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sent to Gaul by St. Peter. It did not spread until the eleventh century and was revived in the seventeenth by the Carmelite Bona venture de Saint- Amable, in his voluminous "Histoire de St. Martial". Mgr Du- chesne and M. de Lasteyrie assert that it cannot be maintained against the du-ect testimony of St. Gregory of Tours, who places the origin of the Church of Li- moges about the year 250. The most distinguished bishops of Limoges are: St. Roricius (d. 507), who built the monastery and church of St. Augustine at Limoges; St. Roricius II (d. about 553), who built the church of St-Pierre-du-Qucyroix and the Basilica of St. Junianus at Limoges; St. Ferrdol (d. 597), the friend of St. Yrieix; St. Lupus, or Loup (613-629); St. Sacer- dos (Sardon), Abbot of Calabrum, afterwards bishop; St. Cessa (740-761), who led the people of Limoges against the Saracens under Charles Martel; Cardinal Jean du Bellay (1541-1545). The ecclesiastics who served the crypt of St. Martial organized themselves into a monastery in 848, and built a church beside that of St-Pierre-du-S6pulchre which overhung the crypt. This new church, which they called St-Sauveur, was demolished in 1021, and was replaced in 1028 by a larger edifice in Auver^nat style. Urban II came in person to reconsecrate it in 1095. In the thirteenth century the chapel of St. Benedict arose beside the old church of St-Pierre-du-S^pulchre. It was also called the church of the Grand Confraternity of St. Mar- tial. The different organizations which were grouped around it, anticipated and solved many important sociological questions.

Limoges, in the Middle Ages, comprised two towns: one called the "City", the other the "ChAteau" or " Castle ". The government of the " Castle " belonged at first to the Abbots of St. Martial who claimed to have received it from Louis the Pious. Later, the viscounts of Limoges claimed tliis authority, and constant friction existed until the l:)cginning of the thirteenth century, when, owing to the new com- munal activity, consuls were appointed, to whose authority the abbots were forceu to submit (1212). After two intervals during which the English kings inoposed their rule, Charles V in 1371 united the "Cfastle" with the royal demesne, and thus ended the political r6le of the Abbey of St. Martial. Until the end of the old regime, however, the abbots of St. Martial exercised direct jurisdiction over the Combes quarter of the city. In 1534, Abbot Matthieu Jou- viond, finding that the monastic spirit had almost totally died out in the abbey, thought best to change it into a coUe^ate church, and in 1535 the king and the pope gave their consent. It was suppressed in 1791, and early in the nineteenth century even the buildings had disapp>eared. In the thirteenth century^ the Abbey of St. Martial, possessed the finest hbrary (450 volumes) in France after that of Cluny (570 volumes). Some have been lost, but 200 of them were bought by Ix)uis XV in 1730, and to-day are one of the most valuable collections in the Bibhothdque Nationale at Paris. Most of these manuscripts, ornamented with beautiful miniatures, were written in the al^bcy itself. M. Emile Molinier and M. Rupin admit a relation Ix^tween these minia- tures of St. Martial and the earliest Limoges enamels, but M. de Lasteyrie disputes this theory. The Fran- ciscans settle<l at Limoges in 1223. According to the chronicle of Pierre Coral, rector of St. Martin of Limoges, St. Anthouv of Puduu established a convent there in 1226 and departeil in the first months of 1227. On the iiight of Holy Thursday, it is said, he was preaching in the churcn of St. Pierre du Quey- roix, when he stopped for a moment and remained silent. At the same instant he appeared in the choir of the Franciscan monastery ana read a lesson. It was doubtless at ('hilt<»aiinouf in the territory of Limoges that took place the celebnited apptirition of the Infant Jesus to St. Anthonv.

