VENASQUE. - Ancient diocese in Provence in France, from which the Comtat Venaissin took its name in the Middle Ages; today it is a village in the arrondissement of Carpentras. The ancient bishops of V. in the Frankish period resided more at V. than at Carpentras, though bearing the title of "episcopi Carpentoratensium or Vindascensium."
Of the bishops of V. the following are known: Constantianus, represented at the Council of Riez of 439, present in 441 at that of Orange and at Vaison in 442; Julian, present at the Council of Epaona of 517; Clematus, who signed as bishop of V. at Orléans in 542 and as bishop of Carpentras in 549; Tetradius in 573; Boetris in 584-604; Ambrose, who was at the Council of Paris in 614; Licerius at Chalon-sur-Saône in 652.
The church of Notre-Dame, of the end of the 12th or the beginning of the 13th century, has an octagonal dome and a Romanesque nave with later side chapels; the apse was rebuilt in the 15th century, the bell tower is of the 18th century; vestiges of the Romanesque crypt and the Romanesque portal remain. On the left is the baptistery, a Merovingian building of the end of the 6th century, remodeled in the 12th century. It is square in shape with four apses, at the entrance of which are large Corinthian columns in pink marble with white marble capitals. The apses are each decorated with five arches resting on six ancient small columns. The baptismal font is octagonal.
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Enrico Josi