TRIER (TREVI), DIOCESE OF. - City and diocese in western Germany. It has an area of 12,870 sq km with a population of 2,101,324 inhabitants, of whom 1,595,031 are Catholics distributed in 915 parishes, served by 1,263 diocesan priests and 454 religious; it has two seminaries, 54 male religious communities and 388 female ones (Ann. Pont. 1953, p. 430).
On the Roman road, between Lyon and Cologne, Augusta Trevirorum became an imperial residence by reason of its strategic importance and its proximity to the frontier.
In 285 Maximian Herculius established at T. the seat of his capital, which grew under Constantius Chlorus and Constantine; of these, a gold coin reproduces the Moselle, the bridge, a monumental gate surmounted by the statue of the Emperor and, in perspective, the circuit of the walls. Besides Constantius Chlorus and Constantine, there dwelt there Constans, Valentinian I from 364 until his death, Gratian and Maximus.
T. had its amphitheatre, its baths; it reached its splendor as capital of the praetorian prefecture of the Gauls. It was the second capital of Prima Belgica and became an ecclesiastical metropolis. St. Ambrose was born there; St. Athanasius was there in exile from 335 to 337 (Apologia contra Arianos, 9, 87); it was visited by St. Jerome, St. Augustine and St. Martin of Tours; Ausonius was there as tutor of Gratian. But with the transfer of the praetorian prefecture to Arles, at the beginning of the 5th century, its decline began. The Franks occupied it ca. 464 and it became a county headed by the comet Arbogast. By the Treaty of Verdun of 843 T. was incorporated into the kingdom of Lothair. The comital power then passed to the archbishops until in 1212 it received letters patent from the emperor Otto IV, confirmed by Conrad IV. However, in 1308 it returned under archiepiscopal jurisdiction, with an administration of scabini which was completed by the archbishop in 1443 with the election of two burgomasters. It was occupied in 1634 by the Spaniards and in 1645 by the French. By the Treaty of Lunéville of 1808 it became the capital of the department of the Sarre; the Germans recaptured it between 4-5 Jan. 1814. By the Treaty of Vienna it passed to the Kingdom of Prussia.
The archdiocese had as suffragans the dioceses of Metz, Toul and Verdun. With the bull De salute animarum of 1821 Pope Pius VII made T. a suffragan of Cologne.
Ancient documents confirming the local traditions concerning the martyrs of T. are lacking. The subdeacon Ursinianus «meruit sanctorum sociari sepulchris» (CIL, XIII, 3787), but by sepulchra one must perhaps understand the altar in which were kept relics of martyrs who came from outside (H. Delehaye, Les origines du culte des martyrs, 2nd ed., Brussels 1937, p. 359). For the ancient era the bishops of T. were Sts. Eucharius ca. 250, Valerius, Maternus, Agricius in 314; Maximinus (332-49 ca.) who received in 336-37 Athanasius bishop of Alexandria; the bishop Paulinus (347-58) transmitted to St. Athanasius the letters of retraction of Ursacius and Valens; at the Council of Arles of 353, he was deposed and exiled to Phrygia where he died in 358. Felix (386-400 ca.); Severus, ca. 430; in 479 Iamlychus. Near Chalon-sur-Saône in the church of St-Germain-du-Plain a marble slab was found in which it was proposed to recognize the epitaph of «Iamlychus ep(iscopus)» laid to rest «in spe resurrectionis» in 479 (CIL, XIII, 2478; E. Diehl, Inscr. christ. lat. veteres, Berlin 1925-31, n. 1077).
The Cathedral was erected ca. 375; partly destroyed by the Franks in the 5th century. Fortunatus praises the work of Nicetius (525-66) for the restorations carried out in the Cathedral: «Templa vetusta Dei revocasti in culmine prisco et floret senior te reparante domus» (III, 11). In 857 a lightning bolt set fire to its bell tower; in 882 it was sacked by the Normans. The archbishop Egbert (977-93) erected the chapel of St. Andrew. The archbishop Poppo (1016-47) transformed the Cathedral into a Romanesque building; Hillin added the towers (1160); in the 12th century the crypts were created in the two apses; in 1719 the building was again modified in Baroque style and renovated between 1891-1910.
(from Th. Kemp), Die vorläufigen Ergebnisse der Ausgrabungen auf dem Gelände des Trierer Domes, in Germania, 2 (1931), n. 15, pl. 1, n. 2)
The explorations carried out from 1943 onward in T. have made it possible to recognize in the Cathedral and in the Liebfrauenkirche a double basilica between which is included the baptistery. Of the great Constantinian basilica (324-26 and 348) there have been found the atrium preceded by a kind of marlhes and the basilica itself with three naves which was partly replaced by a great quadrilateral hall; between the years 370-78 in the time of the emperor Gratian these constructions were superimposed on a great hall in which were gathered ca. 50,000 fragments of painted stuccoes which, diligently reassembled and studied, have yielded portraits of St. Helena mother of Constantine and of Fausta wife of the same, besides erotes, etc. The Christian character of the complex is attested by the arrangement of the rooms and by graffiti such as, for example, «Marti vivas in Deo XP semper. Germanio vivas in Deo XP semper; ΕΛΠΙΑΙΟC Marcellianus».
