VIENNE. – Ancient archdiocese and present-day sub-prefecture of the Isère in France, whose title is today united with the archiepiscopal see of Lyon (v.). The city is situated on the left bank of the Rhône, at the foot of an amphitheater of hills between the Sevenne and the Gère. A suspension bridge over the Rhône leads to Ste-Colombe, which constitutes a suburb of the city.
V. was the capital of the Allobroges before becoming, with Julius Caesar or Augustus, the colony *Iulia Viennensis*. It became the capital of the Gallic Empire between 26 and 273. Valentinian II was killed there in 392 by Arbogast. Gratian made it the capital of the Province Viennensis. The most flourishing period of V. was the 4th century, when it was visited by Constantine, Julian, who received great welcomes there (Ammianus Marcellinus, *Hist.*, XV, 8), and Valentinian II. Around 389, St Martin preached there (Paulinus of Nola, *Ep.*, 18, 9). But after the imperial residence moved to Arles, which became at the beginning of the 5th century the seat of the prefecture of the Gauls and also claimed the title of metropolis, the importance of V. began to decline. It was later occupied by the Burgundians. In 1562 the Huguenots laid waste to the religious buildings of the city. In 1592 Henry of Savoy-Nemours established himself there as governor of the Dauphiné.
At Lyon in 177 the deacon St
VIENNE – The temple of Augustus and Livia.
was martyred; Lyon and V. are indicated by Eusebius, for the persecution of 177, as “notable metropolises superior to the others in this region” (*Hist. eccl.*, V, 1, 1); they are the most prominent churches of the region that sent to those of Asia and Phrygia the written account relating to their martyrs (ibid., V, 1, 2). Of its earliest bishops the following are known: Vero, who was at the Council of Arles in 314; Florentius, who took part in that of Valence in 374 and is commemorated on 3 January in the *Martyrologium Hieronymianum*, where on 14 December Lupicinus is recorded (c. 400); Simplicius asserted his metropolitan rights at the Council of Turin in 398. Claudius was at the Council of Orange in 411 and that of Vaison in 442; Nectarius is commemorated on 5 May in the *Hieronymianum* as is Nicetas; Mamertus was censured by Pope Hilarius for the irregular consecration of a bishop at Die; he was the promoter of the rogations (v.) and is commemorated in the *Hieronymianum* on 11 May. Next came Hesychius, father and predecessor of Avitus (v.). Then Julian, who was at the Council of Orléans in 538; Domninus is commemorated in the votive inscription placed in the church of St Peter (E. Le Blant, *Inscriptions chrétiennes de la Gaule*, Paris 1856, no. 405). Of Pantagatus the epitaph is in the church of St George (ibid., pp. 101–103, no. 429); that of Hesychius II records that he was previously *quaestor palatii* (ibid., pp. 74–76, no. 413); Namatius died in 559: his and his sister Eupraxia’s funeral poems survive (ibid., pp. 96–99, nos. 425–426); Philip was at the Councils of Lyon in 570 and of Paris in 573; Evaristus was at those of Lyon in 581, of Valence in 584, and of Macon in 585. Desiderius is several times mentioned by St Gregory the Great (*Registrum*, VI, Ep. 52; IX, Epp. 157, 218, 220; XI, Ep. 34); he was sent into exile and stoned to death by Queen Brunhilda. Ado attributes to Eoldo the crypt of St Maurice. To Villicarius or Vultcherius, Gregory III (731–741) granted the pallium. In his time the basilica of SS Ferreolus and Julian was burned by the Saracens. He retired to the monastery of Agaunum. Under Berthegarius, in 767, Pepin was at V. Ursus vindicated his rights against Arles at the Council of Frankfurt (794); Bernard had a 32-year episcopate and died in 841. ADAMO (v.) occupied the episcopal see from 859 to 875. In later times the following are to be noted: Cardinal F. Sanseverino (1497–1515); A. Sanseverino (1515–27); then five bishops of the De Villars family (1575–1693); C. De Baumont (1745–46). The diocese was suppressed in 1802 and united to that of Grenoble; the title, however, passed to the archbishop of Lyon on 6 December 1822. From 1198 to 1431 V. had as suffragans Geneva, Grenoble, Valence, and Die.
