Bishopric of Orléans
Encyclopedia
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Orléans (Lat:Diocesis Aurelianum), is a diocese
of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic church
in France
. The diocese currently corresponds to the Départment of Loiret. The current bishop is Jacques André Blaquart, appointed in 2010.
The diocese has experienced a number of transfers among different metropolitans. In 1622, the diocese was suffragan of the Archdiocese of Paris; previously the diocese had been a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Sens
. From 1966 until 2001 it was under the jurisdiction of the Archdiocese of Bourges, but since the provisional reorganisation of French ecclesiastical provinces, it is now subject to the Archdiocese of Tours.
After the Revolution it was re-established by the Concordat of 1802. It then included the Departments of Loiret
and Loir et Cher, but in 1822 Loir et Cher was moved to the new Diocese of Blois.
which has passed to the diocese of Blois and the canton of Janville
, now in the diocese of Chartres. It includes the arrondissement of Montargis
, formerly subject to the archdiocese of Sens, the arrondissement of Gien
, once in the Burgundian diocese of Auxerre, and the canton of Châtillon sur Loire, once belonging to the archdiocese of Bourges
.
sent him into Narbonne
and Provence
as missus dominicus
. Under king Louis le Débonnaire he was accused of aiding the rebellious King of Italy, was deposed and imprisoned four years in a monastery at Angers
, but was released when Louis came to Angers in 821. The "Capitularies" which Theodulfus addressed to the clergy of Orléans are considered a most important monument of Catholic tradition on the duties of priests and the faithful. His Ritual
, his Penitential
, his treatise on baptism
, confirmation and the Eucharist, his edition of the Bible, a work of fine penmanship preserved in the Puy cathedral, reveal him as one of the foremost men of his time. His fame rests chiefly on his devotion to the spread of learning. The Abbey of Ferrières
was then becoming under Alcuin
a centre of learning. Theodulfus opened the Abbey of Fleury to the young noblemen sent thither by Charlemagne
, invited the clergy to establish free schools in the country districts, and quoted for them, "These that are learned shall shine as the brightness of the firmament: and they that instruct many to justice, as stars to all eternity" (Dan., xii 3). One monument of his time still survives in the diocese, the apse of the church of Germigny-des-Prés
modelled after the imperial chapel, and yet retaining its unique mosaic decoration.
Other noteworthy bishops are:
, who protested against the depredations of Waifre, a companion of Charles Martel
, and was first exiled by this prince to Cologne
, then to Liège
, and died at the monastery of St. Trond.
After his victory over the Alamanni
, the Frankish king Clovis
was bent on the sack of Verdun
, but the archpriest there obtained mercy for his fellow-citizens. To St. Euspicius and his nephew St. Mesmin (Maximinus), Clovis also gave the domain of Micy
, near Orléans at the confluence of the Loire and the Loiret, for a monastery (508). When Euspicius died, the said St. Maximinus became abbot, and during his rule the religious life flourished there notably. The monks of Micy contributed much to the civilization of the Orléans region; they cleared and drained the lands and taught the semi-barbarous inhabitants the worth and dignity of agricultural work. Early in the eighth century, Theodulfus restored the Abbey of Micy and at his request St. Benedict of Aniane sent fourteen monks and visited the abbey himself. The last abbot of Micy, Chapt de Rastignac, was one of the victims of the 1792 "September Massacres", at Paris, in the prison of L'Abbaye.
From Micy monastery, which counted many saints, monastic life spread within and around the diocese. St. Liphardus and St. Urbicius founded the Abbey of Meung-sur-Loire
; St. Lyé (Lætus) died a recluse in the forest of Orléans; St. Viatre (Viator) in Sologne
; St. Doulchard in the forest of Ambly near Bourges. St. Leonard introduced the monastic life into the territory of Limoges
; St. Almir, St. Ulphacius, and St. Bomer in the vicinity of Montmirail
; St. Avitus (died about 527) in the district of Chartres; St. Calais (died before 536) and St. Leonard of Vendœuvre (died about 570) in the valley of the Sarthe
; St. Fraimbault and St. Constantine in the Javron forest, and the aforesaid St. Bomer (died about 560) in the Passais
near Laval
; St. Leonard of Dunois; St. Alva and St. Ernier in Perche
; St. Laumer (died about 590) became Abbot of Corbion. St. Lubin (Leobinus), a monk of Micy, became Bishop of Chartres from 544-56. Finally saint Ay (Agilus), Viscount of Orléans (died after 587), was also a protector of Micy.
St. Maurus, called to France by St. Innocent, Bishop of Le Mans, and sent thither by St. Benedict, resided at Orléans with four companions in 542. St. Radegonde, on her way from Noyon to Poitiers in 544, and St. Columbanus, exiled from Luxeuil at the close of the sixth century, both visited Orléans. Charlemagne had the church of St. Aignan rebuilt and reconstructed the monastery of St. Pierre le Puellier. In the cathedral of Orléans on 31 December, 987, Hugh Capet had his son Robert (born at Orléans) crowned king. Innocent II and St. Bernard
visited Fleury and Orléans in 1130.
