Roman Catholic Diocese of Nevers

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Nevers, is a diocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic church in France. The diocese comprises the department of Nièvre, in the Region of Bourgogne.

Suppressed by the Concordat of 1801 and united to the See of Autun, it was re-established in 1823 as suffragan of the archdiocese of Sens and took over a part of the former Diocese of Autun and a part of the ancient Diocese of Auxerre.

History

The Gallia Christiana mentions as first Bishop of Nevers St. Eladius, restored to health in the reign of Clovis by St. Severinus, Abbot of St. Maurice. According to Louis Duchesne, the first authentic bishop is Tauricanus, present at the Council of Epaon in 517.

A number of former bishops of Nevers are venerated as saints: St. Arey (Arigius) 549-52); St. Agricola (580-94); St. Jerome (800-16) who rebuilt in honour of the martyrs Quiricus and Julitta, the cathedral until then dedicated to St. Gervasius and St. Protasius. It is possible that in the 7th century three other saints occupied the See of Nevers: St. Diè (Deodatus), the same perhaps who died a hermit in the Vosges; St. Nectarius and St. Itier (Itherius).

The following bishops of Nevers were notable: the future cardinal Pierre Bertrandi (1320–22) who, in 1329-30, defended ecclesiastical immunities against the barons in the celebrated conferences of Paris and Vincennes presided over by Philip VI of France; Charles, Cardinal de Bourbon (1540–47) subsequently cardinal and whom the Leaguers wished to make King of France under the name of Charles X; Jacques Spifame (1548–58) who became a Calvinist in 1559, and was afterwards accused of forgery and beheaded at Geneva in 1556; the polemist Sorbin de Ste-Foi(1578–1606) a voluminous writer.

Among the saints of this diocese must be mentioned: Sts. Paul, priest; Péreux and Pélerin, martyrs between 272 and 303; St. Paroze (Patritius), Abbot of Nevers in the 6th century; the hermit St. Franchy (Francovæcus); the priest St. Vincent of Magny in the 9th century; Blessed Nicholas Applaine, canon of the collegiate church of Prémery (15th century) whose cassock Louis XI claimed as a relic. Claude Fauchet, constitutional Bishop of Calvados during the Revolution, was a native of the diocese.

The Abbey of La Charité sur Loire, founded in 1056, and known as the "eldest daughter" of Cluny, was inaugurated in 1106 by Pope Pascal II; the celebrated Suger, then a simple cleric, has left an account of the ceremony. The Benedictine Abbey of Corbigny, founded under Charlemagne, was occupied by the Huguenots in 1563, as a basis of operations.

Bernadette Soubirous, the visionary of Lourdes, died in the Convent of the Sisters of Charity and Christian Instruction in Nevers, 16 April 1879. The chief places of pilgrimage in the diocese are: Notre Dame de Pitié, at St. Martin d'Heuille, dating from the 14th century; Notre Dame de Fauboulvin at Corancy, dating from 1590; Notre Dame du Morvan at Dun-sur-Grandry, dating from 1876.

Among the congregations for women which originated in the diocese must be mentioned: the Ursuline nuns, a teaching order founded in 1622 at Nevers by the Duke of Gonzaga and the Nevers aldermen; the Hospitallers, founded in 1639 at La Charité-sur-Loire by Sister Médard-Varlet; the congregation of Sisters of Charity and Christian Instruction of Nevers, founded in 1680, with mother-house at Nevers.

Bishops

To 1000

• c.506: St Eulade
• c.517: St Tauricien
• c.538–c.541: Rustique
• c.549–c.552: St Arige
• Euphrone
• c.567: St Eloade
• c.580–26. February 594: St Agricole
• Fulcilius
• c.624–c.653: Rauracus
• c.658: Léodebaud
• c.660: Hecherius
• c.665: St Dié
• c.666: Gilbert
• c.672: Rogus
• c.691: St Itier
• c.696–c.697: Ebarcius
• c.702: Opportun
• c.726: Nectaire
• c.747: Chebroald
• Raginfroi
• Waldon
• c.800–816: St Jérôme
• c.817–c.829: Jonas
• c.833: Gerfroi
• Hugo I.
• c.840–22. July 860: Hériman
• Raginus
• c.862: Abbon I.
• c.864: Luidon
• 866–c.884: Abbon II.
• c.886–c.892: Emmenus
• c.893: Adalgaire (?)
• 894–c.905: Francon
• c.906–c.914: Atton
• c.916: Launon
• c.935–c.947: Tedalgrin
• 948–c.955: Gaubert
• c.958: Gérard
• 959–979 or 980: Natran
• 980–c.1011: Roclène

