Lyons

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The Archdiocese of Lyons (Lugdunensis) comprises the Department of the Rhône (except the Canton of Villeurbanne, which belongs to theDiocese of Grenoble) and of the Loire. TheConcordat of 1801 assigned as the boundaries of the Archdiocese of Lyons the Departments of the Rhône, the Loire, and the Ain and as suffragans the Dioceses ofMende,Grenoble, andChambéry. The Archdiocese of Lyons was authorized by Letters Apostolic of 29 November, 1801, to unite with his title the titles of the suppressedmetropolitan Sees of Vienne and Embrun (seeG;G). In 1822 the Department of Ain was separated from the Archdiocese of Lyons to form theDiocese of Belley; the title of the suppressed church of Embrun was transferred to theArchdiocese of Aix, and the Archdiocese of Lyons and Vienne had henceforth as suffragans Langres,Autun,Dijon, St. Claude, andGrenoble.

History

It appears to have beenproved by Mgr Duchesne, despite the local traditions of many Churches, that in all three parts of Gaul in the second century there was but a single organized Church, that of Lyons. The "Deacon of Vienne",martyred at Lyons during thepersecution of 177, was probably adeacon installed at Vienne by theecclesiastical authority of Lyons. The confluence of the Rhône and the Saône, where sixty Gallic tribes had erected the famous altar toRome and Augustus, was also the centre from whichChristianity was gradually propagated throughout Gaul. The presence at Lyons of numerousAsiaticChristians and their almost daily communications with the Orient were likely to arouse the susceptibilities of the Gallo-Romans. Apersecution arose underMarcus Aurelius. Its victims at Lyons numbered forty-eight, half of them of Greek origin, half Gallo-Roman, among othersSt. Blandina, and St. Pothinus, firstBishop of Lyons, sent to Gaul bySt. 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 theChristians ofAsia and Phrygia in the name of the faithful of Vienne and Lyons, and relating thepersecution of 177, is considered by Ernest Renan as one of the most extraordinary documents possessed by any literature; it is thebaptismal certificate ofChristianity inFrance. The successor of St. Pothinus was the illustriousSt. Irenæus, 177-202.

The discovery on the Hill of St. Sebastian of ruins of anaumachia 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 themartyrs of Lyons suffered death on this hill. Very ancient tradition, however, represents the church of Ainay as erected at the place of theirmartyrdom. Thecrypt of St. Pothinus, under the choir of thechurch of St. Nizier was destroyed in 1884. But there are still revered at Lyons theprison cell of St. Pothinus, where Anne of Austria,Louis XIV, andPius VII came topray, and thecrypt ofSt. 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 primitiveChristianity in Lyons; the earliest dates from the year 334. In the second and third centuries the See of Lyons enjoyed great renown throughout Gaul, witness the local legends ofBesançon 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 toSt. Cyprian andPope Stephen I, in 254, regarding theNovatian tendencies of Marcian,Bishop of Arles. But whenDiocletian by the new provincial organization had taken away from Lyons its position asmetropolis of the three Gauls, the prestige of Lyons diminished for a time.

