TOURS, ARCIDIOCESI di. — Archdiocese and capital city of the department of Indre-et-Loire in France. It has an area of over 6,116 sq. km and a population of 350,000, of whom 274,620 are Catholics, distributed among 295 parishes served by 321 diocesan priests and 20 religious priests; it has two seminaries, 6 male and 110 female religious communities (Ann. Pont. 1953, p. 428). Its suffragan dioceses are Angers, Laval, Le Mans, and Nantes. The patrons of the archdiocese are St. Martin and St. Gatianus.
The city which in the Gallic period, under the name Alttonès, was situated on the coast of S. Sinforiano was transferred by the Romans to the left bank of the Loire, who called it « Caesarodunum, oppidum Turonicum » because it was the capital of the Turoni; in 374 it became the capital of « Gallia Lugdunensis tertia ». It was occupied by the Visigoths in 473 and by the Franks of Clovis in 507; in 545 St. Clotilde died there. In the Middle Ages the city of T. was separated from the borough that had grown up around the basilica of S. Martin, called Châteauneuf-lez-Tours; the latter was governed by the bishops, while the rest was governed by the Chapter; later the counts’ governments were united, until Henry II, having become king of England, incorporated the region into his kingdom, giving rise to conflicts between France and England until the Treaty of 1242 between Henry III and Louis IX, by which it was reunited with France. The region was damaged by the Wars of Religion, and later especially on 21 Dec. 1870, in June 1940, and in Aug. 1944.
The most celebrated bishop of T. was St. Martin (v.) who extended Christian propaganda from the city into the surrounding countryside, which still remained pagan. His disciple and successor was St. Brictius (v.) who, upon his death in 444, was laid to rest in the « basilica parvula » or « cellula » that he had prepared for St. Martin (Gregory of T., Hist. Franc., X, 31, II, 14). Bishop Perpetuus (461–91) replaced that basilica with a larger one, in which he had scenes from the Saint’s life painted and in which he too was buried (his epitaph in Le Blant, Inscript. chrétien. de la Gaule, I, Paris 1856, p. 246 ff.; cf. L. Duchesne, Pastes épiscopaux de l’ancienne Gaule, II, ibid. 1910, p. 302 ff.). Perpetuus, who began the cathedral of S. Peter (today dedicated to St. Gatianus), was followed by a series of illustrious bishops known through the writings of St. Gregory (v.), bishop of T. Thus Ommasius, who erected the Basilica in honour of SS. Gervasius and Protasius; Injurious, who completed the basilica of S. Mary and attended the Councils of Orléans of 533 and 538; Euphronius, who presided over the Council of T. in 567; he was succeeded by St. Gregory, who, after rebuilding the Cathedral destroyed by fire in 561, consecrated it in 590 and had scenes from the life of St. Martin painted there. To Pelagius, St. Gregory the Great recommended by letter the monk Augustine, apostle of England (MGH, Reg., VI, Ep. 50); Leopacarus received St. Columbanus in 608–609; Joseph attended Alcuin’s funeral in 804. In a later period there are remembered: Rudolf II (1108–1117), in whose time, in 1107, Pope Paschal II came to T.; Hildebert de Lavardin (1125–33); Stephen de Bourgueil (1323–25), who founded the College of T. in Paris; P. Frétaud (1335–57); J. Gélu (1415–27); E. de Bourdeilles (1468–84), made a cardinal in 1483; R. de Lenoncourt, later archbishop of Reims; Cardinal de Final (1509–1514); A. Farnese (1553–54), later a cardinal; de Maillé-de-Brezé (1554–97); V. Le Bouthiller (1641–70); Cardinal Boisgelin de Cicé (1802–1804); De Barral (1804–15); F. Morlot (1843–57), a cardinal from 1853 and later archbishop of Paris; J.-H. Guibert (1857–71), later cardinal archbishop of Paris; G.-R. Meignan (1884–96), cardinal in 1893.
