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<!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en"> <head> <title>CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Autun</title><script src="https://dtyry4ejybx0.cloudfront.net/js/cmp/cleanmediacmp.js?ver=0104" async="true"></script><script defer data-domain="newadvent.org" src="https://plausible.io/js/script.js"></script><link rel="canonical" href="https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02144a.htm"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> <meta name="description" content="Comprises the entire Department of Saone et Loire in France. It was suffragan to the Archdiocese of Lyons under the old regime"> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS" href="http://feeds.newadvent.org/bestoftheweb?format=xml"><link rel="icon" href="../images/icon1.ico" type="image/x-icon"><link rel="shortcut icon" href="../images/icon1.ico" type="image/x-icon"><meta name="robots" content="noodp"><link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="../utility/screen6.css" media="screen"></head> <body class="cathen" id="02144a.htm">  <br/> <div id="capitalcity"><table summary="Logo" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 width="100%"><tr valign="bottom"><td align="left"><a href="../"><img height=36 width=153 border="0" alt="New Advent" src="../images/logo.gif"></a></td><td align="right"> <form id="searchbox_000299817191393086628:ifmbhlr-8x0" action="../utility/search.htm">  <input type="hidden" name="safe" value="active"> <input type="hidden" name="cx" value="000299817191393086628:ifmbhlr-8x0"/> <input type="hidden" name="cof" value="FORID:9"/>  <label for="searchQuery" id="searchQueryLabel">Search:</label> <input id="searchQuery" name="q" type="text" size="25" aria-labelledby="searchQueryLabel"/>  <label for="submitButton" id="submitButtonLabel" class="visually-hidden">Submit Search</label> <input id="submitButton" type="submit" name="sa" value="Search" aria-labelledby="submitButtonLabel"/> </form> <table summary="Spacer" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td height="2"></td></tr></table> <table summary="Tabs" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr> <td bgcolor="#ffffff"></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../"> Home </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_white_on_color" href="../cathen/index.html"> Encyclopedia </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../summa/index.html"> Summa </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../fathers/index.html"> Fathers </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../bible/gen001.htm"> Bible </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../library/index.html"> Library </a></td> </tr></table> </td> </tr></table><table summary="Alphabetical index" width="100%" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td class="bar_white_on_color"> <a href="../cathen/a.htm"> A </a><a href="../cathen/b.htm"> B </a><a href="../cathen/c.htm"> C </a><a href="../cathen/d.htm"> D </a><a href="../cathen/e.htm"> E </a><a href="../cathen/f.htm"> F </a><a href="../cathen/g.htm"> G </a><a href="../cathen/h.htm"> H </a><a href="../cathen/i.htm"> I </a><a href="../cathen/j.htm"> J </a><a href="../cathen/k.htm"> K </a><a href="../cathen/l.htm"> L </a><a href="../cathen/m.htm"> M </a><a href="../cathen/n.htm"> N </a><a href="../cathen/o.htm"> O </a><a href="../cathen/p.htm"> P </a><a href="../cathen/q.htm"> Q </a><a href="../cathen/r.htm"> R </a><a href="../cathen/s.htm"> S </a><a href="../cathen/t.htm"> T </a><a href="../cathen/u.htm"> U </a><a href="../cathen/v.htm"> V </a><a href="../cathen/w.htm"> W </a><a href="../cathen/x.htm"> X </a><a href="../cathen/y.htm"> Y </a><a href="../cathen/z.htm"> Z </a> </td></tr></table></div> <div id="mobilecity" style="text-align: center; "><a href="../"><img height=24 width=102 border="0" alt="New Advent" src="../images/logo.gif"></a></div>  <div id="mi5"><span class="breadcrumbs"><a href="../">Home</a> > <a href="../cathen">Catholic Encyclopedia</a> > <a href="../cathen/a.htm">A</a> > Autun</span></div> <div id="springfield2"> <div class='catholicadnet-728x90' id='cathen-728x90-top' style='display: flex; height: 100px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; '></div> <h1>Autun</h1> <p><em><a href="https://gumroad.com/l/na2"><strong>Please help support the mission of New Advent</strong> and get the full contents of this website as an instant download. Includes the Catholic Encyclopedia, Church Fathers, Summa, Bible and more  all for only $19.99...</a></em></p> <h2>The diocese of Autun</h2> <p>(Augustodonum).