At the end of the empire and during the Merovingian period severalsaints are counted among the Bishops of Lyons:St. Justus (374-381) who died in amonastery in theThebaid and was renowned for theorthodoxy of hisdoctrine in the struggle againstArianism (the church of the Machabees, whither his body was brought, was as early as the fifty century a place ofpilgrimage under the name of the collegiate church ofSt. Justus), St. Alpinus and St. Martin (disciple ofSt. Martin of Tours; end of fourth century); St. Antiochus (400-410); St. Elpidius (410-422); St. Sicarius (422-33);St. Eucherius (c. 433-50), amonk of Lérins and the author ofhomilies, from whom doubtless dates the foundation at Lyons of the "hermitages" of which more will be said below; St. Patiens (456-98) who successfully combated the famine andArianism, and whom Sidonius Apollinaris praised in a poem; St. Lupicinus (491-94); St. Rusticus (494-501); St. Stephanus (d. Before 515), who withSt. Avitus of Vienne, convoked a council at Lyons for the conversion of theArians; St. Viventiolus (515-523), who in 517 presided withSt. Avitus at the Council of Epaone; St. Lupus, amonk, afterwardsbishop (535-42), probably the firstarchbishop, 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 generalhospital;St. Nicetius or Nizier (552-73), who received from thepope the title of patriarch, and whosetomb washonoured bymiracles. The prestige ofSt. Nicetius was lasting; his successor St. Priseus (573-588) bore the title of patriarch, and brought the council of 585 to decide thatnational 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 ofSt. Gregory the Great and who perhapsconsecratedSt. Augustine, the Apostle ofEngland; St. Aredius (603-615); St. Annemundus or Chamond (c. 650), friend ofSt. 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),BenedictineAbbot of Fontenelle, grand almoner and minister of Queen Bathilde; St. Lambertus (c. 680-690), alsoAbbot of Fontenelle.

At the end of the fifth century Lyons was the capital of the Kingdom ofBurgundy, but after 534 it passed under the domination of the kings ofFrance. Ravaged by theSaracens in 725, the city was restored through the liberality ofCharlemagne who established a richlibrary in themonastery of Ile Barbe. In the time of St. Patiens and thepriest Constans (d. 488) theschool of Lyons was famous; Sidonius Apollinaris waseducated there. The letter of Leidrade toCharlemagne (807) shows the care taken by the emperor for the restoration of learning in Lyons. With the aid of thedeacon Florus he made theschool so prosperous that in the tenth century Englishmen went thither to study. UnderCharlemagne and his immediate successors, the Bishops of Lyons, whose ascendancy was attested by the number of councils over which they were called to preside, played an importanttheological part.Adoptionism had no more active enemies than Leidrade (798-814) and Agobard (814-840). When Felix ofUrgel continued rebellious to the condemnations pronounced againstAdoptionism from 791-799 by the Councils of Ciutad, Friuli,Ratisbon,Frankfort, andRome,Charlemagne conceived theidea of sending to Urgel with Nebridius,Bishop of Narbonne, and St. Benedict,abbot of themonastery of Aniane, Archbishop Leidrade, a native ofNuremberg andCharlemagne's librarian. They preached againstAdoptionism inSpain, conducted Felix in 799 to the Council ofAachen, where he seemed to submit to the arguments ofAlcuin, and then brought him back to hisdiocese., But the submission of Felix was not complete; Agobard, "Chorepiscopus" of Lyons, convicted him anew ofAdoptionism in a secret conference, and when Felix died in 815 there was found among his papers a treatise in which he professedAdoptionism. Then Agobard, who had becomeArchbishop of Lyons in 814 after Leidrade's retirement to themonastery of St. Médard ofSoissons, composed a long treatise which completed the ruin of thatheresy.

Agobard displayed great activity as apastor and a publicist in his opposition to theJews and to varioussuperstitions. His rootedhatred for allsuperstition led him in his treatise on images into certain expressions which savoured ofIconoclasm. 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 hissee, in which he died in 840. During the exile of Agobard the See of Lyons had been for a short time administered byAmalarius of Metz, whom thedeacon Florus charged withheretical opinions regarding the "triforme corpus Christi", and who took part in the controversies withGottschalk on the subject ofpredestination. Amolon (841-852) and St. Remy (852-75) continued the struggle against theheresy ofValence, which condemned thisheresy, and also was engaged in strife withHincmar. From 879-1032 Lyons formed part of the Kingdom of Provence and afterwards of the second Kingdom ofBurgundy. When in 1302 Rudolph III, the Sluggard, ceded his states to Conrad the Salic, Emperor ofGermany, the portion of Lyons situated on the left bank of the Saône became, at least nominally, an imperial city. Finally Archbishop Burchard, brother of Rudolph, claimedrights of sovereignty over Lyons as inherited from his mother, Mathilde ofFrance; in this way the government of Lyons instead of being exercised by the distant emperor, became a matter of dispute between the counts who claimed the inheritance and the successivearchbishops.

