Roman Catholic Diocese of Geneva

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Geneva (in German Genf, in French Genève) was a Latin Catholic diocese in parts of Switzerland and Savoy (presently in France) from 400 till its 1801 merger into the then Diocese of Chambéry, which later lost its Swiss territory to the present Roman Catholic Diocese of Lausanne, Geneva and Fribourg, which adopted the title despite the lack of direct succession.

History

Geneva, capital of the Swiss Canton of Geneva, situated where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, first appears in history as a border town, fortified against the Celto-Germanic Helvetii, which the Romans took in 120 BC. In AD 443 it was taken by the Kingdom of Burgundy, and with the latter fell to the Franks in 534. In 888 the town was part of the new Kingdom of Burgundy, and with it was taken over in 1033 by the German Emperor. According to legendary accounts found in the works of Gregorio Leti[lower-alpha 1] and Besson,[lower-alpha 2] Geneva was Christianised by Dionysius Areopagita and Paracodus, two of the seventy-two disciples, in the time of Domitian. Dionysius then went to Paris and Paracodus became the first Bishop of Geneva, but, according to Gregor Reinhold in the Catholic Encyclopedia, the legend is based on an error which makes St. Lazarus the first Bishop of Geneva, arising out of the similarity between the Latin names Genava (Geneva in Switzerland) and Genua (Genoa in Italy). The so-called Catalogue de St. Pierre, which gives St. Diogenus (Diogenes) as the first Bishop of Geneva, is untrustworthy.[1]

A letter of St. Eucherius to Salvius makes it almost certain that St. Isaac (c. 400) was the first bishop. In 440 St. Salonius appears as Bishop of Geneva; he was a son of St. Eucherius, to whom the latter dedicated his Instructiones'; he took part in the Council of Orange (441) and in those of Vaison (442) and Arles (about 455). He is also thought to be the author of two small commentaries, In parabolas Salomonis and on Ecclesiastics.[lower-alpha 3] Little is known about the following Bishops Theoplastus (about 475), to whom St. Sidonius Apollinaris addressed a letter; Dormitianus (before 500), under whom the Burgundian Princess Sedeleuba, a sister of Queen Clotilde, had the remains of the martyr and St. Victor of Solothurn transferred to Geneva, where she built a basilica in his honour; St. Maximus (about 512–41), a friend of Avitus, Archbishop of Vienne and Cyprian of Toulon, with whom he was in correspondence.[1] [lower-alpha 4]

Bishop Pappulus sent Thoribiusas, a priest, as his substitute to the Fourth Council of Orléans (541). Bishop Salonius II is only known from the signatures of the Synods of Lyons (570) and Paris (573) and Bishop Cariatto, installed by King Guntram in 584, was present at the two Synods of Valence and Macon in 585. From the beginning the bishopric of Geneva was a suffragan of the archbishopric of Vienne. The bishops of Geneva had the status of prince of the Holy Roman Empire since 1154, but had to maintain a long struggle for their independence against the guardians (advocati) of the see, the counts of Geneva and later the counts of Savoy. In 1290 the latter obtained the right of installing the vice-dominus of the diocese, the title of Vidame of Geneva was granted to the family of count François de Candie of Chambéry-Le-Vieux a Chatellaine of the Savoy, this official exercised minor jurisdiction in the town in the bishop's. In 1387 Bishop Adhémar Fabry granted the town its great charter, the basis of its communal self-government, which every bishop on his accession was expected to confirm. When the line of the counts of Geneva became extinct in 1394, and the House of Savoy came into possession of their territory, assuming after 1416 the title of Duke, the new dynasty sought by every means to bring the city of Geneva under their power, particularly by elevating members of their own family to the episcopal see. The city protected itself by union with the Old Swiss Confederacy (Eidgenossenschaft), uniting itself in 1526 with Berne and Fribourg.[1]

The Protestant Reformation caused major transformations in the religious and political life of Geneva. Berne favoured the introduction of the new teaching and demanded liberty of preaching for the Reformers Guillaume Farel and Antoine Froment, but in 1531 Catholic Fribourg renounced its allegiance to Geneva. John Calvin went to Geneva in 1536, and, following a period of exile, returned in 1541 to spend the rest of his life there. The city became a stronghold of Calvinism, and became nicknamed the Protestant Rome for its dominant influence in the Calvinist movement. As early as 1532 the bishop had been obliged to leave his residence, never to return; in 1535 he fixed his see at Annecy, in 1536 at Gex. The Apostolic zeal and devotion of St. Francis de Sales, who was Bishop of Geneva from 1602–21, restored a large part of the diocese back to Catholicism.[1]

Formerly the Diocese of Geneva extended well into Savoy, as far as Mont Cenis and the Great St. Bernard. Nyon, also often erroneously considered a separate diocese, belonged to Geneva. Under Charlemagne Tarantaise was detached from Geneva and became a separate diocese. Before the Reformation the bishops of Geneva ruled over 8 chapters, 423 parishes, 9 abbeys and 68 priories. In 1802, during its annexation to France under Napoleon I, the Diocese of Geneva was united with the Diocese of Chambéry. At the Congress of Vienna the territory of Geneva was extended to cover 15 Savoyard and 6 French parishes, with more than 16,000 Catholics; at the same time it was admitted to the Swiss Confederation. The 1814 Congress of Vienna and the 1816 Treaty of Turin expressly provided that, in those territories transferred to Geneva, the Catholic religion was to be protected, and that no changes were to be made in existing conditions without agreement with the Holy See.[1]

In 1819, Pope Pius VII united the city of Geneva and 20 parishes with the Diocese of Lausanne. In 1822, the balance of territory, outside of Switzerland, taken from the Diocese of Geneva was erected as the Diocese of Annecy. The cantonal council then ignored the previous agreements; in imitation of the French Organic Articles, it insisted upon a placet, which is the assent of the civil power to the promulgation of an ecclesiastical ordinance.[2] Catholic indignation ran high at the civil measures taken against Etienne Marilley, the parish priest of Geneva, and future bishop of the see. Still greater indignation was aroused among the Catholics by the injustice created by the Kulturkampf, which obliged them to contribute to the budgets of the Protestant Church and the Old Catholic Church, while the Roman Catholic Church did not receive public aid. This lasted until 30 June 1907, when Geneva voted for the separation of church and state.[1]

Episcopal Ordinaries

(all Roman Rite)

Suffragan Bishops of Geneva (Genf, Genève)

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Reinhold, Gregor (1910). "Lausanne and Geneva". In Herbermann, Charles. Catholic Encyclopedia. 9. New York: Robert Appleton.
  2. ↑ The dictionary definition of placet at Wiktionary
  1. ↑ Historia Genevrena. Amsterdam. 1686.[1]
  2. ↑ Nancy, 1739; new ed. Moutiers, 1871Memoires pour l'histoire ecclésiastique des diocèses de Genève, Tantaise, Aoste et Maurienne.[1]
  3. ↑ Salonius of Vienne. Patrologia Latina. Patrologia Latina (in Latin). 52. Paris. 967 sqq., 993 sqq. Archived from the original on 27 November 2006. Retrieved 13 April 2013.[1]
  4. ↑ Wawra (1905). Tubinger Theolog. Quartalschrift. LXXXV: 576–594. Missing or empty |title= (help)[1]
Bibliography

Cronotassi da Helvetia sacra

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