Roman Catholic Diocese of Gap-Embrun

Catholic diocese in France

The Diocese of Gap and Embrun (Latin: Dioecesis Vapincensis et Ebrodunensis; French: Diocèse de Gap et d'Embrun) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Provence Alpes Côte d'Azur region of Southern France. The episcopal see is Gap Cathedral, in the city of Gap. It has a co cathedral, the Co cathédrale of Notre Dame in Embrun. The diocese also has a minor basilica, the Basilique Notre Dame du Laus, in Saint Étienne le Laus. The Diocese of Gap and Embrun is a suffragan diocese in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Marseille. The current bishop is Jean Michel di Falco.

In 2014, the diocese served an estimated 121,700 Catholics (85.8% of an estimated 141,900 total) in 188 parishes and a mission. It had 55 priests (51 diocesan, 4 religious), 8 deacons, 71 lay religious (5 brothers, 66 sisters) and 3 seminarians. In 2017 there were 59 diocesan priests, 17 of whom were seventy five years of age or older (and three over the age of ninety). Only one is under the age of thirty.

Ancient traditions in liturgical books, of which at least one dates from the fourteenth century, state that the first Bishop of Gap was St. Demetrius, disciple of the Apostles and martyrs. Victor de Buck in the Acta Sanctorum finds nothing inadmissible in these traditions, while Canon Albanès defends them against Joseph Roman. Albanès names as bishops of Gap the martyr St. Tigris (fourth century), then St. Remedius (394–419), whom Louis Duchesne makes a Bishop of Antibes and who was involved in the struggle between Pope Zosimus and Bishop Proculus of Marseilles. According to Duchesne the first historically known bishop is Constantinus, present at the Council of Epaone in 517. The church of Gap had, among other bishops, Aredius of Gap (or St. Arey, 579–610? ), who had at Gap a school, and who was held in esteem by Pope Gregory the Great. Worth mention is St. Arnoux (1065–1078), who had been a monk of the abbey of Saint Trinité de Vendome, and was named bishop by Pope Alexander II to replace the simoniac Bishop Ripert. Arnoux became a patron saint of the city of Gap.

In 890, the bishops of Provence assembled in the Council of Valence, under the leadership of the archbishops of Lyon, Arles, Embrun, and Vienne. The bishops took note of the fact that Archbishop Bernoin of Vienne had been to Rome to complain to the pope of the increasing disorder of the kingdom since the death of Charlemagne. They singled out the invasions of the Northmen and of the Saracens, who had caused the depopulation of the entire area. On 7 July 1057, Pope Victor II wrote a letter of privileges for Archbishop Winimann (Viminien) of Embrun, whom he had consecrated and to whom he had given the pallium. In the bull, the Pope took note of the invasion, occupation, and devastation of the city of Embrun by the Saracens, a city only 40 km. from Gap. Embrun had also been a place of refuge for undisciplined people fleeing from other localities. The whole of Provence, in fact, suffered from similar difficulties in the eighth and ninth centuries. On 31 July 1178, Bishop Gregory of Gap obtained a bull from the Emperor Frederic Barbarossa which made him Count of the City and territory of Gap. The bishops were still subjects of the Count of Forcalquier, which became the property of Raymond of Bérenger, Count of Provence.

In 1561 a Protestant preacher arrived in Gap from Geneva, and on 31 July began public preaching at an old mill next to the church of the Cordeliers outside the walls of Gap. On 16 and 17 November he preached publicly inside the city, at Sainte Colombe. The consuls of Gap reported the incidents to the Lieutenant General of the King, La Motte Gondrin, who immediately ordered the guilty preacher to be arrested for violating the king's edict. In 1562, however, the Protestant armies defeated and killed La Motte Gondrin, and on 1 May they attacked and took control of Gap. Bishop Gabriel de Clermont abandoned his post and apostasized. The preacher was released from prison and celebrated the Protestant triumph. In October, however, the Catholics in the neighborhood came up from Tallard and attacked Gap and drove the Protestants out. In 1568 however, bands of Protestant soldiers, encouraged by the successes of the armies of the Prince de Condé, engaged in battle at Gap and massacred more than one hundred Catholics whom they trapped inside the city. They then retired to Veynes and Die, leaving what was left of Gap to the Catholics. But in September 1576 another Protestant force, led by the Duc de Lesdiguières, having been refused entry into Gap, on the night of 2/3 January 1577 were admitted to the city by Protestants living in Gap, seized and sacked the city. The bishop, Paparin de Chaumont, fled. The episcopal palace, the residence of the canons, the cathedral, and six religious establishments were damaged or destroyed. They held the city until 1581. In September, Bishop Paparin de Chaumont was able to return, under the protection of the Duc de Mayenne and the forces of the Catholic League.