The archdiocese formerly had as many as 11 suffragan dioceses, namely: Angers, St-Brieuc, Le Mans, Quimper, Dol, St-Pol-de-Léon, St-Malo, Nantes, Rennes, Tréguier, Vannes.
Provincial synods were held at T. in the years 461, 567, 813, 858, 1054, 1060, 1096, and 1163 (Hefele-Leclercq, II, p. 899 ff.; III, pp. 184–93; 1143; IV, pp. 1108 ff., 1202; V, pp. 446 ff., 968–77).
The Cathedral of S. Gatianus, as it appears today, is a Gothic building from the choir to the façade, crowned by the two Renaissance towers. It is therefore quite different from that founded by Bishop Perpetuus (461–91), which was ruined by the Normans. In 1054 Hildebrand (later Gregory VII) directed a Council there; in 1096 it was visited by Urban II. The building was renewed at the beginning of the 12th century and especially under Archbishop Hildebert (1125–33). In 1163 Alexander III convened a Council there. A fire damaged it in 1167; after it was partly restored by Archbishop Bartholomew de Vendôme, work was resumed ca. 1236 on a Gothic construction; in 1267 the relics of St. Maurice and his companions were transferred there; ca. 1279 the Basilica was completed under the direction of Stephen of Mortagne, « magister operia ». In the 14th century Simon de Mans continued the construction toward the west; six altars were consecrated in 1417. In 1431 Pope Eugene IV granted indulgences to contributors toward the completion of the work. The western façade was erected between 1427 and 1484; the sacristy in 1457; the work was directed by J. de Dammartin (1431–54), J. Papin (1454–1500), and J. Durand (1483–1500). In 1507 the cupola of the northern bell tower was completed; the work ended in 1547; but in 1562 the Huguenots sacked it, breaking statues, altars, liturgical furnishings, stained-glass windows, and tombs. The ruins were repaired by Archbishop B. d’Echaud (1617–41). The bell tower in the transept was erected in 1736. The artistic jubé was demolished in 1707. The reduction in 1793 transformed the Basilica into a temple of reason, erecting there an obelisk in memory of Marat, Socrates, Jesus, Rabelais, Voltaire, etc. In 1794 it became a temple of the Supreme Being. The statues were broken again. It was restored to Catholic worship in 1801 and restored in 1802. The tombs of the children of Charles VIII were brought into the choir from S. Martin. The interior is 97 m long and 28 m wide, and the vaults rise to a height of 29 m. The fifteen stained-glass windows of the choir, although restored in the 16th and 19th centuries, are among the most artistic and ancient; they were executed between 1260 and 1270, and offered by Archbishop V. de Pilruil (1257–70), by J. de Guérande, formerly dean of T. and bishop of Nantes, by G. Freslon, bishop of Mans (1258–69), and by the canons of Loches (ca. 1260). Represented there are the legends of the apostle St. Thomas, St. Stephen, St. Dionysius, St. Vincent, St. Nicholas, St. Peter, St. Maurice, St. Martin, St. Martial, St. James, SS. John the Evangelist and the Baptist, and St. Eustace, together with scenes from Genesis and the Tree of Jesse. To the right of the Cathedral is the cloister called « de la Psallette » (15th–16th centuries), of which three sides remain; on one of them is the hall of the former Chapter Library; on another, the Renaissance oratory with frescoes, of which the Massacre of the Innocents remains.
In 372 the people brought the remains of St. Martin from Candes to T., and a modest oratory was immediately erected over his tomb. Bishop Perpetuus began the construction of a basilica, which was solemnly dedicated in 472; Gregory of T. gives its dimensions: 100 feet long (ca. 30 m), 60 feet wide (ca. 20 m), and 45 feet high (ca. 15 m). Clovis and his successors enriched the building with gifts and bequests, and on their expeditions they carried with them the celebrated cloak and relics of St. Martin. The Basilica became the destination of incessant pilgrimages and the centre of a borough completely separate from the city; between 900 and 918 it was enclosed by walls and was called first « Martinopolis », and then, after the 12th century, Châteauneuf. A fire destroyed Perpetuus’s basilica in 997, and a new one was begun in 1175 and completed in the 13th century. It was 114 m long and 69 m across the transept, with vaults 26 m high. It was sacked by the Huguenots in 1562 and demolished in 1802.
