VIENNE, of"en': The second oldest seat of
Christianity in Gaul (10 m, a. of Lyons), the ecclesiastical metropolis of Gaul after 445, and the place
of several synods. [Vienne and Lyons were
closely associated in the ,persecution under Marcus Aurelius
(177 A.D.), when the aged Bishop Pothinus and one
of its- deacons, Sanctus, suffered martyrdom. When
Irenaeus succeeded Pothinus, he probably ministered to the church at Vienne as well as to that at
Lyons (cf. the letter of the brethren at Vienne and
Lyons to brethren in Asia and Phrygia, giving an account of the persecution, in Eusebius, Hist. eccl., V.,
ii., Eng. transl. in NPNF,
2 ser., i. 212-218). A. a. N.]
The first bishop of whom anything definite is known
was Verus, who attended the Synod of Arles. The
first synod of Vienne, said to have been held about
474 and to have sanctioned the rogations of
Bishop Mamertus, seems never. to have taken
place. Another synod in 870 confirmed the privi
leges conferred on a monastery, and the third, in
892, placed all laymen under the ban who in
fringed on the rights of the Church or injured the
clergy.
In 907 a synod settled a dispute between
two abbots over monastic revenues, and another
in 1060 prepared resolutions against simony, the
marriage of priests, etc. Archbishop Guido (later
Calixtus II.) in 1112 convened a synod which de
clared against lay investiture, and seven years later
Gelasius II. is said to have held the seventh synod
of Vienne, though the historicity of this is disputed.
Another, held by Archbishop Petrus in 1124, sought
to protect the possessions of the Church, though it
is more probable that this synod existed only in the
declared intention of Calixtus II. to hold it. The
election of a bishop of Valence was the occasion for
the convening of a synod in 1141, and. in 1164
Rainald of Cologne convened the Burgundian bish
ops at Vienne in an unsuccessful effort to induce
them to recognize the imperial Antipope Paschalis
III. On Jan. 14, 1200, the cardinal legate Petrus
held a synod to execute the ban on Philip Augustus
of France, and a provincial synod was convened in
1289 of which no details are known.
The only
assemblage of real importance at Vienne
was the fifteenth ecumenical council convened by
Clement V. in 1311. The bull of invitation to this
council,
Regnayts in colis,
was dated Aug. 12, 1308, but circumstances compelled deferment until Oct.
16, 1311. The subjects proposed for its considera
tion were three: a verdict on the
Templars (q.v.),
who were accused of grievous crimes; the aid to be
given the Holy Land; and the reform of church dis
cipline. How many prelates assembled is uncertain,
though the number 114, besides abbots and procura
tors, given by William of Nangis, seems probable.
A series of conferences concerning the Templars pro
longed proceedings until Mar., 1312; and the order
was declared suppressed at the second session of
the council (Apr. 3). It was apparently at the
same
session that Clement declared his predecessor, Boni
face VIII., to be a lawful pope, innocent of the ac
cusations alleged against him. The third session
(May 6) closed the council, at which the pope seems
to have given the tithes for six years to the kings of
France, England, and Navarre for the purpose of a
crusade. The synod likewise went deeply into the
problem of reform, the results being the decrees
issued or prepared by the council, incorporated in
the so-called Clementines, and published by John
XXII. A final synod was held at Vienne in 1557.
It was concerned chiefly with matters of discipline.
(A. Hauck.)
Bibliography:
KL, xii. 932-948; B. de Richebourg (Charvet), Hist. de l'_plise de Vienne, Lyons, 1781; D. de
Maupertuy, Hist. de saints4glise de
Vienne, Lyons, 1708;
F. Z. Collombet, Hist. de la
saints-_gliae de Vienne, 4 vols.,
Lyons, 1847-48; Gallic Christians, zvi. 1 sqq., Paris,
1885; E3. Champier, Du royaume des Allobrogea, suet l'an
tiquitE de Vienne, Lyons, 1884; T3;. SchotmGller, Der
UR terganp des Templerordena, 2 vols., Berlin, 1887;
w. Gundlaeh, Der Streit der Biathitmer Arles and Vienne um
den Primatua Galliarum, Hanover, 1890; idem, in NA,
sa (1895), 263
sqq.; La philosophie du concile de Vienne,
Paris, 1890; H. Bazin, Vienne et, Lyon gallo-romaine,
Paris, 1891; P. Fournier, Lee Royaumes d'Arlea et de
Vienne, 1188-1378, Paris, 1891; L. Duchesne, Pastes
Epiacopavx de l'aneienne Gaule, i. 145 sqq. Paris, 1894;
M. Heber, Gutachten and ReJormvorachlnpe for
das Yiwr· nor Ganerallconzil 1311-1.8, Leipsic, 1898; Lichtenberw,
ESR, mi. 388-370. The reports of the synods are in
Mansi.
Concilia, w. 387 sqq., and Hefele, Conciliengeschichte, passim.
