Diocese of Digne
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The French Catholic Diocese of Digne, since 1922 known as the Diocese of Digne, Riez and Sisteron, comprising the entire department of the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, is a suffragan of the Archbishopric of Aix. The bishops are seated at Digne-les-Bains, in Digne Cathedral.
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[edit] Extent
By the Concordat of 1801, this diocese was made to include the two departments of the Hautes-Alpes and the Basses-Alpes, in addition to the former Diocese of Digne, the Archdiocese of Embrun, the dioceses of Gap, Sisteron and Senez, a very considerable part of the dioceses of Glandèves and Riez, and fourteen parishes in the Archdiocese of Aix and the Diocese of Apt. In 1822 Gap was made an episcopal see and, thus divested of the department of the Hautes Alpes, the present Diocese of Digne covers the territory formerly included in the Dioceses of Digne, Senez, Glandèves, Riez and Sisteron.
[edit] History
The former diocese of Digne was evangelized by Saints Domninus and Vincentius who came from Africa in the second half of the fourth century with Saint Marcellinus, the Apostle of Embrun. It is not certain that they were bishops. The first historically known bishop was Pentadius who attended the Council of Agde in 506.
[edit] Pre-Revolutionary bishops
Among the incumbents of the ancien régime see of Digne may be mentioned:
- Elzéar de Villeneuve (1334-41), author of a celebrated form of oath to be taken by Jews
- Pierre III de Verceil (1432-39), who represented the clergy and the Count of Provence at the Council of Basle
- Guillaume d'Estouteville (1439-55), closely connected with the history of the Pragmatic Sanction and later Archbishop of Rouen
- Antoine III Hérouet (1552-68), poet and translator of Plato
- Toussaint de Forbin-Janson (1664-68), afterwards Bishop of Marseille, a cardinal and ambassador to Poland.
[edit] List of bishops since 1802
- Irénée-Yves Desolle (Dessole) 1802-1805 (appointed Bishop of Chambéry)
- François-Melchior-Charles-Bienvenu de Miollis 1805-1838[1]
- Marie-Dominique-Auguste Sibour 1839-1848 (appointed Archbishop of Paris)
- Marie-Julien Meirieu 1848-1880
- Louis-Joseph-Marie-Ange Vigne 1880-1885 (appointed Archbishop of Avignon)
- Alfred-François Fleury-Hottot 1885-1887 (appointed Bishop of Bayonne)
- Henri-Abel Mortier 1887-1889
- Pierre-Paul Servonnet 1889-1897 (appointed Archbishop of Bourges)
- Jean Hazera 1897-1905
- Dominique Castellan 1906-1915 (appointed Archbishop of Chambéry)
- Léon-Adolphe Lenfant 1915-1917
- Jean-Joseph-Benoît-Marie Martel 1917-1923
- Cosme-Benjamin Jorcin 1923-1958
- René-Fernand-Bernardin Collin, O.F.M. 1958-1980
- Edmond-Marie-Henri Abelé 1980-1987
- Georges-Paul Pontier 1988-1996 (appointed Bishop of La Rochelle)
- François-Xavier Jacques Marie Loizeau 1997 onwards
[edit] Notes
- ^ His kindness was proverbial, and he was the original of "Mgr. Myriel" in Victor Hugo's Les Misérables

