Archbishop Of Tarentaise
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The Archdiocese of Tarentaise () was a
Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
diocese and
archdiocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associated ...
in
France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
, with its see in
Moûtiers Moûtiers (; Arpitan: ''Motiérs''), historically also called Tarentaise, is a commune in the Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Southeastern France. Moûtiers is the main access point to the Les Trois Vallées ski regio ...
, in the
Tarentaise Valley The Tarentaise Valley (, ; ) is a valley of the Isère (river), Isère River in the heart of the French Alps, located in the Savoy region of France. The valley is named for the ancient town of ''Darantasia'', the capital of the pre-Roman Centron ...
in
Savoie Savoie (; Arpitan: ''Savouè'' or ''Savouè-d'Avâl''; English: ''Savoy'' ) is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, Southeastern France. Located in the French Alps, its prefecture is Chambéry. In 2019, Savoie had a population o ...
. It was established as a diocese in the 5th century, elevated to archdiocese in 794, and disbanded in 1801. The diocese of Tarentaise was again formed in 1825, and united with the
diocese of Chambéry In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associated ...
and diocese of Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne to form the Archdiocese of Chambéry, Maurienne and Tarentaise in 1966.


History

Legend relates that the Centrones were evangelized in the fifth century by James the Assyrian, secretary to
Honoratus Honoratus (; – 6 January 429) was the founder of Lérins Abbey who later became an early Archbishop of Arles. He is honored as a saint in the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches. Life Honoratus was born in the north of Gaul to a consular ...
,
Archbishop of Arles The former French Catholic Archbishopric of Arles had its episcopal seat in the city of Arles, in southern France. At the apex of the delta (Camargue) of the Rhone River, some 40 miles from the sea, Arles grew under Liburnian, Celtic, and Punic in ...
. He became the first Bishop of Darantasia or Tarentaise, the metropolis of the ''Centrones'', and named Marcellus as his successor. The first document in which the Diocese of Tarentaise is reliably mentioned is a letter of Leo the Great (5 May, 450) which assigns to the
Archdiocese of Vienne The Archbishopric of Vienne, named after its episcopal seat in Vienne in the Isère département of southern France, was a metropolitan Roman Catholic archdiocese. It is now part of the Archdiocese of Lyon. History The legend according to wh ...
, among other suffragans, the Bishop of Tarentaise. The first historically known bishop is Sanctius, who in 517 assisted at the Council of Epaon. A plea was brought before the Council of Frankfort (794) against the decision of Leo I that had been confirmed by Popes Symmachus and
Gregory the Great Pope Gregory I (; ; – 12 March 604), commonly known as Saint Gregory the Great (; ), was the 64th Bishop of Rome from 3 September 590 until his death on 12 March 604. He is known for instituting the first recorded large-scale mission from Rom ...
. Leo III partly acceded to this plea, and made Darantasia a metropolis with three suffragans,
Aosta Aosta ( , , ; ; , or ; or ) is the principal city of the Aosta Valley, a bilingual Regions of Italy, region in the Italy, Italian Alps, north-northwest of Turin. It is situated near the Italian entrance of the Mont Blanc Tunnel and the G ...
,
Sitten Sion (, ; former ; ) is a Swiss town, a municipality, and the capital of the canton of Valais and of the district of Sion. it had a population of (known as ''Sédunois(es)''). On 17 January 1968, the former municipality of Bramois merged i ...
(Sion in French), and
Maurienne Maurienne (; ; ) is one of the provinces of Savoy, corresponding to the arrondissement of Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne in France. It is also the original name of the capital of the province, now Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne. Location The Maurienne val ...
, but maintained the primacy of Vienne. For four centuries this primacy was the cause of conflicts between the archbishops of Tarentaise and those of Vienne; subsequently Maurienne was again attached to the metropolis of Vienne. The city of Darantasia was destroyed by the Saracens in the tenth century, whereupon the archbishops moved their residence to the right bank of the
Isère Isère ( , ; ; , ) is a landlocked Departments of France, department in the southeastern French Regions of France, region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. Named after the river Isère (river), Isère, it had a population of 1,271,166 in 2019.
, calling it their ''moutier'' (monastery), and it was at this place that the town of Moutiers began to be built in the second half of the tenth century. In the twelfth century the archbishops of Tarentaise were powerful sovereigns. In 1186, a bull of Frederick Barbarossa recognized the Archbishop of Tarentaise as immediate vassal of the empire and
prince of the Holy Roman Empire Prince of the Holy Roman Empire (, , cf. ''Fürst'') was a title attributed to a hereditary ruler, nobleman or prelate recognised by the Holy Roman Emperor. Definition Originally, possessors of the princely title bore it as immediate vassal ...
, in disregard of the pretensions of Humbert III, Count of Savoy; but in 1358 a transaction between Archbishop Jean de Bertrand and the Count of Savoy, Amadeus VI, fixed the respective rights of the archbishops and the counts. Tarentaise belonged to France from 1536 to 1559, and from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century was on four occasions wrested for a time by France from the House of Savoy. In 1792 it formed the Department of Mont Blanc. The Treaty of Paris (30 May 1814) gave it to the King of Sardinia, while the Plebiscite of 22 and 23 April 1860 returned it to France. The Archdiocese of Moutiers in Tarentaise was suppressed in 1792 by the French Revolution. In 1825 a diocese was re-established at Moutiers, suffragan of
Chambéry Chambéry (, , ; Franco-Provençal, Arpitan: ''Chambèri'') is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of the Savoie Departments of France, department in the southeastern ...
