Roman Catholic Diocese of Saint-Dié

The Diocese of Saint-Dié (Latin: Dioecesis Sancti Deodatiis; French: Diocèse de Saint-Dié is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in France. The diocese has the same boundaries as the département of the Vosges. The bishop's cathedra is Saint-Dié Cathedral in the town now named Saint-Dié-des-Vosges, but since 1944 has lived in Épinal, capital of the département. The Diocese of Saint–Dié is a suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Besançon.

Not to be confused with Ancient Diocese of Die.

Diocese of Saint-Dié Dioecesis Sancti Deodatiis Diocèse de Saint-Dié
Saint-Dié Cathedral
Location
Country	France
Ecclesiastical province	Besançon
Metropolitan	Archdiocese of Besançon
Statistics
Area	5,903 km2 (2,279 sq mi)
Population - Total - Catholics	(as of 2022) 359,520 292,500 (est.)  (81.4%)
Parishes	46
Information
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Sui iuris church	Latin Church
Rite	Roman Rite
Established	19 November 1777
Cathedral	Saint-Dié Cathedral
Patron saint	Saint Deodat
Secular priests	81 (Diocesan) 5 (Religious Orders) 28 Permanent Deacons
Current leadership
Pope	Francis
Bishop	Vacant
Metropolitan Archbishop	Jean-Luc Bouilleret
Bishops emeritus	Paul-Marie Joseph André Guillaume, Bishop Emeritus (1984–2005) Jean-Paul Mathieu, Bishop Emeritus (2005–2016)
Map
Website
Website of the Diocese

History

The Diocese of Saint-Dié originated in the celebrated abbey of that name. Saint Deodatus (Dié) came, according his legendary biography, written in 1050, by Benedictine monks of Moyenmoutier, from Nevers and the Nivernais. He was believed to have been bishop of Nevers at one time.^[1]

According to the "Life of Saint Wlifrid" by Stephen of Ripon (Eddius Stephanus), a contemporary hagiography written not too much later than 710, the Saxon Wilfrid of York had been driven from his see due to the enmity of the Celtic bishops of Scotland toward his promotion of the practices of the Roman Church.^[2] He decided to go to Rome and seek papal protection from his enemies, and restoration to his diocese. He arrived on the continent in 678 and spent the winter in Frisia, but eventually found himself at the court of King Dagobert II, who invited him to stay in his kingdom and become bishop of Strasbourg.^[3] Wilfrid was anxious to seek vindication in Rome, however, and so the king assigned one of his bishops, Deodatus of Toul, to accompany him.^[4]

In Rome, Pope Agatho summoned a synod in October 679, precisely to deal with the disorders in the church in the British isles. Wilfrid was present,^[5] as was Bishop Deodatus.^[6] Both were invited to stay on in Rome, and they participated in the synod of May 680, which drafted a synodal letter which was sent to the Third Council of Constantinople, to which both affixed their signatures.^[7] Louis Duchesne agrees that this Bishop Deodatus (or Adeodatus) was the same as Saint Dié (Déodat), and that he was bishop in Toul, if not necessarily of Toul.^[8]

Questions about Saint Dié

The earliest reference to Deodatus occurs in the privilege granted by Bishop Numerianus of Trier in 667.^[9] Deodatus was already a bishop.^[10] The privilege states that Deodatus had already obtained from the fisc^[11] a piece of property in a remote and uncultivated place, called Galilee, at the confluence ( Juncturae ) of the Robache and the Meurthe rivers, and that he had built there a monastery,^[12] which accepted both permanent residents (monks) and temporary visitors ( peregrini ), and which used both the Rule of Saint Columba and the Rule of Saint Benedict. Bishop Numerianus and his suffragan bishops, Childulfus of Metz, Gisloaldus of Verdun, and Eborinus of Toul, approved Deodatus' monastery, and forbade anyone, prelate or king, to interfere with its operation. They also decreed that, on Deodatus' death, a successor abbot was to be chosen from among themselves by unanimous agreement of the entire congregation.^[13]

It is not known where Deodatus comes from. The "vita Deodati" indicates that he was a western Frank from the Nivernais.^[14] According to a hypothesis of some historians, however, he came from Ireland,^[15] which could be explained by a confusion in Latin between Niverniensis and Hiberniensis. Others scholars suggest that he might be a Christian who had travelled widely, and may have lived in the North of Britain's Islands. He has also been thought to have been educated too in Austrasia, by Scottish monks who followed the Rule of Saint Columbanus.

Legends relate that Diodotus made the acquaintance of Saints Arbogast and Florentius and walked with them through the passes of Alsace. The connections are anachronistic.^[16]

From Alsace, sometimes from the Heilige Wald, near Haguenau, he withdrew to the Vosges, sojourning at Romont where he began a lot of miracles, and Arentelle, where the inhabitants were hostile. For some time he was a solitary at Wilra or Wibra, maybee near the present Katzenthal in Alsace, but being persecuted by the inhabitants, he walked with a big stick who planted in soil created always a spring of water. Above the pass of Bonhomme, on the top of Rossberg, he launched an ironed arm until a locus called Petit-Saint-Dié under the Kemberg, a mountain, precisely under rocks Saint-Martin. Springs of flowed on this left side of the Meurthe, and he founded a refuge under rocks and near above springs. Once he received this lands in 669 he decided to work. His first monastery hardly built with new brothership, he was tied and dreamed to build a monastery in a little hill "Juncturae" in the right side of the river, the future Galilée. Longtime a prairie, then a little town, and now the center of Saint-Dié-des-Vosges stand between this two places.

