VIENNE. - Ancient archdiocese and current subprefecture of the Isère in France, whose title is today united with the archiepiscopal title of Lyon (v.). The city is situated on the left bank of the Rhône, on the slopes of an amphitheater of hills between the Sévenne and the Gère. A suspension bridge over the Rhône leads to Ste-Colombe, which forms a suburb of the city.
V. was the capital of the Allobroges before becoming, under Julius Caesar or Augustus, the colonia Iulia Viennensis. It became the capital of the Empire of the Gauls between 260 and 273. Valentinian II was killed there in 392 by Arbogast. Gratian made it the capital of the Provincia Viennensis. The most flourishing period of V. was the 4th century, when Constantine, Julian — whose grand reception there Ammianus Marcellinus recalls (Hist., XV, 8) — and Valentinian II resided there. Around 389 St. Martin preached there (Paulinus of Nola, Ep., 18, 9). But once the imperial residence passed to Arles, which became at the beginning of the 9th 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 afterward occupied by the Burgundians. In 1562 the Huguenots made havoc of the city's religious buildings. In 1592 Henry of Savoy-Nemours installed himself there as governor of the Dauphiné.
At Lyon in 177 the deacon St.
of V.; Lyons and V. are designated 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 concerning their martyrs (ibid., V, 1, 2). Of its most ancient bishops are known Verus, 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 Hieronymian Martyrology, where on 14 December Lupicinus (ca. 400) is listed; Simplicius asserted his rights as metropolitan at the Council of Turin in 398. Claudius was at the Council of Orange in 411 and at that of Vaison in 442; Nectarius is commemorated on 5 May in the Hieronymianum, as is Nicetas; Mamertus was censured by Pope Hilary for the irregular consecration of a bishop at Die; he was the champion of the Rogations (v.) and is commemorated in the Hieronymianum on 11 May. Then comes 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 Pantagathus the epitaph is in the church of St. George (ibid., pp. 101-103, no. 429); that of Hesychius II recalls that he was first quaestor palatii (ibid., pp. 74-76, no. 413); Namatius died in 559; the sepulchral poems of him and of his sister Euphrasia survive (ibid., pp. 96-99, nos. 425-26); Philip was at the Councils of Lyons in 570 and of Paris in 573; Evantius at those of Lyons in 581, of Valence in 584, of Mâcon in 585. Desiderius is several times mentioned by St. Gregory the Great (Registr., VI, Ep. 52; IX, Epp. 157, 218, 220; XI, Ep. 34); he was sent into exile and stoned by Queen Brunhilda. Ado attributes the crypt of St. Maurice to Eoldus. To Villicarius or Vultcherius, Gregory III (731-741) granted the pallium. In his time the basilica of Sts. Ferreolus and Julian was burned by the Saracens. He retired to the monastery of Agaunum. Under Bertericus, in 767, Pepin was at V. Ursus asserted his rights against Arles at the Council of Frankfurt (794); Bernard had 32 years of episcopate and died in 841. Ado (v.) sat on the episcopal throne from 859 to 875. In later times are to be remembered Card. 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 1801 and united to that of Grenoble; the title, however, passed to the archbishop of Lyons on 6 December 1822. From 1198 to 1431 V. had as suffragans Geneva, Grenoble, Valence and Die.
