«Romaniser» la liturgie lyonnaise au 19e s. Les conditions d’une alliance entre Lyon et Rome

Abstract

In light of the liturgical diversity of French dioceses at the beginning of the Restoration, Rome strove towards the unification of rituals, including those of Paris and Lyon. Therefore, the imposition of the Roman Liturgy became the subject of a fierce debate between the defenders of Gallican practices and partisans of ultramontane rituals. Despite the stubbornness of local clergy, fixed in their old ways, a vast majority of bishops agreed to the restoration of the Roman Rite in their dioceses in 1860, thus marking a step forward in the process of centralisation initiated by Rome and the battle in favour of the doctrine of “Ultramontanism”. However, in 1863, Cardinal de Bonald attempted to mediate the question of the Lyonese Liturgy with Pius IX. Indeed, a Lyonese Rite had been in existence since the 8th century, a ritual with which the local clergy had become very attached. The city’s scholars feared the loss of this distinctive liturgy and fought to defend the Lyonese Rite. Pius IX then pressured Cardinal de Bonald to introduce the Roman Liturgy in his own diocese, but the opposition by his clergy was fierce. Supported by the “Ultramontane” elites of the city, the Cardinal travelled to Rome in 1864 with the aim of reaching a compromise. Rome finally agreed to a specific adaptation of the liturgy in the capital of Gaul. The breviary was published in 1865, and the following year, a Roman-Lyonese missal was published, remaining in force until the mid-20th century. In this article, we revisit the neglected issue of the defense of the Lyonese Rite, highlighting, in particular, the growing influence of the spiritual authority of the capital of Gaul and its primacy in the 19th century while displaying the attachment of Lyonese Catholicism to papal sovereignty.