Pope Innocent the first, in his decretal Epistle to Victricius Bishop of Rouen in France, A.C. 404, in pursuance of the Edict of Gratian, made this Decree:  Si quae autem causae vel contentiones inter Clericos tam superioris ordinis quam etiam inferioris fuerint exortae; ut secundum Synodum Nicenam congregatis ejusdem Provinciae Episcopis jurgium terminetur:  nec alicui liceat, [4] Romanae Ecclesiae, cujus in omnibus causis debet reverentia custodiri, relictis his sacerdotibus, qui in eadem Provincia Dei Ecclesiam nutu Divino gubernant, ad alias convolare Provincias.  Quod siquis forte praesumpserit; & ab officio Clericatus summotus, & injuriarum reus judicetur.  Si autem majores causae in medium fuerint devolutae, ad Sedem Apostolicam sicut Synodus statuit, & beata consuetudo exigit, post judicium Episcopale referantur.  By these Letters it seems to me that Gallia was now subject to the Pope, and had been so for some time, and that the Bishop of Rouen was then his Vicar or one of them:  for the Pope directs him to refer the greater causes to the See of Rome, according to custom.  But the Bishop of Arles soon after became the Pope’s Vicar over all Gallia:  for Pope Zosimus, A.C. 417, ordaining that none should have access to him without the credentials of his Vicars, conferred upon Patroclus the Bishop of Arles this authority over all Gallia, by the following Decree.

Zosimus universis Episcopis per Gallias & septem Provincias constitutis.

Placuit Apostolicae Sedi, ut siquis ex qualibet Galliarum parte sub quolibet ecclesiastico gradu ad nos Romae venire contendit, vel alio terrarum ire disponit, non aliter proficiscatur nisi Metropolitani Episcopi Formatas acceperit, quibus sacerdotium suum vel locum ecclesiasticum quem habet, scriptorum ejus adstipulatione perdoceat:  quod ex gratia statuimus quia plures episcopi sive presbyteri sive ecclesiastici simulantes, quia nullum documentum Formatarum extat per quod valeant confutari, in nomen venerationis irrepunt, & indebitam reverentiam promerentur.  Quisquis igitur, fratres charissimi, praetermissa supradicti Formata sive episcopus, sive presbyter, sive diaconus, aut deinceps inferiori gradu sit, ad nos venerit:  sciat se omnino suscipi non posse.  Quam auctoritatem ubique nos misisse manifestum est, ut cunctis regionibus innotescat id quod statuimus omnimodis esse servandum.  Siquis autem haec salubriter constituta temerare tentaverit sponte sua, se a nostra noverit communione discretum.  Hoc autem privilegium Formatarum sancto Patroclo fratri & coepiscopo nostro, meritorum ejus speciali contemplatione, concessimus.  And that the Bishop of Arles was sometimes the Pope’s Vicar over all France, is affirmed also by all the Bishops of the Diocess of Arles in their Letter to Pope Leo I. Cui id etiam honoris dignitatisque collatum est, say they, ut