Diocese of Coutances

The Diocese of Coutances (–Avranches) (Latin: Dioecesis Constantiensis (–Abrincensis); French: Diocèse de Coutances (–Avranches)) is a Latin diocese of the Catholic Church in France. Its mother church is the Cathedral of Coutance in the commune of Coutances in France. The diocese is suffragan of the Archbishop of Rouen and comprises the entire department of Manche. It was enlarged in 1802 by the addition of the former Diocese of Avranches and of two archdeaconries from the Diocese of Bayeux. Since 1854 its bishops have held the title of Bishop of Coutances (–Avranches). In 2021, in the Diocese of Coutances there was one priest for every 3,523 Catholics. History of the Diocese of Coutances The diocese of Coutances was founded in Frankish times but the bishop had to flee to Rouen in the ninth century due to Viking raids and was not able to return until at least 1025 despite the Christianisation of the Duchy of Normandy. The Bishop of Coutances exercised ecclesiastical jurisdiction over the Channel Islands, mostly in Alderney where the Bishop also held partial authority over the Leader of Alderney, until the Reformation, despite the secular division of Normandy in 1204. The final rupture occurred definitively in 1569 when Queen Elizabeth I demanded that the Bishops hand the island over to the Bishop of Winchester. In 1757 the city of Coutances had a population of about 12,000 Catholics. The Cathedral was dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Its Chapter was composed of eight dignities (the Cantor, four Archdeacons, the Scholasticus, the Treasurer, and the Penitentiary) and twenty-five Canons. There were also six Choral Vicars, forty-two chaplains, fourteen choristers and six boy singers, and a body of musicians. The Cantor has existed from the 11th century. The four archdeacons were: Coutances, Baptois, Val-de-Vire and Cotentin. In the city were two parishes (Saint-Pierre and Saint-Nicolas), two houses of male religious, and two monasteries of monks. The entire diocese had some 500 parishes. The diocese contained seven houses of Benedictine monks: Saint-Sever, Lessay, Saint-Sauveur le Vicomte, Montebourg, Hambie, Notre-Dame de Protection (Valognes, 1626, women), and Notre-Dame des Anges (Coutances, 1633, women). There was a house of Premonstratensians at Blanchelande; and two houses of Augustinians, at Saint-Lô and Notre-Dame de Voeu at Cherbourg. All were abolished by will of the Constituent Assembly in 1790, and their properties confiscated and sold. Monastic vows were dissolved and forbidden. On 12 April 1791 the priests of the seminary were expelled for refusing to take the Oath to the Constitution. On 15 January 1793 the turn came of the houses of women to be closed and confiscated, and their inhabitants forcibly ejected. History of the Diocese of Avranches The Cathedral of Avranches, situated in a town of some 2500 inhabitants in 1764, was dedicated to Saint Andrew on 17 September 1211. The Chapter of the Cathedral had six dignities (the Dean, the Cantor, the Treasurer, the Scholasticus and the two Archdeacons) and eighteen Canons. The archdeacons were named Archidiaconus Abricensis and Archidiaconus Vallis Moretonii. The town contained three parishes, one community of male religious and one monastery of monks. The entire diocese contained 170 parishes. The Diocese of Avranches was abolished during the French Revolution by the Legislative Assembly, under the Civil Constitution of the Clergy (1790). Its territory was subsumed into the new diocese, called 'Manche', with its seat at Coutances, which was part of the Metropolitanate called the 'Côtes de la Manche' (which included eight new 'départements'), with its seat at Rouen (Seine-Inférieure). When the Concordat of 1801 was struck between Pope Pius VII and First Consul Bonaparte, the Diocese of Avranches was not revived. List of bishops Bishops of Coutances to 1050 from 1050 to 1400 from 1400 to 1600 from 1600 to 1854 Nicolas de Briroy, 1589–1620, consecrated in 1597 Guillaume Le Blanc, 1621, died before his consecration Jacques de Carbonnel, 1621, never consecrated Nicolas Bourgoin, 1622–1625 Léonor I Goyon de Matignon, 1627–1646, became bishop of Lisieux Claude Auvry, 1646–1658 Eustache Le Clerc de Lesseville, 1658–1665 Charles–François de Loménie de Brienne, 1666–1720 Léonor II Goyon de Matignon, 1721–1757 Jacques Le Febvre du Quesnoy, 1757–1764 Ange–François de Talaru de Chalmazel, 