; Our Lady of Miracles in Orléans city, dating back to the seventh century (Joan of Arc visited the sanctuary on 8 May 1429); Our Lady of Cléry, dating from the thirteenth century, visited by kings Philip the Fair, Philip VI, and especially by Louis XI, who wore in his hat a leaden image of Notre Dame de Cléry and who wished to have his tomb in this sanctuary where Dunois, one of the heroes of the Hundred Years' war
, was also interred.
, which he re-visited in 1117 with St. Bernard of Thiron
. The charitable deeds of king St. Louis at Puiseaux
, Châteauneuf-sur-Loire
, and Orléans, where he was present at the translation of the relics of St. Aignan (26 October 1259), and where he frequently went to care for the poor of the Hôtel Dieu, are well known. Pierre de Beaufort, Archdeacon of Sully
and canon of Orléans, was, as Gregory XI (1371-8), the last pope that France gave to the Church; he created Cardinal Jean de la Tour d'Auvergne, Abbot of St. Benoît-sur Loire. Blessed Jeanne de Valois was Duchess of Orléans and after her separation from Louis XII
(1498) she established, early in the sixteenth century, the monastery of L'Annonciade at Châteauneuf-sur-Loire. Etienne Dolet
(1509–46), a printer, philologian, and pamphleteer, executed at Paris and looked upon by some as a "martyr of the Renaissance", was a native of Orléans. Cardinal Odet de Coligny
, who joined the Reformation about 1560, was Abbot of St. Euvertius, of Fontainejean, Ferrières, and St. Benoît. Admiral Coligny (1519–72) (see Saint Bartholomew's Day
) was born at Châtillon-sur-Loing in the present diocese. At the beginning of the religious wars, Orléans was disputed between the followers of the Guise family and of the Protestant Condé
. In the vicinity of Orléans, Duke Francis of Guise was assassinated on 3 February 1562.
The Calvinist Jacques Bongars
, councillor of king Henry IV of France
, who collected and edited the chronicles of the Crusades in his "Gesta Dei per Francos", was born at Orléans in 1554. The Jesuit Denis Petav (Petavius), a renowned scholar and theologian, was born at Orléans in 1583. St. Francis of Sales came to Orléans in 1618 and 1619. Venerable Mother Françoise de la Croix (1591–1657), a pupil of St. Vincent de Paul, who founded the congregation of Augustinian Sisters of Charity of Notre Dame, was born at Petay in the diocese. The Miramion family, to which Marie Bonneau is celebrated in the annals of charity under the name of Mme de Miramion (1629–96), belonged by marriage, were from Orléans. St. Jane de Chantal was superior of the Orléans convent of the Visitation in 1627. Mme Guyon, celebrated in the annals of Quietism, was born at Montargis in 1648.
France was saved from English domination through the deliverance of Orléans by Joan of Arc
(8 May 1429). On 21 July 1455, her rehabilitation was publicly proclaimed at Orléans in a solemn procession, and before her death in November 1458, Isabel Romée, the mother of Joan of Arc, saw a monument erected in honour of her daughter, at Tournelles, near the Orléans bridge. The monument, destroyed by the Huguenots in 1567, was set up again in 1569 when the Catholics were once more masters of the city. Until 1792, and again from 1802 to 1830, finally from 1842 to the present day, a great religious feast, celebrated 8 May of every year at Orléans in honour of Joan of Arc, attracted multitudes.
The Church of Orléans was the last in France to take up again the Roman liturgy (1874). The Sainte Croix cathedral, perhaps built and consecrated by St. Euvertius in the fourth century, was destroyed by fire in 999 and rebuilt from 1278 to 1329; the Protestants pillaged and destroyed it from 1562 to 1567; the Bourbon kings restored it in the seventeenth century.
, Missionaries of the Sacred Heart
and several orders of teaching Brothers. Among the congregations of women which originated in this diocese must be mentioned: the Calvary Benedictines, a teaching and nursing order founded in 1617 by Princess Antoinette d'Orléans-Longueville, and the Capuchin Leclerc du Tremblay known as Père Joseph; the Sisters of St. Aignan, a teaching order founded in 1853 by Bishop Dupanloup, with mother-house in Orléans.
Twentieth-century bishops of Orleans included Guy Riobé
, whose opposition to nuclear weapons led to an altercation with a member of George Pompidou's government, and his successor, Jean-Marie Lustiger, who was appointed in 1979 after a long interregnum and shortly afterwards translated to Paris.
Diocese
A diocese is the district or see under the supervision of a bishop. It is divided into parishes.An archdiocese is more significant than a diocese. An archdiocese is presided over by an archbishop whose see may have or had importance due to size or historical significance...
of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. The diocese currently corresponds to the Départment of Loiret. The current bishop is Jacques André Blaquart, appointed in 2010.
The diocese has experienced a number of transfers among different metropolitans. In 1622, the diocese was suffragan of the Archdiocese of Paris; previously the diocese had been a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Sens
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Sens
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Sens is a Latin Rite Archdiocese of the Roman Catholic church in France. The Archdiocese comprises the department of Yonne, in the region of Bourgogne. Established in the first century AD as the Diocese of Senonensis, the diocese was elevated to an archdiocese in...
