Diocese of Nîmes

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The French Catholic diocese of Nîmes comprises the territory of Gard. It is suffragan of the diocese of Avignon.

By the Concordat of 1801 its territory was united with the Diocese of Avignon. It was re-established as a separate diocese in 1821 and a Brief of 27 April, 1877, grants to its bishops the right to add Alais (the modern Alès) and Uzès to their episcopal style, these two dioceses being now combined with that of Nîmes. Therefore correctly it is the Diocese of Nîmes, Alès and Uzès.

1 History
2 Bishops
3 Pilgrimages
4 External links

[edit] History

Nîmes (Nemausus) was an important city in Roman antiquity. The Pont du Gard is not far away.

Late and rather contradictory traditions attribute the foundation of the Church of Nîmes either to Celidonius, the man "who was blind from his birth" of the Gospel, or to St. Honestus, the apostle of Navarre, said to have been sent to southern France by St. Peter, with St. Saturninus (Sernin), the apostle of Toulouse. The true apostle of Nîmes was St. Baudilus, whose martyrdom is placed by some at the end of the third century, and by others at the end of the fourth. Many writers affirm that a certain St. Felix, martyred by the Vandals about 407, was Bishop of Nîmes, but Louis Duchesne questions this.

There was a see at Nîmes as early as 396, for in that year a synodical letter was sent by a Council of Nîmes to the bishops of Gaul.

[edit] Bishops

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The first bishop whose date is positively known is Sedatus, present at the Council of Agde in 506.

Other noteworthy bishops are: St. John (about 511, before 526); St. Remessarius (633-40); Bertrand of Languissel (1280-1324), faithful to Boniface VIII, and for that reason driven from his see for a year by Philip the Fair; Cardinal Guillaume d'Estouteville (1441-49); Cardinal Guillaume Briconnet (1496-1514); the famous pulpit orator Fléchier (1687-1710); the distinguished polemist Plantier (1855-75) whose pastoral letter (1873) called forth a protest from Bismarck; the preacher Besson (1875-88). Urban II, coming to France to preach the crusade, consecrated the cathedral of Nîmes in 1096 and presided over a council. Alexander III visited Nîmes in 1162. Clement IV (1265-68), born at Saint Gilles, in this diocese, granted the monastery of that town numerous favors. St. Louis, who embarked at Aigues-Mortes for his two crusades, surrounded Nîmes with walls. In 1305, Clement V passed through the city on his way to Lyons to be crowned. In consequence of disputes about the sale of grapes to the papal household, Innocent VI laid an interdict on Nîmes in 1358. The diocese was greatly disturbed by the Religious Wars: on 29 Sept., 1567, five years before the Massacre of St. Bartholemew, the Protestants of Nîmes, actuated by fanaticism, perpetrated the massacre of Catholics known in French history as the Michelade. Louis XIII at Nîmes issued the decree of religious pacification known as the Peace of Nîmes.

[edit] To 1000

374–407 Saint Felix
506–510 Sedatus
c. 520 Johannes I.
589 Pélage
633–640 Remessarius
c. 650 Johannes II.
672–675 Aréjius
680 Crocus
737 Palladius
c. 745 Gregorius
784–788 Sesnandus
791–798 Vintering
808–850 Christiaus
858–860 Isnardus
867 Anglard I.
870–890 Gilbert
895–905 Anglard II.
905–928 Hubert
929–941 Rainard
943 Bernard I.
943–946 Bégon
947–986 Bernard d'Anduze
987–1016 Frotaire I.