Lyons attracted the attention ofCardinal Hildebrand, who held a council there in 1055 against thesimoniacalbishops. In 1076, asGregory VII, he deposed Archbishop Humbert (1063-76) forsimony. Saint Gebuin (Jubinus), who succeeded Humbert was the confidant ofGregory VII and contributed to the reform of theChurch by the two councils of 1080 and 1082, at which wereexcommunicated Manasses ofReims, Fulk of Anjou, and themonks of Marmoutiers. It was under the episcopate of Saint Gebuin thatGregory VII (20 April, 1079) established the primacy of theChurch of Lyons over the Provinces ofRouen,Tours, and Sens, which primacy was specially confirmed byCallistus II, despite the letter written to him in 1126 by Louis VI in favour of the church ofSens. As far as it regarded the Province ofRouen this letter was later suppressed by adecree of the king's council in 1702, at the request ofColbert,Archbishop ofRouen. Hugh (1081-1106), the successor of St. Gebuin, the friend ofSt. Anselm, and for a whilelegate ofGregory VII inFrance andBurgundy, had differences later on withVictor III, whoexcommunicated him for a time, also with Paschal II. The latterpope came to Lyons in 1106,consecrated the basilica of Ainay, and dedicated one of its altars inhonour of the Immaculate Conception. The Feast of the Immaculate Conception was solemnized at Lyons about 1128, perhaps at the instance ofSt. Anselm of Canterbury, andSt. Bernard wrote to the canons of Lyons to complain that they should have instituted a feast without consulting thepope. As soon as Thomas à Becket,Archbishop ofCanterbury, had been proclaimed Blessed (1173), his cult was instituted at Lyons. Lyons of the twelfth century thus has a glorious place in the history ofCatholic liturgy and even ofdogma, but the twelfth century was also marked by theheresy of Peter Waldo and theWaldenses, the Poor Men of Lyons, who were opposed by Jean de Bellème (1181-1193), and by an important change in the political situation of thearchbishops.

In 1157Frederick Barbarossa confirmed the sovereignty of theArchbishops of Lyons; thenceforth there was a lively contest between them and the counts. An arbitration effected by thepope in 1167 had no result, but by the treaty of 1173 Guy, Count of Forez, ceded to the canons of theprimatialchurch of St. John his title of count of Lyons and his temporal authority. Then came the growth of the Commune, more belated in Lyons than in many other cities, but in 1193 thearchbishop had to make some concession to the citizens. The thirteenth century was a period of conflict. Three times, in 1207, 1269, and 1290, grave troubles broke out between the partisans of thearchbishop who dwelt in the château of Pierre Seize, those of the count-canons who lived in a separate quarter near thecathedral, and those of the townsfolk.Gregory X attempted, but without success, to restore peace by two Acts, 2 April, 1273, and 11 Nov., 1274. The kings ofFrance were always inclined to side with the commune; after the siege of Lyons by Louis X (1310) the treaty of 10 April, 1312, definitively attached Lyons to the Kingdom ofFrance, but, until the beginning of the fifteenth century theChurch of Lyons was allowed to coin its own money.

