Ancient Diocese of Orange

The ancient residential diocese of Orange in the Comtat Venaissin in Provence, a fief belonging to the papacy, was suppressed by the French government during the French Revolution. It was revived in 2009 as a titular see of the Catholic Church.

History

The city now called Orange in southern France was called Arausio in Roman times. It had been founded as a retirement colony for veterans of the Roman Army who had served under Augustus during his campaigns against Marc Antony. It became the seat of a bishop very probably towards the end of the 3rd century: at the Synod of Arles in 314, its bishop was represented by a priest named Faustinus. The first bishop of Arausio whose name is given in extant documents was Constantius, who took part in the Council of Aquileia, 381.^[1] From the early 5th century, the see was a suffragan of the metropolitan see of Arles.

Arausio hosted two important synods, in 441^[2] and 529.^[3] The Second Council of Orange was of importance for its condemnation of what later came to be called Semipelagianism.^[4]

In 1516 Francis I of France ordered the union of the principality of Orange and the Dauphiné, the accomplishment of which was ordered by the Parliament of Grenoble in March 1517. This union made the Bishop of Orange subject as far as his temporal rights were concerned to the king of France. On 8 August 1520, King Francis granted Bishop Guillaume Pélissier an extra six months to make his submission to the Chambre des comptes of the Dauphiné.^[5]

In accordance with the Concordat of 1801, Pope Pius VII attached the territory of the diocese to the archdiocese of Avignon by the papal bull Qui Christi Domini of 29 November 1801. In 1817, after the fall of the Emperor Bonaparte and the return of the Bourbon monarchy, it was planned to restore the residential status of the bishopric in accordance with a new concordat, but the French parliament refused to ratify the concordat.

The ancient see of Arausio, therefore, is no longer a residential bishopric. In January 2009 Pope Benedict XVI revived the title for use as a titular see,^[6] for auxiliary bishops of other dioceses and for curial bureaucrats to whom episcopal status is granted.^[7] The title currently (since 27 January 2012) belongs to Archbishop Julio Murat, Apostolic Nuncio to Cameroon and to Equatorial Guinea since 2018.^[8]

Bishops

To 1000

A list of names of bishops before 347 was invented by Polycarpe de la Rivière but is unsupported by any evidence.^[9]

Faustinus in 314 attended the Council of Arles as a cleric accompanying the unnamed bishop of Orange, the first recorded bishop of Orange.^[10]
? Aristonus, 347
? Eradius, c. 356
Constantius 381^[11]
Marin, 433
Justus, c. 440-c.455
Eutropius of Orange, c. 455-475
Verus
Florentius of Orange, 517-524
Vindemialis, 527-549
Matthieu, 555
Trapecius, 584
Salicus, 788-798
Damasus, c. 804
Boniface, c. 820-839
Laudon, c. 840
Pons I, c. 852
Gérard I, 855-c. 862
Boniface II*, 860
Oldaricus*, 866
Gérard II, 879
Bonnaricus I, 899
Ebroinus, 910^[12]
Pontius (Pons) II, 914
Bonnaricus II*, 930
Salitoneus*, 940
Ingelbertus*, 952
Richard*, 968
Segaldus*, 980
Bertrand*, 994
Aldebrand I*, 1005
Berniconius*, 1020
Aldebrand II*, 1026
Pons III*, 1032

The last ten bishops of the 10th and 11th centuries are completely unattested.^[13]

1000 to 1300

Odalric c.1040^[14]
Martin 1058
Geraldus de Asteri (Géraud) c.1060^[15]
Guillaume I c.1080-1098
Bérenger 1107-1127
Gérard 1128-1129
Guillaume II 1130-1138
Guillaume III 1139-1140
Bernard 1141-c.1170
Pierre I 1173
Hugues Florent c.1180
Arnoul^[16] 1182 - after 1204
Guillaume Elie^[17] after 1204-1221
Amicus 1222-c.1240
Pierre II c.1240-1271
Josselin 1272-c.1278
Guillaume D'Espinouse^[18] 1281-1321

1300 to 1500

Rostaing I 1322-1324
Hugues 1324-1328
Pierre III 1329-1342
Guillaume VII 1343-1348
Jean de Revol 1349-1350
Guillaume VIII 1350-1351
François de Caritat 1373-1387^[19]
Pierre Didaci 1389-1413
Pierre D'Ailly 1413-1417 (Administrator) (resigned)^[20]
Georges de Grano 1418-1420
Guillaume IX 1420-1428 (transferred to Cassano in s. Italy)^[21]
Guillaume X 1429-v.1447
Bertrand III 1438-v.1442
Antoine Ferrier v.1444-1450
Jean Payer 1454-1466
Guyot Adhémar 1466-1468
Jean Gobert 1468-1476
Pierre de Surville 1476-1480
Laurent Alleman 1481-1483
Pierre Carré, O.P.^[22] 1483-1510

