Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Sens


The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Sens and Auxerre is a Latin Rite Archdiocese of the Roman Catholic Church in France. The Archdiocese comprises the department of Yonne, which is in the region of Bourgogne. Traditionally established in sub-apostolic times, the diocese as metropolis of Quarta Lugdunensis subsequently achieved metropolitical status. For a time, the Archbishop of Sens held the title "Primate of the Gauls and Germania". Until 1622, it numbered seven suffragan dioceses: the dioceses of Chartres, Auxerre, Meaux, Paris, Orléans, Nevers and Troyes, which inspired the acronym CAMPONT. The Diocese of Bethléem at Clamecy was also dependent on the metropolitan see of Sens. The archdiocese is a suffragan of Dijon and consequently no longer wears the pallium. The archbishop is Yves François Patenôtre, whose cathedra is at Sens Cathedral but who resides in Auxerre.

History

Until the French Revolution, the Archbishop of Sens was also Viscount of Sens. In 1622, Paris had been elevated to a metropolitan see and the Sees of Chartres, Orléans and Meaux were separated from the Archdiocese of Sens. In return, the abbey of Mont Saint-Martin in the Diocese of Cambrai was united to the archiepiscopate. It was suppressed by the Napoleonic Concordat of 1802, which annexed to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Troyes the Dioceses of Sens and Auxerre. The somewhat complex agreement gave the title of Bishop of Auxerre to the bishops of Troyes, and the purely honorary title of Archbishop of Sens to the Archbishop of Paris. The Concordat of 1817 reestablished the Archdiocese of Sens and the Diocese of Auxerre, but this arrangement did not last. The law of July 1821, the pontifical brief of 4 September 1821 and the royal ordinance of 19 October 1821 suppressed the Diocese of Auxerre and gave to the Archdiocese of Sens the Department of the Yonne and the Dioceses of Troyes, Nevers and Moulins. A papal brief of 3 June 1823 gave to the Archbishop of Sens the title of Bishop of Auxerre. The Archbishop of Sens continued to reside at Sens until the 1920s, but is now resident at Auxerre. In 2002 Sens-Auxerre lost its metropolitan functions with the creation of an archbishopric for the Burgundy administrative region at Dijon.
The history of the religious beginnings of the church at Sens dates from Savinian and Potentian, and through legend to the Dioceses of Chartres, Troyes and Orléans. Gregory of Tours is silent regarding Savinian and Potentian, founders of the See of Sens; the Hieronymian Martyrology, which was revised before 600 at Auxerre ignores them. The cities of Chartres and Troyes have nothing about these men in their local liturgy prior to the 12th century, and that of Orléans nothing prior to the 15th, pertaining to the preaching of Altinus, Eodaldus and Serotinus. Before the ninth century there was a group of tombs, among which are those of the first bishops of Sens. In 847, the transfer of their remains to the church of St-Pierre le Vif inspired popular devotion towards Savinian and Potentian. In 848, Wandelbert of Prüm named them the first patrons of the church of Sens. Ado, in his martyrology published shortly afterwards, speaks of them as envoys of the apostles and as martyrs. The Martyrology of Usuard depicts them as envoys of the "Roman pontiff" and martyrs. In the middle of the 10th century the relics of these two saints were hidden in a subterranean vault of the Abbey of St-Pierre le Vif to escape the pillage of the Hungarians, but in 1031 they were placed in a reliquary established by the monk Odoranne. This monk speaks of Altinus, Eodaldus, and Serotinus as apostolic companions of Savinian and Potentian, but does not view them as legitimate.
In a document which dates from the end of the sixth century or the beginning of the seventh—but according to Louis Duchesne, who labels the Gerbertine legend as written in 1046 and 1079 under the inspiration of Gerbert, Abbot of St-Pierre le Vif—is first described a legend tracing to Savinian and Potentian the evangelization of the churches of Orléans, Chartres and Troyes. After some uncertainty, the legend became fixed in the Chronicle of pseudo-Clarius, compiled about 1120. The Christian faith could not have been preached at Sens in the second century, but we know from Sidonius Apollinaris that in 475 the Church of Sens had its 13th bishop; the list of bishops does not indicate that the episcopal see existed prior to the second half of the third century or the beginning of the fourth.

Bishops and archbishops

Before 1000 AD

Among the bishops of Sens in the fourth century were:
;Fifth century:
;Sixth century:
;Seventh century:
;Eighth century:
;Ninth century:
;Tenth century:
Walter : anointed Eudes in 888, Robert I in July 922, and Rudolph of France on 13 July 923 in the Church of St-Médard at Soissons; he inherited from his uncle Vaultier a sacramentary composed between 855 and 873 for the Abbey of St-Amand at Puelle. This document is an example of Carolingian art and is now in the National Library of Sweden.
Gelduinus was deposed for simony by Pope Leo IX at the Council of Reims. The second half of the 11th century saw a decline in prestige for the Diocese of Sens. Under the episcopate of Richerius, Pope Urban II withdrew primatial authority from the See of Sens to confer it on the archbishopric of Lyon, and Richerius died without having accepted this decision; his successor Daimbert was consecrated at Rome in March 1098 after giving assurance that he recognized the primacy of Lyons. Bishop Henri Sanglier caused the condemnation by a council in 1140 of certain propositions of Abelard.
The see regained some prestige when Hugues de Toucy crowned Constance at Orléans in 1152 despite protests by the Archbishop of Reims, and during whose episcopate Pope Alexander III installed the pontifical court at Sens for 18 months, on the advice of the bishops.
A large number of church councils were held at Sens between 600 and 1485. The first involved a controversy over the date of Easter which meant that St. Columbanus refused to attend. The council of 1140 condemned the writings of Abelard. The council of 1198 was concerned with the Manichaean sect of Poplicani.

Studies

Acknowledgment