. From 1966 until 2001 it was under the jurisdiction of the Archdiocese of Bourges, but since the provisional reorganisation of French ecclesiastical provinces, it is now subject to the Archdiocese of Tours.
After the Revolution it was re-established by the Concordat of 1802. It then included the Departments of Loiret
Loiret
Loiret is a department in north-central FranceThe department is named after the river Loiret, a tributary of the Loire. The Loiret is located wholly within the department.- History :...
and Loir et Cher, but in 1822 Loir et Cher was moved to the new Diocese of Blois.
Jurisdiction
The present Diocese of Orléans differs considerably from that of the old regime; it has lost the arrondissement of RomorantinRomorantin
Romorantin is a traditional French variety of white wine grape, that is a sibling of Chardonnay. Once quite widely grown in the Loire, it has now only seen in the Cour-Cheverny AOC. It produces intense, minerally wines somewhat reminiscent of Chablis....
which has passed to the diocese of Blois and the canton of Janville
Janville
Janville is the name or part of the name of several communes in France:*Janville, in the Calvados département*Janville, in the Eure-et-Loir département*Janville, in the Oise département...
, now in the diocese of Chartres. It includes the arrondissement of Montargis
Montargis
Montargis is a commune in the Loiret department in north-central France. The town is located about south of Paris and east of Orléans in the Gâtinais....
, formerly subject to the archdiocese of Sens, the arrondissement of Gien
Gien
Gien is a commune in the Loiret department in north-central France.Gien is on the Loire River, from Orléans. The town was bought for the royal property by Philip II of France. The town is twinned with Malmesbury in England.-Sights:*Faience de Gien...
, once in the Burgundian diocese of Auxerre, and the canton of Châtillon sur Loire, once belonging to the archdiocese of Bourges
Archdiocese of Bourges
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Bourges is an archdiocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in France. The Archdiocese comprises the departements of Cher and Indre in the Region of Val de Loire....
.
Bishops
Of the eighth-century bishops, Theodulfus was notable. It is not known when he began to govern, but it is certain that he was already bishop in 798, when CharlemagneCharlemagne
Charlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 and Emperor of the Romans from 800 to his death in 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800...
sent him into Narbonne
Narbonne
Narbonne is a commune in southern France in the Languedoc-Roussillon region. It lies from Paris in the Aude department, of which it is a sub-prefecture. Once a prosperous port, it is now located about from the shores of the Mediterranean Sea...
and Provence
Provence
Provence ; Provençal: Provença in classical norm or Prouvènço in Mistralian norm) is a region of south eastern France on the Mediterranean adjacent to Italy. It is part of the administrative région of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur...
as missus dominicus
Missus dominicus
A missus dominicus , Latin for "envoy[s] of the lord [ruler]", also known in Dutch as Zendgraaf , meaning "sent Graf", was an official commissioned by the Frankish king or Holy Roman Emperor to supervise the administration, mainly of justice, in parts of his dominions too far for frequent personal...
. Under king Louis le Débonnaire he was accused of aiding the rebellious King of Italy, was deposed and imprisoned four years in a monastery at Angers
Angers
Angers is the main city in the Maine-et-Loire department in western France about south-west of Paris. Angers is located in the French region known by its pre-revolutionary, provincial name, Anjou, and its inhabitants are called Angevins....
, but was released when Louis came to Angers in 821. The "Capitularies" which Theodulfus addressed to the clergy of Orléans are considered a most important monument of Catholic tradition on the duties of priests and the faithful. His Ritual
Ritual
A ritual is a set of actions, performed mainly for their symbolic value. It may be prescribed by a religion or by the traditions of a community. The term usually excludes actions which are arbitrarily chosen by the performers....
, his Penitential
Penitential
A penitential is a book or set of church rules concerning the Christian sacrament of penance, a "new manner of reconciliation with God" that was first developed by Celtic monks in Ireland in the sixth century AD.-Origin:...
, his treatise on baptism
Baptism
In Christianity, baptism is for the majority the rite of admission , almost invariably with the use of water, into the Christian Church generally and also membership of a particular church tradition...
, confirmation and the Eucharist, his edition of the Bible, a work of fine penmanship preserved in the Puy cathedral, reveal him as one of the foremost men of his time. His fame rests chiefly on his devotion to the spread of learning. The Abbey of Ferrières
Ferrières
Ferrière, Ferrières or La Ferrière may refer to:*Château Ferrière, a Bordeaux wine producer in Margaux*Château de Ferrières, château in the Seine et Marne département of France...
was then becoming under Alcuin
Alcuin
Alcuin of York or Ealhwine, nicknamed Albinus or Flaccus was an English scholar, ecclesiastic, poet and teacher from York, Northumbria. He was born around 735 and became the student of Archbishop Ecgbert at York...
a centre of learning. Theodulfus opened the Abbey of Fleury to the young noblemen sent thither by Charlemagne
Charlemagne
Charlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 and Emperor of the Romans from 800 to his death in 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800...
