Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chambéry

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chambéry, is an Archdiocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic church, in France and a suffragan of Lyon. The archepiscopal see is Chambéry Cathedral, located in the city of Chambéry. The archdiocese encompasses the department of Savoie, in the Region of Rhône-Alpes. The current archbishop is Mgr. Philippe Ballot, formerly a priest in Besançon.

The diocese was created in 1779, from the Diocese of Grenoble, after a complicated earlier history. It became an archdiocese in 1817, even though at that point it was not within French territory.

History

In 1467, in the ducal chapel built for the Holy Winding-Sheet (Santo Sudario, better known as the Turin Shroud) by Amadeus IX of Savoy, and the Duchess Yolande of France, Pope Paul II erected a chapter directly subject to the Holy See, and his successor Pope Sixtus IV, united this chapter with the deanery of Savoy. In 1515 Pope Leo X published a papal bull making the deanery an archbishopric, but Francis I of France objected, and it was only in 1775 that this deanery was separated from the Diocese of Grenoble by Pope Pius VI, who, in 1779, created it a bishopric with the see at Chambéry.

The Duchy of Savoy, politically subject to the King of Sardinia, had thenceforth four bishoprics: Chambéry, the diocese of Saint-Jean de Maurienne, diocese of Tarentaise, and Geneva (with residence at the diocese of Annecy). In October, 1792, the commissaries to the Convention formed the constitutional Diocese of Mont-Blanc, with Annecy as the see and Lyons as the metropolitan. The Concordat of 1802 created a Diocese of Chambéry and Geneva, suffragan of the archdiocese of Lyons.

A Bull dated 17 July 1817, made Chambéry, once more a city of the Sardinian States, the seat of an archdiocese, with the diocese of Aosta for suffragan; the Dioceses of Annecy (re-established in 1822), Saint-Jean-Maurienne, and Tarentaise (in 1825), soon also became suffragans of Chambéry. After the annexation of Savoy to France, in 1860, this condition continued, except that the Diocese of Aosta was made a suffragan of the archdiocese of Turin.

The Cistercian Abbey of Hautecombe, founded in 1135, is one of the burial places of the House of Savoy. The relic known as the Holy Winding-Sheet of Christ was kept at Chambéry until 1598, in which year the Duke of Savoy had it transported to Turin, where St. Charles Borromeo wished to venerate it. Notre-Dame de Myans (antedating the twelfth century), where St. Francis de Sales officiated, and Notre-Dame de l'Aumone at Romilly (thirteenth century), whither Francis I of France went as a pilgrim, are still places of pilgrimage. The Sisters of St. Joseph, an order devoted to teaching and charitable work, were founded at Chambéry in 1812.

On 16 December 2002 the Archdiocese of Chambéry became a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Lyon and ceased to be a Metropolitan.

Bishop

• 1780 - 1793 Michel Conseil

Archbishops

• 1802–1805, René des Monstiers (or de Moustier) de Mérinville, also Bishop of Dijon
• 1805–1823, Irénée-Yves De Solle (or Desolle or Dessole), also bishop of Digne
• 1824-1827, François-Marie Bigex, also archbishop of Pignerol
• 1828-1839, Antoine Martinet, also bishop of Tarentaise
• 1840-1873, Cardinal Alexis Billiet, also bishop of Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne
• 1873-1880, Pierre-Athanase Pichenot, also bishop of Tarbes
• 1881-1893, François-Albert Leuillieux, also bishop of Carcassonne
• 1803-1907, François Hautin, also bishop of Évreux
• April to August 1907, Gustave-Adolphe de Pélacot, also bishop of Troyes
• 1907-1914, Cardinal François-Virgile Dubillard, also bishop of Quimper-Cornouailles
• 1915-1936, Dominique Castellan, also bishop of Digne
• 1937-1947, Pierre-Marie Durieux, also bishop of Viviers
• 1947-1966 Louis-Marie-Fernand de Bazelaire de Ruppierre
• 1966–1985, André Bontemps, also bishop of Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne
• 1985-2000, Claude Feidt, also archbishop of Aix
• 2000-2008 Laurent Ulrich, also archbishop of Lille
• 2008- Vacant
• 2009 - Philippe Ballot, appointed 14 January

External links

• Source

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company. 

Coordinates: 45°34′00″N 5°55′16″E / 45.5666667°N 5.92111°E / 45.5666667; 5.92111