Monastery

Before this time, Leudin Bodo, Bishop of Toul, had founded to the north-west of Saint-Dié the monastery of Bonmoutier for his daughter; and to the south of Bonmoutier the monastery of Etival, (c. 663). Saint Gondelbert, after resigning the Archbishopric of Sens, had just founded the abbey of Senones to the east, c. 661; in 1751 it became the capital of the principality of Salm.^[17] These four monasteries formed, by their geographical position, the four extremities of a cross. Later, Saint Hidulphus, Bishop of Trier (d. 707), erected between them at the intersection of the two arms of the cross, the monastery of Moyenmoutier. In 967, the Emperor Otto II granted the bishops of Toul possession of the monasteries of Moyenmoutier and Galilee (Saint-Dié), with the right to coin money.^[18]

Grand Provost of Dié

In the 10th century the Abbey of Saint-Dié grew lax, and in 959 Frederick I, Duke of Lorraine, prompted by Archbishop Bruno of Trier, embarked on a reform of the monasteries in his duchy, assisted by Abbot Adelbert of Gorze. Adalbert entrusted the reform of the Abbey of Saint-Dié to the monk Erchemert, who quickly made a mess of its administration. The duke recalled Erchembert, and in 962 removed the Benedictines, replacing them by the Canons Regular of St. Augustine.^[19] Pope Gregory V, in 99V6, agreed to the change and decided that the grand prévôt, the principal dignitary of the abbey, should depend directly upon the Holy See, that is, not be subject to the jurisdiction of any local bishop.

In October 1049, Pope Leo IX visited Saint-Dié, and participated in the recognition and enshrining of the remains of Saint Deodatus.^[20] On 16 November 1049, he signed a bull, conceding privileges to Saint-Dié and confirming its possessions.^[21]

The canons of the collegiate church originally numbered twenty-four, and were headed by the dignities of Provost Major, Dean, Cantor, and Scholasticus.^[22]

Church and cathedral

The earliest remains on the site of the later cathedral, the two walls of the nave, date from the 8th and 10th centuries. In 1105, the duchess Beatrix contributed half the cost of restoring the crumbling church, as reparation for the excommunication of her husband Duke Ferri by the Chapter.^[23]

In 1065, both of the churches of Saint-Die were destroyed in a major fire.^[24] Rebuilding of the collegiate church began with the nave, which was begun in the middle of the 12th century, in the style called "Rhenish" or "Ottonian"; its vaults were completed and covered in wood at the beginning of the 13th century. At the beginning of the 14th century, the transepts and apses were added, and in the 15th and 16th twelve lateral chapels, which had the effect of reinforcing the 12th century walls. Between 1711 and 1715, the Italian architect Giovanni Betto added the façade.^[25]

The entire cathedral was destroyed by deliberately placed dynamite on the night of 16–17 November 1944.^[26] It was rebuilt, using a few salvaged elements, in the thirty years following the end of World War II, and consecrated on 28–29 September 1974, with the participation of Cardinal François Marty, Archbishop of Paris.

Seeking a bishopric

During the 17th century, profiting by the long vacancy of the see of Toul (1645–1656), the abbots of the several monasteries in the Vosges, without actually declaring themselves independent of the diocese of Toul, claimed to exercise a quasi-episcopal jurisdiction as to the origin of which, however, they were not agreed; in the eighteenth century they pretended to be nullius dioceseos.^[27] At the same time, the dukes of Lorraine, especially Charles V were eager to have a bishop in their own domains, rather than have themselves and their subjects dependent upon a bishop in another state, especially France, which had occupied Lorraine from 1634 to 1661 and again from 1670 to 1697. A new diocese in Lorraine was desired. Duke Charles proposed that Nancy be made a bishopric, but France opposed the initiative.^[28]

Leopold, Duke of Lorraine, was in favour of this step, but Louis XIV of France, and then the regent of Louis XV, Philippe d'Orleans (1715–1723), opposed it. To advance his interests, in 1716 the duke sent to Rome one of his trusted advisors, who had a gift for preaching and a literary reputation, as well as credentials in law and theology, Abbé Jean-Claude Sommier.^[29] In Rome, Sommier obtained a directive to the papal nuncio in Switzerland to conduct an inquiry into the circumstances surrounding Saint-Dié. He was sent to Rome again in 1718, where he conducted talks with cardinals and members of several Congregations at the papal court, and on 26 March 1719 he obtained a judgment in favor of the establishment of a diocese of Saint-Dié; but Pope Clement XI himself terminated the process, due to objections and threatened reprisals entered by the French minister.^[30] The pope was favorable to Sommier, however, and appointed him a protonotary apostolic.^[31] After Innocent XIII was elected pope on 8 May 1721, Sommier was again sent to Rome to attempt to revive the plan for a diocese in Lorraine. While not agreeing to the plan, Innocent made Sommier an honorary chamberlain on 28 March 1722.^[32] When Innocent died in 1724, Sommier was sent to Rome again, to attempt to persuade the new Pope Benedict XIII. Benedict refused the plea to make Saint-Dié a bishopric, he did make Sommier an archbishop, of Caesarea in Palestine, on 29 January 1725, and consecrated the new archbishop himself on 11 February. According to Sommier himself, in his History of Dié, published in 1726, the pope granted him for life the administration of all the nullius dioceseos territories in Lorraine.^[33] Duke Leopold was satisfied with Sommier's work, and named him Grand Provost of the monastery of Dié. The city therefore had a bishop, even though it was not a diocese.^[34] He died on 5 October 1737.^[35]

The chapter of Saint-Dié immediately claimed that they had the right to elect Grand Provost Sommier's successor, which was hotly disputed by Duke Stanislaus. He appointed his own Grand-Almoner, Count Jozef Andrzej Zaluscki, and took steps to enthrone him personally. Zaluscki served only one year, most of it in absentia. His successor was appointed by King Louis XV in the person of the Bishop of Toul, Scipion-Jerome Begon (1723–1753), a determined opponent of the Chapter of Saint-Dié, which absolutely refused to receive him or enthrone him. They were defeated, however, by bulls of appointment obtained from the pope.^[36] Begon was succeeded by Dieudonné de Chaumont de Mareil, archdeacon and vicar-general of Metz, whose bulls are dated 31 December 1753; he was named titular bishop of Sion on 27 March 1765.^[37] His coadjutor and then successor was his nephew, Bartholomée Louis Martin de Chaumont de la Galasière, who became the first bishop of the diocese of Saint-Dié.

