The Archdiocese of Lyon is a Roman Catholic ecclesiastical territory in France. It incorporates the ancient Archdiocese of Vienne. The current Cardinal-Archbishop is Philippe Cardinal Barbarin. The Roman Catholic Church or Catholic Church (see terminology below) is the Christian Church in full communion with the Bishop of Rome, currently Pope Benedict XVI. It traces its origins to the original Christian community founded by Jesus Christ and led by the Twelve Apostles, in particular Saint Peter. ... Pope Pius XI blesses Bishop Stephen Alencastre as fifth Apostolic Vicar of the Hawaiian Islands in a Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace window. ... Philippe Barbarin Philippe Xavier Christian Ignace Marie Barbarin (born October 17, 1950 in Rabat, Morocco) is the current archbishop of Lyon, France, and a Cardinal of the Catholic Church. ...

History

Persecution

The "Deacon of Vienne", martyred at Lyon during the persecution of 177, was probably a deacon installed at Vienne by the ecclesiastical authority of Lyon. The confluence of the Rhône and the Saône, where sixty Gallic tribes had erected the famous altar to Rome and Augustus, was also the centre from which Christianity was gradually propagated throughout Gaul. The presence at Lyon of numerous Asiatic Christians and their almost daily communications with the Orient were likely to arouse the susceptibilities of the Gallo-Romans. A persecution arose under Marcus Aurelius. Its victims at Lyon numbered forty-eight, half of them of Greek origin, half Gallo-Roman, among others St. Blandina, and St. Pothinus, first Bishop of Lyon, sent to Gaul by St. Polycarp about the middle of the second century. The legend according to which he was sent by St. Clement dates from the twelfth century and is without foundation. The letter addressed to the Christians of Asia and Phrygia in the name of the faithful of Vienne and Lyon, and relating the persecution of 177, is considered by Ernest Renan as one of the most extraordinary documents possessed by any literature; it is the baptismal certificate of Christianity in France. The successor of St. Pothinus was the illustrious St. Irenæus, 177-202. City flag City coat of arms Motto: (Franco-Provençal: Forward, forward, Lyon the best) Location Coordinates Time Zone CET (GMT +1) Administration Country France Region Rhône-Alpes Department Rhône (69) Subdivisions 9 arrondissements Intercommunality Urban Community of Lyon Mayor Gérard Collomb  (PS) (since 2001) City Statistics... This article is about the French département. ... Augustus (Latin: IMP•CAESAR•DIVI•F•AVGVSTVS;[1] September 23, 63 BC–August 19, AD 14), known as Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus (English Octavian; Latin: C•IVLIVS•C•F•CAESAR•OCTAVIANVS) for the period of his life prior to 27 BC, was the first and among the most important of... The term the Orient - literally meaning sunrise, east - is traditionally used to refer to Near, Middle, and Far Eastern countries. ... Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus (April 26, 121[1] – March 17, 180) was Roman Emperor from 161 to his death. ... Polycarp of Smyrna (69?-155?, 80?-166?, 81?-167?, 79?-165?, or 70?-156?) was a Christian bishop of Smyrna (now in Asiatic Turkey) in the second century. ... Clement of Alexandria (Titus Flavius Clemens), was the first member of the Church of Alexandria to be more than a name, and one of its most distinguished teachers. ... Ernest Renan (February 28, 1823–October 12, 1892) was a French philosopher and writer. ...

