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 REIMS

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REIMS

magne. In 816 Louis the Debonnaire was crowned by Stephen V iu the cathedral of Reims, and the pope conferred the title of Augusta on Queen Erraengarde. Pope Leo IX came to Reims in September, 1049, during the episcopate of Guy de Chatillon; he con- secrated the church of St. Remigius, and decreed that thenceforward the feast of that saint should be kept on the first day of October, throughout the whole kingdom. During the episcopate of Raoul de ^'e^d, Pope Callistus II presided at a council held at Reims from 20 to 30 October, 1119. St. Norbert came thither barefoot and in penitential garb, and Callistus confirmed the authority granted to him by Pope Gelasius, to preach the Gospel in all places. The council drew up a decree for the Truce of God, and excommunicated Bourdin, the antipope, and the Emperor Henry. Pope Innocent II, on 19 October, 11.31, in the "episcopate of Renaud de Martign^, opened at Reims a council at which St. Bernard ap- peared, and the antipope Anacletus was excom- municated. ^Tiile this council was sitting, the pope crowned (25 October) Louis the Younger, afterward Louis VII, in the presence of his father Louis VI. Lastly, at the request of Bernard, Bishop of Hildes- heim, he canonized St. Godehard. Pope Eugene III, on 22 March, 1148, opened at Reims a council at which St. Bernard forced Gilbert de La Porree to retract his errors on the essence of God, and Samson de Mauvoisin, Archbishop of Reims, caused Eon de I'Etoile to be condemned.

From the ninth century to the eleventh, the build- ings of a monastery for women founded by St. Gom- bert were used by poor children who desired to learn, who lived on alms, prayed in the chapel of St. Patrick, and attended the chapter schools. This was the origin of the "College des Bons Enfants", the functions of which were regulated by Juhel's Charter, in 124.5, and which prepared a certain number of boys for the priesthood. Between 1544 and 1.546, Paul Grand Raoul, the schola^licus of Reims, had the college re- built, and it was in this building, by that time still further enlarged, that Cardinal Charles of Lorraine installed the university, for which he had obtained from Paul III a Bull of erection (5 January, 154S) and the foundation of which was sanctioned by Henry II in March, 1548. It was to comprise the four faculties of arts, theology, law, and medicine. The facultj- of theology was completed through the liberality of Antoine Fournier (b. at Reims, 1532), who adminis- tered the Diocese of Metz for another Charles of Lor- raine. This uni\-ersity was the stronghold of the League in Champagne, and in 1588 it adhered to the solemn declaration by which the Sorbonne declared the French people to be absolved from their oath of alle- giance to Henry III after the assassination of the Duke of Guise. But when Henry IV had had him- self crowned at Chartres, and the most fiery Leaguers of Reims were contemplating going into exile, the fac- ulty of theology gave the signal for submission. In 1606, when, through the favour of Archdeacon Fran- cois Brulart, the Jesuits set up a college at Reims, they asked to be incorporated in the university, and in 1609 they obtained their request. Repeated conflicts, how- ever, arose between the Jesuits and the university, first in 1617, then in 1660 and 1664, again in 1722 on the question of Jansenism, and again in 17.52. In 1682 the theological faculty of Reims adhered to the Four Articles, and in 16SS, when Innocent excommunicated Lavardin, Louis XIV's ambassador, it voted by accla- mation in favour of an appeal to a council. Until 1723 it refused to submit to the Bull "Unigenitus", and one of its doctors, Jean Lacourt, was e\'en sent to the Bas- tile at this time for six months. (On the foundations at the University of Reims made in the sixteenth century with a view to the Catholic apostolate in England, see Allen, William.)

The chapter of Reims possessed rights over 150

villages of the diocese. History records as having been members of that chapter 5 popes, 23 archbishops, 53 cardinals, and a considerable number of bishops; pur- suant to what was known as the " Jouanine privilege". Obtained under Jean de Craon, its members were exempt from all jurisdiction except the pope's. Among them may be mentioned: St. Brimo, founder of the Carthusians (1030-1101), who was at one time scholasliciis of Reims; Otton of Chatillon, who became pope in 1088 under the name of Urban II; Guillaume Coquillart, who died about 1490, in his younger days, as a law student, the author of celebrated jocose poems; Maucroix (1619-95), the friend of Boileau and La Fontaine. A very curious festival which the chap- ter used to hold in the MidtUe Ages was the procession of the herrings. At the beginning of Lent, they went in Indian file from the cathedral to St-Remi, each dragging a herring after him by a thread — a symbol of the Lenten abstinence — and each trj-ing to put his foot on the herring dragged by the nex-t canon ahead of him.

The celebrated cathedral of Reims is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin. The edifice raised by Hincmar having been destroyed by a fire in 1211, Bishop Alberic de Humbert undertook to build the present cathedral in its place. It was completed in one hundred years — from 1211 to 1311 — and hence the admirable unity of design and execution which characterize it as an exam- ple of Gothic architecture. Jean d'Orbais seems to have been the first architect, originating the plan and building the apse; the great doorway, crowned with the famous gallery containing forty-two statues of kings of France, is chiefly the work of Robert de Coucy, in the beginning of the fourteenth century. In the treasury of the cathedral is preserved the chalice of St. Remigius (see illustration to Ch.\lice), from which the kings of France used to communicate under the species of wine at the end of the coronation cere- monies, and which, according to tradition, was cut from the gold of the celebrated vase of Soissons broken by one of Clovis's soldiers. On 1 Feb., 1S86. the Cathe- dral of Reims was affiliated to the illustrious Lateran Basilica, thereby participating in the privilege of all the indulgences and spiritual favours attached to the cathedral of Rome. In 1891 the canons of St. Peter at Rome presented to the chapter at Reims a portion of the relics of St. Petronilla; the translation of these sacred bones to Reims took place on Whitsunday, 1892. The Benedictine monastery of St-Remi was long independent of the archbishops. The present church of St-Remi was begun in 1005 by Airard, abbot of the monastery, and some of the capitals date from that period. The work was resumed on a simpler plan by Abbot Thierry in 1039, when the soutli transept was built; the apse dates from 1170, in the time of Abbot de Celles. Carloman, Louis IV D'Outre-Mer, Lothair, and Hincmar wished to be buried in this church. Its treasure, made up of the offerings of kings and princes who visited the tomb of St. Remigius, would be of considerable value if it had not been brought into requisition on several occasions of public necessity — now to ransom a royal prisoner, now to supply money for the purposes of war. Then, acting at the king's behest, the archbishop issued an order that the gold and silver reliquaries (chasses) should be sent to the mint; the abbey received specie to the amount of one- fourth the value of the metal coined, and the balance in promissory notes which were rarely redeemed. The church of St-Remi has been a "minor basilica" since 28 June, 1870.

The church of Ste-CIotilde, the foundation stone of which was laid on 26 June, 1S9S, on the centenary of the baptism of Clovis, was opened in March, 1901, and raised to the rank of a basilica by Leo XIII on 5 March, 1902. At present it pos.sesses 70 chasses and nearly 1000 relics. The centenary celebration drew together an attendance of 77 prelates and 69 pilgrim-