If the thirteenth century had imperilled the political sovereignty of thearchbishops, it had on the other hand made Lyons a kind of secondRome.Gregory X was a former canon of Lyons, whileInnocent V, as Peter of Tarantaise, wasArchbishop of Lyons from 1272 to 1273. Theviolence of the Hohenstaufen towards theHoly See forcedInnocent IV andGregory X to seek refuge at Lyons and to hold there twogeneral councils (seeL C). A free and independent city of the Kingdom ofFrance as well as of the Holy Empire, located in a central position betweenItaly,Spain,France,England, andGermany, Lyons possessed in the thirteenth century importantmonasteries which naturally sheltered distinguished guests and their numerous followers. For several yearsInnocent IV dwelt there with his court in the buildings of the chapter ofSaint Justus. Local tradition relates that it was on seeing the red hat of the canons of Lyons that the courtiers ofInnocent IV conceived theidea of obtaining from the Council of Lyons itsdecree that thecardinals should henceforth wear red hats. The sojourn ofInnocent IV at Lyons was marked by numerous works of public utility, to which thepope gave vigorous encouragement. He grantedindulgences 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 Cæur de Lion on their way to theCrusade. The building of the churches of St. John andSt. Justus was pushed forward with activity; he sent delegates even toEngland to solicitalms for this purpose and heconsecrated thehigh altar in both churches. At Lyons werecrownedClement V (1305) andJohn XXII (1310); at Lyons in 1449 theantipopeFelix V renounced thetiara; there, too, was held in 1512, without any definite conclusion, the last session of theschismaticalCouncil of Pisa againstJulius II. In 1560 theCalvinists took Lyons by surprise, but they were driven out by Antoine* d'Albon,Abbot of Savigny and laterArchbishop of Lyons. Again masters of Lyons in 1562 they were driven thence by the Ambrose Maréchal de Vieuville. At the command of the famous Baron des Adrets they committed numerous acts ofviolence in the region of Montbrison. It was at Lyons thatHenry IV, the convertedCalvinist king, married Marie de Medicis (9 December, 1600).

The principalArchbishops of Lyons during the modern period were: Guy III d'Auvergne, Cardinal de Bologne (1340-1342), who as a diplomat rendered great service to theHoly See; Cardinal Jean de Lorraine (1537-1539); Hippolyte d'Este, Cardinal ofFerrara (1539-1550), whomFrancis I named protector of the crown ofFrance at the court ofPaul III, and a patron of scholars; Cardinal François de Tournon (1550-1562), who negotiated several times betweenFrancis I andCharles V, combated theReformation and founded the Collège de Tournon, which theJesuits later made one of the most celebratededucational 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 theminister of Louis XIII;Cardinal de Tencin (1740-1758); Antoine* de Montazet (1758-1788), aprelate ofJansenist tendencies, whoseliturgical works will be referred to later, and who had published for hisseminary by the Oratorian Joseph Valla, six volumes of "Institutiones theologicæ" known as "Théologiede Lyon", and spread throughoutItaly by Scipio Ricci until condemned by the Index in 1792; Marbeuf (1788-1799), who died in exile at Lübeck in 1799 and whosevicar-general Castillon was beheaded at Lyons 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 constitutionalBishop of Lyons from 27 March, 1791, to 11 January, 1794, thedate of his death on the scaffold. Among thearchbishops subsequent to the Concordat must be mentioned:Joseph Fesch under whose episcopatePius VII twice visited Lyons, in Nov., 1804, and April, 1805, and in 1822 the Society for the Propagation of the Faith was founded; Maurice de Bonald (1840-1870), son of thephilosopher;Ginoulhiac (1870-1875), known by his "Histoire du dogme catholique pendant let trois premiers siècles".

Chapters and colleges

At the end of the old regime theprimatial chapter consisted of 32 canons, each able to prove 32 degrees of military nobility; each of these canons bore the title of Count of Lyons. The Chapter of Lyons has thehonour of numbering among its canons fourpopes (Innocent IV,Gregory X,Boniface VIII, andClement V), 20cardinals, 20archbishops, more than 80bishops, and finally 3persons of officially recognizedsanctity: St. Ismidon of Sassenage, laterBishop of Die (d. About 1116), BlessedBlessed Louis Aleman and Blessed François d'Estaing, laterBishop ofRodez (d. In 1501). The city of Lyons numbered 5 collegiate churches and the diocese 14 others. There were 4 chapters of noble canonesses. TheJesuits had at Lyons 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 ofFrance. The Petites Ecoles founded in 1670 by Démia, apriest of Bourg, contributed much to primary instruction at Lyons. Since thelaw of 1875 concerning highereducation Lyons possessesCatholic faculties oftheology, letters,sciences, and law.