Diocese

In 1738, King Stanislaus of Poland was prevailed upon to give up the Polish throne in the Treaty of Vienna (1738), in exchange for which he received the duchies of Lorraine and Bar. On 29 March 1761, Duke Stanislaus granted the Grand-Provosts of Saint-Dié the domain of Saint-Dié, and with it the title of Comte de Saint-Dié.^[38] When he died in 1766, the duchies passed to his daughter Maria, who was the wife of Louis XV of France, and grandmother of Louis XVI. When she died in 1768, Lorraine became part of France. An anomaly was created, unwelcome to the French government, in which French territory was ecclesiastically governed by the archdiocese of Trier in Germany. The diocese of Saint-Dié was erected on 21 July 1777, by Pope Pius VI.^[39] The territory consists of numerous monastic Vosgian territories and other lands, which had belonged to the Diocese of Toul. Until the French Revolution, the diocese was a suffragan of Trier.

The diocese was divided into two archdeaconries, that of Saint-Dié and that of Épinal.^[40]

By letters-patent of King Louis XVI, dated 6 February 1779, a seminary was created in Saint-Dié. Until it was ready for occupation, seminary students went to Nancy.^[41]

The French Revolution

Even before it directed its attention to the Church directly, the National Constituent Assembly attacked the institution of monasticism. On 13 February 1790. it issued a decree which stated that the government would no longer recognize solemn religious vows taken by either men or women. In consequence, Orders and Congregations which lived under a Rule were suppressed in France. Members of either sex were free to leave their monasteries or convents if they wished, and could claim an appropriate pension by applying to the local municipal authority.^[42]

The Assembly ordered the replacement of political subdivisions of the ancien régime with subdivisions called "departments", to be characterized by a single administrative city in the center of a compact area. The decree was passed on 22 December 1789, the boundaries fixed on 26 February 1790, with the institution to be effective on 4 March 1790.^[43] A new department was created called "Vosges," and Epinal was fixed as its administrative center. The National Constituent Assembly then, on 6 February 1790, instructed its ecclesiastical committee to prepare a plan for the reorganization of the clergy. At the end of May, its work was presented as a draft Civil Constitution of the Clergy, which, after vigorous debate, was approved on 12 July 1790. There was to be one diocese in each department,^[44] requiring the suppression of approximately fifty dioceses.^[45] The diocese of Vosges was assigned to the "Metropole de l'Est", with its metropolitan seated in Besançon. Unusually, the bishop of the diocese should have had his seat in Épinal, but in the case of Vosges it was allowed to remain in Saint-Dié.

In the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, the National Constituent Assembly also abolished cathedral chapters, canonicates, prebends, chapters and dignities of collegiate churches, chapters of both secular and regular clergy of both sexes, and abbeys and priories whether existing under a Rule or held in commendam.^[46]

Bishops and parish priests were to be elected, by the same carefully limited and selected bodies as elected the regional civil authorities. Since the legitimate Bishop Bartholomée Louis Martin de Chaumont refused to take the required oaths to the Civil Constitution of the Clergy and to the Constitution of Ye,ar III, he was deposed by the National Assembly, an act which the assembly was not canonically empowered to perform. An election was held at Épinal on 27 February 1791, which chose the director of the seminary, Mgr. Louis Demange, who declined; on March 1, therefore, the electors chose Jean-Antoine Maudru, the curé of Aydollies, who was consecrated in Paris on 21 March. He spent the period from Easter to October 1791 in Saint-Dié. During the Reign of Terror, Maudru was arrested as a counter-revolutionary and taken to Paris, where he was condemned to death. The deposition and execution of Robespierre on 9 Thermidor (27 July 1794) saved Maudru's life, though he was kept in prison for another six months before release.^[47]

Restoration

The French Directory fell in the coup engineered by Talleyrand and Napoleon on 10 November 1799. The coup resulted in the establishment of the French Consulate, with Napoleon as the First Consul. To advance his aggressive military foreign policy, he decided to make peace with the Catholic Church and the Papacy.^[48] On 29 November 1801, in the concordat of 1801 between the French Consulate, headed by First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte, and Pope Pius VII, the bishopric of Saint-Dié (Vosges) and all the other dioceses in France were suppressed. This removed all the institutional contaminations and novelties introduced by the Constitutional Church. The diocesan structure was then re-established, though the diocese of Saint-Dié was not revived.^[49]

The Concordat of 1817, between King Louis XVIII and Pope Pius VII, should have restored the diocese of Saint-Dié, by the bull "Commissa divinitus",^[50] but the French Parliament refused to ratify the agreement. It was not until 6 October 1822 that a revised version of the papal bull, "Paternae Charitatis" ,^[51] and an ordonnance of Louis XVIII of 13 January 1823, received the consent of all parties.

The diocese of Saint-Dié became a suffragan of Besançon.^[52] According to a principle sanctioned by this last Concordat, the diocesan boundaries were realigned, to follow those of the civil department of the Vosges.