1764–1798 François Bécherel, 1791–1801 (Constitutional Bishop of Manche) Claude-Louis Rousseau 14 Apr 1802 – 3 Aug 1807 Pierre Dupont de Poursat 3 Aug 1807 – 17 Sep 1835. Louis-Jean-Julien Robiou de la Tréhonnais 1 Feb 1836 – 7 Dec 1852 Bishops of Avranches Bishops of Coutances and Avranches Jacques-Louis Daniel, 1854–1862 Jean-Pierre Bravard, 1862–1875 Abel-Anastase Germain, 1876–1897 Joseph Guérard, 1899–1924 Théophile-Marie Louvard, 1924–1950 Jean Guyot, 1950–1966. Joseph Wicquart, 1966–1988 Jacques Fihey, 1989–2006 Stanislas Lalanne, 2007–2012 Laurent Le Boulc'h (2013 – 2023) Grégoire Cador (2023 See also Catholic Church in France List of Catholic dioceses in France Notes Bibliography Reference works Gallia christiana: in provincias ecclesiasticas distributa (in Latin). Vol. Tomus undecimus (11). Paris: ex Typographia regia. 1759. pp. 865–949, Instrumenta, pp. 218–338. Gams, Pius Bonifatius (1873). Series episcoporum Ecclesiae catholicae: quotquot innotuerunt a beato Petro apostolo. Ratisbon: Typis et Sumptibus Georgii Josephi Manz. (Use with caution; obsolete) Eubel, Conradus, ed. (1913). Hierarchia catholica, Tomus 1 (second ed.). Münster: Libreria Regensbergiana. (in Latin) Eubel, Conradus, ed. (1914). Hierarchia catholica, Tomus 2 (second ed.). Münster: Libreria Regensbergiana. (in Latin) Eubel, Conradus (ed.); Gulik, Guilelmus (1923). Hierarchia catholica, Tomus 3 (second ed.). Münster: Libreria Regensbergiana. : |first1= has generic name (help) Gauchat, Patritius (Patrice) (1935). Hierarchia catholica IV (1592-1667). Münster: Libraria Regensbergiana. Retrieved 2016-07-06. Ritzler, Remigius; Sefrin, Pirminus (1952). Hierarchia catholica medii et recentis aevi V (1667-1730). Patavii: Messagero di S. Antonio. Retrieved 2016-07-06. Ritzler, Remigius; Sefrin, Pirminus (1958). Hierarchia catholica medii et recentis aevi VI (1730-1799). Patavii: Messagero di S. Antonio. Retrieved 2016-07-06. Round, John Horace (1899). Calendar of documents preserved in France: illustrative of the history of Great Britain and Ireland. A.D. 918-1206. Vol. 1. Vol. 1. London: H.M. Stationery Office. pp. 249–351. ISBN 9781313514026. : ISBN / Date incompatibility (help) Studies Daniel, Jacques Louis (1848). Notice historique sur le Collège de Coutances (in French). Caen: Typ. de A. Hardel. Desroches, Jean-Jacques (1838). Histoire du Mont Saint-Michel et de l'ancien Diocese d'Avranches (in French). Vol. 2 vols. Caen: Chez Mancel. Duchesne, Louis (1910). Fastes épiscopaux de l'ancienne Gaule: II. L'Aquitaine et les Lyonnaises. Paris: Fontemoing. pp. 130–134. Hayden, J. Michael (2013). "Chapter 3: The Catholicisms of the Bishops of Coutances". The Catholicisms of Coutances: Varieties of Religion in Early Modern France, 1350-1789. Montreal-Kingston: McGill-Queens Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0-7735-8847-9. Jean, Armand (1891). Les évêques et les archevêques de France depuis 1682 jusqu'à 1801 (in French). Paris: A. Picard. Le Moigne, Frédéric; Christian Sorrel (2016). Les évêques français de la Séparation au pontificat de Jean-Paul II (in French). Paris: Editions du Cerf. ISBN 978-2-204-12086-9. Lecanu, Auguste François (1877). Histoire du diocèse de Coutances et Avranches (in French). Vol. Tome I. Coutances: Salettes. Lecanu, Auguste François (1878). Tome II (in French). Pigeon, E. A. (1876). Histoire de la Cathédrale de Coutances (in French). Coutances: E. Salettes Fils. Morris, Marc (2012). The Norman Conquest: The Battle of Hastings and the Fall of Anglo-Saxon England'. ISBN 978-1-4481-3602-5. Power, Daniel (16 December 2004). The Norman Frontier in the Twelfth and Early Thirteenth Centuries. Cambridge University Press. pp. 43–53, 113–121, 132–135. ISBN 978-0-521-57172-2. (Avranches) Société bibliographique (France) (1907). L'épiscopat français depuis le Concordat jusqu'à la Séparation (1802-1905). Paris: Librairie des Saints-Pères. Toussaint, Joseph (1983). Coutances: du concordat à la séparation, 1801-1905 (in French). Coutances: OCEP. ISBN 978-2-7134-0058-2. Toustain de Billy, Rene (1874). Histoire ecclésiastique du Diocèse de Coutances (in French). Vol. Tome I. Rouen: Ch. Métérie. Billy, René Toustain de (1880). Tome II. Billy, René Toustain de (1886). Tome III. External links (in French) Centre national des Archives de l'Église de France, L'Épiscopat francais depuis 1919 Archived 2017-05-10 at the Wayback Machine, retrieved: 2016-12-24. Coutances from the Catholic Encyclopedia