The discovery on the Hill of St. Sebastian of ruins of a naumachia capable of being transformed into an amphitheatre, and of some fragments of inscriptions apparently belonging to an altar of Augustus, has led several archæologists to believe that the martyrs of Lyon suffered death on this hill. Very ancient tradition, however, represents the church of Ainay as erected at the place of their martyrdom. The crypt of St. Pothinus, under the choir of the church of St. Nizier was destroyed in 1884. But there are still revered at Lyon the prison cell of St. Pothinus, where Anne of Austria, Louis XIV, and Pius VII came to pray, and the crypt of St. Irenæus built at the end of the fifth century by St. Patiens, which contains the body of St. Irenæus. There are numerous funerary inscriptions of primitive Christianity in Lyon; the earliest dates from the year 334. In the second and third centuries the See of Lyon enjoyed great renown throughout Gaul, witness the local legends of Besançon and of several other cities relative to the missionaries sent out by St. Irenæus. Faustinus, bishop in the second half of the third century, wrote to St. Cyprian and Pope Stephen I, in 254, regarding the Novatian tendencies of Marcian, Bishop of Arles. But when Diocletian's new provincial organization (tetrarchy) had taken away from Lyon its position as metropolis of the three Gauls, the prestige of Lyon diminished for a time. Louis XIV King of France and Navarre By Hyacinthe Rigaud (1701) Louis XIV (Louis-Dieudonné) (September 5, 1638–September 1, 1715) reigned as King of France and King of Navarre from May 14, 1643 until his death. ... Pius VII, né Giorgio Barnaba Luigi Chiaramonti, (August 14, 1740 - August 20, 1823) was Pope from March 14, 1800 to August 20, 1823. ... Saint Cyprian (Thascius Caecilius Cyprianus) (died September 14, 258) bishop of Carthage and an important early Christian writer, was born probably at the beginning of the 3rd century in North Africa, perhaps at Carthage, where he received an excellent pagan education; having converted to Christianity, he became a bishop (249... Stephen I, pope (about March 12, 254 to August 2, 257). ... Novatian (2XX - 258) was a scholar and antipope who held the title between 251 and 258. ... Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus ( 245– 312), born Diocles (Greek Διοκλής) and known in English as Diocletian,[1] was Roman Emperor from November 20, 284 to May 1, 305. ... The Tetrarchs, a porphyry sculpture sacked from a Byzantine palace in 1204, Treasury of St. ...

Merovingian period

At the end of the empire and during the Merovingian period several saints are counted among the Bishops of Lyon: St. Justus (374-381) who died in a monastery in the Thebaid (Egypt) and was renowned for the orthodoxy of his doctrine in the struggle against Arianism (the church of the Machabees, whither his body was brought, was as early as the fifty century a place of pilgrimage under the name of the collegiate church of St. Justus), St. Alpinus and St. Martin (disciple of St. Martin of Tours; end of fourth century); St. Antiochus (400-410); St. Elpidius (410-422); St. Sicarius (422-33); St. Eucherius (c. 433-50), a monk of Lérins and the author of homilies, from whom doubtless dates the foundation at Lyon of the "hermitages" of which more will be said below; St. Patiens (456-98) who successfully combated the famine and Arianism, and whom Sidonius Apollinaris praised in a poem; St. Lupicinus (491-94); St. Rusticus (494-501); St. Stephanus (d. Before 515), who with St. Avitus of Vienne, convoked a council at Lyon for the conversion of the Arians; St. Viventiolus (515-523), who in 517 presided with St. Avitus at the Council of Epaone; St. Lupus, a monk, afterwards bishop (535-42), probably the first archbishop, who when signing in 438 the Council of Orléans added the title of "metropolitanus"; St. Sardot or Sacerdos (549-542), who presided in 549 at the Council of Orléans, and who obtained from King Childebert the foundation of the general hospital; St. Nicetius or Nizier (552-73), who received from the pope the title of patriarch, and whose tomb was honoured by miracles. The prestige of St. Nicetius was lasting; his successor St. Priseus (573-588) bore the title of patriarch, and brought the council of 585 to decide that national synods should be convened every three years at the instance of the patriarch and of the king; St. Ætherius (588-603), who was a correspondent of St. Gregory the Great and who perhaps consecrated St. Augustine, the Apostle of England; St. Aredius (603-615); St. Annemundus or Chamond (c. 650), friend of St. Wilfrid, godfather of Clotaire III, put to death by Ebroin together with his brother, and patron of the town of Saint-Chamond; St. Genesius or Genes (660-679 or 680), Benedictine Abbot of Fontenelle, grand almoner and minister of Queen Bathilde; St. Lambertus (c. 680-690), also Abbot of Fontenelle. There are other articles with similar names; see Merovingian (disambiguation). ... Statue of Justus. ... The Thebaid is the region of ancient Egypt containing the thirteen southernmost nomes of Upper Egypt, from Abydos to Aswan. ... This article is about theological views like those of Arius. ... Statue of Saint Martin cutting his cloak in two. ... For other senses, see Patriarch (disambiguation). ... Saint Gregory I, or Gregory the Great (called the Dialogist in Eastern Orthodoxy) (circa 540 - March 12, 604) was pope of the Catholic Church from September 3, 590 until his death. ... Augustine of Canterbury (birth unknown, died May 26, 604) was the first Archbishop of Canterbury, sent to Ethelbert of Kent, Bretwalda (ruler) of England by Pope Gregory the Great in 597. ... Clotaire III (652 - 673) was a son of King Clovis II. In 657 he became the nominal ruler of the three Frankish kingdoms, but was deprived of Austrasia in 663, retaining Neustria and Burgundy until his death. ... Ebroin (d. ... For other uses of Fontenelle, see Fontenelle (disambiguation). ...

