Troyes, Diocese of

TROYES, Diocese of. - Diocese and capital city of the department of the Aube, formerly the capital of Champagne, through which the Haute-Seine canal now passes.

It extends over 6,010 sq km, with the same boundaries, that is, as the department; it has a population of 255,237 inhabitants, of whom 210,000 are Catholics. The diocese is divided into 5 archpriesthoods and 32 deaneries, and comprises 457 parishes, served by 200 diocesan priests and 39 regulars; it has a major and a minor seminary, 9 male religious communities and 18 female ones (Ann. Pont. 1953, p. 433). The patrons of the diocese are the apostles Peter and Paul.

It was the capital of the tribe of the Tricasses, whence the name Tricae or Trecace and then the present T.; it also bore the name Augustobona. The counts of Champagne also favored the Jewish community, and among the rabbis Rashi or Jarchi (1040-1105), founder of the Talmudic school of T., stood out. The city was set on fire by the Normans, but it soon recovered. The power of the bishops gradually weakened with the rise of the power of the counts of T., later counts of Champagne; T. became famous for its fairs and between 1230 and 1242 obtained its franchises. In 1128 a Council was held there which approved the constitution of the Order of the Templars. Champagne was united to the crown of France through the marriage of Philip the Fair in 1248. It suffered greatly from the fire of 1524 and during the wars of religion. Little by little T. became a notable artistic center, especially under Louis IX, Charles VIII and Louis XII; from 1480 to about 1635 a school of architecture, sculpture, painting and the art of stained glass flourished there, especially through the merit of J. Soudan, J. Macadré and L. Goutier.

A manuscript of Auxerre (no. 132) contains the catalogue of the bishops of T.; down to Manasses de Pougy (1181-1190), continued down to Nicolas de Brie (1232-69). The list opens with Amator around the year 300; he is succeeded by Ottatian around 346, then Leo, Heradius, Melanius, Aurelian, Ursus, Lupus, to whom Sidonius Apollinaris wrote several times (Epist., VI, 1, 4, 9; IX, 11); he was bishop from about 426 to 478 or 479; he went to Brittany with St. Germanus of Auxerre, and was energetic against the invasion of Attila. He is commemorated on 29 July in the Jeronymian Martyrology. Gregory of Tours recounts a miracle that took place in his basilica (In Gloria Confessorum, 66); his life was written shortly after his death (Acta SS. Julii, VII, p. 80). His successors were Camillianus, who was at the Council of Orléans of 511 and is commemorated on 28 July in the Jeronymian; Vincent around 540, who erected a church to St. Aventinus; Ambrose, who was at the Council of Orléans in 549; Galomagnus, who was at the Councils of Paris in 573 and of Lyon in 581; he is mentioned by Gregory of Tours (Vitae Patrum, VIII, 8); then Agrecius, Lupus II, Evodius, Modegisilus, Ragnegisilus around 667, who erected a church in honor of St. Sabina; St. Leuconius (venerated on 1 April); Bertololus around 660; Vanmirus, Abbo around 667, who buried St. Frodebert, founder of the monastery of Montier-la-Celle; Fulcherius, Ottulfus, who was at the Council of Attigny in 870 and received at T. Pope John VIII, who held a synod there (Jaffé-Wattenbach, 3179); Bodo around 890; Rievo, on whose behalf Pope Formosus intervened (Flodoard, De Christi triumphis, 12,5: PL

135, 829). Later there are Garnerius of Trainel (1193-1206), who brought back from the Fourth Crusade a relic of the Crown of Thorns, which he placed in the church of St. Stephen; G. Leguise (1426-50), who received Joan of Arc at T. in 1429; G. Parvi (1519-27); A. Caracciolo of Molfetta, a heretic (1551-62); G. B. Bossuet (1716-49); L. A. de La Tour du Pin-Montauban (1803-1807); S. A. Boulogne (1808-25); J. M. M. Debelay (1844-48), later archbishop of Avignon.