This great sanctuary, comparable in impressiveness to the Constantinian buildings of the Anastasis of Jerusalem and of the Nativity at Bethlehem, was then transformed both under the bishop Nicetius in the 6th century, and after the fire and the catastrophe of 882 at the hands of the Normans, with the works of the archbishops Egbert (977-93) and Robert (931-956), who erected the «aula sanctae Dei Genitricis», and of the archbishop Poppo (1016-47).
In the treasury, the ivory plaque with two seated bishops bearing on their knees a reliquary chapel in the atrium preceding the church. Perhaps it refers to the translation of relics carried out by St. Helena and by the bishop Agricius; others preferred to see in it a translation of relics of St. Stephen in 428. In the Treasury is also preserved the celebrated codex of Egbert of the 10th century (F. X. Kraus, Die Miniaturen des Codex Egberti in der Stadtbibliothek zu Trier in unveränderlichen Lichtdruck, Freiburg im Br. 1884). The church, dedicated to the B. Virgin (Liebfrauenkirche), was erected between 1242-53, with a central plan, Gothic; Romanesque are the chapel dedicated to the Holy Cross (Heiligkreuzkapelle) and the church of St. Simon (second half of the 12th century) in the monumental Porta Nigra. The church of St. Lawrence was dedicated by the emperor Valentinian (G. B. De Rossi, Inscr. christ. Urbis Romae, II, Rome 1888, p. 6, n. 6); near the Roman palace the «ecclesia ad Palatium» is mentioned in the Gesta Trevirorum. Many Christian inscriptions were found in St. Matthias, in St. Maximin and in the cemetery called of the Evangelists; in the oratory of St. Eucharius, in St. Matthias a Greek inscription recalled an 'ΑΩ-ΟC Agrippa Syrus, born near Apamea (F. X. Kraus, Die altchristliche Inschriften der Rheinlande, I, Freiburg im Br. 1888, p. 44, n. 80); another also Greek from 409 was found in St. Paulinus (ibid., p. 82, n. 163).
The Benedictine abbey of St. Mary «ad Martyres» on the Moselle was founded by the archbishop Lutwinus in the 7th century in memory of the pseudo Theban martyrs; it was restored in 975 by the archbishop Theodoric, and was suppressed in 1802 by Napoleon I (Weisenahl, Der Grundbesitz des Klosters S. Maria ad Martyres zu Trier in Butzweiler, in Trierische Heimat, 4 [1927-28], pp. 97-99; Cottineau, II, coll. 3210-11).
The church of St. Maximin, originally St. John the Evangelist, then St. Hilary, was rebuilt several times. The Benedictine abbey was enriched by the Merovingians and the Carolingians; remains of the crypt and of Carolingian paintings survive; devastated in 882 by the Normans, it was rebuilt in 934; in the 9th century its scriptorium flourished (the Ada Codex of the 9th century in the municipal library); it gave rise to other abbeys in Germany (Echternach, Tegernsee, Maria Laach and Branweiler); it was suppressed in 1802 (Cottineau, II, cols. 3212-13). At St. Maximin an oratory has been discovered, adorned with frescoes representing the Crucifixion, the Evangelists, the four major prophets, holy martyrs and confessors; on the basis of the history of the monastery they can be dated to the Carolingian age (H. Eichler, Peintures murales carolingiennes à St. Maximin de Trèves, in Cahiers archéologiques, 6 [1952], pp. 83-90).
St. Paulinus is a 4th-century construction, rebuilt in the 12th century; it was destroyed by the French in 1674, transformed in rococo style in 1732-54, and contains in the crypt the sarcophagus of St. Paulinus. The Jesuit church, or "Dreifaltigkeitskirche," arose in the 13th century; St. Gervasius was built by the Franciscans in 1765-68; it contains the tomb of Archbishop Poppo; St. Symphorian, formerly St. Uodnaldus, ca. 882; St. Irmina founded ca. 680; St. Simeon from the time of Archbishop Poppo near the Porta Nigra.
La basilica romanica di S. Mattia è la chiesa sepolcrale di S. Eucario situata in un'area cimiteriale cristiana; fu rinnovata nel 1921; vi si conservano le reliquie dell'apostolo St. Matthias was brought there in 1127. The Benedictine abbey of St. Martin "ad litus super Mosellam" was founded by Bishop Magnerius around 587; destroyed by the Normans in 882, restored in 888, Regino of Prüm was its abbot between 899 and 915 (Cottineau, II, col. 3211). Excavations brought to light sarcophagi and some gold objects (K. Böhner, Die Anfänge der ehemaligen Abteikirche St. Martin zu Trier, in Trierer Zeitschrift, 18 [1949], pp. 107-31). St. Gangolf, erected in the 15th century, was rebuilt in 1732; while the tall bell tower of 1498 remains. In Gothic style is the church of the Most Holy Trinity (1228), later called the Jesuit church; also Gothic is the church of St. Anthony (1462). In T. the Gesellschaft für Rheinische Geschichtshunde began its publications in 1884; in 1898 the Trierer Archiv began its own; in 1925 the Trierer Zeitschrift für Geschichte und Kunst.