1500 to 1790

Guillaume Pélissier^[23] 1510-1527
Louis Pélissier 1527-1542
Rostaing de La Baume de Suze, O.Cist.^[24] 1543-1560
Philippe de La Chambre de Maurienne, O.S.B. 1560-1572 (resigned)^[25]
Jean de Tulles I 1572-1608
Jean de Tulles II 1608-1640
Jean Vincent de Tulles 1640-1647 (transferred to Lavaure)^[26]
Hyacinthe Serroni 1647-1661 (transferred to Mende)^[27]
Alexandre Fabri 1661-1674
Jean-Jacques D`Obheil^[28] 1677-1720
Louis Chomel 1720-1731
François-André de Tilly 1731-1774
Guillaume-Louis du Tillet 1774-1790, last bishop

Notes

^ Only two bishops from Gaul were brave enough to participate: Constantius of Orange and Proculus of Marseille: J. D. Mansi, Sacrorum Conciliorum nova et amplissima collectio III editio novissima (Florence 1759), pp. 599-601; 615.
^ J. D. Mansi (ed.), Sacrorum Conciliorum nova et amplissima collectio editio novissima Tomus VI (Florence 1762), pp. 433-452. Karl Joseph von Hefele (1883). A History of the Councils of the Church: A.D. 431 to A.D. 451, tr. from the German, with the author's approbation, and ed. by the ed. of Hagenbach's history of doctrines, 1883. Vol. III. A.D. 431 to A.D. 451. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark. pp. 159–164.
^ J. D. Mansi (ed.), Sacrorum Conciliorum nova et amplissima collectio editio novissima Tomus VIII (Florence 1762), pp. 711-724.
^ Carl Joseph Hefele (1895). A History of the Councils of the Church, from the Original Documents. By the Right Rev. Charles Joseph Hefele ... Vol. IV. A.D. 451 to A.D. 680. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark. pp. 152–167.
^ Felix Reynaud, ed. (1904). Inventaire-sommaire des Archives départementales antérieures à 1790, Bouches-du-Rhône: Intendance de provence (nos 2176 à 2467) (in French). Vol. III. Marseille: J. Cayer. p. 151.
^ David M. Cheney, Catholic-Hierarchy: Orange (Titular See). Retrieved: 2016-07-24^{[self-published source]}
^ Annuario Pontificio 2013 (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2013 ISBN 978-88-209-9070-1), p. 945.
^ David M. Cheney, Catholic-Hierarchy: Archbishop Julio Murat. Retrieved: 2016-07-24^{[self-published source]}
^ The invented names are as follows: Saint Eutropius 69 AD; Saint Ebrantius, Saint Evran; Alixit; Auspicius; Thior; Dedonus; Saint Lucius (martyred in 261).
^ Duchesne, p. 265.
^ Constantius was at the council of Aquileia in 381, and the council of Milan in 390: Duchesne, p. 365. Duchesne recognizes neither Aristonus nor Eradius.
^ Resigned because of ill health (Bastet, p. 94)
^ Bastet, p. 97, note 1.
^ On 15 October 1040 he was present at the consecration of the church of Saint Victor in Marseille by Pope Benedict IX. In 1056 he was present at a synod of bishops that met at St. Egidius in Languedoc (Saint-Gilles). Bastet, p. 98.
^ Bastet, pp. 98-100. In 1064 he received a letter from Pope Alexander II: P. Jaffe, Regesta pontificum romanorum I editio altera (Leizig 1885), p. 574, no. 4551; cf. no. 4710.
^ Unable to carry out his episcopal functions for four years due to leprosy, Bishop Arnaud was given a Coadjutor, with permission of Pope Innocent III, who pointed out that the Archbishop of Arles did not have the power to separate a bishop from his See himself: Hugues Du Tems (1774). Le clergé de France, ou tableau historique et chronologique des archevêques, évêques, abbés, abbesses et chefs des chapitres principaux du royaume, depuis la fondation des églises jusqu'à nos jours, par M. l'abbé Hugues Du Tems (in French). Vol. Tome premier. Paris: Brunet. p. 381. Pope Innocent III refers to Arnoul's situation in a letter of 2 December 1204 to the Archbishop of Arles: Sir Robert Phillimore (1873). The Ecclesiastical Law of the Church of England. Vol. I (6th ed.). London: H. Sweet. p. 100. Patrologia Latina Volume 215, pp. 474-475. A. Potthast Regesta pontificum Romanorum I, 2335.