At the end of the fifth century Lyon was the capital of the Kingdom of Burgundy, but after 534 it passed under the domination of the kings of France. Ravaged by the Saracens in 725, the city was restored through the liberality of Charlemagne who established a rich library in the monastery of Ile Barbe. In the time of St. Patiens and the priest Constans (d. 488) the school of Lyon was famous; Sidonius Apollinaris was educated there. The letter of Leidrade to Charlemagne (807) shows the care taken by the emperor for the restoration of learning in Lyon. With the aid of the deacon Florus he made the school so prosperous that in the tenth century Englishmen went thither to study. Under Charlemagne and his immediate successors, the Bishops of Lyon, whose ascendancy was attested by the number of councils over which they were called to preside, played an important theological part. Adoptionism had no more active enemies than Leidrade (798-814) and Agobard (814-840). When Felix of Urgel continued rebellious to the condemnations pronounced against Adoptionism from 791-799 by the Councils of Ciutad, Friuli, Ratisbon, Frankfort, and Rome, Charlemagne conceived the idea of sending to Urgel with Nebridius, Bishop of Narbonne, and St. Benedict, abbot of the monastery of Aniane, Archbishop Leidrade, a native of Nuremberg and Charlemagne's librarian. They preached against Adoptionism in Spain, conducted Felix in 799 to the Council of Aachen, where he seemed to submit to the arguments of Alcuin, and then brought him back to his diocese. But the submission of Felix was not complete; Agobard, "Chorepiscopus" of Lyon, convicted him anew of Adoptionism in a secret conference, and when Felix died in 815 there was found among his papers a treatise in which he professed Adoptionism. Then Agobard, who had become Archbishop of Lyon in 814 after Leidrade's retirement to the monastery of St. Médard of Soissons, composed a long treatise which completed the ruin of that heresy. The following is a list of the Kings of Burgundy // Kings of the Burgundians The Burgundians had left Bornholm, ca 300, and settled near the Vistula. ... A portrait of Charlemagne by Albrecht Dürer that was painted several centuries after Charlemagnes death. ... Adoptionism or adoptianism is an attempt to explain how Jesus is related God (that is, it was one option that arose in the Trinitarian controversies of the early church). ...

Agobard

Agobard displayed great activity as a pastor and a publicist in his opposition to the Jews and to various superstitions. His rooted hatred for all superstition led him in his treatise on images into certain expressions which savoured of Iconoclasm. The five historical treatises which he wrote in 833 to justify the deposition of Louis the Pious, who had been his benefactor, are a stain on his life. Louis the Pious having been restored to power, caused Agobard to be deposed in 835 by the Council of Thionville, but three years later gave him back his see, in which he died in 840. During the exile of Agobard the See of Lyon had been for a short time administered by Amalarius of Metz, whom the deacon Florus charged with heretical opinions regarding the "triforme corpus Christi", and who took part in the controversies with Gottschalk on the subject of predestination. Amolon (841-852) and St. Remy (852-75) continued the struggle against the heresy of Valence, which condemned this heresy, and also was engaged in strife with Hincmar. From 879-1032 Lyon formed part of the Kingdom of Provence and afterwards of the second Kingdom of Burgundy. When in 1032 Rudolph III of Burgundy, ceded his states to Conrad II, the portion of Lyon situated on the left bank of the Saône became, at least nominally, an imperial city. Finally Archbishop Burchard, brother of Rudolph, claimed rights of sovereignty over Lyon as inherited from his mother, Mathilde of France; in this way the government of Lyon instead of being exercised by the distant emperor, became a matter of dispute between the counts who claimed the inheritance and the successive archbishops. The number 13 is often avoided in public buildings, also floors, doors and this Santa Anita Park horse stall. ... Louis the Pious, contemporary depiction from 826 as a miles Christi (soldier of Christ), with a poem of Rabanus Maurus overlaid. ... Rudolf III of Burgundy, died September 6, 1032, King of Burgundy (993–1032). ... Conrad II (c. ...

Saint Gebuin

Lyon attracted the attention of Cardinal Hildebrand, who held a council there in 1055 against the simoniacal bishops. In 1076, as Gregory VII, he deposed Archbishop Humbert (1063-76) for simony. Saint Gebuin (Jubinus), who succeeded Humbert was the confidant of Gregory VII and contributed to the reform of the Church by the two councils of 1080 and 1082, at which were excommunicated Manasses of Reims, Fulk of Anjou, and the monks of Marmoutiers. Simony is the ecclesiastical crime and personal sin of paying for offices or positions in the hierarchy of a church, named after Simon Magus, who appears in the Acts of the Apostles 8:18-24. ...

