Roman Catholic Diocese of Coutances

Diocese of Coutances-Avranches
Dioecesis Constantiensis-Abrincensis
Diocèse de Coutances-Avranches

Location
Country France
Ecclesiastical province Rouen
Metropolitan Archdiocese of Rouen
Statistics
Area 5,991 km2 (2,313 sq mi)
Population
- Total
- Catholics
(as of 2006)
486,000
405,000 (83.3%)
Information
Denomination Roman Catholic
Sui iuris church Latin Church
Rite Roman Rite
Established 5th Century (As Diocese of Coutances)
12 July 1854 (As Diocese of Coutances-Avranches)
Cathedral Cathedral of Notre Dame in Coutances
Patron saint Blessed Virgin Mary
St Laud of Coutances
Current leadership
Pope Francis
Bishop Laurent Le Boulc'h
Metropolitan Archbishop Jean-Charles Marie Descubes
Emeritus Bishops Jacques Louis Marie Joseph Fihey Bishop Emeritus (1989-2006)
Website
Website of the Diocese
Saint Aubert, bishop of Avranches, was ordered by the Archangel Michael to start construction of what became Mont Saint-Michel

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Coutances (Lat:Constantiensis) is a diocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic church in France. Its mother church is the Cathedral of Coutance in the commune of Coutances in France. The diocese is suffragan of the Archbishop of Rouen and comprises the entire department of Manche. It was enlarged in 1802 by the addition of the former Diocese of Avranches and of two archdeaconries from the Diocese of Bayeux. Since 1854 its bishops have held the title of Bishop of Coutances and Avranches.

The bishop of Coutances exercised ecclesiastical jurisdiction over the Channel Islands, mostly in Alderney where the Bishop also held partial authority over the Leader of Alderney, until the Reformation, despite the secular division of Normandy in 1204. The final rupture occurred definitively in 1569 when Queen Elizabeth I demanded that the Bishops hand it over to the Bishop of Winchester.

Bishops of Coutances

Bishops of Avranches

Bishops of Coutances and Avranches

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

Notes

  1. Elisabeth M. C. van Houts (translator), The Gesta Normannorum Ducum of William of Jumieges, Orderic Vitalis, and Robert of Torigni (1995), note p. 149.
  2. http://press.catholica.va/news_services/bulletin/news/30404.php?index=30404&lang=en

Sources