page_title: Roman Catholic Diocese of Le Mans
section_title: Cathedral and churches
hierarchical_section_title: Roman Catholic Diocese of Le Mans / Cathedral and churches
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: La Cathédrale Saint-Julien vue depuis la place des Jacobins - Le Mans (Sarthe) English: Le Mans Cathedral - Le Mans, France This building is indexed in the Base Mérimée, a database of architectural heritage maintained by the French Ministry of Culture,&#160;under the reference PA00109800 . беларуская (тарашкевіца)‎&#160;| বাংলা&#160;| brezhoneg&#160;| català&#160;| Deutsch&#160;| Ελληνικά&#160;| English&#160;| Esperanto&#160;| español&#160;| euskara&#160;| suomi&#160;| français&#160;| magyar&#160;| italiano&#160;| 日本語&#160;| македонски&#160;| Nederlands&#160;| português&#160;| português do Brasil&#160;| română&#160;| русский&#160;| sicilianu&#160;| svenska&#160;| українська&#160;| +/−
context_page_description: The Roman Catholic Diocese of Le Mans is a Roman Catholic diocese of France. The diocese is now a suffragan of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Rennes, Dol, and Saint-Malo but had previously been suffragan to Bourges, Paris, Sens, and Tours.
context_section_description: The buildings that served as the cathedral of Le Mans before 1080 are known only through textual evidence. Even the textual evidence, such as it is, shows that there was no work of any importance on the cathedral from 557 to 832, the beginning of the reign of Bishop Aldric, though it was interrupted by his flight from his diocese. The new choir, at least, was consecrated before his flight, in 834, according to the Acta. During the reign of Bishop Gontier, the town of Le Mans was attacked and the cathedral was pillaged by Comte Rotger.
  A new and larger cathedral of St. Julian of Mans was begun under Bishop Vulgrin, but the choir collapsed and had to be rebuilt by Bishop Arnaud (1065-1081), and work continued for the rest of the century. There was a fire in Le Mans in 1134 which damaged the cathedral, and work had to be undertaken again.  Between 1217 and 1254 a new choir was built, and the supposed relics of St. Julien placed in a splendid new home. The building exhibits specimens of all styles of architecture up to the fifteenth century, its thirteenth century choir being one of the most remarkable in France.
  On 3 October 1230, Bishop Maurice (1215–1231) issued a charter in which he suppressed the offices of the six Archpriests who had served the diocese, and instituted six territorial Archdeacons in their place, all of whom were to be ordained priests within a year of their appointment:  the Archdeacons of Mans, Sabolio, Lavalle, Castrildis, Montfort, and Passeyo.  The arrangements were approved by the Roman Curia in 1232. The Chapter of the Cathedral had nine dignities:  the Dean, the Cantor, the Scholasticus, and the six Archdeacons.  There were thirty eight prebends and four semi-prebends. All the offices were in the gift of the bishop, except that of the Dean, who was elected by the Chapter.
  In the winter of 1447/1448 southern Maine was under attack from the French armies of Charles VII.  The English garrison in Le Mans was besieged, and on 16 March 1448 surrendered to the French.
  The city of Le Mans was occupied and pillaged by the Huguenots between 3 April 1562 and 11 July 1562.  Ideologically the cathedral was a special target, where anything smacking of Catholic practices and traditions was destroyed, but also the cathedral was a repository of precious gold, silver and jewels, and also the baser metals, bronze, brass and iron, which could be used for military purposes.  Although the Huguenots were driven away by an approaching royal army, they continued to wreak havoc on the diocese and its churches and monasteries. On 5 May 1583 there was a fire in the cathedral, which damaged the vaults and destroyed the silver bell in the Choir.
  The church of Notre-Dame de la Couture (originally dedicated to S. Peter) dates from the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries, traces of earlier buildings having disappeared completely. The Abbey of Solesmes, founded by Geoffroy de Sablé in 993 and completed in 1095, has a thirteenth-century which is a veritable museum of sculptures of the end of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Its "Entombment of Christ," in terracotta, is famous; the Mary Magdalen in the group, already celebrated even in the fifteenth century for its beauty attracted the attention of Richelieu, who thought of having it brought to Paris. Several sculptures depicting scenes in the life of the Virgin Mary form a series unique in France.
caption: Apse of Cathedral of Le Mans
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