, invited the clergy to establish free schools in the country districts, and quoted for them, "These that are learned shall shine as the brightness of the firmament: and they that instruct many to justice, as stars to all eternity" (Dan., xii 3). One monument of his time still survives in the diocese, the apse of the church of Germigny-des-Prés
Germigny-des-Prés
Germigny-des-Prés is a commune in the Loiret department in north-central France.-Carolingian architecture:The oratory at Germigny-des-Prés was built by Bishop Theodulf of Orléans in 806 as part of his palace complex within the Gallo-Roman villa in Germaniacus...
modelled after the imperial chapel, and yet retaining its unique mosaic decoration.
Other noteworthy bishops are:
- Eucherius of OrléansEucherius of OrléansSaint Eucherius of Orléans , nephew of Suavaric, bishop of Auxerre, was Bishop of Orléans.Reading the letters of Paul the Apostle led Eucehrius to seek the monastic life in 714, when he retired to the Abbey of Jumièges in the Diocese of Rouen. After seven years his uncle, Suavaric, Bishop of...
- JonasJonas of OrléansJonas was Bishop of Orléans and played a major political role during the reign of Emperor Louis the Pious.Jonas was born in Aquitaine. Probably a cleric by the 780s, he served at the court of Louis the Pious, who ruled as King of Aquitaine during the reign of his father, Charlemagne. In 817,...
(821-43), who wrote a treatise against the IconoclastsIconoclasmIconoclasm is the deliberate destruction of religious icons and other symbols or monuments, usually with religious or political motives. It is a frequent component of major political or religious changes...
, also a treatise on the Christian life and a book on the duties of kings - St. Thierry II (1016–21)
- Blessed Philip BerruyerPhilip BerruyerPhilip Berruyer was bishop of Orléans in 1234, and then archbishop of Bourges from 1236 until his death. He was responsible for overseeing much of the building work on Bourges Cathedral, though the identity of the architect or chief mason is unknown. William of Bourges was his uncle...
(1234-6) - Blessed Roger le Fort (1321-8)
- John Carmichael of Douglasdale (Jean de St Michel)
- Cardinal Jean de Longueville (1521–33), who received Queen Eleanor, sister of Charles VCharles V, Holy Roman EmperorCharles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I, of the Spanish Empire from 1516 until his voluntary retirement and abdication in favor of his younger brother Ferdinand I and his son Philip II in 1556.As...
, in the cathedral of Orléans, and King Francis I in the church of St. AignanSaint AignanAignan, or Agnan , Bishop of Orléans, France, assisted Roman general Flavius Aetius in the defense of the city against Attila the Hun in 451. He was canonized and is known as Saint Aignan. His remains are buried in the Church of Saint Aignan in Orléans.Feast day: 17 November...
of Orléans - Cardinal Antoine Sanguin (1534–52), who received king Charles V at Orléans in 1539;
- Etienne-Alexandre BernierÉtienne-Alexandre BernierÉtienne-Alexandre Bernier or Abbé Bernier was a French religious figure and Royalist politician during the French Revolution....
(1802-6); - Fayer (1843-9), member of the Constituent AssemblyConstituent assemblyA constituent assembly is a body composed for the purpose of drafting or adopting a constitution...
of 1848 - Félix DupanloupFélix DupanloupFélix Antoine Philibert Dupanloup was a French ecclesiastic.-Biography:He was born at Saint-Félix, in Haute-Savoie. In his earliest years he was confided to the care of his brother, a priest in the diocese of Chambéry. In 1810 he was sent to a pensionnat ecclésiastique at Paris...
(1849–78).
History
To Gerbert, Abbot of St. Pierre le Vif at Sens (1046–79), is due a detailed narrative according to which Saint Savinianus and Saint Potentianus were sent to Sens by St. Peter with St. Altirius; the latter, it was said, came to Orléans as its first bishop. Before the ninth century there is no historical trace in the diocese of Sens of this Apostolic mission of St. Altinus, nor in the diocese of Orléans before the end of the fifteenth. Diclopitus is the first authentic bishop; he figures among the bishops of Gaul who (about 344) ratified the absolution of St. Athanasius. Other bishops of the early period are: St. Euvertius (who features in the Calendar of the Book of Common Prayer), about 355 to 385, according to M. Cuissard; St. Aignan (Anianus) (385-453), who invoked the aid of the "patrician" Ætius against the invasion of Attila, and forced the Huns to raise the siege of Orléans [see Gregory of Tours, The History of the Franks II.6-7]; St. Prosper (453-63); St. Monitor (about 472); St. Flou (Flosculus), died in 490; St. Eucherius (717-43), native of Orléans and a monk of JumiègesJumièges
Jumièges is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Haute-Normandie region in northern France.-Geography:A forestry and farming village situated in a meander of the river Seine, some west of Rouen, at the junction of the D65 and the D143 roads...
, who protested against the depredations of Waifre, a companion of Charles Martel
Charles Martel
Charles Martel , also known as Charles the Hammer, was a Frankish military and political leader, who served as Mayor of the Palace under the Merovingian kings and ruled de facto during an interregnum at the end of his life, using the title Duke and Prince of the Franks. In 739 he was offered the...
, and was first exiled by this prince to Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
, then to Liège
Liège
Liège is a major city and municipality of Belgium located in the province of Liège, of which it is the economic capital, in Wallonia, the French-speaking region of Belgium....
