The French Catholic diocese of Sarlat existed from 1317 to 1801. It was suppressed 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, ...

. Its territory passed to the

diocese of Angoulême In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associated ...

. The seat of the

Bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

of Sarlat was at the Cathedral of Saint-Sacerdos, in the town of Sarlat in the

Dordogne Dordogne ( , or ; ; ) is a large rural departments of France, department in south west France, with its Prefectures in France, prefecture in Périgueux. Located in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region roughly half-way between the Loire Valley and ...

History

The Abbey of Saint-Sauveur of Sarlat, which was later placed under the patronage of St. Sacerdos

Bishop of Limoges The Diocese of Limoges (Latin: ''Dioecesis Lemovicensis''; French: ''Diocèse de Limoges'') is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church in France. The diocese comprises the '' départments'' of Haute-Vienne and Creuse. After the Concordat ...

(670—c. 720), when his relics were brought there, seems to have existed before the reigns of

Pepin the Short the Short (; ; ; – 24 September 768), was King of the Franks from 751 until his death in 768. He was the first Carolingian dynasty, Carolingian to become king. Pepin was the son of the Frankish prince Charles Martel and his wife Rotrude of H ...

and

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( ; 2 April 748 – 28 January 814) was List of Frankish kings, King of the Franks from 768, List of kings of the Lombards, King of the Lombards from 774, and Holy Roman Emperor, Emperor of what is now known as the Carolingian ...

. These two rulers, who came there on pilgrimage, were called its "founders" in a Bull of

Pope Eugene III Pope Eugene III (; c. 1080 – 8 July 1153), born Bernardo Pignatelli, or possibly Paganelli, called Bernardo da Pisa, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 15 February 1145 to his death in 1153. He was the first Cist ...

(1153), no doubt as a compliment rather than a declaration of historical fact. Charlemagne gave the monastery a fragment of the True Cross. In 886, the Emperor Charles the Fat, great-grandson of Charlemagne, restored the church of Sarlat and presented it with more relics. About 936 Odo, Abbot of Cluny, was sent to reform the abbey. The abbey was visited in the spring of 1147 by Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, who had been sent to Périgueux on a mission of preaching against heresy by

. In 1154, with the accession 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 ...

and

Eleanor of Aquitaine Eleanor of Aquitaine ( or ; ; , or ; – 1 April 1204) was Duchess of Aquitaine from 1137 to 1204, Queen of France from 1137 to 1152 as the wife of King Louis VII, and Queen of England from 1154 to 1189 as the wife of King Henry II. As ...

, duchess of

Guyenne Guyenne or Guienne ( , ; ) was an old French province which corresponded roughly to the Roman province of '' Aquitania Secunda'' and the Catholic archdiocese of Bordeaux. Name The name "Guyenne" comes from ''Aguyenne'', a popular transform ...

and countess of

Poitou Poitou ( , , ; ; Poitevin: ''Poetou'') was a province of west-central France whose capital city was Poitiers. Both Poitou and Poitiers are named after the Pictones Gallic tribe. Geography The main historical cities are Poitiers (historical ...

, Sarlat came under the dominion of the House of Plantagenet, though in the 14th century they were again subjects of the French crown. The abbey was made an

episcopal see An episcopal see is the area of a bishop's ecclesiastical jurisdiction. Phrases concerning actions occurring within or outside an episcopal see are indicative of the geographical significance of the term, making it synonymous with ''diocese'' ...

Pope John XXII Pope John XXII (, , ; 1244 – 4 December 1334), born Jacques Duèze (or d'Euse), was head of the Catholic Church from 7 August 1316 to his death, in December 1334. He was the second and longest-reigning Avignon Papacy, Avignon Pope, elected by ...

in a bull dated 13 August 1317. The last Abbot was Armandus de Sancto Leonardo (1312-1317). The first Bishop of Sarlat, Raymond de Rocquecorgne, O.S.B, was confirmed by the Pope in Consistory on 2 July 1318. In 1324 he was transferred to the diocese of Saint-Pons-de-Thomières. On the eve of the French Revolution, the Chapter of the Cathedral of Saint-Saveur (or of Saint-Sacerdos) was composed of eighteen Canons, six of whom were officials of the Chapter: the Dean, the Provost, the Grand Archdeacon of Sarlat, the Archdeacon, the Archdeacon of Biron, and the Precentor. All of the Canons were appointments of the Bishop, who also appointed seven Vicars-General. There were three abbeys for men in the diocese: Cadouin (O.Cist.), Saint-Amand de Coli (O.S.A.), and Terrasson (O.S.B.). There were three collegial chapters, at Montpazier, Saint-Avit, and Biron. For women there was the Benedictine abbey of Fongauffier and the Priory of Auriac. Various religious orders also had houses or convents. The Poor Claires were established in Sarlat by the second Bishop Louis de Salignac on 21 April 1621. During the Revolution the church of Saint-Marie in Sarlat, the convent of the Franciscans (Cordeliers), the convent of the

Récollets The Franciscan Recollects () were a French reform branch of the Friars Minor, a Franciscan order. Denoted by their gray habits and pointed hoods, the Recollects devoted their lives to an extra emphasis on prayer, penance, and spiritual reflecti ...