The new basilica of S. Martino was erected between 1887 and 1924 by the architect Laloux through the efforts of Leone Dupont (d. 1877); it is divided into three naves by fourteen granite columns from the Vosges. It is surmounted by a dome upon which stands the colossal statue of S. Martino, the work of J. Hugues. Beneath the elevated choir is the crypt, situated over the tomb of S. Martino, rediscovered in 1860; there is also the kneeling statue of Cardinal Meignan (d. 1898). Beneath the crypt are two underground chapels, known as those of S. Perpetuo and S. Gregorio, belonging to the ancient basilica. The collegiate basilica of S. Martino was raised to the status of a minor basilica by Pope Pius XI by apostolic letter of 5 June 1925 (AAS, 17 [1925], pp. 504-505). In the courtyard of the Picpus nuns there remains
the eastern ambulatory of the cloister of S. Martino, reconstructed between 1508 and 1519.
At the end of the fifth century a monastic community had been established around the church of S. Martino, which during the seventh century was entrusted to monks. In 796 Alcuino (v.) assumed its governance, and died there in 804. Before his time, a school was already flourishing there, and he himself praised in an epitaph the merits of a monk named Paolo and of several teachers (PL. 105, 800 ff.). To enrich the library and the school, he had books brought from York, including a dialogue grammar; he composed a group of poems for the various places of the monastery, the first of which was «de schola et scholasticis» (ibid., 744-47); young pupils were sent there by Arno, archbishop of Salzburg.
The scriptorium developed until the middle of the ninth century, especially under Alcuino’s successors: Fredegio (804-34), Adelardo (834-45), and Viviano, count and lay abbot of T. (850-53) and of Marmoutiers. Among the codices originating from this scriptorium, the following deserve mention: the Gospel Book of Lothair (Bibl. naz., Lat., 466); the Bible of Charles the Bald (483 folios in gold letters and eight illustrated pages, the last showing the monks presenting the Bible to Charles the Bald [ca. 850]; Aregario, «custos» and «presbyter» of Marmoutier, also appears in it); the Virgil of Bern (no. 165); and the illustrated Boethius of Bamberg (H. J. IV, 12).
Marmoutier is the «monasterium maius» founded by S. Martino in 372. It was entrusted to canons in 850, but was destroyed by the Normans in 853; in 982, Count Odo of Blois donated it to S. Maiolo, abbot of Cluny, who installed his monks there. The Huguenots ravaged it in 1562, but it was restored shortly afterward. It came to have more than 124 priories dependent upon II. Cardinal Richelieu, having become its commendatory abbot, entrusted it to the Congregation of S. Mauro in 1637. Sold in 1791, it was destroyed in 1818. In 1847 the site was purchased by the Sisters of the Sacred Heart, who erected modern buildings there (Cottineau, II, col. 1762 ff.). Its church had been erected between 1214 and 1312 according to the design of the same architect as the Cathedral, Stefano di Mortagne; it measured 112 m. in length and was one of the region’s most notable monuments. A Chartularium maioris monasterii Turonensis is in Paris, in the National Library (Latin manuscripts 5441-44); in the Bibl. of T. there are chapter registers (ms. 1386) and other documents (mss. 1381, 1387-88; 1397-99); further charters are dispersed among the libraries of Angers, Avignon, Blois, Carpentras, Chartres, Le Mans, and Reims (cf. D. Rabory, Histoire de Marmoutier et ses prieurés, Paris 1910). From the scriptorium of Marmoutier comes the Sacramentary known as that of Autun, with miniatures depicting Viviano (f. 173v), the major and minor orders, and medallions with the Nativity, the Baptism of Jesus Christ, the Last Supper, and the portrait of Raganaldo (844-45).
