Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 9.djvu/28

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han sent him to the legislature in 1842. He took his seat among the members of the Extreme Right, or Le- gitimist party, with whom he usually cast his vote, although he occasionally supported liberal measures. In KS48 the "Gazette de France" supported his can- didacy for the presidency of the newly established French licpublic, but he obtained only an insignificant number of votes. In 1852 he was made a senator by Napoleon III, which caused some astonishment and comment among his friends the Legitimists. In the senate La Roche jacquelein always snowed himself an ardent defender of Catholicism, but he may be re- proached with having given his support to the whole foreign policy of the imperial Government. He pub- lished a number of works on political and economical subjects, among them being: *' Considerations sur rimpot du sel'' (Paris, 1844); "Opinion sur le projet de loi relatif k la r^forme des pensions" (1844); "Situation de la France" (1849); "A mon pays" (1850); "La France en 1853" (185.3); "Question du jour" (1850): "La suspension d'armes" (1859); "La politique Internationale et le droit des gens" (1860); ^*Un schisme et I'honneur" (1861).

Bioffraphie dfM 900 ilepui^H h VAsnembtre nationale (Paris, 1848); Bwgraphie de» 760 d^putrs a VAnaemhUe It'gialative (Paris, 1852).

Pierre Marique.

La Rochelle, Diocese of (Rupellensis), suffra- gan of Bordeaux, coinpriscj^ the entire Department of Charente-Inf^rieure. The See of MaillezaLs (see Lu- f on) was transferred on 7 May, 1048, to La Rochelle, which diocese just previous to the Revolution, aside from the territory of the former Bishopric of Maillezais, included the present arrondissementa of Marennes, Rochefort, La Rochelle, and a part of Saint-Jean- d'Ang^ly. At the Concordat the entire territory of the former See of Saintes (less the part comprised in the Department of Charente, and belonging to the See of Angouleme) and of the See of Lu^on was added to it. In 1821 a see was established at Lugon, and had under its jurisdiction, aside from the former Diocese of Lu- 9on, almost the entire former Diocese of Maillezais; so that Maillezais, once transferred to La Rochelle, no longer belongs to the diocese now known as La Rochelle et Saintes.

I. See of La Rochelle. — Mgr Landriot, a well- known religious writer, occupied this see from 1856 to 1867. St. IjOuls of France is the titular saint of the cathedral of La Rochelle and the patron of the city. St. Eutropius, first Bishop of Saintes, is the principal patron of the present Diocese of La Rochelle. In this diocese are especially honoured: St. Gemme, martyr (century unknown); St. Seronius, martyr (third cen- tury); St. Martin, Abbot of the Saintes monaster}' (fifth century) ; St. Vaise, martyr about 500; St. Mac- lovius (Malo), first Bishop of Aleth, Brittany, who died in Saintonge about 570; St. Amand, Bishop of Maastricht (seventh centur>0- From 1534 La Ro- chelle and the Province of Aunis were a centre of Cal- vinism. In 1573 the city successfully resisted the Duke of Anjou, brother of Charles IX, and remained the chief fortress of the Huguenots in France. But in 1627 the alliance of La Rochelle with the English proved to IjOuLs XIII and to Richelieu that the politi- cal independence of the Protestants would be a men- ace to France; the famous siege of La Rochelle (5 Au- gust, 1627 — 28 Octolxjr, 1628), in the course of which the population was reduced from 18,000 inhabitants to 5000. terminated with a capitulation which put an end to the political claims of the Calvinistic minority.