The Cathedral is dedicated to Sts. Peter and Paul. Its construction began in 1208 but continued until 1638. The apse and the choir were completed in 1314; when the church was dedicated in 1430 it also included the transept and three bays of the nave. The facade is the work of the same artist M. Chambiges who worked on the cathedral of Beauvais; it is flanked by two square towers; the one on the left is 74 m high and is the only one completed (1559-1640). At its base an inscription recalls that Joan of Arc was solemnly received in the Cathedral on 10 July 1429, when she accompanied Charles VII to Reims for the coronation. The three portals were damaged during the Revolution; at that time the statues that decorated them were pulled down. The interior measures 114 x 51 m, with vaults 29 m high. The presbytery ends with an ambulatory with five chapels; the stained-glass windows are of the 13th century, partly restored; notable is the scene of the Pressoir mystique by Linard Goutier (1625). In the chapel of Our Lady of Loreto a beautiful statue of the Madonna is much venerated. Very artistic above the narthex is the tribune, called the chapel of Calvary, which is reached by a monumental staircase. To the south of the Cathedral is the old episcopal palace, partly a work of the Renaissance, with a chapel of the 18th century. The Treasury is very rich; mention is made of the enameled Reliquary of the late 12th century from Nesle-la-Reposte (Marne) containing relics of St. Bernard and St. Malachy; in the modern Reliquary of St. Lupus are set Limoges enamels of the 16th century; a Byzantine ivory casket of the 10th century; another of chased metal donated by Blanche of Castile; Gospel books of the 11th and 12th centuries; pastoral staffs of the 12th-13th centuries; a chalice of the 13th century; tapestries of the 16th century, etc.

At T. synods were held in 420, in 867, in 878, in 1104, in 1107 and in 1128 (Hefele-Leclercq, II, p. 487 ff.; IV, pp. 415-20, 665-78, 1353; V, pp. 482, 499-503, 670-71, 1761).

The oldest church of the city is St. Magdalene, built in the middle of the 12th century on a Greek cross plan, rebuilt between 1498 and 1565 by J. Gailde; the facade presents on the right a tall tower (1531-60). The interior with five naves is divided by a magnificent jube in the Flamboyant style, a masterpiece of the same J. Gailde. In the transept are a notable statue of St. Martha of the 16th century and a wooden statue of St. Robert, prior of Montier-la-Celle. The windows have stained glass of the 16th century. Near the baptismal font is a small statue of St. Sebastian from the beginning of the 16th century. The primitive Basilica erected by Queen Clotilde in honor of St. Germanus when his body was brought back from Ravenna in 448 was enlarged in the 9th century by Count Conrad; but the present deconsecrated building is of the late 13th century, part of which was destroyed in 1820. In the interior the ambulatory leads to the apsidal chapel erected above two underground chapels. In the southern crossing, beyond the tombstone of Bishop Hugh of Montaigu of the 12th century, there is the portal in whose tympanum are carved scenes from the life of St. Germanus; the adjoining cloister preserves only a Gothic part and vaulted halls. The church of St. Peter, also called St-Père-en-Vallée, was erected between 1536 and 1672; its great square bell tower, 45 m high, is similar to that of the Cathedral; its stained-glass windows were damaged by bombardments. The church of St. Urban is one of the most artistic not only of the region but of the entire 13th century. It was begun in 1262 by Pope Urban IV, son of a shoemaker of T., on the site of his father's shop. Finished in 1389, it was restored from 1879 to 1905. The modern portico leads to the main portal, on whose tympanum the Last Judgment is carved. The interior has three naves, with a transept, with stained-glass windows of the 13th century, and has two terminal chapels; the one on the right has on the altar the celebrated Vierge du raisin of local art of the 16th century. To the left of the choir the remains of Urban IV have been transferred from Perugia, resting beneath a bas-relief, a work by H. Charlier; the apse is trefoiled. The church of St. Pantaleon was begun in 1508 in Gothic style by J. Bailly, and finished in Renaissance style by G. Faulchot. The west portal was added there in 1745; the north one is Renaissance; the small south one is in Flamboyant Gothic. The interior is divided into three naves by pillars, with a double row of statues; the windows are adorned with large stained-glass windows attributed to J. Macadré. In a chapel is the notable group in colored stone depicting the arrest of Sts. Crispin and Crispinian. Over the tomb of St. Patroclus there first arose an oratory, then a basilica; the martyr is commemorated in the Geronimiano on January 21, and St. Gregory of Tours attests the solemnity of his celebration (In Gloria Martyrum, 63). The church of St. Eusebius is what remains of an ancient abbey founded around the year 630 by St. Palladius; the Romanesque bell tower is from the 12th century; the interior is Romanesque in its lower part and Gothic in its upper part, while the presbytery is from 1530, with apsidal chapels that have stained-glass windows from 1616. In the Treasury is preserved a Byzantine fabric called the "shroud of St. Germanus" which, according to tradition, would have been used by Charles the Bald in 841 during the translation of the relics of St. Germanus. The church of St. Nicholas is in late Gothic style; it was largely destroyed by the fire of 1524; it was rebuilt by G. Faulchot in 1530, who also carved the beautiful south portal flanked by the statues of David and Isaiah. The interior is divided into three naves by pillars on which large statues rest; it has beautiful 16th-century stained-glass windows. In the first bay are the two Renaissance bas-reliefs with the adoration of the shepherds and of the Magi and the presentation in the Temple. The church of St-Remi, from the 14th century, was remodeled in the 15th-16th centuries and completely restored recently. In the portico it preserves a 15th-century portal; the bell tower of 1386 is almost entirely rebuilt, flanked by four small bell towers. The interior has three naves, with an ambulatory onto which two chapels open; the stained-glass windows are modern. The church of St. Nazarius is in Gothic style (1528-73), has a portal from 1531; the facade of 1574 was mutilated; to the left stands a large square bell tower. The interior has three naves with a transept and ambulatory where 16th-century stained-glass windows are especially preserved. Beyond the bridge over the river Yonne is the church of St. Peregrine, rebuilt in the 16th century; since 1866 it has been used for Protestant worship; explorations carried out there from 1927 to 1928 by R. Louis have brought to light the structures of the ancient church that was the primitive Cathedral until the bishop Amator transferred it. The church of St-Jean-au-Marché is from the middle of the 6th century; but in its present state it is later than the fire of July 23, 1888; it burned again in 1524, and was rebuilt as early as 1534; it has three naves with pillars surrounded by a cluster of four columns; the choir was enlarged at the end of the 14th century and rebuilt in the 16th, and the nave (1561-91) in the 15th; the bell tower, which collapsed in 1911, was from the 14th century; the west portico is from 1593, and the clock one from 1603-1607. During the Revolution it served as a granary, and the small bell tower was demolished; it was restored in the 19th century on several occasions (P. Piétresson de St-Aubin, Topographie Troyenne. Autour de St-Jean, in Mémoires de la Société académique de l'Aube, 92 [1929]; id., L'église de St-Jean-au-Marché à T., in Bulletin monumental, 89 [1930], p. 47).

