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ARCHDIOCESE OF BOURGES (BITURICÆ).
Coextensive with the departments of Cher and Indre. After the Concordat of 1802 it became themetropolitan of the Sees ofClermont,Saint-Flour, and Limoges, and in 1822 received as new suffragans the Sees ofTulle andLe Puy. AsGregory of Tours assigns a date subsequent to the "mission of the twelve bishops", that is, to the year 250, for the foundation of theChurch at Bourges; and as Leo, who occupied the See of Bourges in 453, was its twelfthbishop; Duchesne, after most careful calculation, places the episcopate of St. Ursinus, founder of thesee, near the close of the third century. He explains that the legend which makes Ursinus one of the seventy-two disciples seems to be of the later origin than that ofSt. Martial, being met with for the first time in an eleventh-centurymanuscript. Fifteensaints figured among Leo's successors up to the end of the ninth century: Sevitianus, Ætherius, Thecretus, Marcellus (all prior to 337);Palladius (377-384); Simplicius (472-480); Desideratus (549-550); Probianus, Felix, Remedius, and the first Sulpicius (all in the second half of the sixth century); Austregisilus (612-624); the second Sulpicius (624-644), after whom the celebrated church of St.-Sulpice inParis was named; David (793-802); and Agilulfus (c. 820-840). Among laterbishops are: St. Guillaume de Donjeon (1200-09); the celebratedtheologian, Ægidius a Columnis (1298-1316); and Jean Coeur and during whose episcopate theUniversity of Bourges was founded.
The claims of the See of Bourges to the primacy in Aquitaine are treated at length in the article onBordeaux.Pope Clement V (1305-14) opposed these claims; nevertheless the See of Bourges always prided itself upon a sort of platonic supremacy and when, in 1678, theBishop ofAlbi becameArchbishop, he recognized explicitly the claims of Bourges. Even today theArchbishop of Bourges retains the title of Primae of Aquitaine; in this way, the name of Aquitaine which, after the thirteenth century, disappeared from political geography (being replaced by that of Guyenne) has been perpetuated in the terminology of theChurch. In 1107Pascal II, and in 1163Alexander III, visited thediocese of Bourges. Many councils were held at Bourges, the principal among them being those of 1225 and 1226 which dealt with theAlbigenses; that of 1438, after which Charles VIIpromulgated thePragmatic Sanction whereby the decrees of Basle were ratified inFrance, and the organization of a Gallican Church was attempted; and the council of 1528 which combated theProtestant encroachments favoured at Bourges on the one side by theuniversity in whichCalvin and Theodore Beza studied, and on the other by the court of Margaret of Valois.
The following greatabbeys were located within the diocese: theBenedictine Abbey of Déols near Châteauroux, founded in the tenth century, where St. Lusorius, son of the senator Leocadius, wasinterred; the Abbey of St.-Satur near Sancerre, founded in 463; and that of Chezal-Benoît founded in 1098 by Blessed André of Vallombrosa, and mother-house of the greatBenedictine congregation which included theParisian Abbey of St.-Germain-des-Prés and was later merged into the Congregation of St.-Maur. St. Leman,Archbishop ofSeville, who fled the persecutions of Totila, sufferedmartyrdom at Vatan in the middle of the sixth century. Louis VII (1120-80) wascrowned in theCathedral of Bourges, and Louis XI (1423-83) and the great Condé (1621-86) werebaptized at Bourges. Labbe, author of the "Collection of Councils" (1607-67) andBourdaloue, the illustrious preacher (1632-1704), bothJesuits, were born at Bourges. The Cathedral of Bourges (thirteenth century) has beautiful windows and itssacristy (fifteenth century) was built at the expense of Jacques Coeur.
The places ofpilgrimages in thediocese are: (1) Notre Dame of Déols near Châteauroux, apilgrimage begun in the tenth century by Ebbo. The church wasconsecrated byPascal II.Pope Alexander III when in exile lived there and received Henry II ofEngland; PopeHonorius III visited it. (2) Notre Dame du Bien Mourir at Fontgombault. (3) Thepilgrimage of Ste.-Solange,patron saint of the County of Berry. Ste.-Solange was born at Villemont, three leagues from Bourges, and suffered death to preserve her virginity. (4) Notre Dame du Sacré Coeur at Issoudun. (5) Notre Dame de Pellevoisin, famous for the visions that date back to 1876 and concerning whichecclesiastical authority is still silent.
In 1899, the following institutions were found in the archdiocese: 36 infantschools in Cher and 29 in Indre, conducted by sisters, 3 girls'orphanages in Cher and 2 in Indre, 1 house of refuge for youngwomen in Cher, 2 patronages for girls in Cher, 20hospitals or hospices in Cher and 14 in Indre, 5 communities for the care of the sick in their homes in Cher and 4 in Indre, 1 insane asylum in Cher, 6 homes for the aged in Cher and 2 in Indre, 1orphanage for deaf-mute and blind girls in Indre, and 1 home for incurables in Indre, all conducted bynuns.
In 1900 thereligious orders of men in the diocese were:Jesuits andFranciscans at Bourges;Trappists at Fontgombault. Thesocieties peculiar to the diocese were: Men: Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, founded in 1854 with the mother-house at Issoudun. This house is the centre of the universal Archconfraternity of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart which hasvicariates Apostolic in Oceanica.Women: (1)Benedictines of the Holy Sacrament or of St. Laurence, a congregation said to date back to the time ofCharlemagne. They are Sisters of the perpetual Adoration and teachers. (2) Sisters of Charity and of the Holy Sacrament, called de Montoire, with the mother-house at Bourges. This congregation, founded in 1662 by Antoine* Moreau, devotes itself to teaching andhospital nursing. It has 150 houses of which 106 are in the Diocese of Bourges. (3) Religious of the Immaculate Mary,hospital nurses and teachers, with the mother-house at Bourges. After the Revolution, the congregation took the place of the lay confraternity of the Immaculate Mary, and, subsequent to 1857 had charge of the generalhospital. (4) Daughters of the Sacred Heart of Issoudun with houses inBelgium and Australia. At the close of 1905 the Archdiocese of Bourges had 652,681 inhabitants, 65 pastorates 430 succursalparishes (mission churches), and 28 curacies.
Gallia Christiana (1720), II, 1-115; instrumenta, 1-72; LEROUX, La primatie de Bourges (Annales du Midi) (1895), VII; PARISET, L'établissement de la primatie de Bourges in Annales du Midi (1902), XIV; DE GIRARDOT AND DURANT, La Cathédrale de Bourges (Moulins, 1849); DUCHESNE, Fastes épiscopaux, II; VALOIS, Hist. de la pragmatique Sanction de Bourges sous Charles VII (Paris, 1906); CHEVALIER, Topobibl., 465-466.
APA citation.Goyau, G.(1907).Bourges. InThe Catholic Encyclopedia.New York: Robert Appleton Company.http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02720b.htm
MLA citation.Goyau, Georges."Bourges."The Catholic Encyclopedia.Vol. 2.New York: Robert Appleton Company,1907.<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02720b.htm>.
Transcription.This article was transcribed for New Advent by Theodore Rego.
Ecclesiastical approbation.Nihil Obstat. 1907. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor.Imprimatur. +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York.
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