Roman Catholic Diocese of Bayeux and Lisieux

Diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in France

The Diocese of Bayeux and Lisieux (Latin: Dioecesis Baiocensis et Lexoviensis; French: Diocèse de Bayeux et Lisieux) is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church in France. It is coextensive with the Department of Calvados and is a suffragan to the Archdiocese of Rouen, which is also in Normandy. At the time of the Concordat of 1802, the ancient Diocese of Lisieux was united to that of Bayeux. A pontifical brief in 1854 authorized the Bishop of Bayeux to call himself Bishop of Bayeux and Lisieux.

A local legend, found in the breviaries of the 15th century, makes St. Exuperius to be an immediate disciple of St. Clement (Pope from 88 to 99), and thus the first Bishop of Bayeux. His see would therefore be a foundation of the 1st century. St. Regnobertus, the same legend tells us, was the successor of St. Exuperius. But the Bollandists, Jules Lair, and Louis Duchesne found no ground for this legend; it was only towards the end of the 4th century or beginning of the 5th century that Exuperius might have founded the See of Bayeux. Certain successors of St. Exuperius were honored as popular saints: Referendus, Rufinianus, and Lupus (about 465); Vigor (beginning of the 6th century), who destroyed a pagan temple, then still frequented; Regnobertus (about 629), who founded many churches, and whom the legend, owing to an anachronism, made first successor to Exuperius; and Hugues (d. 730), simultaneously bishop of two other sees, Paris and Rouen. An important bishop was Odo of Bayeux (1050–97), brother of William the Conqueror, who built the cathedral, was present at the Battle of Hastings, who was imprisoned in 1082 for attempting to lead an expedition to Italy to overthrow Pope Gregory VII, and who died a crusader in Sicily; Cardinal Agostino Trivulzio (1531–48), papal legate in the Roman Campagna, who was trapped in the Castel Sant'Angelo during the siege and pillage of Rome by the Imperial forces led by the Constable de Bourbon; Arnaud Cardinal d'Ossat (1602–04), a prominent diplomat identified with the conversion of Henry IV of France from Protestantism to Catholicism (the second time). Claude Fauchet, who after being court preacher to Louis XVI, became one of the "conquerors" of the Bastille, was chosen Constitutional Bishop of Bayeux in 1791, and was beheaded 31 October 1793. Léon Adolphe Amette, Archbishop of Paris was, until 1905, Bishop of Bayeux. In the Middle Ages Bayeux and neighbouring Lisieux were very important sees. The Bishop of Bayeux was senior among the Norman bishops, and the chapter was one of the richest in France. Important councils were held within this diocese, one at Caen, in 1042, summoned by Duke William ('the Conqueror') and the bishops of Normandy. The Truce of God was proclaimed, not for the first time. Again in 1061 a council was summoned, again by Duke William, commanding the attendance of both clergy and laity (bishops, abbots, political and military leaders). The statutes of a synod held at Bayeux about 1300, furnish a very fair idea of the discipline of the time. In the Diocese of Bayeux are the Abbey of St. Stephen (Abbaye aux Hommes) and the Abbey of the Holy Trinity (Abbaye aux Dames), both founded at Caen by William the Conqueror (1029–87) and his wife Matilda, in expiation of their unlawful marriage. The Abbey of Saint Étienne was first governed by Lanfranc (1066–1070), who afterwards became Archbishop of Canterbury. Other abbeys were those of Troarn of which Durand, the successful opponent of Berengarius, was abbot in the 11th century; and the Abbaye du Val, of which Armand Jean de Rancé (1626–1700) was abbot, in 1661, prior to his reform of La Trappe Abbey. The Abbey of St. Evroul (Ebrulphus) in the Diocese of Lisieux, founded about 560 by St. Evroul, a native of Bayeux, was the home of Ordericus Vitalis, the chronicler (1075–1141). In 1308 Bishop Guillaume Bonnet was founder of the Collège de Bayeux in Paris, which was intended to house students from the dioceses of Bayeux, Mans, and Angers, who were studying medicine or civil law. Saint Jean Eudes founded in 1641 in Caen the Congregation of Notre Dame de Charité du Refuge, which was devoted to the protection of reformed prostitutes. The mission of the nuns has been expanded since that time, to include other services to girls and women, including education. In 1900 the Order included 33 establishments in France and elsewhere, each an independent entity. At Tilly, in the Diocese of Bayeux, Michel Vingtras established, in 1839, the politico religious society known as La Miséricorde, in connexion with the survivors of La Petite Eglise, which was condemned in 1843 by Gregory XVI. Daniel Huet, the famous savant (1630–1721) and Bishop of Avranches, was a native of Caen. Bishop de Nesmond authorized the establishment of the priests of the Congregation of the Mission of Saint Lazare in the diocese of Bayeux in 1682. During World War I, the diocese of Bayeux sent 260 priests and 75 seminarians into military service. Seventeen priests and sixteen seminarians died. In c. 1920 there were 716 parishes in the diocese.

Goyau, Georges. "Bayeux." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 2. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907, pp. 358–359. Retrieved: 26 Jun. 2017.