, and died at the monastery of St. Trond.
Alamanni
The Alamanni, Allemanni, or Alemanni were originally an alliance of Germanic tribes located around the upper Rhine river . One of the earliest references to them is the cognomen Alamannicus assumed by Roman Emperor Caracalla, who ruled the Roman Empire from 211 to 217 and claimed thereby to be...
, the Frankish king Clovis
Clovis I
Clovis Leuthwig was the first King of the Franks to unite all the Frankish tribes under one ruler, changing the leadership from a group of royal chieftains, to rule by kings, ensuring that the kingship was held by his heirs. He was also the first Catholic King to rule over Gaul . He was the son...
was bent on the sack of Verdun
Verdun
Verdun is a city in the Meuse department in Lorraine in north-eastern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department.Verdun is the biggest city in Meuse, although the capital of the department is the slightly smaller city of Bar-le-Duc.- History :...
, but the archpriest there obtained mercy for his fellow-citizens. To St. Euspicius and his nephew St. Mesmin (Maximinus), Clovis also gave the domain of Micy
Micy
Saint-Mesmin de Micy Abbey, sometimes referred to as Micy, was an abbey near Orléans at the confluence of the Loire and the Loiret, located on the territory of today's commune of Saint-Pryvé-Saint-Mesmin. It was founded around 501 AD. The land upon which it was built was granted by Clovis I to...
, near Orléans at the confluence of the Loire and the Loiret, for a monastery (508). When Euspicius died, the said St. Maximinus became abbot, and during his rule the religious life flourished there notably. The monks of Micy contributed much to the civilization of the Orléans region; they cleared and drained the lands and taught the semi-barbarous inhabitants the worth and dignity of agricultural work. Early in the eighth century, Theodulfus restored the Abbey of Micy and at his request St. Benedict of Aniane sent fourteen monks and visited the abbey himself. The last abbot of Micy, Chapt de Rastignac, was one of the victims of the 1792 "September Massacres", at Paris, in the prison of L'Abbaye.
From Micy monastery, which counted many saints, monastic life spread within and around the diocese. St. Liphardus and St. Urbicius founded the Abbey of Meung-sur-Loire
Meung-sur-Loire
Meung-sur-Loire is a commune in the Loiret department in north-central France.It was the site of the Battle of Meung-sur-Loire in 1429. In fiction, it has been referenced by Alexandre Dumas in The Three Musketeers as the village where d'Artagnan, en route to join the King's Musketeers in Paris,...
; St. Lyé (Lætus) died a recluse in the forest of Orléans; St. Viatre (Viator) in Sologne
Sologne
Sologne , a region of north-central France extending over portions of the départements of Loiret, Loir-et-Cher and Cher...
; St. Doulchard in the forest of Ambly near Bourges. St. Leonard introduced the monastic life into the territory of Limoges
Limoges
Limoges |Limousin]] dialect of Occitan) is a city and commune, the capital of the Haute-Vienne department and the administrative capital of the Limousin région in west-central France....
; St. Almir, St. Ulphacius, and St. Bomer in the vicinity of Montmirail
Montmirail
Montmirail is the name of several communes in France:* Montmirail, in the Marne département* Montmirail, in the Sarthe départementMontmirail may also refer to the Dentelles de Montmirail, mountains in Vaucluse, southern France. The Battle of Montmirail took place in 1814 near Montmirail, Marne....
; St. Avitus (died about 527) in the district of Chartres; St. Calais (died before 536) and St. Leonard of Vendœuvre (died about 570) in the valley of the Sarthe
Sarthe
Sarthe is a French department, named after the Sarthe River.- History :The department was created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790, pursuant to the law of December 22, 1789, starting from a part of the province of Maine which was divided into two departments, Sarthe to the east and...
; St. Fraimbault and St. Constantine in the Javron forest, and the aforesaid St. Bomer (died about 560) in the Passais
Passais
Passais is a commune in the Orne department in north-western France....
near Laval
Laval, Mayenne
Laval is a commune in the Mayenne department in north-western France.It lies on the threshold of Brittany and on the border between Normandy and Anjou. Its citizens are called Lavallois.-Geography:...
; St. Leonard of Dunois; St. Alva and St. Ernier in Perche
Perche
Perche is a former province of northern France extending over the départements of Orne, Eure, Eure-et-Loir and Sarthe, which were created from Perche during the French Revolution.-Geography:...
; St. Laumer (died about 590) became Abbot of Corbion. St. Lubin (Leobinus), a monk of Micy, became Bishop of Chartres from 544-56. Finally saint Ay (Agilus), Viscount of Orléans (died after 587), was also a protector of Micy.
Saints
Among the notable saints of the diocese are:- St. Baudilus, a Nîmes martyr (third or fourth century)
- the deacon St. Lucanus, martyr, patron of Loigny (fifth century)
- the anchorite St. Donatus (fifth century)
- St. May, abbot of Val Benoît (fifth century)
- St. Mesme, virgin and (perhaps) martyr, sister of St. Mesmin (sixth century)
- St. Felicule, patroness of Gien (sixth century)
- St. Sigismund, King of BurgundyKing of BurgundyThe following is a list of the Kings of the two Kingdoms of Burgundy, and a number of related political entities devolving from Carolingian machinations over family relations.- Kings of the Burgundians :...
