On April 6, 2017, the resignation letter of recent Bishop Herve Gaschignard was officially accepted by Pope Francis following allegations that Gaschignard engaged in inappropriate behavior with young people.[4][5]
History
The first reference to a bishop of Aire, on the river Adour, in history is to Marcellus, represented at the Council of Agde, 506.[1] Aire was also the home of St. Philibert; it numbered among its bishops during the second half of the sixteenth century François de Foix, Count of Candale, an illustrious mathematician, who translated Euclid and founded a chair of mathematics at the University of Bordeaux,[1] though he never visited his diocese.
In 1572, on the death of Bishop Christophe de Candale, the Capitular Vicar of Aire submitted a status report (pouillé) to King Charles IX, providing a picture of the diocese at that time. There were two Archdeacons, that of Marsan and that of Chalosse. In addition to the two archdeacons, the Cathedral Chapter was composed of ten Canons and seven Prebendaries, two semi-Prebendaries, the Master of the Children of the Choir, and the Basse-Contre. The Statutes of the Chapter were confirmed by Bishop Tristan d'Aure in 1459 or 1460.[6]
Religious establishments included:
the Abbaye du Mas d'Aire[7] (O.S.B.: four religious, a Prior, a Sacristan, a Chamberlain and an Almoner; eleven other positions vacant)
the Abbaye de St-Jean de la Castelle (Premonstratensians: six religious priests, a child servant, and a soldier, though there were places for 18-20 religious and four novices)
the Abbaye of Saint-Loubouer (Collegiate church: Abbot, eight Canons, Cantor)
the Collegiate Church of Pimbo (Abbot, seven Canons and a Cantor)
the Abbaye of Pontaut (Cistercians: Abbot, seven religious and a soldier)
the Convent of Augustine Religious at Geune.[8]
the Priory of Mongaillard (O.S.B.)
the Commanderie of St-Antoine
the Abbaye of Saint-Sever[9] (O.S.B.) (Abbot commendatory: Archbishop of Turin, thirteen religious, a vicar, and a soldier)
the Jacobins, or Frères Prêcheurs de Ste-Ursule (six religious)
the Priory of Nervis
the Collegial Church of Saint-Girons (Abbot and eight Canons)
the Commanderie of the Holy Spirit.[10]
the Priory of Roquefort (O.S.B.)
the Commanderie de Bessaut
the Commanderie de St-Antoine de Gelonies
the Priory of Mont-de-Marsan (O.S.B.)
the Priory of Sen a Labrit.[11]
Bishops
To 1000
506, 533 : Marcellus[12]
585 : Rusticus
614 : Palladius
ca. 620–630 : Philibaud
ca. 633–675 : Ursus
ca. 788 : Asinarius
ca. 977 : Gombaud
1000 to 1300
ca. 1017 : Arsius-Racca
1060 : Raymond le Vieux
1060–1092 : Peter I.
1092–1099 : Peter II.
1100–1115 : Wilhelm
1116–1147 : Bonhomme
1148–ca. 1176 : Vital de Saint-Hermes
ca. 1176–1179 : Odon d’Arbéchan
? : Bertrand de Marsan
? : Guillaume Bernard
1211 : Vital de Beufmort
1211 : Jourdain
? : Gauthier
1224–1237 : Auger
1237–1266 : Pierre III. et Raymond de Saint-Martin
1266–1295 : Pierre IV. de Betous
1295–1307 : Martin
1300–1500
1308–January 1326 : Bernard de Bats[13]
1326–1327 : Anesanche de Toujouse[14]
1327–1349 : Garsias de Fau
1349 – 15 November 1354 : Dauphin de Marquefave
1354 : Bernard
1361–end May 1386 : Jean de Montaut
4 June 1386 – 1390 : Robert Waldeby, O.E.S.A. (nominated by Urban VI of the Roman Obedience)[15]
14 November 1390 – 1393 : Maurice Usk, O.P. (appointed by Boniface IX of the Roman Obedience)
1393–1418 : Arnaud-Guillaume de Lescun (appointed by Boniface IX of the Roman Obedience)
^French bishop resigns amid accusations of “inappropriate behavior” Crux Staff, 2017-04-06 Archived on 2017-04-07
^"French bishop fired over 'inappropriate' behavior with youth". Fox News. 6 April 2017.
^Cazauran, Pouillé, pp. 17-18 and 47.
^Jean Cabanot; Georges Fabre; Françoise Legrand (1985). Aire-sur-l'Adour: l'église et l'abbaye du Mas (in French). Mont-de Marsan: Amis des Églises Anciennes des Landes.
^Cazauran, pp. 18-20.
^Charles Higounet and Jean-Bernard Marquette, "Les origines de l'abbaye de Saint-Sever: Revision critique," Jean Cabanot, ed. (1986). Saint-Sever, millénaire de l'abbaye: colloque international, 25, 26 et 27 mai 1985 (in French). Mont-de-Marsan, France: Comité d'études sur l'histoire et l'art de la Gascogne. pp. 27–37. ISBN 9782950158406. Jean Cabanot; Georges Pon (2014). Une abbaye au coeur de la Gascogne: Saint-Sever (988-1791) (in French). Dax: Comité d'études sur l'histoire et l'art de la Gascogne, CEHAG. ISBN 978-2-9501584-9-9.
