TARENTAISE, Diocese of. - In the department of Savoy (France) with the episcopal residence at Moutiers.
The diocese extends over more than 2447 sq. km. in the district of Moutiers and in part in that of Albertville in the department of Savoy. It has a population of 52,340 inhabitants, of whom 50,000 are Catholics, distributed in 87 parishes forming 10 archpresbyterates. It has 112 diocesan priests and 13 regulars (Assumptionists); it has a major and a minor seminary; 3 male religious communities and 27 female ones (Ann. Pont. 1953, p. 416). The diocese has as its patrons the holy apostles Peter and Paul.
The name of the diocese derives from Darantasia, the principal city of the region of the same name in the upper valley of the Isère; it is mentioned by Strabo, by Ptolemy in the Itinerary of Antoninus and in the Peutinger Table because it lies on the Roman road connecting the Rhône Valleys with the Aosta Valley. This region was divided into upper, middle and lower T. Moutiers owes its name to a monasterium founded in the 5th century; raised to a diocese, it was first under the metropolitan see of Arles, then of Vienne; in the 8th century it was elevated to a metropolitan see. In the struggle against the lords of Briançon, Humbert II count of Savoy intervened in 1097 and took possession of the entire region. The archdiocese became the metropolitan see of Savoy, with the suffragan sees of Sion, Aosta and Moriana; it was suppressed by the French Revolution and annexed to Chambéry; it was reconstituted as a simple diocese by Leo XII on 5 Aug. 1825 as a suffragan of Chambéry. The first mention of the diocese is in a letter of Pope Leo I of 450 in which this see is placed under the archdiocese of Vienne (Jaffé-Wattenbach, n. 450). The first bishop was St. James (427-28), who at Lérins had been a disciple of St. Honoratus; Sanctus was at the Council of Epaona of 517: Avitus in his second homily attributes to him the foundation at T. of a basilica of St. Peter; Marcianus was at the Councils of Mâcon (581) and of Valence (583); Baudomerus was at the Council of Chalon-sur-Saône in 650; Andrew at that of Lyon of 828; Teutramnus was at the Council of Thuzey of 860: Giovanni VIII wrote to him in 878 (Jaffé-Wattenbach, n. 3150). Among the prelates of T. there are further remembered St. Peter I ca. 1130, formerly a Cistercian abbot, as well as Peter II (1141-47) who instituted the charitable work of the Pain de mai; Rodolfo (1246-71) and Peter III (1272-83), uncle and nephew of the Valdostan family Grossi; then the cardinals A. de Challant (1402-18; v. CHALLANT); J. D'Arces (1438-54); the two Della Rovere, Cristoforo (1472-78) and Domenico (1478-83), buried in Rome in S. Maria del Popolo; Germonio (1607-27), author of the Commentaria and of the Acta Ecclesiae Tarentasiensis.
The cathedral, St. Peter, restored several times, preserves from antiquity the crypt and the choir, but the main nave is of the 15th century; noteworthy in it are the group of the Pietà carved in polychrome wood; the episcopal throne is likewise carved in wood (15th century); the sepulchral monuments of the bishops Msgr. Rochaix (1836) and Msgr. Turinaz (1869); the portico is of 1461. The Treasury is rich with precious reliquary caskets in enamels, in rock crystal, in carved wood, ivory statuettes, fabrics, etc. Annexed to the Cathedral is the ancient archiepiscopal residence with towers of the 14th century. The archbishops moreover possessed near Tours-en-Savoie the castle of Chautemerle (13th century).
A sanctuary venerated and the goal of ancient pilgrimages is the church of Notre Dame de Briançon, restored in the 17th century. To T. belongs Bl. Innocent V (v.). From T. is also Peter of Aigueblanche, promoted in 1240 to the archdiocese of Hereford in England. T. was annexed to France in 1860.
Bibliography8 works
Enrico Josi