1000 to 1300

• 1013–May 1065: Hugues II. de Champ-Allemand
• c.1066–1. June 1074: Malguin
• 1. November 1074–c.1090: Hugues III. de Champ-Allemand
• c.1096–c.1099: Gui
• 18. December 1099–8. August 1109: Hervé
• 1110–c.1120: Hugues IV.
• 1121–c.1145: Fromond
• 1146–1159: Geoffroi
• 1160–14. January 1177: Bernard de Saint-Saulge
• 1177–25. April 1188: Thibaut
• 1188–15. June 1196: Jean I.
• 1196–11. January 1202: Gauthier
• c.1204–19. May 1221: Guillaume I. de Saint-Lazare
• 1222–4. December 1222: Gervais de Châteauneuf
• 1223–28. July 1230: Renaud I.
• 1232–c.1240: Raoul de Beauvais
• 1240–1252 or 1253: Robert I. Cornut
• 1252 or 1253–1254: Henri Cornut
• 1254–31. May 1260: Guillaume II. de Grandpuy
• c.1262–1272: Robert II. de Marzi
• 1273–1276: Gilles I. de Châteaurenaud
• c.1277–5. September 1283: Gilles II. du Chastelet
• 1284–1294: Gilles III. de Mauglas
• 1294–1314: Jean II. de Savigny

1300 to 1500

• 1315–1319: Guillaume III. Beaufils
• 1320–1322: Pierre Bertrand
• c.1322–1333: Bertrand I. Gascon
• 1333–1335: Jean III. Mandevillain
• 1335–1339: Pierre Bertrand de Colombiers
• 1340–1341: Albert Acciaioli
• 1341–c.1357: Bertrand II. de Fumel
• c.1360: Renaud II. des Moulins
• 1361–1371: Pierre Aycelin de Montaigut
• 1371–1372: Jean IV. de Neufchâtel
• 1374–1380: Pierre V. de Dinteville
• 1381–16. January 1395: Maurice de Coulange-la-Vineuse
• 1395–1400: Philippe I. Froment
• 1401–22. July 1430: Robert III. de Dangueil
• 1430–1436: Jean V. Germain
• 30. August (1436?-1444: Jean VI. vivien
• 20. November 1445–1461: Jean VII. d'Etampes
• 4. April 1462–3. June 1499: Pierre VI. de Fontenai

1500 to 1800

• 24. January 1500–1505: Philippe II. de Clèves
• 31. May 1505–12. September 1507: Antoine de Fleurs
• 29. October 1508–30. July 1512: Jean VII. Bohier
• 9. January 1513–11. February 1519: Imbert de la Platière de Bourdillon
• 13. March 1519–22. April 1539: Jacques I. d'Albret
• 5. June 1540–23. January 1545: Charles, Cardinal de Bourbon
• 5. May 1546–1558: Jacques Spifame
• 27. January 1559–7. April 1578: Gilles Spifame
• 22. July 1578–1. March 1606: Arnaud Sarbin de Sainte-Foi
• 19. November 1606–17. June 1643: Eustache I. du Lys
• 1643–1666: Eustache II. de Chéri
• 28. August 1667–3. September 1705: Edouard I. Valot
• 1705–20. July 1719: Edouard II. Bargedé
• 1719–20. February 1740: Charles II. Fontaine des Montées
• 1740–4. April 1751: Guillaume IV. d'Hugues
• 4. April 1751–1782: Jean-Antoine Tinseau
• 5. January 1783–1788: Pierre VII. de Séguiran
• 1789–1790: Louis-Jérôme de Suffren de Saint-Tropez
• 1791–1793: Guillaume (V.) Tollet

From 1800

• 1823–1829: Jean-Baptiste-François-Nicolas Millaux
• 1829–1834: Charles de Douhet d'Auzers
• 1834–1842: Paul Naudo (also Archbishop of Avignon)
• 1842–1860: Dominique-Augustin Dufêtre
• 1860–1873: Théodore-Augustin Forcade, M.E.P. (also Archbishop of Aix)
• 1873–1877: Thomas-Casimir-François de Ladoue
• 1877–1903: Etienne-Antoine-Alfred Lelong
• 1906–1910: François-Léon Gauthey (also Archbishop of Besançon)
• 1910–1932: Pierre Chatelus
• 1932–1963: Patrice Flynn
• 1963–1966: Michel-Louis Vial (also Bishop of Nantes)
• 1966–1987: Jean-François-Marie Streiff
• 1988–1997: Michel Paul Marie Moutel, P.S.S.
• 1998–2011: François Joseph Pierre Deniau
• 2011–present: Thierry Marie Jacques Brac de la Perrière

External links

• Source

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