Roman Catholic Diocese of Bayonne

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Bayonne, is a diocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic church in France. The diocese comprises the Department of Pyrénées-Atlantiques, in the Region of Aquitaine.

Reorganized in 1802, it included, besides certain parishes of the Diocese of Dax and Tarbes, the Diocese of Oloron and Lescar. It was suffragan to the Archiepiscopal See of Toulouse from 1802 to 1822, thereafter to the Archiepiscopal See of Toulouse of Auch.

History

Local tradition maintains that St. Leo, the martyr, with whose memory is associated a miraculous fountain, was the first Bishop of Bayonne. No bishop is historically known prior to the sixth century, although some think that Bayonne, designated as civitas in the Treaty of Andelot (587), must have had a bishop at that time, whilst others couple the foundation of the See of Bayonne with the establishment of the Kingdom of Aquitaine (778). The southern boundary of the see, from about this period, was marked by a series of crosses high in the Pyrenees, of which the southernmost and most famous was Charles's Cross.

Until 1566, the Diocese of Bayonne included much Spanish territory, i.e. the four Archpresbyteries of Baztan, Lerin, Bortziria in Navarre, and Hondarribia in Guipuzcoa, a remnant of Charlemagne's conquests beyond the Pyrenees.

Christopher de Beaumont, afterwards Archbishop of Paris, occupied the See of Bayonne from 1741 to 1745 and Paul-Thérèse-David d'Astros occupied it from 1820 to 1830.

Bishops

External links

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