The Franco-German War, terminated by the peace Treaty of Frankfurt (1871), removed eighteen communes in the valley of the River Bruche from the department of the Vosges and the diocese of Saint-Dié, adding them respectively to Nieder-Elsass (Bas-Rhin) and the Diocese of Strasbourg.^[53]

Louis-Marie Caverot, Archbishop of Lyon (1876–1884), who was appointed a Cardinal by Pope Pius IX in 1877, had been Bishop of Saint-Dié from 1849 to 1876. As Bishop of Saint-Dié he held diocesan synods in 1864 and 1866, and published the statutes in 1867.^[54]

Religious of the diocese

Elizabeth de Ranfaing^[55] (born at Remiremont, 1592; died 1649) founded in the Diocese of Toul the congregation of Our Lady of Refuge;^[56]

Born at Saint-Dié, Catherine de Bar (1614–1698), known in religion as Mère Mechtilde of the Blessed Sacrament, was at first an Annunciade nun and then a Benedictine. She founded, at Paris in 1654, the Order of the Benedictine Nuns of Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacramentt.^[57]

Eizabeth Brem (1609–68), known as Mother Benedict of the Passion, a Benedictine nun at Rambervillers, established in that monastery the Institute of the Perpetual Adoration. Venerable Jean-Martin Moye (1730–1793), founder in Lorraine of the Congrégation de la Providence for the instruction of young girls and apostle of Sichuan, was director for a brief period of the seminary of Saint-Dié, and established at Essegney, in the diocese, one of the first novitiates of the Soeurs de la Providence (hospitallers and teachers), whose mother-house at Portieux ruled over a large number of houses before the Law of 1901. The Congregation of the Soeurs du Divin-Redempteur was authorized in 1854, and had its mother-house at Épinal.^[58]

Eugène Grandclaude, a village teacher who was sent to the Roman College in 1857 by Bishop Caverot, contributed, when a professor in the grand seminaire of Saint-Dié, to the revival of canon law studies in France, with his Jus canonicum juxta ordinem Decretalium.^[59] He became director of the seminary in 1882, and served until 1897. He was made a canon and Dean of the cathedral Chapter. He died in 1900.^[60]

Religious institutions in the diocese up to 1905

There were in the diocese before the application of the Law of 1901 (Association loi de 1901),^[61] directed toward congregations: Augustianian Canons Regular of the Lateran; the Clerks Regular of Our Saviour; the Eudistes; the Franciscans, the Congregation of the Holy Ghost and the Holy Heart of Mary and various teaching orders of brothers. A number of these refused, or were unable, to comply with the provisions of the law, and had to leave France. Among the congregations of nuns founded in the diocese may be mentioned the Soeurs de l'Instruction chrétienne de la Providence,^[62] the Soeurs du Pauvre Enfant Jésus (also known as the Soeurs de la bienfaisance chrétienne),^[63] teachers and hospitallers, founded in 1854 at Chemoy l'Orgueilleux; the mother-house was transferred to Remiremont.

At the close of the nineteenth century the religious congregations in the diocese directed 7 créchés, 55-day nurseries, 1 orphanage for boys and girls; 19 girls' orphanages, 13 workshops, 1 house of refuge; 4 houses for the assistance of the poor, 36 hospitals or hospices, 11 houses of nuns devoted to the care of the sick in their own homes and 1 insane asylum. The diocese of Saint-Dié had in 1905 (at the time of the rupture of the Concordat), 421,104 inhabitants in 32 parishes, 354 succursal parishes and 49 vicariates supported by the State.

Saints of the diocese

Further information: Remiremont Abbey

The following persons are honoured in the Diocese of Saint-Dié:

• Sigebert III, Merovingian King of Austrasia (630–656)
• Saint Germain, a hermit near Remiremont, a martyr, who died Abbot of Grandval, near Basel (618–670)
• Saint Hunna, a penitent at Saint-Dié (d. about 672)
• Saint Modesta, a nun at Remiremont, afterwards foundress and abbess of the monastery of Horren at Trier (seventh century)
• Saint Simeon, Bishop of Metz (eighth century), whose relics are preserved at Senones
• Saint Goéry, Bishop of Metz (d. about 642), whose relics are preserved at Epinal and who is the patron of the butchers of the town
• Saint William and Saint Achery, hermits near Ste. Marie aux Mines
• Richardis (wife of Charles the Fat), who died as Abbess of Andlau in Alsace
• Blessed Joan of Arc, b. at Domrémy in the diocese
• Saint Pierre Fourier (b. at Méricourt, 1565; d. 1640), curé of Mattaincourt, who founded the Order of Notre-Dame
• Venerable Mére Alix le Clerc (b. at Remiremont, 1576; d. 1622)

Pilgrimages of the diocese

The principal pilgrimages of the diocese are: Notre-Dame de Saint-Dié, at Saint-Dié, at the place where Saint Dié erected his first sanctuary; Notre-Dame du Trésor, at Remiremont; Notre-Dame de Consolation, at Epinal; Notre-Dame de la Brosse, at Bains; Notre-Dame de Bermont, southwest of Nancy at Greux, near Domrémy, the sanctuary at which Joan of Arc prayed.^[64]

The tomb of Saint Peter Fourier, CRSA (1565–1640), who was born at Mirecourt (Lorraine), is found at Mattaincourt, the parish in which he first undertook his priestly duties.^[65] The remains of Brother Joseph Formet (1724–1784), a native of Lomont (Haute-Saône), known as the hermit of Ventron (Vosges), are the object of a pilgrimage.^[66]

Bishops

• Bartholomée Louis Martin de Chaumont de la Galasière (1777 – 1801)^[67]

Constitutional Church

• Jean-Antoine Maudru (1791–1801)^[68]

The diocese was suppressed in 1801; erected again in 1817

[ * Augustin-Louis de Montblanc (1817–1821), never consecrated ]^[69]