The abbey of St. Lupus was founded around the year 841; burned by the Normans around 892; it was rebuilt by the Canons Regular; St. Vinebald was abbot there (J. Roserot, Les abbayes au département de l'Aube, in Bulletin historique du Comité, 1904, pp. 568-71, 594-97; id., Les abbayes de l'ancien diocèse de T., ibid., 1909, p. 441). The abbey of Notre-Dame aux Nonnais of canonesses was established around 657 by the bishop St. Leuccon, who was buried there; it was rebuilt by Count Henry; it received gifts from Urban IV; in 1518 it passed to the Benedictines (Cottineau, II, col. 3225). The abbey of St-Martin-ès-Avies (in Aréis) was founded at the beginning of the 12th century; it has a cloister erected under Louis XIII; it is now transformed into an orphanage (Cottineau, II, col. 3227).

The Museum occupies what remains of the ancient buildings of the abbey of St. Lupus with the addition, in 1892, of the "Pavillon Brissonnet." It comprises archaeological, sculpture, painting, and natural history collections. Annexed to it is the Library, which is one of the most notable in France; it contains over 200,000 volumes, 3,131 manuscripts and 547 incunabula. It was founded in 1651, but the holdings of over 37 monastic libraries were added to it, among them those of the abbey of Clairvaux. In the great hall there are 52 stained-glass windows by L. Goutier with episodes from the life of Henry IV, Louis XIII and Anne of Austria. The oldest manuscript is the pastoral book of St. Gregory the Great from the end of the 7th century. There are also an Evangeliary of 909; The City of God of St. Augustine (11th century), the Bible of St. Bernard from the 12th century, a 14th-century Bible with 117 miniatures, an illuminated local Missal from the 14th century, etc.; a 13th-century Evangeliary binding with enamels, etc. The discovery in T. of the famous Synaxarion of Chifflet has allowed Fr. F. Halkins to give a revised and corrected edition of the chronology of St. Trifullius, bishop of Cyprus in the 4th century (Anal. Boll., 66 [1948], pp. 11-19). The Museum of Decorative Arts is located in the Hôtel de Vauluisant, which served as a temporary residence for the dignitaries of the abbey of Vauluisant (in the archdiocese of Sens). It contains tapestries, bronzes, marbles, ceramics, stained glass, sculptures and paintings. The prefecture stands on the site of the ancient abbey of Notre Dame aux Nonnains from the end of the 18th century, but partly rebuilt in the 19th century.

In the surroundings of T. are remembered St-Martin-ès-Vignes with the church of the same name erected in 1592, finished in 1691. The sanctuary has a large classical portal with columns and pediment. The interior has three naves with splendid stained-glass windows (representing scenes from the Old and New Testament, the stoning of St. Stephen, St. Sebastian, St. Francis of Assisi, St. Catherine, etc.) and numerous statues. Furthermore

St-André-les-Vergers with the church of St. Andrew from the 16th century, which has a portal from 1646 decorated with statues and in the interior a reredos carved and painted in 1541.

Sanctuaries: Notre-Dame-du-Chêne near Bar-sur-Seine; Notre Dame de la Ste-Espérance at Mesnil St-Loup; Notre-Dame de Valsuzenay.

Enrico Josi