The Roman Catholic Diocese of Le Puy-en-Velay (ancient Aniciensis), is a diocese

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. The diocese comprises the whole department of Haute-Loire

Haute-Loire

Haute-Loire is a department in south-central France named after the Loire River.-History:Haute-Loire is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790...

, in the Region

Region

Region is most commonly found as a term used in terrestrial and astrophysics sciences also an area, notably among the different sub-disciplines of geography, studied by regional geographers. Regions consist of subregions that contain clusters of like areas that are distinctive by their uniformity...

 of Auvergne

Auvergne (région)

Auvergne is one of the 27 administrative regions of France. It comprises the 4 departments of Allier, Puy de Dome, Cantal and Haute Loire.The current administrative region of Auvergne is larger than the historical province of Auvergne, and includes provinces and areas that historically were not...

. Currently the diocese is a suffragan of the diocese of Bourges. The present bishop is Henri-Marie-Raoul Brincard, appointed in 1988.

The territory of the old Diocese of Le Puy, suppressed by the Concordat of 1801

Concordat of 1801

The Concordat of 1801 was an agreement between Napoleon and Pope Pius VII, signed on 15 July 1801. It solidified the Roman Catholic Church as the majority church of France and brought back most of its civil status....

, was united with the Diocese of Saint-Flour and became a diocese again in 1823. The district of Brioude

Brioude

Brioude is a commune in the Haute-Loire department in the Auvergne region in south-central France. It lies on the banks of the River Allier, a tributary of the Loire.-History:...

, which had belonged to the diocese of Saint-Flour under the old regime, was thenceforward included in the new Diocese of Le Puy.

Early history

The Martyrology of Ado and the first legend of St. Front of Périgueux (written perhaps in the middle of the tenth century, by Gauzbert, chorepiscopus of Limoges) speak of a certain priest named George who was brought to life by the touch of St. Peter's staff, and who accompanied St. Front, St. Peter's missionary and first Bishop of Périgueux. A legend of St. George, the origin of which, according to Duchesne

Duchesne

-People:*André Duchesne , French historian*André Duchesne , Canadian musician*Antoine Nicolas Duchesne French botanist and strawberry breeder*Ernest Duchesne , French physician...

 is not earlier than the eleventh century, makes that saint one of the seventy-two disciples, and tells how he founded the Church of Civitas Vetula in the County of Le Velay, and how, at the request of St. Martial, he caused an altar to the Blessed Virgin to be erected on Mont Anis (Mons Anicius).

After St. George, certain local traditions of very late origin point to Sts. Macarius, Marcellinus, Roricius, Eusebius, Paulianus, and Vosy (Evodius) as bishops of Le Puy. It must have been from St. Paulianus that the town of Ruessium, now Saint-Paulien

Saint-Paulien

Saint-Paulien is a commune in the Haute-Loire department in south-central France.-References:*...

, received its name; and it was probably St. Vosy who completed the church of Our Lady of Le Puy at Anicium and transferred the episcopal see from Ruessium to Anicium. St. Vosy was apprised in a vision that the angels themselves had dedicated the cathedral to the Blessed Virgin, whence the epithet Angelic given to the cathedral of Le Puy. It is impossible to say whether this St. Evodius is the same who signed the decrees of the Council of Valence in 374. Neither can it be affirmed that St. Benignus, who in the seventh century founded a hospital at the gates of the basilica, and St. Agrevius, the seventh-century martyr from whom the town of Saint-Agrève Chiniacum took its name, were really bishops.

Duchesne thinks that the chronology of these early bishops rests on very little evidence and that very ill supported by documents; before the tenth century only six individuals appear of whom it can be said with certainty that they were bishops of Le Puy. The first of these, Scutarius, the legendary architect of the first cathedral, dates, if we may trust the inscription which bears his name, from the end of the fourth century.