</p> <p>Comprises the entire Department of Saone et Loire in <a href="../cathen/06166a.htm">France</a>. It was suffragan to the <a href="../cathen/09472a.htm">Archdiocese of Lyons</a> under the old regime. The sees of Chalons-sur-Saone and Mâcon were united to Autun after the <a href="../cathen/13009a.htm">Revolution</a>, and it then became suffragan to <a href="../cathen/02525b.htm">Besançon</a> (1802), afterwards to Lyons (1822). <a href="../cathen/05075b.htm">Christian teaching</a> reached Autun at a very early period, as we <a href="../cathen/08673a.htm">know</a> from the famous Greek inscription of Pectorius which dates from the third century. It was found in 1839 in the cemetery of St. Peter l'Estrier at Autun and bears testimony to the antiquity and efficacy of <a href="../cathen/02258b.htm">baptism</a> and the sacramental words of the <a href="../cathen/05572c.htm">Holy Eucharist</a>. Local recensions of the "Passion" of St. Symphorianus of Autun exhibit <a href="../cathen/12219b.htm">St. Polycarp</a> on the eve of the <a href="../cathen/11703a.htm">persecution</a> of <a href="../cathen/13721a.htm">Septimius Severus</a>, assigning to <a href="../cathen/08130b.htm">St. Irenæus</a> two <a href="../cathen/12406a.htm">priests</a> and a <a href="../cathen/04647c.htm">deacon</a> (Sts. Benignus, Andochius, and Thyrsus), all three of whom depart for Autun. St. Benigus goes on to <a href="../cathen/08789c.htm">Langres</a>, while the others remain at Autun. According to this legendary cycle, which dates from about the first half of the sixth century it was not then believed at Autun that the city was an <a href="../cathen/05001a.htm">episcopal see</a> in the time of <a href="../cathen/08130b.htm">St. Irenæus</a> (c. 140-211). St. Amator, whom Autun tradition designates as its first <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a>, probably occupied the <a href="../cathen/05001a.htm">see</a> about 250. The first <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a> known to history is St. Reticius, an <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">ecclesiastical</a> writer, and contemporary of the <a href="../cathen/04295c.htm">Emperor Constantine</a> (306-337). The <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">Bishop</a> of Autun enjoys the right of wearing the <a href="../cathen/11427a.htm">pallium</a>, in virtue of a privilege accorded to the <a href="../cathen/05001a.htm">see</a> in 599 by <a href="../cathen/06780a.htm">St. Gregory the Great</a> (590-604). In the Merovingian period two Bishops of Autun figured prominently in political affairs; St. Syagrius, <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a> during the second half of the sixth century, a contemporary of <a href="../cathen/06484a.htm">St. Germanus</a>, <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">Bishop</a> of <a href="../cathen/11480c.htm">Paris</a> (a native of Autun), and St. Leodegarius (Léger), <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a> from 663 to 680, celebrated on account of his conflict with Ebroin and <a href="../cathen/12565a.htm">put to death</a> by order of Thierry III. Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, the future diplomat, was <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">Bishop</a> of Autun from 1788 to 1790, when he resigned. The last <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishop</a> of this see appointed in 1882 (d. 1906), was Cardinal Perraud, member of the <a href="../cathen/01089a.htm">French Academy</a>. In 670, an important council was held at Autun for the purpose of regulating the discipline of the <a href="../cathen/02443a.htm">Benedictine</a> <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">monasteries</a>. The present <a href="../cathen/03438a.htm">cathedral</a> of Autun dates from the eleventh and twelfth centuries, and was formerly the <a href="../cathen/03574b.htm">chapel</a> of the Dukes of <a href="../cathen/03068a.htm">Burgundy</a>; their palace was the actual episcopal residence. In the Diocese of Autun are yet to be seen the ruins of the <a href="../cathen/02443a.htm">Benedictine</a> Abbey of Tournus and the great Abbey of Cluny, to which 2,000 <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">monasteries</a> were subject, and which gave to the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> the great <a href="../cathen/12260a.htm">pope</a>, <a href="../cathen/06791c.htm">Gregory VII</a> (1073-85). Gelasius II (1118-19) died at Cluny, and there also was held the <a href="../cathen/04192a.htm">conclave</a> that elected <a href="../cathen/03185a.htm">Calixtus II</a> (1119-24). The devotion to the Sacred Heart originated in the Visitation Convent at Paray-le Monial, founded in 1644, and now the object of frequent <a href="../cathen/12085a.htm">pilgrimages</a>. At the end of the year 1905 the Diocese of Autun contained 618,227 inhabitants, 65 <a href="../cathen/11499b.htm">parishes</a>, 458 succursal, or auxiliary, churches and 68 vicariates.