It was under the episcopate of Saint Gebuin that Gregory VII (20 April, 1079) established the primacy of the Church of Lyon over the Provinces of Rouen, Tours, and Sens, which primacy was specially confirmed by Callistus II, despite the letter written to him in 1126 by Louis VI in favour of the church of Sens. As far as it regarded the Province of Rouen this letter was later suppressed by a decree of the king's council in 1702, at the request of Colbert, Archbishop of Rouen. Wiktionary has a definition of: Primacy Primacy is the state or condition of being prime or first, as in time, place, rank, etc. ... Callixtus II, né Guido of Vienne (d. ... Louis VI the Fat (French: Louis VI le Gros) (December 1, 1081 – August 1, 1137) was King of France from 1108 to 1137. ... Inside the cathedral of Sens, Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot, c. ... Rouen Cathedral The entrance to Rouen Cathedral Abbey church of Saint-Ouen, (chevet) in Rouen Rouen, medieval house Rouen (pronounced in French, sometimes also ) is the historical capital city of Normandy, in northwestern France on the River Seine, and presently the capital of the Haute-Normandie (Upper Normandy) région. ...

Hugh of Die (1081-1106), the successor of St. Gebuin, the friend of St. Anselm, and for a while legate of Gregory VII in France and Burgundy, had differences later on with Victor III, who excommunicated him for a time, also with Paschal II. The latter pope came to Lyon in 1106, consecrated the basilica of Ainay, and dedicated one of its altars in honour of the Immaculate Conception. The Feast of the Immaculate Conception was solemnized at Lyon about 1128, perhaps at the instance of St. Anselm of Canterbury, and St. Bernard wrote to the canons of Lyon to complain that they should have instituted a feast without consulting the pope. Saint Anselm of Canterbury (1033 or 1034 - April 21, 1109), a widely influential medieval philosopher and theologian, held the office of Archbishop of Canterbury from 1093 to 1109. ... The Blessed Victor III, né Dauferius (b. ... Paschal II, né Ranierius (d. ... St. ... The Abbey of Ainay, France Ainay, a neighborhood of Lyon, France St-Martin-dAinay The romanesque basilica-church in the Ainay neighborhood of Lyon, France Category: ... Mary, mother of Jesus as the Immaculate Conception. ...

Sovereignty

As soon as Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, had been proclaimed Blessed (1173), his cult was instituted at Lyon. Lyon of the 12th century thus has a glorious place in the history of Catholic liturgy and even of dogma, but the twelfth century was also marked by the heresy of Peter Waldo and the Waldenses, the Poor Men of Lyon, who were opposed by Jean de Bellème (1181-1193), and by an important change in the political situation of the archbishops. (St. ... The Archbishop of Canterbury is the spiritual leader and senior clergyman of the Church of England, recognized by convention as the head of the worldwide Anglican Communion. ... The word leitourgia is derived from the two Greek words, leos and ergon. Leos, meaning the people of God and Ergon meaning the work. ... For the film Dogma, see Dogma (film) Dogma (the plural is either dogmata or dogmas, Greek , plural ) is the established belief or doctrine held by a religion, ideology or any kind of organization, thought to be authoritative and not to be disputed or doubted. ...

In 1157 Emperor Frederick Barbarossa confirmed the sovereignty of the Archbishops of Lyon; thenceforth there was a lively contest between them and the counts. An arbitration effected by the pope in 1167 had no result, but by the treaty of 1173 Guy, Count of Forez, ceded to the canons of the primatial church of St. John his title of count of Lyon and his temporal authority. Frederick in a 13th century Chronicle Frederick I (German: Friedrich I. von Hohenstaufen)(1122 – June 10, 1190), also known as Friedrich Barbarossa (Frederick Redbeard) was elected king of Germany on March 4, 1152 and crowned Holy Roman Emperor on June 18, 1155. ...