, who, by order of the Merovingian Clodomir, and despite the entreaties of St. Avitus, was thrown (524) into a well with his wife and children - St. Gontran, King of Orléans and Burgundy (561-93), a confessor
- St. Loup (Lupus), Archbishop of Sens, born near Orléans, and his mother St. Agia (first half of the seventh century)
- St. Gregory, former Bishop of Nicopolis, in Bulgaria, who died a recluse at PithiviersPithiviersPithiviers is a commune in the Loiret department in north-central France. It is twinned with Ashby-de-la-Zouch in Leicestershire, England....
(1004 or 1007) - St. Rose, Abbess of ErvauvilleErvauvilleErvauville is a commune in the Loiret department in north-central France....
(died 1130) - Blessed Odo of Orléans, Bishop of Cambrai (1105–13)
- the leper St. Alpaix, died in 1211 at CudotCudotCudot is a commune in the Yonne department in Burgundy in north-central France....
where she was visited by queen Adèle of ChampagneAdèle of ChampagneAdèle of Champagne , also known as Adelaide and Alix, was the third wife of Louis VII of France and the mother of his only male heir, the future Philip II...
, widow of Louis VIILouis VII of FranceLouis VII was King of France, the son and successor of Louis VI . He ruled from 1137 until his death. He was a member of the House of Capet. His reign was dominated by feudal struggles , and saw the beginning of the long rivalry between France and England... - St. Guillaume (died 1209), Abbot of Fontainejean and subsequently Archbishop of Bourges
- the Dominican Blessed Reginald, dean of the collegiate church of St. Aignan, Orléans (died 1220)
- the Englishman St. Richard, who studied theology at Orléans in 1236, Bishop of ChichesterBishop of ChichesterThe Bishop of Chichester is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Chichester in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers the Counties of East and West Sussex. The see is in the City of Chichester where the seat is located at the Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity...
in 1244, a friend of St. Edmund of Canterbury
St. Maurus, called to France by St. Innocent, Bishop of Le Mans, and sent thither by St. Benedict, resided at Orléans with four companions in 542. St. Radegonde, on her way from Noyon to Poitiers in 544, and St. Columbanus, exiled from Luxeuil at the close of the sixth century, both visited Orléans. Charlemagne had the church of St. Aignan rebuilt and reconstructed the monastery of St. Pierre le Puellier. In the cathedral of Orléans on 31 December, 987, Hugh Capet had his son Robert (born at Orléans) crowned king. Innocent II and St. Bernard
Bernard of Clairvaux
Bernard of Clairvaux, O.Cist was a French abbot and the primary builder of the reforming Cistercian order.After the death of his mother, Bernard sought admission into the Cistercian order. Three years later, he was sent to found a new abbey at an isolated clearing in a glen known as the Val...
visited Fleury and Orléans in 1130.
Pilgrimages
The principal pilgrimages of the diocese are: Our Lady of Bethlehem, at FerrièresFerrières
Ferrière, Ferrières or La Ferrière may refer to:*Château Ferrière, a Bordeaux wine producer in Margaux*Château de Ferrières, château in the Seine et Marne département of France...
; Our Lady of Miracles in Orléans city, dating back to the seventh century (Joan of Arc visited the sanctuary on 8 May 1429); Our Lady of Cléry, dating from the thirteenth century, visited by kings Philip the Fair, Philip VI, and especially by Louis XI, who wore in his hat a leaden image of Notre Dame de Cléry and who wished to have his tomb in this sanctuary where Dunois, one of the heroes of the Hundred Years' war
Hundred Years' War
The Hundred Years' War was a series of separate wars waged from 1337 to 1453 by the House of Valois and the House of Plantagenet, also known as the House of Anjou, for the French throne, which had become vacant upon the extinction of the senior Capetian line of French kings...
, was also interred.
Later history
The people of Orléans were so impressed by the preaching of Blessed Robert of Arbrissel in 1113 that he was invited to found the monastery of La MadeleineLa Madeleine
There are several communes and geographical features in France that bear the name La Madeleine:-In France:* La Madeleine, Manche, a village in Normandy, France* La Madeleine, Nord, a town in the Nord département, France-Related:...
, which he re-visited in 1117 with St. Bernard of Thiron
Bernard of Thiron
Bernard of Thiron, also known as Bernard of Ponthieu and Bernard of Abbeville, was the founder of the Tiron Abbey and the Tironensian Order.-Early life:...
. The charitable deeds of king St. Louis at Puiseaux
Puiseaux
The Canton of Puiseaux is a canton of the Loiret département, in the Centre région, in France. It was created in 1800 with the Arrondissement of Pithiviers. In 1926, the French government removed two of its cantons and was part of the Arrondissement of Montargis...
, Châteauneuf-sur-Loire
Châteauneuf-sur-Loire
Châteauneuf-sur-Loire is a commune in the Loiret department in north-central France.-See also:*Communes of the Loiret department...