Principal saints

The Diocese of Lyons honours assaints: St. Epipodius and his companion St. Alexander, probablymartyrs underMarcus Aurelius; thepriest St. Peregrinus (third century); St. Baldonor (Galmier), a native of Aveizieux, at first a locksmith, whosepiety was remarked by thebishop, St. Viventiolus; he became acleric at the Abbey ofSt. Justus, thensubdeacon, 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 theThebaid; Sts. Romanus and Lupicinus (fifth century), natives of the Diocese of Lyons 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 byTillemont, was a daughter ofSt. Eucherius; St. Rambert, soldier andmartyr 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.

Among the natives of Lyons must be mentioned Sidonius Apollinaris (430-489); Abbé Morellet, litterateur (1727-1819); theChristianphilosopher Ballanche (1776-1847); the religiouspainterHippolyte Flandrin (1809-1864);Puvis de Chavannes,painter of the life of Ste Geneviève (1824-1898). The diocese of Lyons is also the birthplace of theJesuit Père Coton (1564-1626), confessor ofHenry IV and a native of Néronde, and Abbé Terray, controller general of finance under Louis XVI, a native of Boen (1715-1778).Gerson, whose old age was spent at Lyons in thecloister ofSt. Paul, where he instructed poor children, died there in 1429.St. Francis de Sales died at Lyons, 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 charityhospital), also freeschools, and fed the workmen during the famine of 1693.

M. Guigue has catalogued the eleven "hermitages" (eight of them for men and three forwomen) which were distinctive of the ascetical life ofChristian Lyons in theMiddle Ages; these were cells in whichpersons 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 privateproperty of a neighbouring church ormonastery, which installed therein for life a male orfemalerecluse. The general almshouse of Lyons, or charityhospital, was founded in 1532 after the great famine of 1531 under the supervision of eight administrators chosen from among the more important citizens. The institution of the jubilee of St. Nizier dates beyond adoubt to the stay ofInnocent IV at Lyons. This jubilee, which had all the privileges of the secular jubilees ofRome, was celebrated each time that Low Thursday, the feast of St. Nizier, coincided with 2 April, i.e. whenever thefeast of Easter itself was on the earliest day allowed by the paschal cycle, namely 22 March. In 1818, the last time this coincidence occurred, the feast of St. Nizier was not celebrated. But thecathedral of St. John also enjoys a great jubilee each time that the feast ofSt. John the Baptist coincides withCorpus Christi, that is, whenever the feast ofCorpus Christi falls on 24 June. It iscertain that in 1451 the coincidence of these two feasts was celebrated with special splendour by the population of Lyons, then emerging from the troubles of the Hundred Years' War, but there is no document to prove that the jubileeindulgence existed at thatdate. However, Lyonnese tradition places the first great jubilee in 1451; the four subsequent jubilees took place in 1546, 1666, 1734 and 1886.