In the archdiocese were born SS Julian of Brioude and St Ferreolus (celebrated by Venantius Fortunatus, *Carmina*, VIII, 162; he had his first basilica on the banks of the Rhône). V. has yielded about 250 inscriptions prior to the 8th century, mostly found in the ancient churches of St Severus, SS Gervasius and Protasius, St Peter, St George, and Notre-Dame d’Outre-Gère; all but about a hundred, preserved in the cloister of St-André-le-Bas, have been dispersed. Only three were written in Greek, one with the date 441 (CIG, XIV, 2492), a second of a freedwoman Bassiana (ibid., 2490), the third of a Matrona, daughter of a Roman official (ibid., 2491). The earliest Latin inscription bears the date 467 (CIL, XII, 1791), the latest is of 629 (ibid., 2097). Among the votive inscriptions is notable one of a priest Eupraxius in honour of St Peter (ibid., 2486); another metrical one refers to a church dedicated to two saints (ibid., 2085). Of the church of St Peter the text of the dedicatory inscription is preserved: “Ex voto Flavius Lacanius vir consularis cum suis fecit de proprio basilicam secretaria atque porticum” (E. Le Blant, op. cit., II, pp. 55–57, no. 405). V. was called “the holy” for its basilicas of St Ferreolus, St Severa, SS Gervasius and Protasius, but especially for that of St Peter of the 5th century, with its characteristic windows with colonnettes similar to those of the Orthodox Baptistery in Ravenna. In the basilica of SS Gervasius and Protasius was buried a Feodula “sanctis quae sociata iacet” (Le Blant, ibid., no. 528; CIL, XII, 2115). The basilica of St Ferreolus was originally on the banks of the Rhône; after a flood a similar one was built in the time of St Mamertus between 463 and 475. Gregory of Tours read there the inscription “Heros Christi geminos haec continet aula / Iulianum capite, corpore Ferreolum”. Destroyed by the Saracens in 740 and rebuilt by Archbishop Villicarius, it was demolished during the French Revolution.
The cathedral, St Maurice, was entirely rebuilt by Archbishop Leodegarius between 1030 and 1070. The high altar was consecrated by Paschal II in 1107. Among the Romanesque sculptures of the capitals are notable those depicting the Lamb of God, the symbols of two Evangelists, the Earthly Paradise, and that of Samson overcoming the lion, identical to the sculpture on a capital of St-André-le-Bas which bears on the base of a pillar an inscription with the date 1152. From V. came: St Mamertus, St Avitus, Guido of Burgundy, and then Callistus II (1119–24).
THE FIFTEENTH ECUMENICAL COUNCIL OF VIENNA (1311-12). — With the bull *Regnans in coelis* (12 Aug. 1308), Clement V had summoned an ecumenical council to be held at Vienne on 1 Oct. 1310, for the purpose of addressing the issues of the Templars and the Holy Land and ecclesiastical reform; but with the subsequent bull *Alma mater* (3 Apr. 1310), he had to delay its opening because the inquiry into the Templars was not yet complete, and postpone it to 1 Oct. 1311. Approximately 120 prelates participated (though contemporary sources are discordant), in addition to procurators of absent bishops. At the first session (16 Oct. 1311), Clement V clearly established the three main topics of conciliar discussion: the question of the Templars and their suppression, assistance to be given to the Holy Land, and reform of the clergy and defense of the liberty of the Church.
Regarding assistance to the Holy Land, on 6 May 1312, during the third session, Philip IV’s letter was publicly read, in which he promised to undertake a crusade within six years with the participation of his sons and much nobility; meanwhile, it was decided to levy a tithe on ecclesiastical benefices for the Holy Land during that six-year period. The tithes were collected, but the crusade did not take place (cf. P. Kirsch, *Die päpstliche Kollektorien im Deutschland*, Paderborn 1894, pp. 8 ff.).
During the same session, deliberations also took place on ecclesiastical reform, for which purpose bishops had been instructed to bring written reports, memoranda, and proposals to the council. Of this extensive material, only a very small portion is known to date (v. BIBLICA) and was carefully divided, for discussion, into two categories: reform of morals and defense of the liberty of the Church. As for the decrees formulated at the conclusion of the discussions, only this is known: that a portion of them was certainly promulgated at the third and final session on 5 May 1312; however, their exact content is unknown because all the decrees, whether altered or revised, were published only later, on 25 Oct. 1317, by Pope John XXII, who incorporated them into the section called the *Clementines* of the *Corpus Iuris Canonici*.
From their content, it can be deduced that the various decisions taken concern both a dogmatic and a disciplinary part. The dogmatic part pertains to the condemnation COLIVI (v.), concerning the wound in the side of Jesus Christ, baptismal grace, usury, and especially the union of the soul with the body, defining as erroneous the statement that “*anima rationalis seu intellectiva non est vere et per se vera forma humani corporis*” (v. ANIMA, vol. I, 1305). The disciplinary part concerns the poverty of the Friars Minor, the execution of religious orders, the reorganization of the Inquisition, the condemnation of the errors of the Beghards and Beguines regarding the state of perfection, the reform of monasteries and ecclesiastical life, the usurpations of Jews and Saracens, the question of the Fraticelli, and the establishment in the papal court and at the universities of Paris, Oxford, Bologna, and Salamanca of two chairs for the teaching of Hebrew, Chaldean, and Arabic for missionary purposes. — See plate CXLV.