Then came the growth of the Commune, more belated in Lyon than in many other cities, but in 1193 the archbishop had to make some concession to the citizens. The 13th century was a period of conflict. Three times, in 1207, 1269, and 1290, grave troubles broke out between the partisans of the archbishop who dwelt in the château of Pierre Seize, those of the count-canons who lived in a separate quarter near the cathedral, and those of the townsfolk. Gregory X attempted, but without success, to restore peace by two Acts, 2 April, 1273, and 11 November 1274. The kings of France were always inclined to side with the commune; after the siege of Lyon by Louis X (1310) the treaty of 10 April, 1312, definitively attached Lyon to the Kingdom of France, but, until the beginning of the 15th century the Church of Lyon was allowed to coin its own money. Gregory X, né Theobald Visconti (ca. ... November 11 is the 315th day of the year (316th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 50 days remaining. ... Events May 7 - In France the Second Council of Lyons opens to consider the condition of the Holy Land and to agree to a union with the Byzantine church. ... Louis X of France Louis X the Quarreller, also called the Headstrong or the Stubborn, (French: Louis X le Hutin, Spanish: Luis el Obstinado) (October 4, 1289 – June 5, 1316), King of France from 1314 to 1316, was a member of the Capetian Dynasty. ...

If the 13th century had imperilled the political sovereignty of the archbishops, it had on the other hand made Lyon a kind of second Rome. Gregory X was a former canon of Lyon, while Innocent V, as Peter of Tarantaise, was Archbishop of Lyon from 1272 to 1273. Innocent IV and Gregory X sought refuge at Lyon from the Hohenstaufen, and held there two general councils of Lyon. Local tradition relates that it was on seeing the red hat of the canons of Lyon that the courtiers of Innocent IV conceived the idea of obtaining from the Council of Lyon its decree that the cardinals should henceforth wear red hats. The sojourn of Innocent IV at Lyon was marked by numerous works of public utility, to which the pope gave vigorous encouragement. He granted indulgences to the faithful who should assist in the construction of the bridge over the Rhône, replacing that destroyed about 1190 by the passage of the troops of Richard Cœur de Lion on their way to the Crusade. The building of the churches of St. John and St. Justus was pushed forward with activity; he sent delegates even to England to solicit alms for this purpose and he consecrated the high altar in both churches. Innocent IV, né Sinibaldo de Fieschi ( 1180/90 - December 7, 1254), pope from 1243 to 1254, belonged to one of the first families of Genoa, and, educated at Parma and Bologna, passed for one of the best canonists of his time. ... In Latin Catholic theology, an indulgence is the remission granted by the Church of the temporal punishment due to sins already forgiven by God. ... Richard I (8 September 1157 – 6 April 1199) was King of England from 1189 to 1199. ...

At Lyon were crowned Clement V (1305) and Pope John XXII (1310); at Lyon in 1449 the antipope Felix V renounced the tiara; there, too, was held in 1512, without any definite conclusion, the last session of the schismatical Council of Pisa against Julius II. In 1560 the Calvinists took Lyon by surprise, but they were driven out by Antoine d'Albon, Abbot of Savigny and later Archbishop of Lyon. Again masters of Lyon in 1562 they were driven thence by the Maréchal de Vieuville. At the command of the famous Baron des Adrets they committed numerous acts of violence in the region of Montbrison. It was at Lyon that Henry IV of France, the converted Calvinist king, married Marie de Medicis (9 December, 1600). Clement V, né Bertrand de Gouth (1264 - April 20, 1314) was pope from 1305 to 1314. ... Pope John XXII, born Jacques Duèze or dEuse (1249 – December 4, 1334), was the son of a shoemaker in Cahors. ... Amadeus VIII (1383 - November 7, 1451), surnamed the Peaceful was the Count of Savoy from 1391 to 1416 and the Duke of Savoy from 1416 to 1440. ... This article incorporates text from the public domain Catholic Encyclopedia Preliminaries The Great Schism of the West had lasted thirty years (since 1378), and none of the means employed to bring it to an end had been successful. ... Pope Julius II Julius II, né Giuliano della Rovere (December 5, 1443 - February 21, 1513), was pope from 1503 to 1513. ... Henry IV (French: Henri IV; December 13, 1553 – May 14, 1610), was the first monarch of the Bourbon dynasty in France. ... Marie de Medici (April 26, 1573 - July 3, 1642), born in Italy as Maria de Medici, was queen consort of France under the French name Marie de Médicis. ...