Liturgy

Some authors have held that the Gallican Liturgy was merely the Liturgy of Ephesus, brought to Gaul by the founders of theChurch of Lyons. Mgr Duchesne considers that during the two centuries afterEmperor Constantine the prestige of theChurch of Lyons was not such that it could dictate a liturgy across the Pyrenees, the Channel and the Alps, and lure from Roman influence half the Churches ofItaly. In his opinion it was not Lyons, butMilan, which was the centre of the diffusion of the Gallican Liturgy. Under Leidrade and Agobard theChurch of Lyons, although fulfilling the task of purifying itsliturgical texts exacted by theHoly See, upheld its own traditions. "Among the Churches of France", wrote St. Bernard to the canons of Lyons, "that of Lyons 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 theDivine 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". In the seventeenth centuryCardinal Bona, in his treatise "De divina psalmodia", renders similar homage to theChurch of Lyons. But in the eighteenth century Bishop Montazet, contrary to theBull ofPius V on theBreviary, changed the text of theBreviary and theMissal, from which there resulted a whole century of troubles for theChurch of Lyons. The efforts ofPius 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 theclergy and thelaity, as much with regard to thecivil power as to the Vatican. Finally, on 4 Feb., 1864, at a reception of theparishpriests of Lyons,Pius IX declared his displeasure at this agitation and assured them that nothing should be changed in the ancient Lyonnese ceremonies; by aBrief of 17 March, 1864, he ordered the progressive introduction of theRoman Breviary andMissal in the diocese. Theprimatial church of Lyons adopted them for public services 8 December, 1869. One of the most touching rites of the ancient Gallican liturgy, retained by theChurch of Lyons, is the blessing of the people by thebishop at the moment of Communion.

Churches

Thecathedral of St. John, begun in the twelfth century on the ruins of a sixth century church, was completed in 1476; worthy of note are the two crosses to right and left of the altar, preserved since the council of 1274 as a symbol of the union of the churches, and the Bourbonchapel, built by Cardinal de Bourbon and his brother Pierre de Bourbon, son-in-law of Louis XI, a masterpiece of fifteenth centurysculpture. The church of Ainay, dating from the tenth and eleventh centuries, is of the Byzantine style. The doorway of St. Nizier's (fifteenth century) was carved in the sixteenth century by Philibert Delorme. The collegiatechurch of St. John Baptist at St. Chamond, now destroyed, presented a singular arrangement; thebelfry was situated below the church, to which those coming from the city could only gain access by climbing two hundred steps; the roof of the church served as pavement for the courtyard of the fortress, the circuit of which might be made in a carriage.

Pilgrimages

The chiefpilgrimages of thediocese are Notre Dame de Fourvières, a sanctuarydating from the time of St. Pothinus, on the site of atemple of Venus. In 1643 the people of Lyonsconsecrated themselves to Notre Dame de Fourvières and pledged themselves to a solemn procession on 8 September of each year; the new basilica of Fourvières,consecrated in 1896, attracts numerouspilgrims. Notre Dame de Benoite-Vaux at Saint-Etienne, apilgrimage founded in 1849 by theMarists who had beenmiraculously preserved from a flood; Notre-Dame de Valfleury, near Saint Chamond, apilgrimagedating from the eighth century and re-established in 1629 after a plague; Notre Dame de Vernay, near Roanne.

Religious congregations

In 1901, before the application of the Associations Law to congregations the Diocese of Lyons possessedCapuchins,Jesuits, Camillians,Dominicans,Carmelites,Oblates of Mary Immaculate,Redemptorists,Sulpicians, Clerics of St. Viator, and three great orders native to the diocese: (1) theMarists, founded byVen. Colin and approved byGregory XVI in 1836; they had their mother-house at Lyons, which governed a number of establishments inEngland,Ireland,Belgium,Spain, America,New Zealand, and Australia, and they were charged with theVicariates Apostolic of New Caledonia (since 1847), of Central Oceania (since 1842), Fuji (since 1844),Samoa, and the Prefecture Apostolic of the Solomon Islands. (2) The African missionaries (Missionnaires d'Afrique), an association ofsecular priests founded in 1856 by Mgr de Marion-Bresillac and charged with the Vicariate Apostolic of Benin (1860), with the five Prefectures Apostolic of Ivory Coast (1895), Gold Coast (1879),Nigeria (1884), Dahomey (1882), and the Delta of the Nile. This congregation has two Apostolic schools, at Clermont-Ferand and atCork,Ireland; and two preparatoryschools atNantes and Keer-Maestricht,Holland. (3) TheLittle Brothers of Mary, founded 2 January, 1817 by Ven. Marcellin Champagnat, vicar at Valla, d. 1840. The mother-house at Saint Genis-Laval, near Lyons, governs 7000 members, 14 novitiates, 25 juniorates, and about 800schools, either elementary, agricultural or secondary, inFrance,Belgium,Denmark,Spain,Great Britain,Italy,Switzerland,Turkey,Canada, Mexico,Brazil, theUnited States,Colombia,Egypt,Cap Haïtien, Seychelles,Syria,Arabia,China,Australia,New Zealand, New Caledonia, Central Oceanica.