In the archdiocese were born Sts. Julian of Brioude and St. Ferreolus (sung by Venantius Fortunatus, Carm., VIII, 162; he had his first basilica on the banks of the Rhone). V. has yielded ca. 250 inscriptions earlier than the 8th century, found for the most part in the ancient churches of St. Severus, Sts. Gervasius and Protasius, St. Peter, St. George and Notre-Dame d'Outre-Gère; fewer than a hundred or so, gathered in the cloister of St-André-le-Bas, the others have been dispersed. Only three were written in Greek, one with the date of 441 (CIG, XIV, 2492), the second of a freedwoman Bassiana (ibid., 2490), the third of a Matrona, daughter of a Roman official (ibid., 2491). The oldest Latin inscription bears the date of 467 (CIL, XII, 1791), the latest is of 629 (ibid., 2097). Among the votive inscriptions is notable that of a priest Euphrasius in honor 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 basilicum 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, of St. Severa, of Sts. Gervasius and Protasius, but especially for that of St. Peter of the 5th century, with the characteristic windows with small columns similar to those of the baptistery of the Orthodox at Ravenna. In the basilica of Sts. Gervasius and Protasius was buried a Foedula sanctis quae sociata iacet (Le Blant, ibid., no. 528; CIL, XII, 2115). The basilica of St. Ferreolus was already on the banks of the Rhone; following an inundation a similar one was built in the time of St. Mamertus between 463 and 475. Gregory of Tours read there the inscription "Heroas Christi geminos haec continet aula Iulianum capite corpore Ferreolum". Destroyed by the Saracens in 740 and rebuilt by Archbishop Villicarius, it was demolished in the French Revolution.
The cathedral, St-Maurice, was entirely rebuilt by Archbp. 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 Mystic Lamb, the symbols of two Evangelists, the Earthly Paradise, and that of Samson bringing down the lion, identical to the sculpture of a capital of St-André-le-Bas which bears on the base of a pillar an inscription with the date 1152. Of V. were: St. Mamertus, St. Avitus, Guy of Burgundy, then Callistus II (1119-24).
Bibliography28 works
Enrico Josi
THE 15TH ECUMENICAL COUNCIL OF VIENNE (1311-12). — With the bull Regnans in coelis (12 Aug. 1308), Clement V had convoked an ecumenical council to be held at V., on 1 Oct. 1310, for the purpose of providing for the questions of the Templars and of the Holy Land and for ecclesiastical reform; but with the subsequent bull, Alma mater (3 Apr. 1310), he had had to postpone its opening, because the inquiry into the Templars was not yet ready, and to put it back to 1 Oct. 1311. There took part in it (but the contemporary sources are discordant) ca. 120 prelates, besides the procurators of the absent bishops. In the I session (16 Oct. 1311) Clement V clearly fixed the three cornerstones of the conciliar discussions: the question of the Templars and their suppression, aid to be brought to the Holy Land, reform of the clergy and defense of the liberty of the Church.
As for the aid to be brought to the Holy Land, on 6 May 1312 the letter of Philip the Fair was read publicly in the III session, promising to undertake a Crusade within six years with the participation of his sons and of a numerous nobility; meanwhile it was decided to levy during that six-year period a tithe on ecclesiastical property in favor of the Holy Land. The tithes were collected, but the Crusade did not take place (cf. P. Kirsch, Die päpstliche Kollektorien im Deutschland, Paderborn 1894, p. 8 ff.).
In the same session deliberations were also held concerning ecclesiastical reform, to set which in motion the bishops had been advised to bring to the Council written reports, memorials and proposals. Of this ample material only a very small part is so far known (v. bibl.) and it was carefully divided, for the discussions, 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, this alone is known: that a part of them was certainly promulgated in the III and last session, on 5 May 1312; which ones, however, they were is not known, because all the decrees, changed or reworked, were published only later, on 25 Oct. 1317, by Pope John XXII, who formed from them the part called Clementinae of the Corpus Iuris Canonici.
From their content it is deduced that the various decisions taken concern a dogmatic part and a disciplinary part. The dogmatic part refers to the condemnation of propositions attributed to Peter Olivi (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 heretical the proposition that «anima rationalia 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 the religious Orders, the reorganization of the inquisition, the condemnation of the errors of the Beguards and Beguines concerning the state of perfection, the reform of monasteries and of ecclesiastical life, the usurpations of the Jews and the Saracens, the question of the Fraticelli, the institution at the papal Court and in the Universities of Paris, Oxford, Bologna and Salamanca of two chairs for the teaching of Hebrew, Chaldean and Arabic for the missions. - See plate CXLIV.
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Celestino Testore