^ Coadjutor of Bishop Arnoul until his death, then Bishop of Orange in his own right.
^ He was consecrated on Christmas Eve, 1281, by Bertrand d'Amalric, Archbishop of Aix: Honore Fisquet (1867). La France pontificale (Gallia christiana): Metropole d'Aix: Aix, Arles, Embrun (seconde partie) (in French). Paris: E. Repos. p. 586. On 12 March 1294, he took the oath of homage to Bertrand III, Prince of Orange: Gallia christiana novissima: Orange (in Latin). Montbéliard: Soc. Anonyme d'Impr. Montbéliardaise. 1916. p. xv. On 23 April 1308 he was notified by Charles II of Naples that Jacques Duèse was to be named Chancellor of the Kingdom of Sicily: Melanie Brunner, in: Andreas Speer and David Wirmer, ed. (27 August 2010). 1308: Eine Topographie historischer Gleichzeitigkeit (in German). Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. p. 455. ISBN 978-3-11-021875-6. In November 1315 Bishop Guillaume was assigned by the Rector of the Comtat de Venaissin, Raymond Guilhem, to adjudicate a number of legal issues brought by various barons of the area: Charles Cottier (1806). Notes historiques concernant les recteurs du ci-devant Comté Venaissin (in French). Carpentras: Proyet. p. 51.
^ Gallia christiana novissima: Orange, pp. 35 and 138.
^ Eubel, I, p. 118.
^ Eubel, I, p. 170.
^ He was the confessor of the Duc de Bourgogne, uncle of King Charles VIII of France, who wrote to the Pope requesting his appointment. Joseph Seguin (1880). Bulletin historique et archéologique de Vaucluse et des départménts limitrophes (in French). Vol. 2. Avignon: Seguin frères. pp. 474–475.
^ For the first eight years of his tenure there were two bishops of Orange, one elected by the Chapter of the Cathedral, with the consent of the Prince of Orange (Pélissier), and the other appointed by Pope Julius II (Jean Lefranc). After the Concordat of Bologna (1516) and the incorporation of Orange into the Dauphiné, Leo X confirmed Guillaume Pélissier. Bastet, p. 191. A. de Pontbriant (1891). Histoire de la Principauté d'Orange (in French). Avignon: Seguin Frères. pp. 299–300.
^ He was appointed by the King of France: Eubel, III, p. 123. He had been Abbot of the monastery of Mazan in the diocese of Noyon. Bastet, pp. 211-213. Honoré Fisquet (1864). La France pontificale (Gallia Christiana): Montpellier (première partie) (in French). Paris: Etienne Repos. p. 369.
^ Bastet, pp. 218-223. On entering his See, he discovered that the city of Orange and all of the churches were occupied by the Huguenots. The Third War of Religion made his position impossible. Jean Crespin (1889). Histoire des martyrs: persecutez et mis a mort pour la verite de l'Evangile, depuis le temps des apostres jusques a present (1619) (in French). Toulouse: Societe des libres religieux. p. 369. Jean-Claude Fermaud (1999). Le Protestantisme en Provence en Avignon, dans le Comtat, la principauté d'Orange et le comté de Nice au XVIe siècle jusqu'à l'Edit de Nantes (in French). Carrières-sous-Poissy: La Cause. ISBN 978-2-87657-033-7.
^ 27 May 1647: Eubel-Gauchat, Hierarchia catholica IV, p. 360. He died 3/4 December 1668.
^ 8 August 1661: Eubel-Gauchat, p. 242.
^ He was consecrated in Paris, in the church of the Celestines, in 1677: Pierre Hyacinthe Morice (1839). L'Eglise de Bretagne; ou, Histoire des siéges épiscopaux, séminaires et collégiales (in French). Paris: Mequignon. p. 515.

