| Primate of the Gauls | |
|---|---|
| Primat des Gaules | |
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 | |
| Residence | Archdiocese of Lyon |
| Appointer | The Pope |
| Term length | At the Pope's pleasure |
| Formation | 1079; 946 years ago (1079) |
| First holder | Gébuin |
| Website | http://lyon.catholique.fr/ |
Primate of the Gauls is a title given since 1079 to thearchbishop of Lyon, former capital of theThree Gauls then land of theRoman Empire, and has described the authority he has exercised in the past over the other bishops of France. The primacy of a title conferred on archbishop guarantees a theoretical jurisdiction over several ecclesiastical provinces. In France, only the title ofPrimate of theGauls andPrimate of Normandy, respectively assigned to the archbishops of Lyon and Rouen, are still used (although the honorific title of Primate of Lorraine brought by thebishop of Nancy and Toul does exist).
Currently, the primate of the Gauls is ArchbishopOlivier de Germay.
The first Christian missionary work in what is today France was centered onLyon. A wave of persecution inAsia Minor had seen migration of Christians to the cities ofLugdunum (Lyon), andVienne.[1] It was here the first bishops were established there. TheBishop of Lugdunum,Saint Pothinus (c.177) and his discipleSaint Irenaeus who succeeded him were at the center of this immigration.
Irenaeus had been a student ofPolycarp the disciple ofJohn the Evangelist, and was a skilledtheologian in his own right. Similarly it is probable thatPothinus of Lyon had known Polycarp, who no doubt sent the immigrants out in the first place[2] Thebishop of Lugdunum with such close ties to the disciples, a strong theological reputation and the fact that it was the oldestbishopric naturally assumed primacy in the expanding Church of Gaul. The first two bishops were known as primate of the Gauls. Thereafter the title lapsed for some centuries although the archbishops did exert some inter diocesan authority.
In 875, the primate of the Gauls function was attached to the person of thearchbishop of Sens (at the time of Anségise) byPope John VIII at theCouncil of Ponthion. This proposal, more political than canonical, was supported covertly byCharles the Bald, who would thus justify its political pretensions throughout theCarolingian Empire. TheArchbishop of Reims, Hincmar, firmly opposed this based oncanon law, and the Pope's proposal was not recognized, except by theArchbishop of Bordeaux, Frotaire, for personal interests.[3]
Pope Gregory VII confirmed the primacy of thebishop of Lyon through abull on April 19, 1079, after a dispute inCouncil of Poitiers of 1078. He writes that the Church of Lyons had enjoyed this privilege "per annorum longa curriccula". His intent was to reduce the power of theArchbishop of Sens, but the pope also limits the powers of the title itself, the holder is not a court of appeal, and he no longer holds the apostolic vicariate.[4]
The primacy of Lyon is challenged regularly, and at theCouncil of Clermont of 1 December 1095,Pope Urban II again confirms the privileges of Lyon and declares that the Archbishop of Sens had to be in submission and obedience to theprimate. It was only in 1516 that this dispute ended.
In 1696, the primacy of Gaul was disputed by theprimate of Normandy. A lawsuit by thearchbishop of Rouen, primate of Normandy, sought to reassert Normandy's supremacy and independence, after interference in Rouen by the primate of the Gauls. Completed in 1702, the trial before the court of the Kingdom of France eventually saw triumph the archbishop of Rouen, despite the legitimacy proven and demonstrated the primacy of Gaul and simply default possession. This curiosity made history as the primate of Normandy found himself the equal of the primate of the Gauls, the first being its sole jurisdiction over ecclesiastical province, the second the rest of France.[5]