The diocese specially boaouFs the following: St. Sylyanus, a native of Ahun, mart}rr; St. Adorator, disciple of St. Ambrose, suffered martyrdom at Lu- persac; St. Victorianus, an Irish hermit: St. Vaast, a native of the diocese who became Bisnop d Ams and baptized Clovis (fifth-sixth century); St. Pad- modius, a native of Britain, died a hermit at Evmou- tiers; St. Yrieix, d. in 501, chancellor to Tbeodebert. King of Austrasia, and founder of the monastery of Attaiium (the town of St. Yrieix is named after him); St. Etienne de Muret (1046-1 126) ^ who together with Guillaume d'Uriel, Bishop of Limoges, founded the famous Benedictine monastery of Grandmont. Mention must also be made of the following who were natives of Limoges: Bernard Guidonis (1261-1313), bom at La Roche d'Abeille, Bishop of Lod^ve and a celebrated canonist; the Aubusson family, one of whom, Pierre d' Aubusson (1483-1503), was Grand Master of the Order of Jerusalem, and one of the defenders of Rhodes; Marc Antoine Muret. called the "Orator of the Popes" (1526-1596). Three popes came from the Diocese of Limoges: Pierre Roi^, born at Maulmont, elected pope in 1342 as Clement VI, died in 1352; Etienne Albert, or d'Albret, bom near Pompadour, elevated to the papacy in 1352 as Innocent Vl, died in 1362; Pierre Roger de Beau- fort, nephew of Clement VI, also bom at Maulmont. As Gregory XI he reined from 1371 till 1378. Mau- rice Bourdin, Archbishop of Prague, antipope for a brief space in 1118, under the name of Gregory VIII, also^ belonged to this diocese. St. Peter Ds^ mian came to Limoges in 1062 as papal legate, to com- pel the monks to accept the supremacy of the Order of Cluny.

The Council of Limoges, held in 1031, is noted not only for its decision with regard to St. Martial's mis- sion, but because, at the instigation of Abbot Odolric, it proclaimed the "Truce of God" (q- v.) and threat- ened with general excommunication those feudal lords who would not swear to maintain it. It was at the priory of Bourganeuf in this diocese that Pierre d' Aubusson receiv^ Zizin, son of Mohammed II, after he had been defeated in 1483 by his brother. Bajaset II. The Gothic cathedral of St -Etienne, begun in 1273, was noted for a fine rood loft built in 1534; the church of St-Pierre-du-Queyroix, begun in the twelfth century, and that of St-Michel-des-Lions, begun in 1364, are worthy of notice. In 994, when the district was devastated b}r a plague (mal des arderUs), the epidemic ceased immediately after a procession ordered by Bishop Hilduin, on the Mont de la Joie, which overlooks the city. The Church of Limoges celebrates this event on 12 November. The principal pilgrimages of the diocese are those of: Saint Valeric (hermit) at Saint-Vaubry (sixth century) ; Our Ladv of Sauvagnac at St-Leger-la-Montagne (twelfth century); Notre - Dame -du- Pont, near St-Junien (fourteenth century), twice visited by Louis XI ; Notre- Dame^'Arliguet, at Aixe-sur-Vienne (end of the six- teenth centurv); Notre-Dame-des-Places, at Crosant (since 1664). '

Before the Associations Law of 1901, there were in the Diocese of Limoges, Jesuits, Franciscans, Ma- rists, Oblates of Mary Immaculate, and Sulpicians. The principal congregations of women which origi- natea here are the Sisters of the Incarnation founded in 1639, contemplatives and teachers. They were restored in 1807 at Azerables, and have houses in Texas and Mexico. The Sisters of St. Alexis, nursing sisters, founded at Limoges in 1659. The Sisters c2 St. Joseph, founded at Dorat in February, 1841, by Elizabetn Dupleix, who, with other pious women, had visited the prisons at Lyons since 1805. The Con- gregation ot Our Saviour and that of the Blessed Virgin, a nursing and teaching congregation, founded at la Souterraine in 1835 by Josepliine du Bouq^. Tlie Sist<jrs of the Good Shephenl (called Mane