Pilgrimage and medieval status

Legend traces the origin of the pilgrimage of Le Puy to an apparition of the Blessed Virgin to a sick widow whom St. Martial had converted. No French pilgrimage was more frequented in the Middle Ages. 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...

 came twice, in 772 and 800; there is a legend that in 772 he established a foundation at the cathedral for ten poor canons (chanoines de paupérie), and he chose Le Puy, with Aachen

Aachen

Aachen has historically been a spa town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Aachen was a favoured residence of Charlemagne, and the place of coronation of the Kings of Germany. Geographically, Aachen is the westernmost town of Germany, located along its borders with Belgium and the Netherlands, ...

 and Saint-Gilles

Saint-Gilles

Saint-Gilles is the name of several places, most of them named after Saint Giles.-Belgium:* Saint-Gilles is the French name for a municipality in the bilingual Brussels-Capital Region...

, as a centre for the collection of Peter's Pence

Peter's Pence

Peter's Pence is payment made more or less voluntarily to the Roman Catholic Church. It began under the Saxons in England and is seen in other countries. Though formally discontinued in England at the time of the Reformation, a post-Reformation payment of uncertain characteristics is seen in some...

.

Charles the Bald

Charles the Bald

Charles the Bald , Holy Roman Emperor and King of West Francia , was the youngest son of the Emperor Louis the Pious by his second wife Judith.-Struggle against his brothers:He was born on 13 June 823 in Frankfurt, when his elder...

 visited Le Puy in 877, Eudes of France in 892, Robert I of France

Robert I of France

Robert I , King of Western Francia , was the younger son of Robert the Strong, count of Anjou, and the brother of Odo, who became king of the Western Franks in 888. West Francia evolved over time into France; under Odo, the capital was fixed on Paris, a large step in that direction...

 in 1029, Philip Augustus in 1183. Louis IX

Louis IX of France

Louis IX , commonly Saint Louis, was King of France from 1226 until his death. He was also styled Louis II, Count of Artois from 1226 to 1237. Born at Poissy, near Paris, he was an eighth-generation descendant of Hugh Capet, and thus a member of the House of Capet, and the son of Louis VIII and...

 met the King of Aragon there in 1245; and in 1254 passing through Le Puy on his return from Palestine, he gave to the cathedral an ebony image of the Blessed Virgin clothed in gold brocade. After him, Le Puy was visited by Philip the Bold

Philip the Bold

Philip the Bold , also Philip II, Duke of Burgundy , was the fourth and youngest son of King John II of France and his wife, Bonne of Luxembourg. By his marriage to Margaret III, Countess of Flanders, he also became Count Philip II of Flanders, Count Philip IV of Artois and Count-Palatine Philip IV...

 in 1282, by Philip the Fair

Philip IV of France

Philip the Fair was, as Philip IV, King of France from 1285 until his death. He was the husband of Joan I of Navarre, by virtue of which he was, as Philip I, King of Navarre and Count of Champagne from 1284 to 1305.-Youth:A member of the House of Capet, Philip was born at the Palace of...

 in 1285, by Charles VI of France

Charles VI of France

Charles VI , called the Beloved and the Mad , was the King of France from 1380 to 1422, as a member of the House of Valois. His bouts with madness, which seem to have begun in 1392, led to quarrels among the French royal family, which were exploited by the neighbouring powers of England and Burgundy...

 in 1394, by Charles VII of France

Charles VII of France

Charles VII , called the Victorious or the Well-Served , was King of France from 1422 to his death, though he was initially opposed by Henry VI of England, whose Regent, the Duke of Bedford, ruled much of France including the capital, Paris...

 in 1420, and by the mother of 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...

 in 1429. Louis XI made the pilgrimage in 1436 and 1475, and in 1476 halted three leagues from the city and went to the cathedral barefooted. Charles VIII

Charles VIII of France

Charles VIII, called the Affable, , was King of France from 1483 to his death in 1498. Charles was a member of the House of Valois...

 visited it in 1495, Francis I of France

Francis I of France

Francis I was King of France from 1515 until his death. During his reign, huge cultural changes took place in France and he has been called France's original Renaissance monarch...

 in 1533.