Bishop Jean-Paul Mary Mathieu

• Jacques-Alexis Jacquemin (1823 – 1830)^[70]
• Jacques-Marie-Antoine-Célestin du Pont (9 May 1830 – 1835)^[71]
• Jean-Joseph-Marie-Eugène de Jerphanion (1 May 1835 – 1842^[72]
• Jean-Nicaise Gros (15 Jul 1842 – 1844)^[73]
• Daniel-Victor Manglard (21 Apr 1844 – 1849)^[74]
• Louis-Marie Caverot (16 Mar 1849 – 1876^[75]
• Albert-Marie-Camille de Briey (20 Apr 1876 – 10 Nov 1888 Died)^[76]
• Etienne-Marie-Alphonse Sonnois (21 Dec 1889 – 1892^[77]
• Alphonse-Gabriel-Pierre Foucault (3 Jan 1893 – 28 May 1930 Died)^[78]
• Louis-Augustin Marmottin (2 Aug 1930 – 1940)^[79]
• Emile-Arsène Blanchet (6 Oct 1940 – 10 Oct 1946 Resigned)
• Henri-René-Adrien Brault (29 Sep 1947 – 11 Jul 1964 Died)
• Jean-Félix-Albert-Marie Vilnet (24 Sep 1964 – 1983)^[80]
• Paul-Marie Joseph André Guillaume (29 Oct 1984 – 14 Dec 2005 Retired)
• Jean-Paul Mary Mathieu (14 Dec 2005 – 15 June 2016 Retired)
• Didier Berthet (2016 – 2023)^[81]