Modern period

The principal Archbishops of Lyon during the modern period were: Guy III d'Auvergne, Cardinal de Bologne (1340-1342), who as a diplomat rendered great service to the Holy See; Cardinal Jean de Lorraine (1537-1539); Hippolyte d'Este, Cardinal of Ferrara (1539-1550), whom king Francis I of France named Cardinal protector of the crown of France at the court of Pope Paul III, and a patron of scholars; Cardinal François de Tournon (1550-1562), who negotiated several times between Francis I and Emperor Charles V, combated the Reformation and founded the Collège de Tournon, which the Jesuits later made one of the most celebrated educational establishments of the kingdom; Antoine d'Albon (1562-1574), editor of Rufinus and Ausonius; Pierre d'Epinac (1573-1599), active auxiliary of the League; Cardinal Alphonse Louis du Plessis de Richelieu (1628-1563), brother of the minister of Louis XIII; Cardinal de Tencin (1740-1758); Antoine de Montazet (1758-1788), a prelate of Jansenist tendencies, whose liturgical works will be referred to later, and who had published for his seminary by the Oratorian Joseph Valla, six volumes of "Institutiones theologicæ" known as "Théologie de Lyon", and spread throughout Italy by Scipio Ricci until condemned by the Index in 1792; Marbeuf (1788-1799), who died in exile at Lübeck in 1799 and whose vicar-general Castillon was beheaded at Lyon in 1794; Antoine Adrien Lamourette (1742-1794), deputy to the Constitutional Assembly, who brought about by a curious speech (7 July, 1792) an understanding between all parties, to which was given the jesting name of "Baiser Lamourette", and who was constitutional Bishop of Lyon from 27 March, 1791, to 11 January, 1794, the date of his death on the scaffold. Among the archbishops subsequent to the Concordat must be mentioned: Joseph Fesch under whose episcopate Pius VII twice visited Lyon, in November 1804, and April, 1805, and in 1822 the Society for the Propagation of the Faith was founded; Maurice de Bonald (1840-1870), son of the philosopher; Ginoulhiac (1870-1875), known by his "Histoire du dogme catholique pendant let trois premiers siècles". Francis I (François Ier in French) (September 12, 1494 – March 31, 1547), called the Father and Restorer of Letters (le Père et Restaurateur des Lettres), was crowned King of France in 1515 in the cathedral at Reims and reigned until 1547. ... ... Pope Paul III (February 29, 1468 – November 10, 1549), born Alessandro Farnese, was Pope from 1534 to 1549. ... Charles (February 24, 1500 – September 21, 1558) was Holy Roman Emperor (as Charles V) from 1519-1558; he was also King of Spain from 1516-1556, officially as Charles I of Spain, although often referred to as Charles V (Carlos Quinto or Carlos V) in Spain and Latin America. ... Louis XIII (September 27, 1601 – May 14, 1643), called the Just (French: le Juste), was King of France from 1610 to 1643. ... Jansenism was a branch of Christian philosophy founded by Cornelius Jansen (1585-1638), a Flemish theologian. ... Pius VII, né Giorgio Barnaba Luigi Chiaramonti, (August 14, 1740 - August 20, 1823) was Pope from March 14, 1800 to August 20, 1823. ...

At the end of the old regime the primatial chapter consisted of 32 canons, each able to prove 32 degrees of military nobility; each of these canons bore the title of Count of Lyon. The Chapter of Lyon has the honour of numbering among its canons four popes (Innocent IV, Gregory X, Boniface VIII, and Clement V), 20 cardinals, 20 archbishops, more than 80 bishops, and finally 3 persons of officially recognized sanctity: St. Ismidon of Sassenage, later Bishop of Die (d. About 1116), Blessed Louis Aleman and Blessed François d'Estaing, later Bishop of Rodez (d. In 1501). Innocent IV, né Sinibaldo de Fieschi ( 1180/90 - December 7, 1254), pope from 1243 to 1254, belonged to one of the first families of Genoa, and, educated at Parma and Bologna, passed for one of the best canonists of his time. ... Gregory X, né Theobald Visconti (ca. ... Boniface VIII, né Benedict Gaetano ( 1235 - October 11, 1303) was Pope of the Roman Catholic Church from 1294 to 1303. ... Clement V, né Bertrand de Gouth (1264 - April 20, 1314) was pope from 1305 to 1314. ...

The city of Lyon numbered 5 collegiate churches and the diocese 14 others. There were 4 chapters of noble canonesses. The Jesuits had at Lyon the Collège de la Trinité, founded in 1527 by a lay confraternity which ceded it to them in 1565, the Collège Notre Dame, founded in 1630, a house of probation, a professed house, and other colleges in the diocese. Convents were perhaps more numerous here than in any other part of France. The Petites Ecoles founded in 1670 by Démia, a priest of Bourg, contributed much to primary instruction at Lyon. Since the law of 1875 concerning higher education Lyon possesses Catholic faculties of theology, letters, sciences, and law.