Theodulph, Bishop of Orléans, brought to Our Lady of Le Puy, as an ex-voto for his deliverance, a magnificent Bible, the letters of which were made of plates of gold and silver, which he had himself put together, about 820, while in prison at Angers. St. Mayeul, St. Odilon, St. Robert, St. Hugh of Grenoble, St. Anthony of Padua, St. Dominic, St. Vincent Ferrer, St. John Francis Regis were pilgrims to Le Puy.

The Church of Le Puy received, on account of its dignity and fame, temporal and spiritual favours. Concessions made in 919 by William the Young

William II of Aquitaine

William II the Young was the Count of Auvergne and Duke of Aquitaine from 918 to his death, succeeding his uncle William I....

, Count of Auvergne and Le Velay, and in 923 by King Raoul, gave it sovereignty over the whole population of the town (bourg) of Anis

Anis

-Given name:* Anis Ayari, Tunisian footballer* Anis Boussaidi, Tunisian footballer* Anis Mohamed Youssef Ferchichi, a German rapper known as Bushido* Anis Kachohi, French country singer* Anis Mojgani, American spoken word poet* Anis Nagi, Pakistani poet...

, a population which soon amounted to 30,000 souls. In 999, Pope Sylvester II consecrated his friend Théodard

Theodard

Saint Theodard was an archbishop of Narbonne. He may have been born to the nobility and served as a subdeacon at a church council at Toulouse....

, a monk of Aurillac, Bishop of Le Puy, to replace Stephen of Gévaudan, whom his uncle Guy, Bishop of Le Puy, had in his lifetime, designated to be his successor, and whom a Roman council had excommunicated. Sylvester II exempted Théodard from all metropolitan jurisdiction, a privilege which Pope Leo IX

Pope Leo IX

Pope Saint Leo IX , born Bruno of Eguisheim-Dagsburg, was Pope from February 12, 1049 to his death. He was a German aristocrat and as well as being Pope was a powerful secular ruler of central Italy. He is regarded as a saint by the Roman Catholic Church, with the feast day of April 19...

 confirmed to the Bishops of Le Puy, also granting them the right, until then reserved to archbishops exclusively of wearing the pallium

Pallium

The pallium is an ecclesiastical vestment in the Roman Catholic Church, originally peculiar to the Pope, but for many centuries bestowed by him on metropolitans and primates as a symbol of the jurisdiction delegated to them by the Holy See. In that context it has always remained unambiguously...

. "Nowhere", he said in his Bull, "does the Blessed Virgin receive a more special and more filial worship."

It was from Le Puy that Pope Urban II

Pope Urban II

Pope Urban II , born Otho de Lagery , was Pope from 12 March 1088 until his death on July 29 1099...

 dated (15 August 1095) the Letters Apostolic convoking the Council of Clermont

Council of Clermont

The Council of Clermont was a mixed synod of ecclesiastics and laymen of the Catholic Church, which was held from November 18 to November 28, 1095 at Clermont, France...

, and it was a canon of Le Puy, Raymond d'Aiguilles, chaplain to the Count of Toulouse, who wrote the history of the crusade. Pope Gelasius II

Pope Gelasius II

Pope Gelasius II , born Giovanni Caetani , was pope from January 24, 1118 to January 29, 1119.-Biography:He was born between 1060 and 1064 at Gaeta into the Pisan branch of the Caetani family....

, Pope Callistus II, Pope Innocent II

Pope Innocent II

Pope Innocent II , born Gregorio Papareschi, was pope from 1130 to 1143, and was probably one of the clergy in personal attendance on the antipope Clement III .-Early years:...

 and Pope Alexander III

Pope Alexander III

Pope Alexander III , born Rolando of Siena, was Pope from 1159 to 1181. He is noted in history for laying the foundation stone for the Notre Dame de Paris.-Church career:...

 visited Le Puy to pray, and with the visit of one of these popes must be connected the origin of the great Jubilee

Jubilee (Christian)

The concept of the Jubilee is a special year of remission of sins and universal pardon. In the Biblical Book of Leviticus, a Jubilee year is mentioned to occur every fifty years, in which slaves and prisoners would be freed, debts would be forgiven and the mercies of God would be particularly...