, and was maintained in 1860 in virtue of a special clause in the treaty ceding Savoy to France. Among the archbishops of Moutiers in Tarentaise may be mentioned: * Peter I (around 1130) the first Cistercian raised to the episcopate, who founded in a defile the Cistercian
Abbey of Tamié An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christians, Christian monks and nun ...
, to serve as a shelter for pilgrims and travellers *the Cistercian monk Peter II (1141–74) founded the charity of the ''pain de Mai'' ('May bread'), which until the second half of the eighteenth century distributed bread at Moutiers at the expense of the archdiocese during the first twenty-eight days of May; it was he who upheld Alexander III against Emperor
Frederick Barbarossa Frederick Barbarossa (December 1122 – 10 June 1190), also known as Frederick I (; ), was the Holy Roman Emperor from 1155 until his death in 1190. He was elected King of Germany in Frankfurt on 4 March 1152 and crowned in Aachen on 9 March 115 ...
and the antipope Victor IV, and maintained in obedience to
pope Alexander III Pope Alexander III (c. 1100/1105 – 30 August 1181), born Roland (), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 7 September 1159 until his death in 1181. A native of Siena, Alexander became pope after a Papal election, ...
the seven hundred abbeys of the Cistercian Order. Alexander decided (3 February 1171) that thenceforth the metropolitan See of Tarentaise should depend only on Rome * Aymon II (1174/6–1211), who in 1186 received the countship of Tarentaise from
Frederick Barbarossa Frederick Barbarossa (December 1122 – 10 June 1190), also known as Frederick I (; ), was the Holy Roman Emperor from 1155 until his death in 1190. He was elected King of Germany in Frankfurt on 4 March 1152 and crowned in Aachen on 9 March 115 ...
and accompanied the emperor on the
Third Crusade The Third Crusade (1189–1192) was an attempt led by King Philip II of France, King Richard I of England and Emperor Frederick Barbarossa to reconquer the Holy Land following the capture of Jerusalem by the Ayyubid sultan Saladin in 1187. F ...
in 1189 *Peter III (1271–83) *Cardinal Antoine de Chalant (1402–18), to whom has been ascribed "Le livre du Roi Modus et de la reine Ratio", a much-esteemed treatise on hunting *Cardinal Jean d'Arces (1438–54), who at the
Council of Basle The Council of Florence is the seventeenth ecumenical council recognized by the Catholic Church, held between 1431 and 1445. It was convened in territories under the Holy Roman Empire. Italy became a venue of a Catholic ecumenical council aft ...
in 1440 supported Duke Amadeus of Savoy, antipope under the name of Felix V, against
pope Eugene IV Pope Eugene IV (; ; 1383 – 23 February 1447), born Gabriele Condulmer, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 11 March 1431 to his death, in February 1447. Condulmer was a Republic of Venice, Venetian, and a nephew ...
*Cardinals Christopher and Dominic de la Rovére (1472–78 and 1478–83), whose tomb erected at Rome in the Church of
Santa Maria del Popolo The Parish Basilica of Santa Maria del Popolo () is a titular church and a minor basilica in Rome run by the Augustinian order. It stands on the north side of Piazza del Popolo, one of the most famous squares in the city. The church is hemmed in b ...
is a splendid monument of the Renaissance *Germonio (1607–27), who played an important part in the seventeenth-century reform of the clergy and whose "Commentaries" and "Acta Ecclesiæ Tarentasiensis" are important documents for the history of the time As natives of the diocese may be mentioned: Pope Nicholas II (1059), born at Chevron-Villette of the family of the lords of Miolans; Pierre d'Aigueblanche, who in 1240 became Archbishop of Hereford in England, and for twenty-five years was councillor and minister to
Henry III of England Henry III (1 October 1207 – 16 November 1272), also known as Henry of Winchester, was King of England, Lord of Ireland, and Duke of Aquitaine from 1216 until his death in 1272. The son of John, King of England, King John and Isabella of Ang ...
; Blessed Peter of Tarentaise, who became pope in 1276 under the name of Innocent V. The chief pilgrimages of the diocese are: Notre Dame de Briançon, which dates from the victory over the Saracens in the tenth century; kings
Francis I of France Francis I (; ; 12 September 1494 – 31 March 1547) was King of France from 1515 until his death in 1547. He was the son of Charles, Count of Angoulême, and Louise of Savoy. He succeeded his first cousin once removed and father-in-law Louis&nbs ...
and
Henry IV of France Henry IV (; 13 December 1553 – 14 May 1610), also known by the epithets Good King Henry (''le Bon Roi Henri'') or Henry the Great (''Henri le Grand''), was King of Navarre (as Henry III) from 1572 and King of France from 1589 to 16 ...
visited this shrine; Notre Dame des Vernettes, at Peisey, created in the eighteenth century near a miraculous fountain; Notre Dame de la Vie at St. Martin de Belleville; Notre Dame de Beaufort; St. Anne at Villette dating from 1248.


See also

* Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chambéry–Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne–Tarentaise *
Catholic Church in France The Catholic Church in France, Gallican Church, or French Catholic Church, is part of the worldwide Catholic Church in communion with the Pope in Rome. Established in the 2nd century in unbroken communion with the bishop of Rome, it was sometim ...
*
List of Catholic dioceses in France The Catholic Church in France mainly comprises a Metropolitan Latin Church hierarchy, joint in a national episcopal conference, consisting of * fifteen ecclesiastical provinces, each under a Metropolitan Archdiocese (15) ** with a total of 80 suf ...


References


Bibliography


Sources

* pp. 548–549. (Use with caution; obsolete) * p. 301. (in Latin) * p. 175. * * p. 219. *


Studies

* *


External links


Catholic Hierarchy


Acknowledgment

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tarentaise, Roman Catholic Ancient Diocese of Tarentaise Dioceses established in the 5th century 5th-century establishments in sub-Roman Gaul 1966 disestablishments in France