The Diocese of Lyon honours as saints: St. Epipodius and his companion St. Alexander, probably martyrs under Marcus Aurelius; the priest St. Peregrinus (third century); St. Baldonor (Galmier), a native of Aveizieux, at first a locksmith, whose piety was remarked by the bishop, St. Viventiolus; he became a cleric at the Abbey of St. Justus, then subdeacon, and died about 760; the thermal resort of "Aquæ Segestæ", in whose church Viventiolus met him, has taken the name of St. Galmier; St. Viator (d. About 390), who followed the Bishop, St. Justus, to the Thebaid; Sts. Romanus and Lupicinus (fifth century), natives of the Diocese of Lyon, who lived as solitaries within the present territory of the Diocese of St. Claude; St. Consortia, d. about 578, who according to a legend, criticized by Tillemont, was a daughter of St. Eucherius; St. Rambert, soldier and martyr in the seventh century, patron of the town of the same name; Blessed Jean Pierre Néel, b. in 1832 at Ste. Catherine sur Riviere, martyred at Kay-Tcheou in 1862. Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus (April 26, 121[1] – March 17, 180) was Roman Emperor from 161 to his death. ... The Thebaid is the region of ancient Egypt containing the thirteen southernmost nomes of Upper Egypt, from Abydos to Aswan. ...

Gerson, whose old age was spent at Lyon in the cloister of St. Paul, where he instructed poor children, died there in 1429. St. Francis de Sales died at Lyon, 28 December, 1622. The Curé Colombet de St. Amour was celebrated at St. Etienne in the seventeenth century for the generosity with which he founded the Hôtel-Dieu (the charity hospital), also free schools, and fed the workmen during the famine of 1693. Founded in 1999 by Mark Gerson and Thomas Lehrman, Gerson Lehrman Group (GLG) is a research services firm, based in New York, New York, primarily serving the institutional investment community. ... Saint Francis of Sales (in French, St François de Sales), seventeenth-century bishop of Geneva and Roman Catholic saint, was born at Thorens into a Savoyard noble family on 21 August 1567. ...

M. Guigue has catalogued the eleven "hermitages" (eight of them for men and three for women) which were distinctive of the ascetical life of Christian Lyon in the Middle Ages; these were cells in which persons shut themselves up for life after four years of trial. The system of hermitages along the lines described by Grimalaius and Olbredus in the ninth century flourished especially from the eleventh to the thirteenth century, and disappeared completely in the sixteenth. These hermitages were the private property of a neighbouring church or monastery, which installed therein for life a male or female recluse. The general almshouse of Lyon, or charity hospital, was founded in 1532 after the great famine of 1531 under the supervision of eight administrators chosen from among the more important citizens. Onuphrius lived as a hermit in the desert of Upper Egypt in the late 4th century A hermit (from the Greek erēmos, signifying desert, uninhabited, hence desert-dweller) is a person who lives to some greater or lesser degree in seclusion and/or isolation from society. ...

The institution of the jubilee of St. Nizier dates beyond a doubt to the stay of Innocent IV at Lyon. This jubilee, which had all the privileges of the secular jubilees of Rome, was celebrated each time that Low Thursday, the feast of St. Nizier, coincided with 2 April, i.e. whenever the feast of Easter itself was on the earliest day allowed by the paschal cycle, namely 22 March. In 1818, when this coincidence occurred, the feast of St. Nizier was not celebrated. But the cathedral of St. John also enjoys a great jubilee each time that the feast of St. John the Baptist coincides with Corpus Christi, that is, whenever the feast of Corpus Christi falls on 24 June. It is certain that in 1451 the coincidence of these two feasts was celebrated with special splendour by the population of Lyon, then emerging from the troubles of the Hundred Years' War, but there is no document to prove that the jubilee indulgence existed at that date. However, Lyonnese tradition places the first great jubilee in 1451; subsequent jubilees took place in 1546, 1666, 1734 and 1886. Innocent IV, né Sinibaldo de Fieschi ( 1180/90 - December 7, 1254), pope from 1243 to 1254, belonged to one of the first families of Genoa, and, educated at Parma and Bologna, passed for one of the best canonists of his time. ... John the Baptist (also called John the Baptizer or John the Dipper) is regarded as a prophet by at least three religions: Christianity, Islam, and Mandaeanism. ... Corpus Christi celebrations in Antigua Guatemala, 14 June, 1979 Corpus Christi (Latin: Body of Christ) in Catholicism is a religious feast celebrated by Roman Catholics on the eighth Thursday after Easter, i. ...