 which is granted to Our Lady of Le Puy whenever Good Friday

Good Friday

Good Friday , is a religious holiday observed primarily by Christians commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and his death at Calvary. The holiday is observed during Holy Week as part of the Paschal Triduum on the Friday preceding Easter Sunday, and may coincide with the Jewish observance of...

 falls on 25 March, the Feast of the Annunciation. It is supposed that this jubilee was instituted by Callistus II, who passed through Le Puy, in April, 1119, or by Alexander III, who was there in August, 1162, and June, 1165, or by Pope Clement IV

Pope Clement IV

Pope Clement IV , born Gui Faucoi called in later life le Gros , was elected Pope February 5, 1265, in a conclave held at Perugia that took four months, while cardinals argued over whether to call in Charles of Anjou, the youngest brother of Louis IX of France...

, who had been Bishop of Le Puy. The first jubilee historically known took place in 1407, and in 1418 the chronicles mention a Bull of Pope Martin V

Pope Martin V

Pope Martin V , born Odo Colonna, was Pope from 1417 to 1431. His election effectively ended the Western Schism .-Biography:...

 prolonging the duration of the jubilee. During the Middle Ages, everyone who had made the pilgrimage to Le Puy had the privilege of making a will in extremis with only two witnesses instead of seven.

Honoured with such prerogatives, the Church of Le Puy assumed a sort of primacy in respect to most of the Churches of France, and even of Christendom. This primacy manifested itself practically in a right to beg, established with the authorization of the Holy See, in virtue of which the chapter of Le Puy levied a veritable tax upon almost all the Christian countries to support its hospital of Notre-Dame.

Relationship with Girona

In Catalonia

Catalonia

Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...

 this droit de quête, recognized by the Spanish Crown, was so thoroughly established that the chapter had its collectors permanently installed in that country. A famous "fraternity" existed between the chapter of Le Puy and that of Girona

Girona

Girona is a city in the northeast of Catalonia, Spain at the confluence of the rivers Ter, Onyar, Galligants and Güell, with an official population of 96,236 in January 2009. It is the capital of the province of the same name and of the comarca of the Gironès...

 in Catalonia.

Later history

The statue of Our Lady of Le Puy and the other treasures escaped the pillage of the Middle Ages. The roving banditti were victoriously dispersed, in 1180, by the Confraternity of the Chaperons (Hooded Cloaks) founded at the suggestion of a canon of Le Puy. In 1562 and 1563 Le Puy was successfully defended against the Huguenots by priests and religious armed with cuirasses and arquebusses. But in 1793 the statue was torn from its shrine and burned in the public square. Père de Ravignan, in 1846, and the Abbé Combalot, in 1850, were inspired with the idea of a great monument to the Blessed Virgin on the Rocher Corneille. Napoleon III placed at the disposal of Bishop Morlhon 213 pieces of artillery taken by Pélissier at Sebastopol, and the colossal statue of "Notre-Dame de France" cast from the iron of these guns, amounting in weight to 150,000 kilogrammes, or more than 330,000 lbs. avoirdupois, was dedicated 12 September 1860.

Saints

The saints specially venerated in the diocese are:

• St. Domninus, martyr, whose body is preserved in the cathedral;
• St. Julian of Brioude
  St. Julian of Brioude
  Saint Julian of Brioude was a 4th century martyr from the Auvergne region of France. Although the main focus of his worship was in the small village of Brioude, he was originally from the city of Vienne, and also associated with Clermont. He was most famous by his association to an aristocratic...
  
  , martyr in 304, and his companion, St. Ferréol;
• St. Calminius (Carmery), Duke of Auvergne, who prompted the foundation of the Abbey of Le Monastier, and St. Eudes, first abbot (end of the sixth century);
• St. Theofredus (Chaffre, Theofrid), Abbot of Le Monastier and martyr under the Saracens (c. 735);
• St. Mayeul, Abbot of Cluny
  Abbot of Cluny
  The Abbot of Cluny was the head of the powerful monastery of Cluny Abbey in medieval France. The following is a list.-List of abbots:-References:...
  
