Roman Catholic Diocese of Rodez


The Roman Catholic Diocese of Rodez ; French: ''Diocèse de Rodez is a diocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in France. The Episcopal seat is in Rodez. The diocese corresponds exactly to the Department of Aveyron.
Originally erected in the 5th century, the Diocese of Rodez lost territory when the Diocese of Vabres was created by Pope John XXII on 11 July 1317. In 1801, the diocese was suppressed and its territory split 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.

Foundation

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 evidently bishops of Rodez before 475, since Sidonius Apollinaris, in a letter of AD 475, mentions that the Goths left it at that date without bishops.

Middle Ages

Vabres

The Benedictine Abbey of Vabres, founded in 862 by Raymond I, Count of Toulouse. In 1061 or 1062 the abbey was in such a state of decay both in personnel and good order that its abbot, Deusdedit, arranged for it to submit itself to the control of the Abbey of S. Victor in Marseille; the abbot may have been encouraged or ordered by Pope Nicholas II to do so. The abbey and its territory 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.

Conques

The Diocese of Rodez is famous also through the Abbey of Conques and the cult of Saint Faith. 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 enriched Conques with a superb reliquary of beaten gold and cloisonne's enamels of a kind extremely rare in France. Pope Paschal II gave him permission for the name of Sainte-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. 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 the "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 of the abbey church, was rediscovered 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.

Other monastic foundations

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 Franciscans had four houses, at Rodez, Villefranche, Millau, and Saint-Antonin. The Carmelites had two houses, at Millau, and Saint-Antonin. The Benedictines had two houses, at Sévérac-le-Chateau and at Rieupayroux. The Carthusians had two houses, at Rodez and at Villefranche. The Capuchins had four houses, at Rodez, Villefranche, Millau, and Saint-Antonin. There were Augustinian Canons at Villefranche and Saint-Geniès-d'Olt.

Town of Rodez

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. Until the expulsion of the English, the Rouergue was subject to the ducs de Guyenne, who were kings of England. In 1770 the Bishop was the Count of Rodez, and was possessed of high, middle and low justice. In 1770 the town itself had a population of around 5,000 persons, and was divided into two parishes, Saint-Amans and Saint Martin-des-Près, in addition to the Cathedral parish. The cathedral of Rodez is a beautiful Gothic building, famous for its belfry and unique rood-beam. The design of the façade is attributed to Guillaume Philandrier, who had been secretary of Bishop Georges d'Armagnac, and who had been given a Canonry in the Cathedral. It was spared during the Revolution for dedication to Marat. In 1772 the Cathedral Chapter was composed of twenty-five Canons, including 4 Archdeacons, a Sacristan, a Master of the Works, and the Precentor. There were twenty-five choral vicars, 4 hebdomidaires, a sub-cantor, and twenty-five choristers. The primary education of young children in the town was in the hands of four members of the Brothers of Christian Doctrine.
There were also eleven collegiate churches in the diocese, each with Canons:
The town of Millau adopted Calvinism in 1534, and in 1573 and 1620 was the scene of two large assemblies of Protestant deputies. It was at Millau in the summer of 1574 that Henri, Prince of Condé was elected 'Protector' of the Calvinist community in France, beginning the Fifth War of Religion. There was, for a time, a Protestant college in Millau. In 1629 Milhau and Saint-Afrique, another Protestant stronghold, were taken and dismantled by order of 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.
In 1772, at the end of the Ancien Regime, the Diocese of Rodez had about 275,500 inhabitants. It was composed of 475 parishes and 66 annexes ; they were divided into 48 districts, each with a Vicar Forane who was generally resident in the principal village of his district.

Bishops of Rodez

to 1200

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 visited annually before World War I; Notre Dame du Saint Voile at Coupiac, another ancient shrine; Notre Dame des Treize Pierres at Villefranche, a pilgrimage site dating from 1509.

Natives

Among natives of the diocese are: