Diocese of Agen

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Agen Cathedral

The Diocese of Agen is a French Roman Catholic diocese.^[1]^[2]

The diocese comprises the Département of Lot and Garonne. It has been successively suffragan to the archdioceses of Bordeaux (under the old regime), Toulouse (1802-22), and Bordeaux again (since 1822).^[3]

Legends which do not antedate the ninth century concerning Saint Caprasius, martyred with St. Fides by Dacianus, Prefect of the Gauls, during the persecution of Diocletian, and the story of Vincentius, a Christian martyr (written about 520), furnish no foundation for later traditions which make these two saints early bishops of Agen.

[edit] Bishops

The first bishop of Agen known to history is St. Phoebadius, friend of St. Hilary, who published (in 357) a treatise against the Arians and figured prominently at the Council of Rimini in 359.

Among the bishops of Agen were:

Wilhelmus II, sent by Pope Urban IV (1261-64) to King St. Louis in 1262 to ask his aid in favor of the Latin Empire of Constantinople
Bertrand de Goth, whose uncle of the same name was raised from the Archbishopric of Bordeaux to the Papal See under the name of Clement V (1305-14), and during his pontificate visited the city of Agen
Simon of Cramaud 1382-1383
Cardinal Jean de Lorraine (1538-1550)
Matteo Bandello
the Oratorian Jules Mascaron, a celebrated preacher, transferred from the see of Tulle, to that of Agen (1679-1703)
Hebert, who was curé of Versailles, had contributed to the withdrawal of Madame de Montespan from the royal court, and who when appointed Bishop of Agen (1703) had as vicar-general until 1709 the celebrated Belsunce
d'Ise de Saléon (1730-1735)
de Bonnac (1767-1801), who in the parliamentary session of 3 January 1792, was the first to refuse to sign the constitutional oath.

[edit] Cathedral

Agen Cathedral was formerly the church of St. Caprasius, and is a splendid specimen of Romance architecture, dating from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. It was made the cathedral in place of the church of St. Etienne, which was unfortunately destroyed during the French Revolution.