References

1. Pius VI, "Relata semper", in: Bullarii Romani Continuatio (in Latin), Vol. 5 (Rome: Apostolic Camera 1842), p. 372 § 3: "...Sancto Deodato, dum viveret in terris, episcopo Nivernensi...."
2. James Raine, The historians of the church of York and its archbishops, Vol. 1 (London: Longman, 1879), pp. xxvi-xxviii.
3. Paul Fouracre, "Forgetting and remembering Dagobert II," in: Paul Fouracre, David Ganz (edd.), Frankland: The Franks and the world of the early Middle Ages, (Manchester University Press, 2020), pp. 82-89.
4. Raine, p. 39: "Et nunc Dagobert rex, beneficiorum ejus memoratus erat, diligenter poscens, ut in suo regno episcopatum maximum ad civitatem Streithbyrg pertinentem susciperet; et eum nolentem accipere, cum muneribus et donis magnis, et cum Deodato episcopo suo duce ad Apostolicam sedem emisit."
5. Karl Joseph von Hefele, A History of the Councils of the Church, from the Original Documents Vol. 4 (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1895), pp. 491-492.
6. J.D. Mansi (ed.), Sacrorum Conciliorum nova et amplissima collectio, editio novissima (in Latin), Vol. 11 (Florence: A. Zatta 1765), p. 279: "Deodato Tullense."
7. Mansi, p. 306.
8. Duchesne, pp. 59-61.
9. Pfister, p. 379. J. M. Pardessus, Diplomata chartae, epistolae, leges aliaque instrumenta ad res gallo-francicas spectantia: Instrumenta ab anno 628 ad annum 751, (in French and Latin) Vol. 2 (Typogr. Reipublica, 1849) pp. 147-148, no. 360.
10. "Et quia venerabilis vir Deodatus episcopus religiosa postulatione aurium nostrarum intima penetravit viscerale pietatis affectu, ita cor nostrum intrinsecus mollivit ( innolivit ), ut petita duntaxat non cadere, sed libentissime non implesse nostris animis irreligiosum fore putare ( putaretur )."
11. Pfister, p. 382, says that this indicates that it was a royal monastery.
12. Pfister, p. 381. Pardessus, p. 147: "intra eremi secretum locum nuncupante Galilæa, quod priùs Juncturas vocabatur, supra fluvios Murthæ et Raurobaccio, in proprietate autem sua quam ex fisci largitate promeruit, monasterium construxit...."
13. Pardessus, p. 148: "Et cùm sæpedictus Deodatus episcopus, qui est pater ipsius monasterii, de hoc seculo evocatus, illum quem unanimiter omnis congregatio illa ex semetipsis optime regulâ compertum elegerit, seniorem et abbatem sibi instituat."
14. Daniel van Papenbroch, in: Acta Sanctorum Junii, (in Latin) Volume 3 (Antwerp: Apud Viduam Henrici Thieullier, 1701), p. 872, col. 2: "Beatus Deodatus generoso Occidentalium Niverniensis Francorum sanguine procreatus."
15. Pfister, p. 382: "Peut-être nous sera-t-il permis de conjecturer, d'après ccongregationes analogies, que saint Die venait de l'Irlande. Notre hypothèse acquiert un peu plus de force, si nous songeons que des privilèges, — analogues à ceux que Numérien donne à Saint-Dié, — n'étaient accordés qu'à des monastères d'origine irlandaise; si nous nous rappelons que la légende fait de notre saint un compagnon de saint Florent et de saint Arbogaste.
16. Arbogast was bishop of Strasbourg in the 6th century; Florentius lived in the time of Dagobert I (623–639). Both are listed before Bishop Ansoald of Strasbourg, who attended the council of Paris in 614. The chronology is confused, and makes a connection with Deodatus of Saint-Dié impossible. Paul Fouracre, Frankish History: Studies in the Construction of Power (Ashgate 2013). Duchesne, III, p. 171. The "Vita Arbogasti" was the work of Bishop Utho of Strasbourg (950–965).
17. Lepage & Charton, p. 487, col. 1.
18. Lepage & Charton, p. 449, col. 1. The monastery was called Saint-Dié and Moyenmoutier interchangably until Pope Leo IX ordered that only Saint-Dié be used (p. 449, col. 2).
19. Pfister (1888), p. 518.
20. Pius VI, "Relata semper", in: Bullarii Romani Continuatio (in Latin), Vol. 5 (Rome: Apostolic Camera 1842), p. 373 § 4: "...in qua integrum ejusdem sancti Deodati corpus in urna ex argento quinquaginta librarum pondere congesta reconditur; ac cujus... sanctus Leo pp. IX...ac tres Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae cardinales, tres itidem archiepiscopi, et novem episcopi, pluresque insimul de claro Lotharingio sanguine principes recensentur...."
21. Edmundus Martene, Ursinus Durand, Thesaurus novus anecdotorum, (in Latin), Volume 1 (Paris: Flor. Delaulne et al., 1717), pp. 169-170.
22. Daniel van Papenbroch, in: Acta Sanctorum Junii, (in Latin) Volume 3 (Antwerp: Apud Viduam Henrici Thieullier, 1701), p. 871.
23. Lepage & Charton, p. 447, col. 1; 449, column 1.
24. Lepage & Charton, p. 452, col. 2.
25. Valance, p. 4.
26. Valance, p. 5. This took place during the closing moments of the Allied drive to the Vosges, from 29 August to 15 September 1944: R.E. Dupuy & T.N. Dupuy, The Encyclopedia of Military History, second revised edition (New York: Harper & Row 1986), p. 1109.
27. Pius VI, "Relata Semper" (12 August 1777), § 3: "Oppidum vero civitas nuncupatum sancti Deodati in Lotharingia positum Nullius dioecesis provinciae Trevirensis...."
28. Payen, p. 52: "Depuis longtemps, les ducs de Lorraine désiraient avoir un évêché dans leurs États, pour éviter les relations avec les pays étrangers, relations de dépendances, mutilant le faisceau des traditions d'un pays."
29. Sommier was a doctor of theology and held a licenciate in Canon and Civil Law. He was author of: Histoire dogmatique de la religion (1708), and Histoire dogmatique du Saint-Siège. He was rector of the church of Champs (diocese of Tulle). Ritzler & Sefrin V, p. 133, with note 8. Glaz, p. 25.
30. Payen, p. 53.
31. Ritzler & Sefrin V, p. 133, note 8. Payen, p. 54.
32. Payen, p. 54.
33. Payen, pp. 56-57: "Eh bien! archevêque de Césarée, je vous établis et vous donne mon pouvoir pour exercer les fonctions de l'ordre épiscopal pendant toute votre vie dans les territoires exempts des États du duc de Lorraine".
34. Ritzler & Sefrin V, p. 133. Payen, p. 55. Glaz, p. 26: "...l'archevêque de Césarée exerça, dans les limites de la prévôté de Saint-Dié, une sorte de juridiction épiscopale."
35. Payen, p. 62.
36. Grenier, pp. 293-294. Eugène Martin, Histoire des diocèses de Toul, de Nancy & de Saint-Dié, Vol. 2: De la réunion de Toul à la France au démembrement du diocèse (Nancy: A. Crépin-Leblond, 1901), pp. 490-493.
37. Martin, Vol. 2, p. 494. Ritzler & Sefrin VI, p. 381.
38. Lepage & Charton, Le département des Vosges..., p. 453, col. 2; 455, col. 1.
39. Pius VI, "Relata semper", in: Bullarii Romani Continuatio (in Latin), Vol. 5 (Rome: Apostolic Camera 1842), pp. 372-390.
40. Martin, Vol. 3, pp. 10-12.
41. Lepage & Charton, Le département des Vosges..., p. 455, col. 2.
42. J. B. Duvergier, Collection complète des lois, décrets, ordonnances, règlemens avis du Conseil d'état, (in French), Volume 1 (Paris: A. Guyot et Scribe, 1834), p. 118: "La loi constitutionnelle du royaume ne reconnaitra plus de voeux monastiques solennels des personnes de l'un ni de l'autre sexe: en conséquence, les ordres et congrégations réguliers dans lesquels on fait de pareils voeux sont et demeureront supprimés en France, sans qu'il puisse en être établi de semblables à l'avenir." Michael Burleigh, Earthly Powers: The Clash of Religion and Politics in Europe, from the French Revolution to the Great War (New York: Harper Collins 2006), p. 54.
43. Pisani, pp. 10-11. Departement de Puy-de-Dôme, "Création du département"; retrieved 15 July 2024.
44. "Civil Constitution," Title I, "Article 1. Chaque département formera un seul diocèse, et chaque diocèse aura la même étendue et les mêmes limites que le département."