[edit] 1000 to 1300

1016–1026 Geraldus d'Anduze
1027–1077 Frotaire II.
1066–1084 Eléfant (coadjutor)
1080–1090 Pierre I. Ermangaud
1095–1097 Bertrand I. de Montredon
1097–1112 Raymond I. Guillaume
1113–1134 Jean III.
1134–1141 Guillaume I.
1141–1180 Aldebert d'Uzès et de Posquières
1181–1207 Guillaume II. d'Uzès
1207–1209 Hugues de Lédignan
1210 Rodolfe
1212–1242 Arnaud
1242–1272 Raymond Amauri
1272–1280 Pierre Gaucelme
1280–1324 Bertrand de Languissel

[edit] 1300 to 1500

1324 Armand de Vernon
1324 Bernard III.
1324–1331 Bernard IV.
1331–1337 Guirald de Languissel
1337 Guillaume Curti
1337–1342 Aimeric Girard
1342–1348 Bertrand de Deaux
1348–1361 Jean de Blauzac
1361–1362 Paul de Deaux
1362 Jacques I. de Deaux
1362–1367 Gaucelme de Deaux
1367–1372 Jean V. de Gase
1372–1380 Jean IV. d'Uzès
1380–1383 Seguin d'Authon
1383–1391 Bernard IV. de Bonneval
1391–1393 Pierre III. Girard (Administrator)
1393–1426 Gilles de Lascours
1420–1429 Nicolas Habert
1429–1438 Léonard Delphini
1438–1441 Guillaume IV. de Champeaux
1441–1449 Guillaume d'Estouteville (administrator)
1450–1453 Geoffroy Soreau
1453–1458 Alain de Coëtivy
1460–1481 Robert de Villequier
1481–1482 Etienne de Blosset
1482–1496 Jacques II. de Caulers
1496–1514 Guillaume Briçonnet

[edit] 1500-1800

1515–1554 Michel Briçonnet
1554–1561 Claude I. Briçonnet
1561–1568 Bernard VI. d'Elbène
1573–1594 Raymond III. Cavalésy
1598–1625 Pierre IV. de Valernod
1625–1633 Claude II. de Saint-Bonnet de Thoiras
1633–1644 Anthime Denis Cohon
1644–1655 Hector d'Ouvrier
1655–1670 Anthime Denis Cohon (second time)
1671–1689 Jean-Jacques III. Séguier de la Verrière
1692–1710 Esprit Fléchier
1710–1736 Jean VII. César Rousseau de la Parisière
1737–1784 Charles Prudent de Becdelièvre
1784–1801 Pierre V. Marie-Magdeleine Cortois de Balore

[edit] From 1800

1821–1837 Claude III. Petit Benoit de Chaffoy
1838–1855 Jean-François-Marie Cart
1855–1875 Claude-Henri Plantier
1875–1888 François-Nicolas Besson
1889–1896 Jean-Louis Antoine Alfred Gilly
1896–1921 Félix-Auguste Béguinot
1921–1924 Marcellin, Charles Marty
1924–1963 Jean Justin Girbeau
1963–1977 Pierre-Marie Rougé
1978–1999 Jean Cadilhac
2001–present Robert Wattebled

[edit] Pilgrimages

The chief pilgrimages of the present Diocese of Nîmes are: Notre Dame de Grâce, Rochefort, dating from Charlemagne, and commemorating a victory over the Saracens. Louis XIV and his mother, Anne of Austria, established here a foundation for perpetual Masses. Notre Dame de Grâce, Laval, in the vicinity of Alais, dating from not later than 900. Notre Dame de Bon Secours de Prime Combe, Fontanès, since 887. Notre Dame de Bonheur, founded 1045 on the mountain of l'Aigoual in the vicinity of Valleraugues. Notre Dame de Belvezet, a shrine of the eleventh century, on Mont Andavu. Notre Dame de Vauvert, whither the converted Albigenses were sent, often visited by St. Louis, Clement V, and Francis I. The shrine of St. Vérédème, a hermit who died Archbishop of Avignon, and of the martyr St. Baudilus, at Trois Fontaines and at Valsainte near Nîmes. The following Saints are especially venerated in the present Diocese of Nîmes: St. Castor, Bishop of Apt (fourth to fifth century), a native of Nîmes; the priest St. Theodoritus, martyr, patron saint of the town of Uzès; the Athenian St. Giles (AEgidius, sixth cent.), living as a recluse near Uzès when he was accidentally wounded by King Childeric, later abbot of the monastery built by Childeric in reparation for this accident, venerated also in England; Blessed Peter of Luxemburg who made a sojourn in the diocese, at Villeneuve-lez-Avignon (1369-87).