^Cazauran, pp. 20-23.
^Cazauran, pp. 24-29.
^For the meager evidence on the first millennium, see: Louis Duchesne (1910). Fastes épiscopaux de l'ancienne Gaule: II. L'Aquitaine et les Lyonnaises. Paris: Fontemoing. p. 100.
^Degert, pp. 92–103.
^Degert, pp. 103–108.
^Waldeby was later Archbishop of Dublin (1390–1395), Bishop of Chichester (1395–1396), and then Archbishop of York (1397–1398): Eubel, I, pp. 187, 229, 233)
^On 13 January 1440, Roger de Castelbon was confirmed as Bishop of Tarbes. He died in 1461: Eubel, II, p. 246.
^Eubel, II, p. 80, note 4. Louis d'Albret was only 21 when appointed, and too young to be consecrated a bishop. He was consecrated at the age of 26.
^Eubel, II, p. 134.
^Cazauran, Pouillé, p. 12. François was the elder brother of Christophe de Foix-Candale, his predecessor. He never visited the diocese, and left temporal affairs in the hands of his Vicars-General, Robert Philippe, François Barbier, and Mathieu de la Tousche. Degert, p. 203. The Chapter of the Cathedral claimed and exercised the spiritualities. The Bishop of Bayonne conducted the ordinations.
^The Duc d'Epernon claimed the benefices of his wife's uncle, François de Foix Candale, on behalf of a future son. Henri IV acquiesced, and for a decade the See was vacant. Temporal business was conducted by Epernon's agents, and spiritual business by Vicars-General elected by the Chapter of the Cathedral. Degert, pp. 206–207.
^Degert, pp. 206–218.
^Raigecourt was in exile from his diocese during his episcopate (at least from 1764-1767), allegedly because of some offensive remarks made about the Royal Court and the Throne: Cazauran, p. 151. Degert, pp. 304–309. He was consecrated at Meaux, with the assistance of the Bishops of Troyes and Condom.
^Degert, pp. 310–331. Cahuzac refused to take the oath required by the Civil Constitution of the Clergy. He emigrated to Spain. When Pope Pius VII called for the resignations of all of the bishops of France in 1801, thirty-eight refused, including Cahuzac, and were dismissed. Cahuzac retired to Paderborn, and then to England. He returned with the Bourbons in 1814, but still refused to submit his resignation, unless it was guaranteed that the Diocese of Aure would be restored. He died in Paris on 30 October 1817.
^On 11 July 1839 Msgr. Lanneluc, Vicar-General of Toulouse, was named titular Bishop of Agathopolis, and Coadjutor Bishop of Aire, by Pope Gregory XVI. Recueil général des lois, décrets et arrêtés. IX série (in French). Vol. 9. Administration du Journal des Notaires et des Avocats. 1839. p. 212. He succeeded to the bishopric on 29 December 1839: P. Gams, Series episcoporum, p. 481.
^His accident, death, and obituary: L'Ami de la religion et du roi: journal ecclésiastique, politique et littéraire (in French). Vol. I. Paris: A. Le Clère. 1859. pp. 735–736.
Sources
Reference works
Eubel, Conradus, ed. (1913). Hierarchia catholica, Tomus 1 (second ed.). Munster: Libreria Regensbergiana. p. 72. (in Latin)
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.
Studies
Cazauran, Jean Marie (1886). Pouillé du diocèse d'Aire (in French). Paris: Maisonneuve.
Degert, A. (1908). Histoire des évêques d'Aire. Paris: Beauchesne. Retrieved 2016-07-06.
Louis Duchesne (1910). Fastes épiscopaux de l'ancienne Gaule: II. L'Aquitaine et les Lyonnaises. Paris: Fontemoing. p. 100.
Légé, Joseph (1875). Les diocèses d'Aire et de Dax, ou Le département des Landes sous la révolution française, 1789-1803: récits et documents (in French). Aire-sur-l'Adour: Impr. Aturine.
Sainte-Marthe, Denis de (O.S.B.) (1715). Gallia Christiana, In Provincias Ecclesiasticas Distributa; Qua Series Et Historia Archiepiscoporum, Episcoporum, Et Abbatum Franciae Vicinarumque Ditionum ab origine Ecclesiarum ad nostra tempora deducitur, & probatur ex authenticis Instrumentis ad calcem appositis: Tomus Primus (in Latin). Vol. Tomus primus. Paris: Johannes-Baptista Coignard, Regis & Academiae Gallicae Architypographus. pp. 1147–1188. Instrumenta, pp. 181–185.
External links
(in French) Centre national des Archives de l'Église de France, L’Épiscopat francais depuis 1919, retrieved: 2016-12-24.
Cheney, David M., Catholic-Hierarchy: Diocese of Aire et Dax. Retrieved: 2016-08-05 [self-published]