Bibliography

Reference works

Gams, Pius Bonifatius (1873). Series episcoporum Ecclesiae catholicae: quotquot innotuerunt a beato Petro apostolo. Ratisbon: Typis et Sumptibus Georgii Josephi Manz. pp. 591–592. (Use with caution; obsolete)
Eubel, Conradus, ed. (1913). Hierarchia catholica, Tomus 1 (second ed.). Münster: Libreria Regensbergiana. (in Latin) p. 117-118.
Eubel, Conradus, ed. (1914). Hierarchia catholica, Tomus 2 (second ed.). Münster: Libreria Regensbergiana. (in Latin) p. 119.
Eubel, Conradus; Gulik, Guilelmus (1923). Hierarchia catholica, Tomus 3 (second ed.). Münster: Libreria Regensbergiana. p. 123.
Gauchat, Patritius (Patrice) (1935). Hierarchia catholica IV (1592-1667). Münster: Libraria Regensbergiana. Retrieved 2016-07-06. p. 102.
Ritzler, Remigius; Sefrin, Pirminus (1952). Hierarchia catholica medii et recentis aevi V (1667-1730). Patavii: Messagero di S. Antonio. Retrieved 2016-07-06. p. 106.
Ritzler, Remigius; Sefrin, Pirminus (1958). Hierarchia catholica medii et recentis aevi VI (1730-1799). Patavii: Messagero di S. Antonio. Retrieved 2016-07-06. p. 107.
Sainte-Marthe, Denis de (1715). Gallia christiana, in provincias ecclesiasticas distributa (in Latin). Vol. Tomus primus. Paris: Coignard. pp. 763–792.

Studies

Albanés, Joseph Hyacinthe; Fillet, Louis (1916). Gallia christiana novissima: Orange (Évêques, prévots) (in Latin). Montbéliard: Société anonyme d'imprimerie montbéliardaise.
Bastet, Joseph-Antoine (1837). Essai historique sur les évêques du Diocèse d'Orange mêlé de documents historiques et chronologiques sur la ville d'Orange et ses princes (in French). Orange: J. Escoffier.
Duchesne, Louis (1907). Fastes épiscopaux de l'ancienne Gaule: I. Provinces du Sud-Est. Paris: Fontemoing. second edition (in French)
Woods, F. H., ed. (1882). Canons of the Second Council of Orange, A.D. 529 (in English and Latin). Oxford: James Thornton.

44°08′N 4°49′E / 44.14°N 4.81°E / 44.14; 4.81

[1] Only two bishops from Gaul were brave enough to participate: Constantius of Orange and Proculus of Marseille: J. D. Mansi, Sacrorum Conciliorum nova et amplissima collectio III editio novissima (Florence 1759), pp. 599-601; 615.

[2] J. D. Mansi (ed.), Sacrorum Conciliorum nova et amplissima collectio editio novissima Tomus VI (Florence 1762), pp. 433-452. Karl Joseph von Hefele (1883). A History of the Councils of the Church: A.D. 431 to A.D. 451, tr. from the German, with the author's approbation, and ed. by the ed. of Hagenbach's history of doctrines, 1883. Vol. III. A.D. 431 to A.D. 451. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark. pp. 159–164.

[3] J. D. Mansi (ed.), Sacrorum Conciliorum nova et amplissima collectio editio novissima Tomus VIII (Florence 1762), pp. 711-724.

[4] Carl Joseph Hefele (1895). A History of the Councils of the Church, from the Original Documents. By the Right Rev. Charles Joseph Hefele ... Vol. IV. A.D. 451 to A.D. 680. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark. pp. 152–167.

[5] Felix Reynaud, ed. (1904). Inventaire-sommaire des Archives départementales antérieures à 1790, Bouches-du-Rhône: Intendance de provence (nos 2176 à 2467) (in French). Vol. III. Marseille: J. Cayer. p. 151.

[6] David M. Cheney, Catholic-Hierarchy: Orange (Titular See). Retrieved: 2016-07-24^{[self-published source]}

[7] Annuario Pontificio 2013 (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2013 ISBN 978-88-209-9070-1), p. 945.

[8] David M. Cheney, Catholic-Hierarchy: Archbishop Julio Murat. Retrieved: 2016-07-24^{[self-published source]}

[9] The invented names are as follows: Saint Eutropius 69 AD; Saint Ebrantius, Saint Evran; Alixit; Auspicius; Thior; Dedonus; Saint Lucius (martyred in 261).

[10] Duchesne, p. 265.

[11] Constantius was at the council of Aquileia in 381, and the council of Milan in 390: Duchesne, p. 365. Duchesne recognizes neither Aristonus nor Eradius.

[12] Resigned because of ill health (Bastet, p. 94)

[13] Bastet, p. 97, note 1.

[14] On 15 October 1040 he was present at the consecration of the church of Saint Victor in Marseille by Pope Benedict IX. In 1056 he was present at a synod of bishops that met at St. Egidius in Languedoc (Saint-Gilles). Bastet, p. 98.

[15] Bastet, pp. 98-100. In 1064 he received a letter from Pope Alexander II: P. Jaffe, Regesta pontificum romanorum I editio altera (Leizig 1885), p. 574, no. 4551; cf. no. 4710.