, the convent of Nôtre-Dame, and the convent of the Mirepoises (''Congrégation des demoiselles des écoles chrétiennes et de la charité, dites les Mirepoise'') were confiscated and sold. Saint-Marie became a gun manufactory and arsenal. Today it is a shopping mall. Under the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, the diocese of Sarlat was suppressed and subsumed into the 'Diocese of the Dordogne'. The electors of Dordogne chose Pierre Pontard, curé-archpriest of Sarlat to be their Constitutional Bishop. He was consecrated at Bordeaux by Bishop Jean Pierre Saurine. He was elected a delegate to the Legislative Assembly in Paris, and on 23 September 1793, when the Convention met, he repudiated his priesthood and declared that he did not believe in and could not make priests himself. He never returned to his diocese, though, to his credit, he did protect Bishop d’Albaret in Paris during the Terror. Pontard subsequently married. Another bishop was selected by the Constitutional Bishops in the province of Sud-Ouest, Antoine Bouchier, cure of Saint-Silain in Périgueux, but when his consecration was announced for June 1800, disorders were so great that it was postponed, and in fact had to be held in Bordeaux, on 2 March 1801. Bouchier died on 11 September 1801, ending the strife.

Bishops of Sarlat

1317–1500

* Raimundus de Roquecorne (1317-1324) * Bertrandus, O.S.B. (1324–1330) * Arnaldus Royardi, O.Min. (1330- 1334) * Guilelmus de Sandreux de Pedeveges, O.S.B. (1334-1338) * Petrus Berenger (1338-1341) * Itherius de Sandreux (1341–1345) * Petrus Itier (1346–1359) (transferred to Dax) * Elias de Salignac (1359–1361) (transferred to Bordeaux) * Austencius de S. Columba, O.Min. (1361-1370) * Joannes de Revaillon (1370–1396) * Galhardus de Palayrac (1396–1397) * Raymond de Bretenoux (1397-1404) (transferred to Périgueux) * Joannes Lami, O.Min. (1408–1410) * Joannes Arnaldi, O.Min. (1411-1416) * Bertrand de la Cropte de Lenquais (1416-1446) * Petrus Bonaldi (1447–1461) (transferred to Rieux) * Bertrand de Roffiniac (1461-1485) * Pontius de Galiaco (1486-1492) * Armandus de Gontealto (Armand de Gontault) (1492–1519) (resigned)

1500-1700

* Charles de Bonavalle (1519–September 1527) * Guy d'Aydie (27 May 1528 – 1 April 1529) * Jean de Rillac (1529-1530) * Jacques de Larmandie, O.S.B. (1530-October 1533) *

Niccolò Gaddi Niccolò Gaddi (1499–1552) was an Italian Roman Catholic cardinal. Biography Niccolò Gaddi was born in Florence in 1499, the son of Taddeo Gaddi and Antonia Altoviti. He was a direct descendant of medieval painter Taddeo Gaddi. He was t ...

(12 December 1533 – 3 July 1545) * François de Saint-Nectaire Senneterre, O.S.B. (3 July 1545-September 1567) * François de Salignac de La Mothe-Fénelon (23 October 1568 – 1579) (resigned) * Louis de Salignac de La Mothe-Fénelon (9 March 1579 – 6 February 1598) * Louis de Salignac de La Mothe-Fénelon (27 November 1602 – 22 May 1639) * Jean de Lingendes (14 July 1642 – 27 September 1647) (resigned) * Nicolas Sévin (18 May 1648 – 1657) (resigned) * François de Salignac de La Mothe-Fénelon (31 March 1659 – 1 May 1688) * Pierre-François Beauvau de Rivau (15 October 1692 – 23 October 1701)

1700-1801

* Paul de Chaulnes (6 February 1702 – 13 June 1721) * Denis-Alexandre Le Blanc, C.R.S.A. (14 January 1722 – 3 May 1747) * Henri-Jacques de Montesquiou-Poylobon (31 July 1747 – 19 January 1777) * Joseph-Anne-Luc (Falcombelle) de Ponte d’Albaret (15 December 1777 – 20 May 1800)With the new political system under the Republic, d'Albaret was elected the first Mayor of Sarlat. He was under house arrest in Perigueux for a time in 1794-1795. After he was freed, he lived with his nephew in Pignerolo, but the entire family fled to Turin in 1796 as the French armies approached; the Bishop died in Turin in 1800: ''Le livre d'or'', pp. lvii and 2-3. Escande, ''Histoire de Sarlat'', pp. 306-307.

References

Books

Reference books

* p. 436. (in Latin) * p. 230. * * p. 305. * * p. 368. *

Studies

* * * * * * * * *

External links

Sarlat, Dordogne - travel guide to this beautiful medieval town
Retrieved: 2016-07-30. * ''Structurae'':
Cathédrale Saint-Sacerdos
Retrieved: 2016-07-30.

Attribution

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sarlat, Ancient Diocese of Sarlat 1317 establishments in Europe 1310s establishments in France Religious organizations established in the 1310s Roman Catholic dioceses established in the 14th century 1801 disestablishments in France