  , who, in the second half of the tenth century, cured a blind man at the gates of Le Puy, and whose name was given, in the fourteenth century, to the university in which the clergy made their studies;
• St. Odilon, Abbot of Cluny (962-1049), who embraced the life of a regular
  Regular
  The term regular can mean normal or obeying rules. Regular may refer to:In organizations:* Regular Army for military usage* Regular clergy, members of a religious order subject to a rule of life* Regular Force for usage in the Canadian Forces...
  
   canon in the monastery of St. Julien de Brioude;
• St. Robert d'Aurillac (d. 1067) who founded the monastery of Chaise Dieu in the Brioude district;
• St. Peter Chavanon (d. 1080), a canon regular, founder and first provost of the Abbey of Pébrac.

At the age of eighteen M. Olier, afterwards the founder of Saint-Sulpice, was Abbot in commendam of Pébrac and, in 1626 was an "honorary count-canon of the chapter of St. Julien de Brioude".

We may mention as natives of this diocese: the Benedictine, Hughes Lanthenas (1634–1701), who edited the works of 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...

 and St. Anselm, and was the historian of the Abbey of Vendôme; the Benedictine, Jacques Boyer

Jacques Boyer

Jonathan "Jacques" or "Jock" Boyer was a professional bicycle racer who, in 1981, was the first American to participate in the Tour de France. Boyer grew up in Monterey, California and was a member of the Velo Club Monterey there....

, joint author of Gallia Christiana

Gallia Christiana

The Gallia Christiana, a type of work of which there have been several editions, is a documentary catalogue or list, with brief historical notices, of all the Catholic dioceses and abbeys of France from the earliest times, also of their occupants....

; Cardinal de Polignac (d. 1741), author of the "Antilucretius".

Cathedral

The cathedral of Le Puy, which forms the highest point of the city, rising from the foot of the Rocher Corneille, exhibits architecture of every period from the fifth century to the fifteenth. The architectural effect is audacious and picturesque.

The four galleries of the cloister were constructed during a period extending from the Carolingian epoch to the twelfth century. The Benedictine monastery of the Chaise Dieu united in 1640 to the Congregation of St-Maur, still stands, with the fortifications which Abbot de Chanac caused to be built between 1378 and 1420, and the church, rebuilt in the fourteenth century by Clement VI, who had made his studies here, and by Gregory XI, his nephew. This church contains the tomb of Clement VI. The fine church of S. Julien de Brioude, in florid Byzantine style, dates from the eleventh or twelfth century. Besides the great pilgrimage of Le Puy, we may mention those of Notre-Dame de Pradelles, at Pradelles, a pilgrimage dating from 1512; of Notre-Dame d'Auteyrac, at Sorlhac, which was very popular before the Revolution; of Notre-Dame Trouvée, at Lavoute-Chilhac.

To 1000

• St Voisy 374
• St Suacre 396
• St Sautaire
• St Armentaire 451
• St Benigne
• St Faustin ca. 468
• St Georg ca. 480
• St Marcellin 6. Jh.
• Forbius ca. 550
• Aurele ca. 585
• St Agreve 602
• Eusebius ca. 615
• Basilius ca. 635
• Kutilius ca. 650
• St Eudes ca. 670
• Duicidius ca. 700
• Hilgericus ca. 720?
• Tornoso ca. 760?
• Macaire ca. 780
• Borice 811
• Dructan ca. 850
• Hardouin 860, 866
• Guido I. 875
• Norbert de Poitiers 876–903
• Adalard 919–924
• Hector 925?–934?
• Godescalc 935–955
• Bégon 961
• Peter I. 970?
• Guido II of Anjou 975–993
• Stephan de Gévaudan 995–998
• Theotard 999

