PERPETUUS
700
PERPIGNAN
the United States, the title has been translated Our
Lady of Perpetual Help.
Beata Virgo af Perpetuo Succursu, id esl, de aiUiqiia et prodigiosa Imaginf in Ecdesia S. Alphonsi de Urbe CuUui reddita, necnon de Archisoilalitale sub litulo B. M. V. de Perpeluo Succursu el S. Al- phonsi M, de Liguorio canonice erecta (Rome, 1876).
J. Magniek.
Perpetuus, S./mn-t, eighth Bishop of Tours, d. 1 January, or 8 December, l'.)l). or S April, 491. He w!Ui a member of tlie ilhi.-itrious family which produced St. Eu.staehiu.s, who had been his prcdcces.sor, and also Saint \'olusianus, who became his successor in the same episcopal see. Appointed about 460, he guided the Church of Tours for thirty years, and it is apparent, from what little information we have, tluit during his administration Christianity was consideralily devel- oped and consohdated in Touraine. Shortly after his elevation, St. Perpetuus presided at a council in which eight bishops who were reunited in Tours on the Feast of St. Martin had participated, and at this assembly an important rule was promulgated relative to ecclesiastical discipline. He maintained a careful surveillance over the conduct of the clergy of his dio- cese, and mention is made of priests who were removed from their office because they had proved unworthy. He built monasteries and various churches, but above all he desired to replace by a beautiful basilica (470) the little chapel that Saint Britius had constructed, to protect the tomb of St. Martin. The will of St. Perpetuus was published for the first time in 1661 by Dom Luc d'Achery in his "Spicilegium". This curi- ous historical monument belonging to the end of the fifth century gives us an excellent idea of the sanctity of its author.
B.^RONius, Ann. (1595), 47-52, 482; BouRA83^, Le testament de S. Perpetue, ivegue de Touts, in Bull, de la Soc. arch, de Touraine, II (Tours, 1871-3), 256; Ceillier, Hist. gin. des auteitrs sacr. et eccl., XV (Paris, 1748), 189-95; Henschenius, in Act. SS. Bol- Jond.(1675),Apr., 1,748-52; Hts(.K«. deio France, II (Paris, 1735), 619-27; RoBOTTi del Fiscale, Cenni star, intorno al glor. vescovo d\ Tours, S. Perpetuo (Alessandria, 1859) ; Tillemont, Mem. pour servir A Vhist. eccUs., XVI (Paris, 1712), 770-3.
L£oN Clugnet.
Perpignan, Diocese of (Perpinianum), comprises the Department of Pyr6n6es Orientates; created by the union of the ancient See of Elne, part of the Dio- cese of L^rgel known as French Cerdagnc, three can- tons of the former Diocese of Alet, and two villages of the ancient Diocese of Narbonne. This department was united in 1802 to the Diocese of Carcassonne; by the Concordat of 1817 it received a special see. This see, though it continued the aforesaid ancient See of Elne, was located at Perpignan, where the bishops of Elne had resided since 1601 in virtue of a Bull of Clem- ent VHL Elne was a suffragan of Narbonne until 1511; from 1511 to 1517 it was directly subject to the Holy See; in 1517 it became again a suffragan of Nar- bonne; a Decree of the Council of Trent made it a suffragan of Tarragona; after 1678 it was again a suf- fragan of Narbonne. The See of Perpignan as it was re-established in 1817 is suffragan to Albi.
The first known Bishop of Elne is Dominus, men- tioned in 571 in the Chronicle of John of Biclarum. Among others are Cardinal Ascanio Maria Sforza (1494-95), Cardinal Ca-sar Borgia (149.5-98), Cardi- nal Francois de Loris (1499-1.506), Cardinal Jacques de Serra (1.506-12), Cardinal Hieronimo Doria (1530- 33); Olyrape Gerbet (18.54-64). The Cathedral of Elne (eleventh century) and the adjoining cloister are rich examples of elaborate medieval ornamentation. In the later Middle .^ges, and under the influence of Roman law, Roussillon witnessed certain offensive re- vivals of ancient slavery; this is provetl by numerous purchase deeds of Mussulman, and even Christian, slaves, dating l)ack to the fourteenth and fifteenth centunes. The diocese honours especiallv St. Vincent de Collioure, m.artyr (end of third century); and St. Eulalia and St. JuUa, virgins and martyrs (end of
third century). In memory of former ties with the
metropolis of Tarragona, the Church of Perpignan
honours several Spanish saints: St. Fructuosus,
Bishop of Tarragona, and his deacons Augurius and
Eulogius, martyred at Tarragona in 259; some mar-
tyrs of the Diocletian persecution (en<l of third cen-
tury); Justa and Rufina of Seville; Felix and N.arcis-
sus of Gerona; Aciselus and Victoria of Cordova;
Leocadia, of Toledo; St. Ildefonsus (607-67), Arch-
bishop of Toledo.
The Benedictine Dom Briard (1743-1828), who con- tinued the important series of "Historiensde France", belonged to Perpignan. At Perpignan Benedict XIII (Pedro de Luna) held a council 1 Nov., 1408, to rally his partisans; they gradually melted away and on I Feb., 1409, the eighteen remaining bishops advised
the antipope to send ambassadors to Pisa to negotiate
with Gregory XII. Numerous councils were held at
Elne: in 1027, 10.58, 1114, 1335, 1337, 1338, 1339,
1340, and 13S0. The council held in 1027 decreed that
no one should attack his enemy from Saturday at
nine o'clock to Monday at one; and that Holy Mass be
said for the excommunicated for a space of three
months, to obtain their conversion. The author of
"I'Art de verifier les Dates" wrongly maintains that
the Council of Elvira was held at Elne. The chief
places of pilgrimage of the diocese are : Notre-Dame du
Ch&teau d'Ultrera, at Sorcde; Notre-Dame de Conso-
lation, at Collioure; Notre-Dame de Font Romeu, at
Odeillo; Notre-Dame de For?a-R6al, near Millas;
Notre-Djime de Juigues, near Rivcsaltes; the relics of
Sts. Abdon and Sennen at Aries on the Tech. Prior to
the application of the law of 1901, the Diocese of Per-
pignan had Capuchin Fathers and various orders of
teaching Brothers. The Sisters of the Most Holy Sac-
rament, mother-house at Perpignan, are a nursing
and teaching order. At the beginning of the twentieth
century the religious congregations directed in the
diocese 1 infant school, 13 day nurseries, 1 boys' or-
phanage, 2 girls' orphanages, 8 hospitals or asylums,
and 2 houses for the care of the sick in their own
homes. In 1905 there were 212,121 inhabitants, 26
parishes, 197succursal parishes, and 43 vicariates sub-
ventioned bv the state.
Gallin Christiana, nova. VI (1739), 1030-79, In.str., 474-97; Duchesne, Fastes Episc.opaux; Puiggari, Catalogue. Biographique des eviguee d' ElneiPerpignaa, 1842) ; Gazanyola, Histoire du Rous-