</p> <div class="CMtag_300x250" style="display: flex; height: 300px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; "></div> <h2>The councils of Autun</h2> <p>The first council, held in 663 (or 670) orders all <a href="../cathen/04049b.htm">ecclesiastics</a> to learn by heart the Apostles Creed and the <a href="../cathen/02033b.htm">Athanasian Creed</a>, and this seems to be the earliest mention of the latter in <a href="../cathen/06166a.htm">France</a>. Cardinal Pitra says in his "Histoire de St. Léger" that this canon may have been directed against <a href="../cathen/10502a.htm">Monothelitism</a>, then seeking entrance into the Gallican churches, but condemned beforehand in the latter of these creeds. The <a href="../cathen/02436a.htm">Rule of St. Benedict</a> was also prescribed as the normal monastic code. In the Council of 1065, Saint Hugues, <a href="../cathen/01015c.htm">Abbot</a> of Cluny, accomplished the reconciliation of Robert, Duke of <a href="../cathen/03068a.htm">Burgundy</a>, with the <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">Bishop</a> of Autun. In 1077 Hugues, <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">Bishop</a> of Dié, held a council at Autun, by order of <a href="../cathen/06791c.htm">St. Gregory VII</a>; it deposed Manasses, <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">Bishop</a> of <a href="../cathen/12725a.htm">Reims</a>, for <a href="../cathen/14001a.htm">simony</a> and usurpation of the <a href="../cathen/05001a.htm">see</a>, and reproved other <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a> for absence from the council. In 1094 Hugues, <a href="../cathen/01691a.htm">Archbishop</a> of <a href="../cathen/09472a.htm">Lyons</a>, and thirty-three other <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">bishops</a> renewed at Autun the <a href="../cathen/05678a.htm">excommunication</a> of <a href="../cathen/07230a.htm">Henry IV</a> of <a href="../cathen/06484b.htm">Germany</a>, the <a href="../cathen/07063a.htm">Antipope Guibert</a>, and their partisans, also that of King Philip of <a href="../cathen/06166a.htm">France</a>, guilty of bigamy. <a href="../cathen/14001a.htm">Simony</a>, <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">ecclesiastical</a> disorders, and monastic usurpations provoked other decrees, only one of which is extant, forbidding the <a href="../cathen/10487b.htm">monks</a> to induce the canons to enter <a href="../cathen/04340c.htm">monasteries</a>.</p> <div class='catholicadnet-728x90' id='cathen-728x90-bottom' style='display: flex; height: 100px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; '></div> <div class="cenotes"><h2>Sources</h2><p class="cenotes">DIOCESE: Gallia Christiana ed nova (1728), IV, 314-437 and Documents, 39-126; DE FONTENAY, Autun, ses monuments (Autun, 1889); DUCHESNE, Fastes episcopauz de l'ancienne Gaule, I, 48-56 and II, 174-182 (Paris, 1894 and 1900); CHEVALIER, Tope-bibl. (Paris, 189-99). 269-272. <br>COUNCILS: MANSI, Coll. Conc. (1748), Supp. I,497,XI,126,XIX,10 sqq.; Supp. II, 25, XX,483; Gallia Christiana, ed. nova (1728), IV, 314-437, 39-126; GAGUARD, Hist. de l'église d'Autun (Autun, 1774); CHEVALIER, Topo-bibl. (Paris, 1804-99, 270.</p></div> <div class="pub"><h2>About this page</h2><p id="apa"><strong>APA citation.</strong> <span id="apaauthor">Goyau, G., & Shahan, T.</span> <span id="apayear">(1907).</span> <span id="apaarticle">Autun.</span> In <span id="apawork">The Catholic Encyclopedia.</span> <span id="apapublisher">New York: Robert Appleton Company.</span> <span id="apaurl">http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02144a.htm</span></p><p id="mla"><strong>MLA citation.</strong> <span id="mlaauthor">Goyau, Georges, and Thomas Shahan.</span> <span id="mlaarticle">"Autun."</span> <span id="mlawork">The Catholic Encyclopedia.</span> <span id="mlavolume">Vol. 2.</span> <span id="mlapublisher">New York: Robert Appleton Company,</span> <span id="mlayear">1907.</span> <span id="mlaurl"><http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02144a.htm>.</span></p><p id="transcription"><strong>Transcription.</strong> <span id="transcriber">This article was transcribed for New Advent by Dick Meissner.</span> <span id="dedication"></span></p><p id="approbation"><strong>Ecclesiastical approbation.</strong> <span id="nihil"><em>Nihil Obstat.</em> 1907. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor.</span> <span id="imprimatur"><em>Imprimatur.</em> +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York.</span></p><p id="contactus"><strong>Contact information.</strong> The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is webmaster <em>at</em> newadvent.org. Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback — especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads.</p></div> </div> <div id="ogdenville"><table summary="Bottom bar" width="100%" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td class="bar_white_on_color"><center><strong>Copyright © 2023 by <a href="../utility/contactus.htm">New Advent LLC</a>. 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