| Jurisdiction: | Archdiocese |
| Sens and Auxerre | |
| Latin: | Archidioecesis Senonensis et Antissiodorensis |
| Local: | Archidiocèse de Sens et Auxerre |
| Country: |  France |
| Province: | Dijon |
| Metropolitan: | Archdiocese of Dijon |
| Area Km2: | 7,460 |
| Population: | 342,724 |
| Population As Of: | 2014 |
| Catholics: | 209,600 |
| Catholics Percent: | 61.2 |
| Denomination: | Catholic |
| Sui Iuris Church: | Latin Church |
| Rite: | Roman Rite |
| Established: | 1st Century |
| Cathedral: | Cathedral of St. Stephen in Sens |
| Patron: | St. Savinian and St. Potentian |
| Bishop: | Vacant |
| Bishop Title: | Archbishop |
| Metro Archbishop: | Antoine Hérouard |
| Suffragan: | for one --> |
| Archdeacon: | for one--> |
| Map: | Archidiocèse de Sens.svg |
| Website: | Website of the Archdiocese |
The Archdiocese of Sens and Auxerre (Latin: Archidioecesis Senonensis et Antissiodorensis; French: Archidiocèse de Sens et Auxerre) is a Latin Archdiocese of the Catholic Church in France. The Archdiocese comprises the department of Yonne, which is in the region of Bourgogne. Traditionally established in sub-apostolic times, the diocese as metropolis of Quarta Lugdunensis subsequently achieved metropolitical status. For a time, the Archbishop of Sens held the title "Primate of the Gauls and Germania". Until 1622, the Metropolitan Archdiocese numbered seven suffragan (subordinate) dioceses: the dioceses of Chartres, Auxerre, Meaux, Paris, Orléans, Nevers and Troyes, which inspired the acronym CAMPONT. The Diocese of Bethléem at Clamecy was also dependent on the metropolitan see of Sens. On December 8, 2002, as part of a general reorganization of the dioceses of France undertaken, at least in part, to respond to demographic changes, the Archdiocese of Sens-Auxerre ceased to have metropolitan rank and became a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Dijon, which became the centre of a new ecclesiastical province for the Burgundy administrative region.
Until the French Revolution, the Archbishop of Sens was also Viscount of Sens. In 1622, Paris had been elevated to a metropolitan see and the Sees of Chartres, Orléans and Meaux were separated from the ecclesiastical province of Sens. In return, the abbey of Mont Saint-Martin in the Diocese of Cambrai was united to the archdiocese. Sens was suppressed by the Napoleonic Concordat of 1802, which annexed to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Troyes the Dioceses of Sens and Auxerre. The somewhat complex agreement gave the title of Bishop of Auxerre to the bishops of Troyes, and the purely honorary title of Archbishop of Sens to the Archbishop of Paris (otherwise deprived of all jurisdiction over Sens). The Concordat of 1817 reestablished the Archdiocese of Sens and the Diocese of Auxerre, but this arrangement did not last. The law of July 1821, the pontifical brief of 4 September 1821 and the royal ordinance of 19 October 1821 suppressed the Diocese of Auxerre and gave to the Archdiocese of Sens the Department of the Yonne and the Dioceses of Troyes, Nevers and Moulins. A papal brief of 3 June 1823 gave to the Archbishop of Sens the additional title of Bishop of Auxerre. The Archbishop of Sens-Auxerre continued to reside at Sens until the 1920s, but is now resident at Auxerre, while his cathedra (seat) is at Sens Cathedral.
The history of the religious beginnings of the church at Sens dates from Savinian and Potentian, and through legend to the Dioceses of Chartres, Troyes and Orléans. Gregory of Tours is silent regarding Savinian and Potentian, founders of the See of Sens; the Hieronymian Martyrology, which was revised before 600 at Auxerre (or Autun) ignores them. The cities of Chartres and Troyes have nothing about these men in their local liturgy prior to the 12th century, and that of Orléans nothing prior to the 15th, pertaining to the preaching of Altinus, Eodaldus and Serotinus (companions of Savinian and Potentian). Before the ninth century there was (in the cemetery near the monastery of Pierre le Vif at Sens) a group of tombs, among which are those of the first bishops of Sens. In 847, the transfer of their remains to the church of St-Pierre le Vif inspired popular devotion towards Savinian and Potentian. In 848, Wandelbert of Prüm named them the first patrons of the church of Sens. Ado, in his martyrology published shortly afterwards, speaks of them as envoys of the apostles and as martyrs. The Martyrology of Usuard (around 875) depicts them as envoys of the "Roman pontiff" and martyrs. In the middle of the 10th century the relics of these two saints were hidden in a subterranean vault of the Abbey of St-Pierre le Vif to escape the pillage of the Hungarians, but in 1031 they were placed in a reliquary established by the monk Odoranne. This monk (in a chronicle published about 1045) speaks of Altinus, Eodaldus, and Serotinus as apostolic companions of Savinian and Potentian, but does not view them as legitimate.
In a document which (according to the Abbé Bouvier) dates from the end of the sixth century or the beginning of the seventh—but according to Louis Duchesne, who labels the Gerbertine legend as written in 1046 and 1079 under the inspiration of Gerbert, Abbot of St-Pierre le Vif—is first described a legend tracing to Savinian and Potentian (and their companions) the evangelization of the churches of Orléans, Chartres and Troyes. After some uncertainty, the legend became fixed in the Chronicle of pseudo-Clarius, compiled about 1120. The Christian faith could not have been preached at Sens in the second century, but Sidonius Apollinaris mentions that in 475 the Church of Sens had its 13th bishop; the list of bishops does not indicate that the episcopal see existed prior to the second half of the third century or the beginning of the fourth.
Among the bishops of Sens in the fourth century were:
The see regained some prestige when Hugues de Toucy (1142–1168) crowned Constance (wife of King Louis VII) at Orléans in 1152 despite protests by the Archbishop of Reims, and during whose episcopate Pope Alexander III (driven from Rome) installed the pontifical court at Sens for 18 months, on the advice of the bishops.
See main article: Councils of Sens.
A large number of Church councils were held at Sens between 600 and 1485. The first involved a controversy over the date of Easter which meant that St. Columbanus refused to attend. The Council of 1140 condemned the writings of Abelard. The Council of 1198 was concerned with the Manichaean sect of the Poplicani.