, and Orléans, where he was present at the translation of the relics of St. Aignan (26 October 1259), and where he frequently went to care for the poor of the Hôtel Dieu, are well known. Pierre de Beaufort, Archdeacon of Sully
Sully
-People:* Hugh the Red of Sully, 13th century Sicilian general* Bishop Maurice de Sully , oversaw the building of Notre Dame de Paris; Bishop to Philippe II of France...
and canon of Orléans, was, as Gregory XI (1371-8), the last pope that France gave to the Church; he created Cardinal Jean de la Tour d'Auvergne, Abbot of St. Benoît-sur Loire. Blessed Jeanne de Valois was Duchess of Orléans and after her separation from Louis XII
Louis XII of France
Louis proved to be a popular king. At the end of his reign the crown deficit was no greater than it had been when he succeeded Charles VIII in 1498, despite several expensive military campaigns in Italy. His fiscal reforms of 1504 and 1508 tightened and improved procedures for the collection of taxes...
(1498) she established, early in the sixteenth century, the monastery of L'Annonciade at Châteauneuf-sur-Loire. Etienne Dolet
Étienne Dolet
Étienne Dolet was a French scholar, translator and printer.-Early life:He was born in Orléans. A doubtful tradition makes him the illegitimate son of Francis I; but it is evident that he was at least connected with some family of rank and wealth.From Orléans he was taken to Paris about 1521, and...
(1509–46), a printer, philologian, and pamphleteer, executed at Paris and looked upon by some as a "martyr of the Renaissance", was a native of Orléans. Cardinal Odet de Coligny
Odet de Coligny
Odet de Coligny was a French cardinal of Châtillon, bishop of Beauvais, son of Gaspard I de Coligny and Louise de Montmorency, and brother of Gaspard and François, Seigneur d'Andelot.-Birth:...
, who joined the Reformation about 1560, was Abbot of St. Euvertius, of Fontainejean, Ferrières, and St. Benoît. Admiral Coligny (1519–72) (see Saint Bartholomew's Day
St. Bartholomew's Day massacre
The St. Bartholomew's Day massacre in 1572 was a targeted group of assassinations, followed by a wave of Roman Catholic mob violence, both directed against the Huguenots , during the French Wars of Religion...
) was born at Châtillon-sur-Loing in the present diocese. At the beginning of the religious wars, Orléans was disputed between the followers of the Guise family and of the Protestant Condé
Condé
-Places in France:*Condé, Indre, in the Indre département*Condé-en-Brie, in the Aisne département*Condé-Folie, in the Somme département*Condé-lès-Autry, in the Ardennes département*Condé-lès-Herpy, in the Ardennes département...
. In the vicinity of Orléans, Duke Francis of Guise was assassinated on 3 February 1562.
The Calvinist Jacques Bongars
Jacques Bongars
Jacques Bongars , French scholar and diplomatist, was born at Orléans, and was brought up in the reformed faith. He obtained his early education at Marburg and Jena, and returning to France continued his studies at Orléans and Bourges...
, councillor of king Henry IV of France
Henry IV of France
Henry IV , Henri-Quatre, was King of France from 1589 to 1610 and King of Navarre from 1572 to 1610. He was the first monarch of the Bourbon branch of the Capetian dynasty in France....
, who collected and edited the chronicles of the Crusades in his "Gesta Dei per Francos", was born at Orléans in 1554. The Jesuit Denis Petav (Petavius), a renowned scholar and theologian, was born at Orléans in 1583. St. Francis of Sales came to Orléans in 1618 and 1619. Venerable Mother Françoise de la Croix (1591–1657), a pupil of St. Vincent de Paul, who founded the congregation of Augustinian Sisters of Charity of Notre Dame, was born at Petay in the diocese. The Miramion family, to which Marie Bonneau is celebrated in the annals of charity under the name of Mme de Miramion (1629–96), belonged by marriage, were from Orléans. St. Jane de Chantal was superior of the Orléans convent of the Visitation in 1627. Mme Guyon, celebrated in the annals of Quietism, was born at Montargis in 1648.
France was saved from English domination through the deliverance of Orléans by Joan of Arc
Joan of Arc
Saint Joan of Arc, nicknamed "The Maid of Orléans" , is a national heroine of France and a Roman Catholic saint. A peasant girl born in eastern France who claimed divine guidance, she led the French army to several important victories during the Hundred Years' War, which paved the way for the...
(8 May 1429). On 21 July 1455, her rehabilitation was publicly proclaimed at Orléans in a solemn procession, and before her death in November 1458, Isabel Romée, the mother of Joan of Arc, saw a monument erected in honour of her daughter, at Tournelles, near the Orléans bridge. The monument, destroyed by the Huguenots in 1567, was set up again in 1569 when the Catholics were once more masters of the city. Until 1792, and again from 1802 to 1830, finally from 1842 to the present day, a great religious feast, celebrated 8 May of every year at Orléans in honour of Joan of Arc, attracted multitudes.
The Church of Orléans was the last in France to take up again the Roman liturgy (1874). The Sainte Croix cathedral, perhaps built and consecrated by St. Euvertius in the fourth century, was destroyed by fire in 999 and rebuilt from 1278 to 1329; the Protestants pillaged and destroyed it from 1562 to 1567; the Bourbon kings restored it in the seventeenth century.
