Tree, dated 1506; in the Chapel of S. Romano are Gospel apparitions and the life of s. Romano (1555).
The former church of S. Lorenzo was converted to profane use in 1791; it was built between 1444 and 1554 in Flamboyant Gothic style, as was its tower (1490–1501), 37 metres high. Restored in 1920, it now houses the Musée Le Secq des Tournelles, named after the founder of a valuable collection of wrought-iron objects. The church of S. Nicasio is in sixteenth-century Gothic and has a fine stained-glass window from 1555. The church of S. Severo in the suburb of the same name is modern. In the vicinity of R. is the basilica of Bonsecours, on the hill of the same name, erected between 1840 and 1842 in imitation of thirteenth-century Gothic. The high altar is made of gilded bronze.
A letter from an Augustinian, dated 24 June 1697, recounts the festivities in honour of a s. Colomba, virgin and martyr, transferred that year to R. from a cemetery on the Via Salaria, probably that of Massimo ([v.]; R. Viellard, Translation des reliques des catacombes à R. au XVIIe siècle, in Riv. di arch. crist., 16 [1939], pp. 135–40). A gold ring bearing the inscription DOMMA, found at R., was discussed by E. Le Blant, Nouveau recueil des inscr. chrét. de la Gaule, Paris 1892, p. 22, no. 19).
The «Musée des Beaux-Arts» was established in 1801–09 by the painter G. Lemonnier with approximately one thousand paintings from various ancient and modern schools; its collection of ceramics has been transferred to the cloister of St-Maclou. The same building contains the Municipal Library, with more than 200,000 volumes and 200 manuscripts, 150 of them illuminated and dating from the eleventh to the seventeenth centuries; it also has a rich collection of prints and numismatics. The Civic Archive, with documents dating from before 1800, is housed there as well. Among the manuscripts are a benedictional of Archbishop Roberto (tenth century), used for the coronation of the Anglo-Saxon kings, and a missal known as that of St-Futhlac (eleventh century).
The abbey of St-Ouen. — Clovis or Clotaire I is said to have founded the abbey of St Peter, which later took the name of St-Ouen from the name of the bishop of R. Of the primitive building, only a few pillars have been found. In 684 the bishop, St Ouen, was buried there; it was burned by the Normans in 842. In the 10th century the abbey became a destination for pilgrimages to venerate the relics of the holy bishop, who eventually gave his name to the monastery. The new church was begun between 1056 and 1066 and dedicated on 17 October 1126. It was damaged by fires in 1136 and 1248; part of it collapsed at the beginning of the 14th century. Reconstruction was begun by the abbot J. Roussel (1303–39), but, after a long interval, was resumed in the 15th century, especially through the gifts of Cardinal d'Estouteville, who was its abbot from 1462 to 1483. It was damaged by the Huguenots in 1562 and by a hurricane in 1683. During the French Revolution it was transformed into a museum; in 1799 the festivities of the sovereign powers were held there and dancing took place there; in 1845 the façade was demolished; the lateral façades, to the north and south, remain. The portico is called «des Marmousets» because of the small statues that decorated it; it dates from the end of the 14th century. The tympanum contains carvings of the Dormition of the Virgin, her Funeral, the Assumption, and the Coronation. The portals contain medallions depicting the miracles of St Ouen. The choir windows date from the 14th century, those of the transept from the 15th, and those of the nave from the 16th. The interior has three naves, with a very deep choir ending in a polygonal apse and, in the ambulatory, six side chapels. In the north transept, one of the two-story apsidal chapels remains; it is now called the «Tour aux clercs». The keystones of the choir bays were adorned in the 14th century with historiated medallions, among them reliefs of the Baptism of Christ, the Stoning of St Stephen, the Beheading of St John the Baptist, and the Coronation of the Virgin. The two rose windows of the transept date from the 15th century. The monastic dormitory is now used as the Town Hall. In the large cylindrical tower called the «Tour de Jeanne d'Arc», to which she was brought several times in 1431, a «Jeanne d'Arc» Museum has been established.
The abbey of St-Wandrille. — It was founded in 648 by St Wandregisilus (Wandrille), a disciple of St Columbanus; at first it was called «Fontanelle», after the small watercourse running through the site. It flourished greatly in the Middle Ages; it declined in the 16th century and was occupied by the Maurists from the 17th century until the French Revolution, which suppressed II. In 1894 it passed to the Benedictines of Ligugé, until its suppression under Combes. The Benedictines reoccupied it in 1931. The abbey church was erected from 1255 to 1342; the north side of the transept remains; the very large choir had an ambulatory flanked by 15 chapels. The cloister is well preserved, between two large buildings from the Maurist period. On the south-eastern side there is a 14th-century portal with the Coronation of the Blessed Virgin; from the same period is the Madonna called «Notre-Dame de Fontanelle». The ancient refectory of the 12th century remains; the primitive chapter house is now the chapel of the new monastery. On the adjoining hill is the three-apsed chapel of St Saturninus, dating from the end of the 12th century. — Vedi tav. LXXXVI.
Brac., E. Sauvage, Elocchi episcop. Rothamagouzian, in Anal. Boll., 8 (1880), pp. 406–28; Rubel, I, pp. 425–26; II, pp. 248–49; III, p. 305; IV, p. 298; V, p. 336; E. Vacandard, Vie de St Ouen duque de R. (647-84), Paris 1902; id., Liste chronolog. des archev. de R., in Rev. cult. de Normandie, 1904; L. Pilliou, Les portails latéraux de la cathédrale de R., Paris 1907; L. Duchesne, Fastes épiscopaux de l'ancienne Gaule, II, Paris 1908, pp. 200–11; E. Enart, R., 4e ed., Paris 1921; A. Masson, L'église abbaziale St-Ouen de R., ivi 1927; A. Loisel, La cathédrale de R., ivi s. d.; Ch. Descroix, L'église de St-Nicaise, Rouen 1934; Ch. Ledre, Le card. Cambacères, archevêque de R. (1802-18), La réorganisation d'un diocèse au lendemain de la Révolution, Paris 1943; Cottineau, II, coll. 2543–50; Guide de la France chéri. et mission., 1948-49, Paris 1948, pp. 381–82, 721, 1097–1102; P. Le Cacheux, La haute Justice des archevêques de R., comtes de Louvier, 1797-1798, Rouen 1948; id., R. au temps de Jeanne d'Arc et pendant l'occupation anglaise, Rouen 1949. Enrico Josi