Avranches Cathedral (''Cathédrale Saint-André d'Avranches'') was once a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

cathedral in Avranches in

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

. The seat of the

Bishop of Avranches The Roman Catholic Diocese of Coutances (–Avranches) ( Latin: ''Dioecesis Constantiensis (–Abrincensis)''; French: ''Diocèse de Coutances (–Avranches)'') is a diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in France. Its mother church is the Ca ...

, it was a Gothic construction, notable as the place of the penance of

Henry II of England Henry II (5 March 1133 – 6 July 1189), also known as Henry Curtmantle (french: link=no, Court-manteau), Henry FitzEmpress, or Henry Plantagenet, was King of England from 1154 until his death in 1189, and as such, was the first Angevin king ...

in 1172 for the murder of

Thomas Becket Thomas Becket (), also known as Saint Thomas of Canterbury, Thomas of London and later Thomas à Becket (21 December 1119 or 1120 – 29 December 1170), was an English nobleman who served as Lord Chancellor from 1155 to 1162, and then ...

. It was destroyed completely during the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...

and the site remains unbuilt on. The Diocese of Avranches was not reinstated after the revolution but under the

Concordat of 1801 The Concordat of 1801 was an agreement between Napoleon Bonaparte and Pope Pius VII, signed on 15 July 1801 in Paris. It remained in effect until 1905, except in Alsace-Lorraine, where it remains in force. It sought national reconciliation ...

was instead amalgamated with that of

Coutances Coutances () is a commune in the Manche department in Normandy in north-western France. History Capital of the Unelli, a Gaulish tribe, the town was given the name of ''Constantia'' in 298 during the reign of Roman emperor Constantius Chloru ...

to form the Diocese of Coutances and Avranches.

Sources

* Ch.-A. de Beaurepaire, 1936: ''L'ancienne cathédrale d'Avranches'' (14pp). Bayeux: R.-P. Colas * Daniel Levalet: "La cathédrale Saint-André et les origines chrétiennes d'Avranches" in ''Archéologie Médiévale'', Vol. 12, 1982, pp. 107-153 * Émile-Auber Pigeon, 1888: ''Le Diocèse d'Avranches'' (2 vols). Coutances: Imprimerie de Salettes * François Saint-James and David Nicolas-Méry: "Quelques observations sur la cathédrale Saint-André d'Avranches" in ''Revue de l'Avranchin et du pays de Granville'', Vol. 90, No. 434, March 2013 * François Saint-James, Erik Follain and David Nicolas-Méry: 2La cathédrale Saint-André d'Avranches. Renaissance d'un édifice perdu" dans ''Patrimoine normand'', No. 93, April-May-June 2015

External links

Location
Former cathedrals in France Churches in Manche {{France-RC-church-stub