Twentieth century
Prior to the Associations Law of 1901, the Diocese of Orléans counted Franciscans, Benedictines, Missionary Priests of the Society of Mary, LazaristsLazarists
Congregation of the Mission is a vowed order of priests and brothers associated with the Vincentian Family, a loose federation of organizations who claim St. Vincent de Paul as their founder or Patron...
, Missionaries of the Sacred Heart
Missionaries of the Sacred Heart
The Missionaries of the Sacred Heart is a missionary congregation in the Latin Church,one of the 23 sui iuris churches which make up the Catholic Church led by the Bishop of Rome...
and several orders of teaching Brothers. Among the congregations of women which originated in this diocese must be mentioned: the Calvary Benedictines, a teaching and nursing order founded in 1617 by Princess Antoinette d'Orléans-Longueville, and the Capuchin Leclerc du Tremblay known as Père Joseph; the Sisters of St. Aignan, a teaching order founded in 1853 by Bishop Dupanloup, with mother-house in Orléans.
Twentieth-century bishops of Orleans included Guy Riobé
Guy Riobé
Guy-Marie Riobé was a mid-twentieth century bishop of Orléans, France, in office 1963 to 1978. He held liberal, progressive views influenced by the climate of the Second Vatican Council....
, whose opposition to nuclear weapons led to an altercation with a member of George Pompidou's government, and his successor, Jean-Marie Lustiger, who was appointed in 1979 after a long interregnum and shortly afterwards translated to Paris.
Ordinaries
- Christophe de Brillac † (19 Jan 1504 Appointed - 4 Feb 1514 Appointed, Archbishop of Tours)
- Louis-Joseph de Montmorency-Laval † (7 Nov 1753 Appointed - 8 Oct 1757 Appointed, Bishop of CondomBishop of CondomThe city of Condom, France was a bishopric from 1317 to 1792.-List of bishops of Condom:*1317–1340 : Raymond de Galard*1340–1369 : Pierre de Galard*1369–1401 : Bernard Alaman*1401–1405 : Hugues Raimbaud*1405–1408 : name not known*1408–1418 : Aymeric Noël...
) - Etienne-Alexandre-Jean-Baptiste-Marie Bernier † (9 Apr 1802 Appointed - 1 Oct 1806 Died)
- Claude-Louis Rousseau † (22 Mar 1807 Appointed - 7 Oct 1810 Died)
- Pierre-Marin Rouph de VaricourtPierre-Marin Rouph de VaricourtMgr Pierre-Marin Rouph de Varicourt was a French Catholic priest, representing the clergy at the States-General, serving as a deputy to the 1789 Constituent Assembly and finally becoming bishop of Orléans....
† (8 Aug 1817 Appointed - 9 Dec 1822 Died) - Jean Brumault de Beauregard † (13 Jan 1823 Appointed - Jan 1839 Retired)
- François-Nicholas-Madeleine MorlotFrançois-Nicholas-Madeleine MorlotFrançois-Nicholas-Madeleine Morlot was a French Catholic Archbishop of Paris, from 1857 to 1862, and Cardinal.He was bishop of Orléans in 1839, and archbishop of Tours in 1843....
† (10 Mar 1839 Appointed - 28 Jun 1842 Appointed, Archbishop of Tours) - Jean-Jacques Fayet † (10 Oct 1842 Appointed - 4 Apr 1849 Died)
- Félix-Antoine-Philibert Dupanloup † (16 Apr 1849 Appointed - 11 Oct 1878 Died)
- Pierre-Hector CoulliéPierre-Hector CoulliePierre-Hector Coullié was a Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church and was former Archbishop of Lyon.Pierre-Hector Coullié was born in Paris, France. He was educated at the Saint-Sulpice Seminary, Paris.-Priesthood:...
(Couillié) † (12 Oct 1878 Succeeded - 14 Jun 1893 Appointed, Archbishop of Lyon) - Stanislas-Arthur-Xavier Touchet † (29 Jan 1894 Appointed - 23 Sep 1926 Died)
- Jules-Marie-Victor Courcoux † (20 Dec 1926 Appointed - 28 Mar 1951 Died)
- Robert Picard de la Vacquerie † (27 Aug 1951 Appointed - 23 May 1963 Resigned)
- Guy-Marie-Joseph Riobé † (23 May 1963 Succeeded - 18 Jul 1978 Died)
- Jean-Marie Lustiger † (10 Nov 1979 Appointed - 31 Jan 1981 Appointed, Archbishop of ParisArchbishop of ParisThe Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Paris is one of twenty-three archdioceses of the Roman Catholic Church in France. The original diocese is traditionally thought to have been created in the 3rd century by St. Denis and corresponded with the Civitas Parisiorum; it was elevated to an archdiocese on...
) - René Lucien Picandet † (13 Jun 1981 Appointed - 20 Oct 1997 Died)
- Gérard Antoine Daucourt (2 Jul 1998 Appointed - 18 Jun 2002 Appointed, Bishop of Nanterre)
- André Louis Fort (28 Nov 2002 Appointed - 27 Jul 2010 Retired)
- Jacques André Blaquart (27 Jul 2010 Appointed - )