The ancient abbey of St. Salvator of Prüm was founded in 721 with monks from St. Faron of Meaux, by Bertrada, wife of Pepin the Short, who enriched it with privileges, followed in this by his successors; it had immunity and minted coin. The church was completed in 779, and according to a legend, consecrated by Leo III in 799; Lothair I was a monk there in 855; his tomb was identified in 1866 and the emperor William I had his remains placed in a marble sarcophagus. The Normans sacked it in 882 and in 892, but it soon flourished again, so much so that it reached the number of 300 monks. It gave life to numerous filiations; its scriptorium was also renowned; to it belong the Evangeliary of Lothair I, today in the National Library of Berlin; the « Liber aureus », today in the Library of T.; the « Registrum Prumiense » of 893 with the glosses of Abbot Cassarius, today preserved partly in Koblenz and partly in T. (S. I. Beissel, Miniaturen aus Prüm, in Zeitschrift für christliche Kunst, 19 [1906], pp. 11-22; 43-54). Among those who brought distinction to the abbey are remembered Ado of Vienne, Wandalbert, Regino, Berno of Reichenau, etc. It began to decline in the 13th century; in time the bishops of T. became administrators of the abbey, but there were often struggles; between 1721-29 the church was transformed in the Baroque style; by the Peace of Lunéville it passed under France, which secularized the abbey; the church is today a parish.
Bibliography30 works
Enrico Josi
CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS
Valentinian I (364-75) favored men of letters, rhetoricians and poets, attracting them to Trier: among these was Ausonius (v.), tutor of his son Gratian. It seems that through his influence the law of 23 May 376 was promulgated concerning the fees owed to professors of grammar and rhetoric, with favorable treatment for those of Trier (Cod. Theod., XIII, 3, 11). To its flourishing schools (cf. Ausonius, Mosella, vv. 383 and 403 ff.), where Eumenius and Claudius Mamertinus also taught, pupils flocked from every quarter: St. Jerome began there his study of theology, maturing the resolve to devote himself to the ascetic life (Epist., 3, 5; St. Augustine, Conf., VIII, 6). After the region passed into the possession of the Franks (5th century), the life of the city, flourishing under the Carolingians, continued under the protection of the bishops and through the work of the Benedictines (abbey of St. Matthias) and, later, of the Dominicans, Franciscans and Carmelites.
1. The University
The archbishop James von Sierck, in the Jubilee of 1450, asked the Pope for the erection of a Studium generale. The cardinal Nicholas of Cusa, a native of Trier, legate in Germany, supported the request. Pope Nicholas V granted the Studium in 1454, with a twofold bull: Inter ceteras felicitates (2 Feb.) and Romanum decet Pontificem (12 Feb.). But the political and social circumstances following the fall of Constantinople (1453) delayed its opening until 1473. Its Statutes were drawn up on the model of those of Cologne: chancellor, the archbishop; principal faculty, that of theology. Under electoral rule, from 1561 to 1773, the Jesuits had its direction.
After these were suppressed (21 July 1773), the archbishop and prince-elector Klemens Wenzeslaus founded in Krahn, in the former Jesuit novitiate, the major Seminary (16 Oct. 1773), which in 1779 was transferred to its own building erected near the University. Thus the chairs of the faculty of theology were entrusted to the professors of the Seminary. After the territory was occupied by the French, the University, having passed under the Benedictines, was abolished in 1798.
2. The new Theological Faculty
In 1798 the "Clementine" Seminary was also closed, which the archbishop Charles Mannay succeeded in rebuilding in 1805, but without the theological faculty. Repeatedly requested by the archbishop Rudolf Bornewasser (1948 and 1950), and advocated by Msgr. Ludwig Kaas, this faculty was granted in 1950 by Pope Pius XII, and canonically erected in the major Seminary by decree of the Sacred Congregation of Seminaries and Universities (5 June 1950). Government recognition followed (22 Aug. 1950), and on 21 May 1951 the Holy See approved its Statutes.
Its patron, as already for the ancient Studium, is St. Jerome, whose likeness is on the university seal. The faculty has a library of over 100,000 volumes and includes scientific seminars for philosophy, theology, Sacred Scripture and ecclesiastical history. It is also attended by students from various religious orders. It publishes the journal Trierer Theologische Zeitschrift (which succeeded in 1947 the Pastor Bonus, founded in 1889) and the scientific series Trierer Theologische Studien (1941).
3. Other cultural institutions
To be remembered is the Katholische staatliche pädagogische Akademie (1946 in Bad Neuenahr; 1950 in Trier), with a course of 4 semesters: it publishes Pädagogische Nachrichten. - See plate L.
Bibliography10 works
Igino Cecchetti