45. Ludovic Sciout, Histoire de la constitution civile du clergé (1790-1801): L'église et l'Assemblée constituante, (in French and Latin) ., Vol. 1 (Paris: Firmin Didot 1872), p. 182: Art. 2 "...Tous les autres évêchés existant dans les quatre-vingt-trois départements du royaume, et qui ne sont pas nommément compris au présent article, sont et demeurent supprimés."
46. J. B. Duvergier, Collection complète des lois, décrets, ordonnances, règlemens avis du Conseil d'état, (in French), Volume 1 (Paris: A. Guyot et Scribe, 1834), p. 244: "20. Tous titres et offices , autres que ceux mentionnés en la présente constitution , les dignités , canonicats, prébendes, demi-prébendes, chapelles, chapellenies, tant des églises cathédrales que des églises collégiales, et tous chapitres réguliers et séculiers de l'un et de l'autre sexe, les abbayes et prieurés en règle ou en commende, aussi de l'un et de l'autre sexe, et tous autres bénéfices et prestimonies généralement quelconques , de quelque nature et sous quelque dénomination que ce soit, sont, à compter du jour de la publication du présent décret, éteints et supprimés, sans qu'il puisse jamais en être établi de semblables."
47. Pisani, pp. 270-272. Martin, Vol. 3, pp. 99-102.
48. Hippolyte Taine, The Origins of Contemporary France. The Modern Régime, Volume 1 (H. Holt, 1890), p. 153.
49. J.B. Duvergier (ed.), Collection complète des lois, décrets, ordonnances, réglemens et avis du Conseil d'état, (in French and Latin), Volume 13 (Paris: A. Guyot et Scribe, 1826), pp. 372-373; p. 387: "Item, archiepiscopalis Trevirensis, et ejus suffraganearum, Metensis, Tullensis, Virdunensis, Nanceiensis et Sancti-Deodati."
50. Ritzler & Sefrin VI, p. 85, note 1. Bullarii Romani continuatio, (in Latin), Tomus septimus, pars 2 (Prati: Typographua Aldina 1852), pp. 1512-1517.
51. Bullarii Romani continuatio, (in Latin), Tomus septimus, pars 2 (Prati: Typographua Aldina 1852), pp. 2295-2304.
52. Pius VII, "Paternae Charitatis," p. 2297 § 4: "Metropolitana Bisuntina, provinciae Dubis Araris superioris, ejusdem suffraganeae, Argentinensis, provinciae Rheni superioris, Rheni inferioris, Metensis, provinciae Mosellae, comprehensis etiam communitatibus Rouchlingae, Liseingae, Hindelingae, Zettingae et Didingae, quae ad dioecesim Trevirensem spectabant, Virdunensis, provinciae Mosae, Bellicensis, provinciae Idani, addito quoque districtu Gexensi, qui intra fines dioecesis Camberiensis continebatur, sancti Deodati provinciae Vosagi Saltus, Nancejensis provinciae Mortae."
53. Martin, Vol. 3, pp. 446-447.
54. Louis-Marie Caverot, Statuts synodaux du diocèse de Saint-Dié, (in French), Saint-Dié: Ed. Trotot, 1867.
55. Augustin Calmet, The Phantom World: Or, The Philosophy of Spirits, Apparitions, &c, Volume 1 (R. Bentley, 1850), pp. 163-172.
56. Abbé Tiron, Histoire et costumes des ordres religieux, civils et militaires, (in French), Volume 2 (Bruxelles: Librairie Historique-Artistique, 1845). pp. 76-79.
57. Arnaud-Bernard d'Icard Duquesne, Vie de la vénérable Mère Catherine de Bar, dite en religion Mecthilde du S. Sacrement, institutrice des religieuses de l'Adoration perpétuelle, (in French) (Paris: Claude-Sigisbert Lamort, 1775), p. 17.
58. Émile Keller, Edouard Pontal, Les congrégations religieuses en France, pp. 556-558.
59. Eugène Grandclaude. Jus canonicum juxta ordinem Decretalium: recentioribus sedis apostolicae decretis et rectae rationi in omnibus consonum, (in Latin), (Paris: V. Lecoffre): Volume 1 (1882). Volume 2 (1882); Volume 3 (1883).
60. Martin, Histoire des diocèses de Toul, de Nancy & de Saint-Dié, p. 521-522 with note 4.
61. Jacqueline Lalouette et Jean-Pierre Machelon, Les congrégations hors la loi ? Autour de la loi du 1er juillet 1901, Paris: Letouzey et Ané, 2002.
62. Émile Keller, Edouard Pontal, Les congrégations religieuses en France, (in French), (Paris: Poussielgue Frères, 1880), pp. 554-556.
63. Kellern & Pontal, p. 558.
64. In 1878 Bishop Briey of Saint-Dié organized the modern pilgrimage. Pascal-Raphaël Ambrogi & Dominique Le Tourneau, Dictionnaire encyclopédique de Jeanne d'Arc, (in French), (Paris: Desclée De Brouwer, 2017), s.v. "Nôtre-Dame de Bermont." Martin, pp. 170-171.
65. Fourier spent the last four years of his life in exile, refusing an oath to Louis XIV, who had conquered Lorraine. Alban Butler; Kathleen Jones, Butler's Lives of the Saints, new full edition, Volume 12 (December) (Collegeville, Minn.: Burns & Oates/The Liturgical Press 2000), pp. 81-82.
66. Thierry Rollet, Frère Joseph, l'ermite des Hautes-Vosges, (in French), Scribo–Masque D'or Editions, 2023.
67. Chaumont held a doctorate in theology from the theological faculty of Paris. He had served for 16 years as vicar-general of Toulouse, and was Grand Provost of the collegiate church of S. Dié. He was nominated bishop of Dié by King Louis XV, and approved by Pope Pius VI on 28 July 1777. He refused the call of Pius VII to resign in 1801, and lost the bishopric of Dié when the diocese was suppressed. He died on 30 June 1818. Martin, Histoire des diocèses..., p. 9.Ritzler & Sefrin, Hierarchia catholica Vol. VI, p. 193 with note 2.
68. Pisani, pp. 270-275.
69. Montblanc was nominated by King Louis XVIII on 9 September 1817, and approved by Pope Pius VII on 1 October 1817. He was transferred to the diocese of Toulouse, as coadjutor-archbishop, on 27 June 1821, before he received episcopal consecration. After his transfer, two others were approached, M. de Moussac and M. de la Bruquière, but neither accepted the nomination. Ritzler & Sefrin, Hierarchia catholica Vol. 7, pp. 136, 173. J. B. Léon Maret, Étude sur l'Épiscopat Français, etc. (Partie statistique.), (in French), (Paris: A. Joury 1864), p. 97.
70. Jacquemin had been Grand-Vicar of his native diocese of Nancy. He was appointed on 13 August 1823, and consecrated on8 January 1824. He retired to Nancy in Jan 1830. He died on 15 June 1832, at the age of 82. Maret, p. 97. Martin, Histoire des diocèses..., pp. 455-474.
71. On 1 May 1835, Bishop du Pont was appointed Archbishop of Avignon. He was transferred to the diocese of Bourges in 1841, and named a cardinal in 1847 by Pope Pius IX. He died in 1839. Martin, pp. 475-491.
72. Jerphanion was appointed Archbishop of Albi on 15 July 1842, by Pope Gregory XVI. Martin, pp. 492-502.
73. On 3 March 1844, Bishop Gros was appointed Bishop of Versailles by Pope Gdregory XVI. Martin, pp. 503-507. Lahache, p. 561.
74. Bishop Manglard died on 17 February 1849. Martin, pp. 507-513. Lahache, pp. 561-562.
75. Caverot was appointed Archbishop of Lyon on 20 Apr 1876, and cardinal in 1877. Martin, pp. 514-545. Lahache, pp. 562-564. Martin Bräuer, Handbuch der Kardinäle: 1846-2012, (in German), (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter 2014). p. 106.
76. A. Jacob, "Sa Grandeur Mgr. Marie-Camille de Briey, évèque de Saint-Dié," in: Mémoires de la Société des lettres, sciences et arts de Bar-le-Duc, (in French) (Bar-le-Duc: Société des lettres, sciences et arts de Bar-le-Duc 1890), pp. 217-220. Lahache, pp. 564-565.
77. On 26 November 1892, Bishop Sonnois was appointed Archbishop of Cambrai. "Obituary" (in French): Bulletin de la Société d'études de la province de Cambrai, Volume 18 (Lille: Société d'études de la province de Cambrai 1913), pp. 52-58. Lahache, pp. 565-566. Gustave Chevallier, Monseigneur Sonnois, archevêque de Cambrai: Sa vie, son œuvre, (in French) (Cambrai: O.Masson 1920), pp. 116-152.
78. Foucault: Lahache, pp. 566-567.
79. On 21 August 1940, Pope Pius XII appointed Marmotin Archbishop of Reims.
80. On 13 August 1983, Pope John Paul II appointed Vilnet Bishop of Lille.
81. Berthet was appointed bishop on 15 June 2016 by Pope Francis, and was consecrated a bishop on 5 September 2016. He died on 8 September 2023, at the age of 61. Diocèse de Saint-Dié, (in French), "L'Évèque et son equipe." Retrieved: 4 December 2024.