S. Gregorio di T. had the oratory of S. Stefano enlarged, depositing there relics of the protomartyr that had previously been kept in the episcopal oratory (De gloria martyrum, 24). The oratory later became a parish. The church of St-Julien belonged to an ancient abbey founded by Clovis; its name derives from S. Giuliano di Brioude, whose relics Gregorio di T. gave to the monks. In the tenth and eleventh centuries the abbey was plundered by the Normans and by the count of Anjou (1043). The church was rebuilt between 1243 and 1259 in pure Gothic style, with three naves and a transept; the polygonal apses date from the sixteenth century. The chapter house, dating from the end of the twelfth century, is all that remains of the abbey. There Henry III convened Parliament on 22 March 1589. The church of Notre-Dame-la-Riche stands on an ancient Christian cemetery; it was also called Notre-Dame-la-Pauvre. Rebuilt several times, including again in the fifteenth century, it was badly damaged by the Huguenots in 1562 and rebuilt immediately afterward and between 1860 and 1866. It contains relics of S. Francesco di Paola and five stained-glass windows from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The ancient church known as Petit St-Martin, dating from the fourteenth century, now has a modern façade. The ancient church of St-Denis of the «hostellerie de la Croix Blanche» dates from the end of the fifteenth century.
The monastery of S. Venanzio is also called abbatiola in diplomas of 977 and 987; it stood near the basilica of S. Martino. Its abbots included Licinio in 507 (Gregorio di T., Hist. Franc., X, 31, 9) and Gauterio in 552 (ibid., X, 31, 17), who later became bishops of T. The ancient convent of the Jacobins (1260) was destroyed during the war of 1939-45. The former convent of the Visitation (seventeenth century and 1807) is now used as the Prefecture building. The chapel of the Minims (1627) now serves as the chapel of the lycée. The former archiepiscopal palace (eleventh-fourteenth centuries), rebuilt in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, has housed the Museum of Fine Arts since 1910. The present sculpture hall corresponds to the ancient hall (twelfth century) of the ecclesiastical tribunal, later converted into a chapel. The most notable works of art come from the castles of Amboise, Chantelaup, and Richelieu, and from the abbeys of Marmoutier, Beaumont, and Borgueil. Mantegna’s Christ in the Garden and Resurrection come from S. Zeno of Verona (the central section, with the Calvary, is in the Louvre Museum). The elegant ancient hôtel of Philibert Babou de la Bourdaisière, dating from the time of Francis I, has housed the «Musée archéologique de Touraine» since 1918, with rich archaeological collections and architectural fragments from the abbeys of Beaumont and Noyers, from the former St-Martin, from the priory of S. Cosma, and from the ancient churches of S. Clemente, Bueil, and Fleurey.
In June 1940 the Town Hall (1777-86), which had housed since 1907 a library containing 2,030 manuscripts, 451 incunabula, and more than 165,000 volumes, was destroyed by bombing. The library had been established in 1791 through the merger of ancient ecclesiastical libraries, such as those of the Cathedral, S. Martino, and Marmoutier. The building (1828) housing the School of Fine Arts and the Museum of Natural History was also destroyed in 1940. Of the priory of St-Eloi, the twelfth-century chapel remains. The abbey of Beaumont-les-Tours, founded in 1902, was occupied by Benedictine nuns until 1790; today it is a barracks. The church of St-Jean-de-Beaumont, rebuilt in 1451, is used as a workshop. Two kilometers from T., in the castle of Plessis-les-Tours, s. Giovanna di Francia, daughter of Louis XI, was born on 23 April 1464; she was canonized on 28 May 1950. The priory of S. Cosma, 3 km. from T., was founded in 1902 by several canons of S. Martino near an ancient chapel; its commendatory abbot from 1553 to 1585 was the poet P. de Ronsard. It was suppressed in 1741 and sold during the Revolution. In 1925 it was reacquired and restored by the «Sauvegarde de l'art français» to serve as a center for the study of Romanesque and Renaissance art. The remains of the ancient chapel, cloister, and refectory have been discovered; of the church, the southern wall of the fifteenth-century nave, part of the choir, and the Romanesque ambulatory have been preserved. - Vedi tav. XL.