Avranches Cathedral (''Cathédrale Saint-André d'Avranches'') was once a
Roman Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
cathedral in
Avranches in
Normandy
Normandy (; or ) is a geographical and cultural region in northwestern Europe, roughly coextensive with the historical Duchy of Normandy.
Normandy comprises Normandy (administrative region), mainland Normandy (a part of France) and insular N ...
.
The seat of the
Bishop of Avranches, it was a
Gothic construction, notable as the place of the penance of
Henry II of England
Henry II () was King of England
The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the form of government used by the United Kingdom by which a hereditary monarch reigns as the head of state, with the ...
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), served as Lord Chancellor from 1155 to 1162, and then as Archbishop of Canterbury fr ...
. It was destroyed completely during the
French Revolution 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 the First French Republic and the Holy See, signed by First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte and Pope Pius VII on 15 July 1801 in Paris. It remained in effect until 1905, except in Alsace–Lorraine, ...
was instead amalgamated with that of
Coutances 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
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