The Roman Catholic Diocese of Rodez (Latin: Dioecesis Ruthenensis) is an diocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in France. The Episcopal seat rests in Rodez. The diocese corresponds exactly to the Department of Aveyron (formerly Rouergue).
Originally erected in the 5th century, the Diocese of Vabres was split off from the diocese of Rodez in the 13th century. In 1801, the diocese was suppressed and merged with the diocese of Cahors and the Diocese of Saint-Flour.
In 1817, the diocese was restored and given jurisdiction over the ancient diocese of Rodez, with the exception of the deanery of Saint Antonin, which was incorporated with the Diocese of Montauban; the ancient Diocese of Vabres; and a few scattered communes of the Diocese of Cahors.
It was suffragan of the archdiocese of Bourges until 1676, then of the archdiocese of Albi, until 2002, when the diocese became a suffragan of the archdiocese of Toulouse.
The current bishop is Bellino Giusto Ghirard, who was appointed in 1991.
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Modern tradition attributes to St. Martial the foundation of the church of Rodez and the sanctuary of the Blessed Virgin at Ceignac, for according to Cardinal Bourret, the church of Rodez honoured St. Martial as early as the sixth century. There were bishops of Rodez before 675, as Sidonius Apollinaris mentions that the Goths left it at that date without bishops.
Amantius, who ruled about the end of the fifth century, is the first bishop mentioned. Among others are:
The Benedictine Abbey of Vabres, founded in 862 by Raymond I, Count of Toulouse, was raised to episcopal rank in 1317, and its diocesan territory was taken from the southeastern portion of the Diocese of Rodez. Some scholars hold that within the limits of the modern Diocese of Rodez there existed in Merovingian times the See of Arisitum which, according to Louis Duchesne, was in the neighbourhood of Alais.
During the Middle Ages the Bishop of Rodez held temporal dominion over that portion of the town known as the Cité while in the eleventh century the Bourg became the County of Rodez. The cathedral of Rodez (thirteenth and fourteenth centuries) is a beautiful Gothic building, famous for its belfry (1510–26) and unique rood-beam. It was spared during the Revolution for dedication to Marat.
The Cistercian Abbeys of Silbanès, Beaulieu, Loc-Dieu, Bonneval, and Bonnecombe were model-farms during the Middle Ages. Attacked by brigands in the Rouergue country on his way to Santiago di Compostella, Adalard, Viscount of Flanders, erected in 1031 a monastery known as the Domerie d'Aubrac, a special order of priests, knights, lay brothers, ladies, and lay sisters for the care and protection of travellers. At Milhau, Rodez, Nazac, and Bozouls, hospitals, styled "Commanderies", of this order of Aubrac adopted the rule of St. Augustine in 1162.
The town of Milhau adopted Calvinism in 1534, and in 1573 and 1620 was the scene of two large assemblies of Protestant deputies. In 1629 Milhau and Saint-Afrique, another Protestant stronghold, were taken and dismantled by Louis XIII.
In 1628 a plague at Villefranche carried off 8000 inhabitants within six months; Father Ambroise, a Franciscan, and the chief of police Jean de Pomayrol saved the lives of many little children by causing them to bo suckled by goats.
The Diocese of Rodez is famous also through the Abbey of Conques and the cult of Saint Faith (Sainte Foy). Some Christians, flying from the Saracens about 730, sought a refuge in the "Val Rocheux" of the Dourdou and built an oratory there. In 790 the hermit Dadon made this his abode and aided by Louis the Pious, then King of Aquitaine, founded an abbey, which Louis named Conques. In 838 Pepin, King of Aquitaine, gave the monastery of Figeac to Conques. Between 877 and 883 the monks carried off the body of the youthful martyr Faith or Foy from the monastery of Sainte Foy to Conques, where it became the object of a great pilgrimage.
Abbot Odolric built the abbey church between 1030 and 1060; on the stonework over the doorway is carved the most artistic representation in France of the Last Judgment. Abbot Begon (1099–1118) enriched Conques with a superb reliquary of beaten gold and cloisonne's enamels of a kind extremely rare in France. Pascal II gave him permission for the name of Ste-Foy to be inserted in the Canon of the Mass after the names of the Roman virgins. At this time Conques, with Agen and Schelestadt in Alsace, was the centre of the cult of Saint Faith which soon spread to England, Spain, and America where many towns bear the name of Santa Fe. The statue of St. Faith seated, which dates from the tenth century, was originally a small wooden one covered with gold leaf. In time, gems, enamels, and precious stones were added in such quantities that it is a living treatise on the history of the goldsmiths' art in France between the eleventh and sixteenth centuries. It was known during the Middle Ages as "Majesté de Sainte Foy". The shrine enclosing the relics of the saint, which in 1590 was hidden in the masonry connecting the pillars of the choir, was found in 1875, repaired, transferred to the cathedral of Rodez for a novena, and brought back to Conques, a distance of 40 km, on the shoulders of the clergy.
Among Saints specially honoured in the Diocese of Rodez and Vabres are:
The chief shrines of the diocese are: Notre Dame de Ceignac, an ancient shrine rebuilt and enlarged in 1455, which over 15,000 pilgrims visit annually; Notre Dame du Saint Voile at Coupiac, another ancient shrine; Notre Dame des Treize Pierres at Villefranche, a pilgrimage dating from 1509.
Among natives of the diocese are:
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed (1913). "Rodez". Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company.