Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 4.djvu/878

 DIGNITARY

794

DIJON

Trinitarians; Blessed Hugh, a great Franciscan preacher who was attached to the doctrines of Joa- chim of Floris and died in 1255; his sister St. Douce- line, who was born at Digne, founded the Beguines of Hyeres and died in 1274; St. Elzear of Sabran who died in 1332, and his wife St. Delphina of Sabran (1284-1360); and the Venerable Jacques Chastan (1803-38), born at Marcoux and martyred in Korea. During the Middle Ages the Franciscan convent in Digne produced Francois de Meyronnes, conspicuous at the Sorlaonne and known as the "enlightened doc- tor", and Gassendi, the philosopher who, from 1034 to 1655, was provost of the Church of Digne, on which he wrote a learned work. The principal places of pilgrimage are : Notre-Dame dcs Anges at Lure, frequented annu- ally by over 10,000 of the faithful, a shrine founded in the fourth cen- tury by a recluse from Orleans ; No- tre-Dame de Ro- niigier at Manos- que, dating back to the fifth cen- tury ; Notre-Dame du Roc at Castel- Uine, established ill the eighth cen- I my; and Notre- I i:ime de Beau- \nir at Moustiers ^t I ■-Marie. This 1 ist-named shrine was visited in the time of Sidonius Apollinaris. Two rocks overhang the chapel of Our Lady and are held together by an iron chain, from which is sus- pended a golden star presented by a Knight of Rhodes who, having been taken prisoner, invoked Our Lady of Moustiers and was delivered.

Prior to the enforcement of the law of 1905 there were in the diocese, Benedictines, the Missionaries of Ste-Garde, the Brothers of Christian Schools and Brothers of Christian Instruction of St. Gabriel. Local orders of women especially worthy of mention are: the Congregation of Our Lady of the Presenta- tion, a teaching order at Manosque, and that of the Sisters of Christian Doctrine of the Holy Childhood, whose mother-house is at Digne, and who devote themselves alike to teaching and hospital work. In 1899 the following institutions in the diocese were under the care of religious: 12 infant schools, 2 orphanages for boys and girls, 13 ho.spitals and hos- pices, 1 house of retreat and 4 houses for religious nurses. In 1905 (the last year of the Concordatory period) the Diocese of Digne had a population of 115,021, 35 pa.storates, 314 succursal parishes (mis- sion churches), and 13 curacies subventioned by the State.

Gallia Christiana (.Ifova) (1715), I, 388-417, 474-507, SIS- SIS, Instrumenta, 81-82, 89-92; Nom (1725), III, IlOS-14, 1236-49, 1250-66, Instrumenla, 1S7-W, 11,' W, •.■(10 ID, ;,iiil 233-38; Albanes, Gaf/ta Christiana (\ I, ■!■. 7',tl

(MontWliard, 1899); Gassendi, .V..' / .' ' 'k

(Paris, 1054), Fr. tr. Gufcharu (Ih .i,, 1^1.; li-.,.i,r, France pontificale. Digne et Ricz (P.iris. i-stjiti; Citi \ f,i.i.ii-.i< and Andrieu, Ilistoire. religicuse et hugiologiquf du liiocvtiv de Digne (Aix, 1893); Chevauek, R^p. hist.: Topo-bibl., 891, 1307. 2Si>4-55. 2969. GeorGES GoyAU.

Dignitary, Eccle.siastical, a member of a chap- ter, cathedral or collegiate, possessed not only of a foremost place, but also of a certain jurisdiction. These dignitatcs, as they are called, are usually the provost and the dean (see those articles), sometimes also the cristas and the scholasticus. Their nomination and canonical institution, to a great extent reserved to the pope, are governed partly by common ecclesiasti- cal law, partly by special legislation (e. g. concordats) and custom. The dignitates of a chapter differ from the personidus, inasmuch as the latter officers have merely a fixed right of precedence, and again from the officia (e. g. canon theologian, canon penitentiary), inasmuch as these places imply only an administrative charge or duty (see Person, Ecclesiastical; Canon; Chapter).

Wernz, Jus Decrelalium II, n. 780 sqq. ; Lacrentius, Inst.

Juris Eccl. (Freiburg, 1903), n. 255; SagmCller, KirchenreclU

(Freiburg, 1902), s. v. Dignitas; Hiloenreiner, in Bucri-

berger, Kirchl. Ilandtexikm (Munich, 1907), s. v. Domkapilel.

Thomas J. Shah.an.

Dijon, Diocese of, comprises the entire depart- ment of Cote-d'Or and is a suffragan of Lyons. Ac- cording to the Concordat of 1801 it also included the department of Haute-Marne, which, however, it was called upon to relinquish in 1821, owing to the re- establishment of the Diocese of Langres.

Between the years 50G and 540 it was revealed to St. Gregory, Bishop of Langres, and an ancestor of St. Gregory of Tours, that a tomb which the piety of the peasants led them to visit contained the remains of St. Benignus. He had a large Ijasilica erected over it, and soon travellers from Italy brought him the acts of this saint's martyrdom. These acts are part of a collection of documents according to which Bur- gundy was evangelized in the second century by St. Benignus, an Asiatic priest and the disciple of ,St. Polycarp, assisted by two ecclesiastics, Andochius and Thyrsus. The good work is said to have prospered at Autun, where it received valuable support from the youthful Sjnnphorianus ; at Saulieu where Andochius and Thyrsus had established themselves; at Langres where the three brothers, Speusippus, Eleusippus, and Meleusipjnis, were baptized, and finally at Dijon. In the meantime the persecution of Marcus Aiu-elius broke out, and St. Benignus and his companions were put to death. The doubts first raised by Boulliau and Tillemont in the seventeenth centiu-y concerning the authenticity of these acts seem justified by the con- clusions of Pere Van Hooff and Monseigneur Du- chesne, according to which the Acts of St. Benignus and the martyrdom of the three brothers of Langres, on which the aforesaid traditions are based, are ai)oc- rj-phal and copied from Cappadocian legends. This controversy, however, does not alter the fact that before the fifth century a saint named Benignus was venerated by the Christians of Dijon; nor does it dim the splendour of the saint's miracles, as related by Gregory of Tours and by the "Book of the Miracles of St. Benignus". During the last generation no question has given rise to more animated polemics among the Catholic scholars of France than the apos- tolate of St. Benignus.

Under the Mero\'ingians and Carolingians most of the bishops of Langres resided at Dijon, e. g. St. Urbanus (fifth century), St. Gregory, and St. "Tetriciis (sixth century), who were buried there. When, in 1016, Lambert, Bishop of Langres, ceded the seigniory and county of Dijon to King Robert, the Bishops of Langres made Langres their jjlace of residence. In 1731, Clement XII made Dijon a bishopric. The Abbey of Saint-Etienne of Dijon (fifth century) long had a regular chapter that observed the Rule of St. August iiie; it was given over to secular canons by Paul V in Kill, and Clement XI made its church the cathedral of Dijon; during the Revolution if was transformed into a forage storehouse. The abbatial