The Bishopric of Lodève is a former Roman Catholic diocese in southern France. Its episcopal see was located in Lodève, in the modern department of Hérault. Its territory is now part of the archdiocese of Montpellier.
History
Since the 14th century local tradition has made St. Florus first bishop of Lodève, and relates that as a disciple of St. Peter, he afterwards evangelized Haute-Auvergne and died in the present village of Saint-Flour.
Bishops of Lodève have existed since 421; the first historically known bishop is Maternus, who was present at the Council of Agde in 506. Among the bishops of Lodève are: St. George [fr] (863–884), previously a Benedictine monk; St. Fulcran (949–1006), who in 975 dedicated the cathedral of St. Genès and founded the Abbey of St. Sauveur; the Dominican inquisitor Bernard Gui (1324–1331); Cardinal Guillaume d'Estouteville (1450–1453), who played an important part as papal legate, also in the rehabilitation of Joan of Arc; the brothers Guillaume Briçonnet (1489–1516) and Denis Briçonnet (1516–1520).
A Brief of 16 June 1877, authorized the bishops of Montpellier to call themselves bishops of Montpellier, Béziers, Agde, Lodève, and Saint-Pons (Saint-Pons-de-Thomières), in memory of the different former suffragan dioceses at that date united in the present metropolitan archbishopric of Montpellier.
St. George 863–884 (Benedictine monk, who is known to have contributed in 861 for the foundation of l'abbaye de Vabres, by Raymond I, comte de Toulouse et de Rouergue
^Eubel, Konrad (1898). Hierarchia catholica medii aevi: sive Summorum pontificum, S.R.E. cardinalium, ecclesiarum antistitum series (in Latin). Vol. 1. Münster: sumptibus et typis librariae Regensbergianae. pp. 322–323.
^Cf. Patrice Gauchat (1935). Hierarchia catholica medii aevi et recentioris aevi... Volumen quartum, A pontificatu Clementis PP. VIII, 1592, usque ad pontificatum Alexandri PP. VII, 1667 (in Latin). Vol. 4. Münster: Librariae Regensbergianae. p. 223.
Bibliography
Reference works
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)
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
Duchesne, Louis (1910). Fastes épiscopaux de l'ancienne Gaule: II. L'Aquitaine et les Lyonnaises. Paris: Fontemoing.
Du Tems, Hugues (1774). Le clergé de France, ou tableau historique et chronologique des archevêques, évêques, abbés, abbesses et chefs des chapitres principaux du royaume, depuis la fondation des églises jusqu'à nos jours (in French). Vol. Tome premier. Paris: Delalain.
Jean, Armand (1891). Les évêques et les archevêques de France depuis 1682 jusqu'à 1801 (in French). Paris: A. Picard.
Alzieu, Gérard (1998). Les églises de l'ancien diocèse de Lodève au Moyen-Age (in French). Montpellier: Editions P. Clerc. ISBN 9782904091063.
Fisquet, Honoré (1864). La France pontificale (Gallia Christiana): Beziers, Lodève, Saint-Pons de Thomières (in French). Paris: Etienne Repos.
Plantavit de La Pause, Jean (1634). Chronologia praesulum Lodouensium. Authore Ioanne Plantauitio de La Pause episcopo et domino Lodouensi Montis-bruni comite (in Latin). sumptibus authoris, in vsum Cleri Lodouensis.