"Among the Churches of France", wrote St. Bernard to the canons of Lyon, "that of Lyon has hitherto had ascendancy over all the others, as much for the dignity of its see as for its praiseworthy institutions. It is especially in the Divine Office that this judicious Church has never readily acquiesced in unexpected and sudden novelties, and has never submitted to be tarnished by innovations which are becoming only to youth". Canonical hours are ancient divisions of time (also called offices), developed by the Christian Church, serving as increments between prayers. ...

In the 18th century Bishop Montazet, contrary to the Bull of Pius V on the Breviary, changed the text of the Breviary and the Missal, from which there resulted a whole century of troubles for the Church of Lyon. The efforts of Pius IX and Cardinal Bonald to suppress the innovations of Montazet provoked great resistance on the part of the canons, who feared an attempt against the traditional Lyonnese ceremonies. This culminated in 1861 in a protest on the part of the clergy and the laity, as much with regard to the civil power as to the Vatican. Finally, on 4 February, 1864, at a reception of the parish priests of Lyon, Pius IX declared his displeasure at this agitation and assured them that nothing should be changed in the ancient Lyonnese ceremonies; by a Brief of 17 March, 1864, he ordered the progressive introduction of the Roman Breviary and Missal in the diocese. The primatial church of Lyon adopted them for public services 8 December, 1869. One of the most touching rites of the ancient Gallican liturgy, retained by the Church of Lyon, is the blessing of the people by the bishop at the moment of Communion. Bold textHe was born as Antonio Ghislieri at Bosco in the duchy of Milan. ... The Blessed Pope Pius IX, born Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti, ( May 13, 1792 – February 7, 1878) was pope for a record pontificate of over 31 years, from June 16, 1846 until his death. ...

List of Archbishops of Lyon

• Alphonse-Louis Cardinal du Plessis de Richelieu (Sep 1628 - 23 Mar 1653)
• François-Paul de Neufville de Villeroy (15 Aug 1714 - 6 Feb 1731 )
• Charles de Châteauneuf de Rochebonne ( 1732 - 1739 )
• Pierre Cardinal Guérin de Tencin (11 Nov 1740 - 2 Mar 1758 )
• Antoine de Malvin de Montazet (16 Mar 1758 - 2 May 1788 )
• Yves-Alexandre de Marbeuf (12 May 1788 - 15 Apr 1799 )
• Joseph Cardinal Fesch (29 Jul 1802 - 13 May 1839 )
• Joachim-Jean Cardinal d'Isoard (13 Jun 1839 - 7 Oct 1839 )
• Louis-Jacques-Maurice Cardinal de Bonald (4 Dec 1839 - 25 Feb 1870 )
• Jacques-Marie Ginoulhiac (2 Mar 1870 - 17 Nov 1875 )
• Louis-Marie Cardinal Caverot (20 Apr 1876 - 23 Jan 1887 )
• Joseph-Alfred Cardinal Foulon (23 Mar 1887 - 23 Jan 1893 )
• Pierre-Hector Cardinal Coullie (14 Jun 1893 - 11 Sep 1912)
• Hector Cardinal Sévin (2 Dec 1912 - 4 May 1916 )
• Louis-Joseph Cardinal Maurin (1 Dec 1916 - 16 Nov 1936 )
• Pierre-Marie Cardinal Gerlier (30 Jul 1937 - 17 Jan 1965 )
• Jean-Marie Cardinal Villot (17 Jan 1965 - 7 Apr 1967)
• Alexandre Cardinal Renard (28 May 1967 - 29 Oct 1981)
• Albert Florent Cardinal Decourtray (29 Oct 1981 - 16 Sep 1994)
• Jean Marie Cardinal Balland (27 May 1995 - 1 Mar 1998)
• Louis-Marie Cardinal Billé (10 Jul 1998 - 12 Mar 2002)
• Philippe Cardinal Barbarin (16 Jul 2002 - )

Jean-Marie Cardinal Villot (11 October 1905 – 9 March 1979) was a French Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church, Archbishop of Lyon, and a prominent member of the Roman Curia in Vatican City. ... Philippe Barbarin Philippe Xavier Christian Ignace Marie Barbarin (born October 17, 1950 in Rabat, Morocco) is the current archbishop of Lyon, France, and a Cardinal of the Catholic Church. ...

Sources

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This article incorporates text from the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913.