Roman Catholic Diocese of Troyes

Diocese of Troyes
Dioecesis Trecensis
Diocèse de Troyes

Location
Country France
Ecclesiastical province Reims
Metropolitan Archdiocese of Reims
Statistics
Area 6,028 km2 (2,327 sq mi)
Population
- Total
- Catholics		 (as of 2010)
296,000
210,000 (70.9%)
Information
Denomination Roman Catholic
Rite Roman Rite
Established 4th Century
Cathedral Cathedral of St Peter and St Paul in Troyes
Patron saint Saint Peter
Saint Paul
Current leadership
Pope Francis
Bishop Marc Stenger
Metropolitan Archbishop Thierry Jordan
Website
Website of the Diocese

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Troyes is a diocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic church in France. The diocese now comprises the département of Aube. Erected in the 4th century, the diocese is currently suffragan to the Archdiocese of Reims. The current bishop is Marc Camille Michel Stenger, who was appointed in 1999.

History

The catalogue of bishops of Troyes, known since the 9th century, is in the opinion of Louis Duchesne, worthy of confidence. The first bishop, St. Amator, seems to have preceded by a few years Bishop Optatianus who probably ruled the diocese about 344.

There have been several councils held at Troyes.

The cathedral of Troyes is a fine Gothic structure begun in the 12th, and completed in the 15th, century; the ancient collegiate Church of St. Urban is a Gothic building whose lightness of treatment reminds one of La Sainte-Chapelle at Paris. It was built by Urban IV at the close of the 13th century. He was a native of Troyes and on one of the stained-glass windows he caused his father to be depicted, working at his trade of tailor.

The Abbey of Nesle la Riposte was founded before 545 near Villenauxe, perhaps by Queen Clotilde. In the 16th century the monks caused to be rebuilt at Villenauxe, with the actual stones which they brought from Nesle, the original doorway of Nesle Abbey, an interesting monument of French history. The Benedictine Mabillon undertook to interpret its carvings, among which might be seen the statue of a reine pédauque (i.e. a web-footed queen) supposed to be St. Clotilde.

The Abbey of Notre Dame aux Nonnains, founded by St. Leucon, was an important abbey for women. Alcuin and St. Bernard corresponded with its abbesses. At his installation the bishop went to the abbey on the previous evening; the bed he slept on became his property, but the mule on which he rode became the property of the abbess. The abbess led the bishop by the hand into the chapter hall; she put on his mitre, offered him his crozier, and in return the bishop promised to respect the rights of the abbey. The Jansenists in the 18th century made a great noise over the pretended cure by the deacon Paris of Marie Madeleine de Mégrigny, a nun of Notre Dame aux Nonnains. The part of the Diocese of Troyes which formerly belonged to the Diocese of Langres contained the famous Abbey of Clairvaux.

Concerning the Abbey of the Paraclete, founded by Abelard and in which the Abbess Heloise died in 1163, and where her body and that of Abelard were buried until 1792. On 20 June 1353, Geoffroy de Charny, Lord of Savoisy and Lirey, founded at Lirey in honour of the Annunciation a collegiate church with six canonries, and in this church he exposed for veneration the Holy Winding Sheet. Opposition arose on the part of the Bishop of Troyes, who declared after due inquiry that the relic was nothing but a painting, and opposed its exposition. Clement VI by four Bulls, 6 January 1390, approved the exposition as lawful. In 1418 during the civil wars, the canons entrusted the Winding Sheet to Humbert, Count de La Roche, Lord of Lirey. Margaret, widow of Humbert, never returned it but gave it in 1452 to the Duke of Savoy. The requests of the canons of Lirey were unavailing, and the Lirey Winding Sheet is the same that is now exposed and honoured at Turin.

Cardinal Pierre de Bérulle (1575–1629) was brought up on the Bérulle estate in the diocese. He preached at Troyes before founding the Oratorians. An Oratory was opened at Troyes in 1617. Charles-Louis de Lantage, b. at Troyes in 1616, d. in 1694, was one of the chief helpers of Jean-Jacques Olier, founder of the Sulpicians.

The chief pilgrimages of the diocese are: Notre Dame du Chêne, near Bar-sur-Seine, dates from 1667; Notre Dame de la Sainte Espérance, at Mesnil-Saint-Loup; Notre Dame de Valsuzenay.

It was re-established in 1802 as a suffragan of the Archbishopric of Paris, it then comprised the départements of Aube and Yonne, and its bishop had the titles of Troyes, Auxerre, and Châlons-sur-Marne. In 1822 the See of Châlons was created and the Bishop of Troyes lost that title. When Sens was made an archdiocese, the episcopal title of Auxerre went to it and Troyes lost also the département of Yonne, which became the Archdiocese of Sens. The diocese of Troyes since covers, besides the ancient diocesan limits, 116 parishes of the ancient diocese of Langres, and 20 belonging to the ancient diocese of Sens. Since 1822 Troyes is a suffragan of Sens.

Before the application of the Associations Law (1901) there were, in the Diocese of Troyes, Benedictines, Jesuits, Lazarists, Oblates of St. Francis of Sales, and Brothers of the Christian Schools. Many female congregations arose in the diocese, among others the Ursulines of Christian Teaching, founded at Moissy l'Evêque in the eighteenth century by Gilbert Gaspard de Montmorin, Bishop of Langres; the Sisters of Christian Instruction, founded in 1819, with motherhouse at Troyes; the Oblate Sisters of St. Francis de Sales, a teaching order, founded in 1866, with motherhouse at Troyes; Sisters of Notre Dame de Bon Secours, a nursing community with motherhouse at Troyes.

Ordinaries

To 1000

1000 to 1300

1300 to 1500

1500 to 1800

From 1800

Saints connected with the diocese

Among the many saints specially honoured or connected with the diocese are:

See also

Sources and references

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