In 1790 the National Constituent Assembly decided to bring the French church under the control of the State. Civil government of the provinces was to be reorganized into new units called 'départements', originally intended to be 83 or 84 in number. The dioceses of the Roman Catholic Church were to be reduced in number, to coincide as much as possible with the new departments. Since there were more than 130 bishoprics at the time of the Revolution, more than fifty dioceses needed to be suppressed and their territories consolidated. Clergy would need to take an oath of allegiance to the State and its Constitution, specified by the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, and they would become salaried officials of the State. Both bishops and priests would be elected by special 'electors' in each department. This meant schism, since bishops would no longer need to be approved (preconised) by the Papacy; the transfer of bishops, likewise, which had formerly been the exclusive prerogative of the pope in canon law, would be the privilege of the State; the election of bishops no longer lay with the Cathedral Chapters (which were all abolished), or other responsible clergy, or the Pope, but with electors who did not even have to be Catholics or Christians. All monasteries, convents and religious orders in France were dissolved, and their members were released from their vows by order of the National Constituent Assembly (which was uncanonical); their property was confiscated "for the public good", and sold to pay the bills of the French government. Cathedral Chapters were also dissolved. The diocese of Gap and the diocese of Embrun were suppressed by the Legislative Assembly, and the territories combined into a new diocese, Hautes Alpes, with its seat at Gap. A new bishop, to replace Bishop La Broue de Vareilles, whose seat was declared vacant since he had refused to take the oath to the Civil Constitution, was to be elected. Ignace de Cazeneuve, a Canon of the Cathedral Chapter of Gap, was elected by special Electors in March 1791, and was consecrated in Paris on 3 April by Constitutional Bishop Jean Baptiste Gobel. He ceased functioning after 1793, and resigned on 1 June 1798. Fr. André Garnier was named bishop in succession to Cazeneuve by the Metropolitan, Jean Baptiste Siméon Aubert, and was consecrated in Aix on 19 January 1800. He resigned in 1801. In 1799, Pope Pius VI, made a prisoner by order of the Directory, was being transported from Florence to Valence, he passed through Gap on 29 June and bestowed his blessing on the crowds which had gathered to see him. He spent the night in Gap, and received some of the local notables. The Pope died in prison in Valence on 29 August 1799. The diocese of Gap and the diocese of Embrun were legally suppressed by the Concordat of 1801 between First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte and Pope Pius VII. In the Bull Qui Christi Domini of 29 November 1801, the departments of Hautes Alpes and of Basses Alpes were united in a single diocese with its seat at Digne. Other territories were reassigned to the restored Diocese of Avignon, Diocese of Grenoble and Diocese of Valence. The diocese of Gap was re established at least in theory by the Concordat of 1817 between King Louis XVIII and Pope Pius VII, but its implementation was delayed by the refusal of the Chamber of Deputies to ratify the treaty. There was no diocese of Gap between 1801 and 1822. The diocese was actually restored on 6 (or 10) October 1822, comprising, besides the ancient diocese of Gap, a large part of the ancient Archdiocese of Embrun. The diocese of Gap was made a suffragan of the archdiocese of Aix. The name of the Metropolitan see of Embrun had been absorbed in the title of the Archbishop of Aix en Provence and Arles until 2007. In 2008, the title was reattached to the Diocese of Gap by a decision of the Congregation of Bishops, conveyed in a letter of Cardinal Giovanni Battista Ré, the Prefect. The diocese was divided into two Archdeaconries: Saint Arnoux and Notre Dame d'Embrun. The Major Seminary was at Gap, and the Minor Seminary at Embrun. In 2017, there is no longer a diocesan seminary; students for the priesthood are sent to the Diocesan Seminary of Saint Luc d'Aix en Provence. In 1947 it gained territory from Metropolitan Archdiocese of Torino (Turin, in Piemonte, Italy).

The Cathedral of the Assumption of Notre Dame was served by a chapter composed of four dignities (dignités; not dignitaries): the dean, the archdeacon, the provost, and the sacristan. There were in addition nine canons (one of whom was called the Canon Theological and another Capiscol. Gap was unique among the churches of Province, in that its Cathedral Chapter was not headed by its provost, but by its dean. In 2017, there was a Dean and ten Canons.