Sources

• Duchesne, Louis (1915). Fastes episcopaux de l'ancienne Gaule. Vol. III: Les provinces du Nord et de l'Est. (in French). Paris: A. Fontemoing, 1915.
• Gams, Pius Bonifatius (1873). Series episcoporum Ecclesiae catholicae: quotquot innotuerunt a beato Petro apostolo (in Latin). Ratisbon: Typis et Sumptibus Georgii Josephi Manz. p. 617.
• Glez, Gaston (1908), "La Chaire Vosgienne sous l'ancien Régime," (in French), in: Bulletin de la Société philomatique vosgienne, Volume 33 (Saint-Dié: C. Cuny, 1908), pp. 5-114, at pp. 25-33.
• Gravier, N. F. (1836). Histoire De La Ville Episcopale Et De L'Arrondissement De Saint-Die. Epinal: Gerard, 1836.
• Lahache, Antoine. Société bibliographique (1907). L'épiscopat français depuis le Concordat jusqu'à la Séparation (1802-1905). (in French). Paris: Librairie des Saints-Pères, 1907. pp. 558-567.
• Lepage, Henri; Charton, Charles (1845). Le département des Vosges: statistique historique et administrative. (in French). Volume 2. Nancy: Peiffer, 1845. pp. 446-456.
• Martin, Eugène (1903). Histoire des diocèses de Toul, de Nancy & de Saint-Dié. (in French). Nancy: A. Crépin-Leblond, 1903. Vol. 3: Du démembrement en trois diocèses à la modification des circonscriptions diocésaines après la guerre franco-allemande.
• Mason, Frank H. (1892). "The Baptismal Font of America," in: Harper's New Monthly Magazine Vol. 85, no. 509 (New York: October 1892), pp. 651-669.
• Payen, Joseph-Eugène (1911). "Jean-Claude Sommier, conseiller d'État, conseiller prélat à la cour de Lorraine, grand prévôt de l'église de Saint-Dié, archevêque de Césarée," (in French), in: Procès-verbaux et mémoires. Académie des sciences, belles-lettres et arts de Besançon, (Besançon: P. Jacquin., 1911), pp. 34-63.
• Pfister, Charles (1888). "Les Revenus de la collégiale de Saint-Dié, à la fin du X^e siècle," in: Annales de l'Est vol. 2 (Nancy: Derger-Levrault, 1888), pp. 514-542.
• Pfister, Charles (1889). "Les légendes de saint Die et de saint Hidulphe," (in French), in: Annales de l'Est vol. 3 (Nancy: Derger-Levrault, 1889), pp. 377-408; 536-588.
• Pisani, Paul (1907). Répertoire biographique de l'épiscopat constitutionnel (1791-1802) (in French). Paris: A. Picard et fils.</r
• Ritzler, Remigius; Sefrin, Pirminus (1958). Hierarchia catholica medii et recentis aevi (in Latin). Vol. VI (1730-1799). Patavii: Messagero di S. Antonio. p. 193. Retrieved 6 July 2016.
• Ritzler, Remigius; Sefrin, Pirminus (1968). Hierarchia Catholica medii et recentioris aevi (in Latin). Vol. VII (1800–1846). Monasterii: Libr. Regensburgiana.
• Remigius Ritzler; Pirminus Sefrin (1978). Hierarchia catholica Medii et recentioris aevi (in Latin). Vol. VIII (1846–1903). Il Messaggero di S. Antonio.
• Pięta, Zenon (2002). Hierarchia catholica medii et recentioris aevi (in Latin). Vol. IX (1903–1922). Padua: Messagero di San Antonio. ISBN 978-88-250-1000-8.
• Valance, Roger (ed.). La dédicace et la consécration de la cathédrale Saint-Dié, 28-29 septembre 1974: Deuxième centenaire du diocèse, 26-27 novembre 1977. (in French). Saint-Dié: Diocèse de Saint-Dié, 1974.

48°10′15″N 6°27′00″E

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Saint-Dié". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.