II. Ancient See of Saintes. — Saintes had a cer- tain importance under the Romans, as is proved by manv existing monuments. The oldest bishop of known date is Peter, who took part in the Council of OrManr? (511). The first bishop, however, is St. Eu- tropius. Venantius Fortunatus, in a poem written in the second half of the sixth century, makes explicit

mention of him in connexion with Saintes. Eutropiu was said to be a Persian of royal descent, ordained and sent to Gaul by St. Clement; at Saints he converted to Christianity the governor's daughter, St. Eustelle, and like her suffer^ martyrdom. This tradition a noted by Gregory of Tours, with a cautious ut/ertur; Saintes is thus the only church of Gaul which Gregoiy traces back to the first centur>'. This evidence is much weakened, says Mgr Duchesne, by Gregoiy's remark to the effect that no one knew the history of St. Eutropius before the removal of his relics by Bishop Palladius, which took place about 590. At this tardy date seems to have arisen the account of Eutropius as a martyr. Among the bishops of Saintes are mentioned: St. Vivianus (419-52?), once Count of Saintes, later a monk; St. Trojanus, di«l about 532; St. Concordius (middle of the sixth cen- tury); S. Pallais (Palladius), about 580, to whom St. Gregory the Great reconunended St. Augustine on hn way to England; St. Leontius, bishop in 625; Cardinal Raimond Perauld (1503-05), an ecclesiastical writer, several times nuncio, legate for a crusade against the infidels and the re-establishment of peace between Maximilian and Louis XII; Cardinal Francois Sode- rini (1507-16), who died in Rome as dean of the Sacred College, and his nephew Jules Soderini (I516-i4); Charles of Bourbon (1544-50), cardinal in 1548, after- wards Archbishop of Rouen, whom Mayenne wished later to make King of France; Pierre Louis de La Rochefoucauld (1782-92), massacred at Paris with his brother, the Bishop of Beauvais, 2 September, 1792, thus closing the list of the bishops of the dio- cese as it opened, with a martyr.

Several councils were held at Saintes: in 562 or 563, when Bishop Emerius, ilicf^allv elected, was deposed and Heraclius appointed in his stead; other coun- cils were held in 579, 1074 or 1075, 1080, 1081, at which last, metropolitan authority over the sees of Lower Brittany was panted to Tours as against the claims of Dol, and William VII gave the church of St- Eutropius to the monks of Clunv; also in 1083, 1088, 1089, 1097. The crvpt of St. fiutropius, one of the largest in France, dates from the beginning of the twelfth century. Urban 1 1 consecrated it on 20 April , 1096. Kings of France and England, and dukes of Guyenne, enriched the church with numerous founda- tions. Charles VII made a pilgrimage to it in 1441. Louis XI himself wrote a prayer against dropsy, in honour of St. Eutropius. Through the Middle Ages manv pilgrimages were made to the tomb. In iSdS the Calvinists ravaged the crj*pt, but the tomb of St. Eutropius was so well hidden by the monks that it was thougnt to be lost; it was not until 19 Mav, 1843, that it was again discovered. In a Bull of Nicholas V, 1451, it is said that the cathedral of Saintes was the second church ever dedicat^^d to St. Peter. Geoffrey Martel, Count of Anjou, and his wife, Agnes of Bummdy, founded in 1047 the Abbev of Notre-Dame de Saintes for Benedictine nuns, which foundation was sanc- tioned by a Bull of Leo IX. During seven centuries this monasterv had thirty abbesses, most of them daughters of the first families of France. The abbe>' church, now a military barrack, is Poitou Roman- C3c\uc of the twelfth century. The Church of Saintes clamis the honour of being the first to begin the prac- tice of the Angelus (q. v.); when John XXlI heajtl of this pious custom he solemnlv authorized it by two Bulls (1318, 1.327). The monastery of "Angeria- cum ", founded in 768 by Pepin the Short, was the be- ginning of the town of Saint- Jean-d*Ang^ly. In 1010 Abbot Alduin, while having the walls of the church re- f?tored, declared that he found in a cvlindrical stone a silver reliquary containing the hean of St. John the Baptist: William V, Duke of Aquitaine, had the'reJic exposed, and King Robert and Queen Constance in- spected it. The future fifteenth-century Cardinal Jean de I^ Balue was Abl)ot of Saint-Jean-d'Angdly.