1000-1300

• Guido III 1004
• Frédol D'Anduze 1016
• Stephan de Mercœur 1031–1052
• Peter II de Mercœur 1053–1073
• Stephan d'Auvergne 1073
• Stephan de Polignac 1073–1077
• Adhemar de Monteil 1082–1098
• Pons de Tournon 1102–1112
• Pons Maurice de Monfboissier 1112–1128
• Humbert D'Albon 1128–1144
• Peter III 1145–1156
• Pons III 1158
• Pierre de Solignac 1159–1191
• Aimard 1192–1195
• Odilon de Mercœur 1197–1202
• Bertrand de Chalencon 1202–1213
• Robert de Mehun 1213–1219
• Étienne de Chalencon 1220–1231
• Bernard de Rochefort 1231–1236
• Bernard de Montaigu 1236–1248
• Guillaume de Murat 1248–1250
• Bernard de Ventadour 1251–1255
• Armand de Polignac 1255–1257
• Guy Foulques 1257–1260, later Pope Clement IV
• Guillaume de La Roue 1260–1282
• Guido V. 1283
• Frédol de Saint-Bonnet 1284–1289
• Guy de Neuville 1290–1296
• Jean de Comines 1296–1308

1300-1500

• Bernard de Castanet 1308–1317
• Guillaume de Brosse 1317–1318
• Durand de Saint Pourçain 1318–1326
• Pierre Gorgeul 1326–1327
• Bernard Brun 1327–1342
• Jean Chandorat 1342–1356
• Jean du Jaurens 1356–1361
• Bertrand de la Tour 1361–1382
• Bertrand de Chanac 1382–1385
• Pierre Girard 1385–1390
• Gilles de Bellemère 1390–1392
• Itier de Martreuil 1392–1394
• Pierre d'Ailly
  Pierre d'Ailly
  Pierre d'Ailly was a French theologian, astrologer, and cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church....
  
   1395–1397
• Elie de Lestrange 1397–1418
• Guillaume de Chalencon 1418–1443
• Jean de Bourbon 1443–1485
• Geoffroy de Pompadour 1486–1514

1500-1801

• Antoine de Chabannes 1514–1535
• (Agostino Trivulzio
  Agostino Trivulzio
  Agostino Trivulzio was an Italian Cardinal and papal legate. He was from a noble family in Milan.After the 1527 sack of Rome, he was taken hostage by the Imperial forces. He was subsequently a major pro-French figure in papal diplomacy....
  
   1525, administrator)
• François de Sarcus 1536–1557
• Martin de Beaune 1557–1561
• Antoine de Sénecterre 1561–1593
• Jacques de Serres 1596–1621
• Just de Serres 1621–1641
• Henri Cauchon de Maupas du Tour 1641–1661
• Armand de Béthune 1661–1703
• Claude de La Roche-Aymon 1703–1720
• Godefroy Maurice de Conflans 1721–1725
• Fr.-Charles de Beringhen D'Armainvilliers 1725–1742
• Jean-Georges Le Franc de Pompignan 1742–1774, † 1790
• Joseph-Marie de Galard de Terraube 1774–1790 (1801)

From 1823

• Louis-Jacques Maurice de Bonald 1823–1839 (later Archbishop of Lyon)
• Pierre-Marie-Joseph Darcimoles 1840–1846 (later Archbishop of Aix)
• Joseph-Auguste-Victorin de Morlhon 1846–1862
• Pierre-Marc Le Breton 1863–1886
• André-Clément-Jean-Baptiste-Joseph-Marie Fulbert Petit 1887–1894 (later Archbishop of Besançon)
• Constant-Ludovic-Marie Guillois 1894–1907
• Thomas François Boutry 1907–1925
• Norbert Georges Pierre Rousseau 1925–1939
• Joseph-Marie Martin
  Joseph-Marie Martin
  Joseph-Marie-Eugène Martin was a French Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Rouen from 1948 to 1971, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1965.-Biography:...
  
   1940–1948
• Joseph-Marie-Jean-Baptiste Chappe 1949–1960
• Jean-Pierre-Georges Dozolme 1960–1978
• Louis-Pierre-Joseph Cornet 1978–1987
• Henri-Marie-Raoul Brincard, C.R.S.A 1988–present