Roman Catholic Diocese of Aire

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Aire, is a diocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic church in France. The diocese comprises the department of Landes, in the Region of Aquitaine.

It was a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Auch under the old regime, but was not re-established until 1822, when it was again made a suffragan of the re-established Archdiocese of Auch, and was assigned the territory of the former Diocese of Aire and Diocese of Acqs (Dax). It is now a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Bordeaux.

It has been known since 1857 as the Diocese of Aire et Dax.[1]

It is a co-cathedral diocese, with sees Aire Cathedral and Dax Cathedral.

Contents

History

The first bishop mentioned in history is Marcellus, represented at the Council of Agde, 506. Aire, on the river Adour, the home of St. Philibert, numbered among its bishops during the second half of the sixteenth century François de Foix, Count of Candale, an illustrious mathematician, who translated Euclid and founded a chair of mathematics at the University of Bordeaux.

The hamlet renowned as the birthplace of St. Vincent de Paul is within the limits of the present Diocese of Aire. In the Gallo-Roman crypt of Mas d'Aire is preserved in a sarcophagus the body of St. Quitteria, daughter of a governor of Gallicia, and martyred, perhaps under Commodus, for her resolution to remain a virgin.

The city of Saint-Sever, in the Diocese of Aire. owes its origin to an ancient Benedictine abbey, built in the tenth century by a Duke of Gascony as an act of thanksgiving for a victory over the Northmen, and whose church was dedicated to St. Severus. The Gothic church of Mimizan is the only survival of a Benedictine abbey. The church of Carcarés, dating from the year 810, is one of the oldest in France.

Bishops

To 1000

1000 to 1300

1300-1500

1500 to 1800

From 1800

Notes

  1. ^ Catholic Hierarchy: see below

Sources

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company.