TheBrothers of St. John of God have their mother-house forFrance at Lyons. The Society of the Priests of St. Irenæus is engaged in teaching and givingdiocesan missions. In 1901 the Diocese of Lyons had adiocesan "grand séminaire" and auniversityseminary at Lyons, aseminary ofphilosophy at Alix and five "petits séminaires" at St. Jean de Lyon, Duerne, St. Jodard, Vernières, and Montbrison; the first of these was founded underCharlemagne.

Thefemale congregations native to the Diocese of Lyons are numerous; the following deserve special mention: The Sisters of Notre Dame de Fourvières, founded 1732 at Usson, for teaching and nursing, with the mother-house at Lyons; the Sisters of St. Charles, founded 1680 by the Abbé Démia, teaching and nursing, with mother-house at Lyons; theReligious of the Perpetual Adoration of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, founded 1820 by the Curé Ribier, with their mother-house at Lajarasse; the Religious of the Five Wounds of Our Lord, founded at Lyons in 1886 as a contemplative, nursing, and teaching order, which has houses inCanada; the Sisters of the Child Jesus, teaching, with their mother-house at Claveisolles, the origin of which dates from the opening of a littleschool in 1830 by Josephine du Sablon; theFranciscan Sisters of the Propagation of the Faith, founded in 1836 by Mother Moyne for the care of incurables with mother-house at Lyons; the Religious of Jesus-Mary, a teaching congregation, founded in 1818 by thepriest André Coindre and Claudine Thevenet, whose mother-house installed at Lyons governs a number of houses abroad; the Ladies of Nazareth, teaching, founded in 1822 at Montmirail (Marne) by the Duchesse de La Rochefoucauld Doudeauville, whose mother-house removed to Oullins in 1854 governs several establishments in Palestine and atLondon; the Religious of Our Lady of Missions, founded at Lyons in 1861 for the missions of Oceanica; the abbey of theBenedictines of the Holy Heart of Mary, founded 1804, the first house of this congregation to be restored after theRevolution; the Religious of the Holy Family, founded in 1825 by the Curé ofSt. Bruno les Chartreux for mission work among workmen; the Sisters ofSt. Francis of Assisi, founded in 1838 bypious workingwomen foreducation and nursing, with mother-house at Lyons, also sends subjects to the missions ofArmenia and America.

Statistics

At the end of the nineteenth century the religious congregations maintained in the Diocese of Lyons 2 maternityhospitals, 3 day nurseries, 193 nurseries, 2 children'shospitals, 9hospitals for incurables, 1 asylum for blind girls, 4 asylums for deaf mutes, 5 boys'orphanages, 49 girls'orphanages, 4 workrooms, 3 industrialschools, 2schools of apprentices, 5 institutions for the rescue of youngwomen, 1 house of correction for youngwomen, 1 house of correction for boys, 3 institutions for the reform of adults, 61hospitals, infirmaries, or asylums for the aged, 19 houses for the care of the sick in their homes, 2 homes for convalescents, 5 houses of retreat, 2insane asylums. In 1908, three years after the Separation Law went into effect, the Archdiocese of Lyons had 1,464,665 inhabitants, 74parishes, 595 branch churches, 585 vicariates.

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