Saint-Lizier is a commune

Communes of France

The commune is the lowest level of administrative division in the French Republic. French communes are roughly equivalent to incorporated municipalities or villages in the United States or Gemeinden in Germany...

 in the Ariège

Ariège

Ariège is a department in southwestern France named after the Ariège River.- History :Ariège is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. It was created from the counties of Foix and Couserans....

 department in southwestern 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...

.

History

Saint-Lizier has a rich history stretching back to pre Gallo-Roman times. In 72 BC, Pompey, returning from his triumphs in Spain against Sertorius, stopped here. He gathered together the ancient tribes of the area under the name Consorani. The ramparts seen today date from 3rd century AD and enclose the oppidum.

During the fifth century the citadel became an episcopal see, the oldest in the Ariège area. Its first bishop is thought to have been Saint Valier.

The town is named in honor of its 6th Century bishop Lycerius

Saint Lycerius

Saint Lycerius was a bishop of Couserans in the late 5th and 6th centuries.He is recorded as having attended the Council of Agde in 506....

, canonized as Saint Lizier, a bishop who participated in the Council of Agde

Council of Agde

In the history of Roman Catholicism in France, the Council of Agde was held 10 September 506 at Agatha or Agde in Languedoc, under the presidency of Caesarius of Arles. It was attended by thirty-five bishops, and its forty-seven genuine canons deal "with ecclesiastical discipline"...

in 506.

Population

Inhabitants of Saint-Lizier are called Licérois.