Basilica of Saint Justus

St Justus basilica in 1550.

The Basilica of Saint-Just also known as Saint-Just basilica or the Maccabees Basilica was one of the oldest and most powerful churches in the city of Lyon until it was destroyed during the religious wars of the reformation.^[1]

It was then rebuilt under the same name but on another site (see Church Saint-Just).

History

Antiquity

The basilica was built on an ancient necropolis to the southwest of the city of Lugdunum, near the church of St. Irenaeus and built at the same time. In the early Christian era, veneration of the tombs of the early Christians led to the construction of a funeral basilica on these sites. There were three churchs built here.

Originally dedicated to the Maccabees, Jewish heroes of the second century BC. AD, the church latter was dedicated to Saint-Just, 13th archbishop of Lyon, who died as a hermit in Egypt His body and that of his disciple Viateur were returned to Lyon by his successor Antiochus of Lyon in the 6th century. A text of the Bishop of Vienna, Adon in the 9th century attests to the name change. Sidonius wrote of a grand ceremony in honor of Saint-Just who would have taken place in 469. The Bishop saint Patiens of Lyon guided the construction of the second church to 475.

Middle Ages

In the Carolingian period, the church has a chapter twenty canons which was increasingly important in the life of the Lyon city. In the 9th century the church was restored. A fortified monastery and restoration was done in the 12th century which became a college and the second largest church in the city after the Lyon cathedral. At that time the suburbs of St. Irenaeus and St. Just have a separate wall from that of the city of Lyon.

Innocent IV

It is in the cloister of Saint-Just that Pope Innocent IV resided during the seven years he spent in Lyon between 1244 and 1251 outside the city of Rome which was the possession of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II of the Holy Empire who he excommunicated at the first Council of Lyons in 1245. He received a successor of Frederick William of Holland. In 1248, he blessed St. Louis and his brothers, heading for the seventh crusade.

Resident Kings

Clement V was there by the holy pope following November 14, 1305 after being elected in Perugia in June.

The church also received a visit from Louis XI in 1483, Margaret of Austria 8 December 1490 and of Charles VIII and Anne of Brittany in 1497. The regent Louise of Savoy stayed there for 2 years when his son Francis who settled in Lyon is held prisoner.

Reformation era

site today

The Protestant troops of Baron Adrets entered Lyon on the night of 30 April 1562 and the suburb of Saint-Just the next day. The basilica was destroyed by Protestants in September 1562. The stones will be reused in other buildings and ruins survive while the church was rebuilt on another site. The ruins eventually were lost to history.

Rediscovery

The remains were finally rediscovered in the 1970s during excavations to build a housing estate. The buildings were on 13 Maccabees Street. Archeological excavation were carried out between 1971 and 1974 and then between 1978 and 1980. It was classed as a Historical monument in 1984.

References