[16] Unable to carry out his episcopal functions for four years due to leprosy, Bishop Arnaud was given a Coadjutor, with permission of Pope Innocent III, who pointed out that the Archbishop of Arles did not have the power to separate a bishop from his See himself: Hugues Du Tems (1774). Le clergé de France, ou tableau historique et chronologique des archevêques, évêques, abbés, abbesses et chefs des chapitres principaux du royaume, depuis la fondation des églises jusqu'à nos jours, par M. l'abbé Hugues Du Tems (in French). Vol. Tome premier. Paris: Brunet. p. 381. Pope Innocent III refers to Arnoul's situation in a letter of 2 December 1204 to the Archbishop of Arles: Sir Robert Phillimore (1873). The Ecclesiastical Law of the Church of England. Vol. I (6th ed.). London: H. Sweet. p. 100. Patrologia Latina Volume 215, pp. 474-475. A. Potthast Regesta pontificum Romanorum I, 2335.

[17] Coadjutor of Bishop Arnoul until his death, then Bishop of Orange in his own right.

[18] He was consecrated on Christmas Eve, 1281, by Bertrand d'Amalric, Archbishop of Aix: Honore Fisquet (1867). La France pontificale (Gallia christiana): Metropole d'Aix: Aix, Arles, Embrun (seconde partie) (in French). Paris: E. Repos. p. 586. On 12 March 1294, he took the oath of homage to Bertrand III, Prince of Orange: Gallia christiana novissima: Orange (in Latin). Montbéliard: Soc. Anonyme d'Impr. Montbéliardaise. 1916. p. xv. On 23 April 1308 he was notified by Charles II of Naples that Jacques Duèse was to be named Chancellor of the Kingdom of Sicily: Melanie Brunner, in: Andreas Speer and David Wirmer, ed. (27 August 2010). 1308: Eine Topographie historischer Gleichzeitigkeit (in German). Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. p. 455. ISBN 978-3-11-021875-6. In November 1315 Bishop Guillaume was assigned by the Rector of the Comtat de Venaissin, Raymond Guilhem, to adjudicate a number of legal issues brought by various barons of the area: Charles Cottier (1806). Notes historiques concernant les recteurs du ci-devant Comté Venaissin (in French). Carpentras: Proyet. p. 51.

[19] Gallia christiana novissima: Orange, pp. 35 and 138.

[20] Eubel, I, p. 118.

[21] Eubel, I, p. 170.

[22] He was the confessor of the Duc de Bourgogne, uncle of King Charles VIII of France, who wrote to the Pope requesting his appointment. Joseph Seguin (1880). Bulletin historique et archéologique de Vaucluse et des départménts limitrophes (in French). Vol. 2. Avignon: Seguin frères. pp. 474–475.

[23] For the first eight years of his tenure there were two bishops of Orange, one elected by the Chapter of the Cathedral, with the consent of the Prince of Orange (Pélissier), and the other appointed by Pope Julius II (Jean Lefranc). After the Concordat of Bologna (1516) and the incorporation of Orange into the Dauphiné, Leo X confirmed Guillaume Pélissier. Bastet, p. 191. A. de Pontbriant (1891). Histoire de la Principauté d'Orange (in French). Avignon: Seguin Frères. pp. 299–300.

[24] He was appointed by the King of France: Eubel, III, p. 123. He had been Abbot of the monastery of Mazan in the diocese of Noyon. Bastet, pp. 211-213. Honoré Fisquet (1864). La France pontificale (Gallia Christiana): Montpellier (première partie) (in French). Paris: Etienne Repos. p. 369.

[25] Bastet, pp. 218-223. On entering his See, he discovered that the city of Orange and all of the churches were occupied by the Huguenots. The Third War of Religion made his position impossible. Jean Crespin (1889). Histoire des martyrs: persecutez et mis a mort pour la verite de l'Evangile, depuis le temps des apostres jusques a present (1619) (in French). Toulouse: Societe des libres religieux. p. 369. Jean-Claude Fermaud (1999). Le Protestantisme en Provence en Avignon, dans le Comtat, la principauté d'Orange et le comté de Nice au XVIe siècle jusqu'à l'Edit de Nantes (in French). Carrières-sous-Poissy: La Cause. ISBN 978-2-87657-033-7.

[26] 27 May 1647: Eubel-Gauchat, Hierarchia catholica IV, p. 360. He died 3/4 December 1668.

[27] 8 August 1661: Eubel-Gauchat, p. 242.

[28] He was consecrated in Paris, in the church of the Celestines, in 1677: Pierre Hyacinthe Morice (1839). L'Eglise de Bretagne; ou, Histoire des siéges épiscopaux, séminaires et collégiales (in French). Paris: Mequignon. p. 515.

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