Castres Cathedral (''Cathédrale Saint-Benoît de Castres''), now the
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 ...
church
Church may refer to:
Religion
* Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying
* Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination
* Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...
of Saint Benoît (
Saint Benedict
Benedict of Nursia (; ; 2 March 480 – 21 March 547), often known as Saint Benedict, was a Great Church, Christian monk. He is famed in the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Lutheran Churches, the Anglican Communion, and Old ...
), is a historical religious building in
Castres
Castres (; ''Castras'' in the Languedocian dialect, Languedocian dialect of Occitan language, Occitan) is the sole Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Tarn (department), Tarn Departments of France, department in the Occitania (adminis ...
,
Languedoc
The Province of Languedoc (, , ; ) is a former province of France.
Most of its territory is now contained in the modern-day region of Occitanie in Southern France. Its capital city was Toulouse. It had an area of approximately .
History
...
,
France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
.
It was formerly the seat of the
bishop of Castres
The Catholic Diocese of Castres, in Southern France, was created in 1317 from the diocese of Albi. It was suppressed at the time of the French Revolution, under the Concordat of 1801.French Revolution and was added by 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, ...
to the
Archdiocese of Albi
The Archdiocese of Albi(); () is a Latin archdiocese of the Catholic Church in France. It is suffragan to the Archdiocese of Toulouse, and it comprises the department of Tarn.
In the 12th century, the spread of alternative beliefs in the regio ...
.
The first cathedral was built in the 14th century after the creation of the diocese of Castres in 1317, along with a number of other dioceses created in the region after the suppression of the Albigensians. It was destroyed during the
French Wars of Religion
The French Wars of Religion were a series of civil wars between French Catholic Church, Catholics and Protestantism, Protestants (called Huguenots) from 1562 to 1598. Between two and four million people died from violence, famine or disease di ...
.
The present building which replaced it was constructed in the 16th and 17th centuries.
(Castres) Cathédrale Saint-Benoît - La nef et le choeur.jpg, The nave and the choir.
(Castres) Cathédrale Saint-Benoît - Le choeur.jpg, The Choir of the cathedral
(Castres) Cathédrale Saint-Benoît - Le Maître autel.jpg, The canopy high altar, supported by Caunes marble columns; work of E. Lagon, Castres architect and sculptor.
(Castres) Cathédrale Saint-Benoît - Plafond du choeur.jpg, Choir ceiling.
(Castres) Cathédrale Saint-Benoît - La chaire.jpg, Baroque Pulpit commissioned in 1692.
(Castres) Cathédrale Saint-Benoît - La nef vue du choeur.jpg , The nave seen from the choir.