The Diocese of Orléans (Latin: Dioecesis Aurelianensis; French: Diocèse d'Orléans) is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church in France. The diocese currently corresponds to the Départment of Loiret. The city is 133 kilometers (83 miles) south-southwest of Paris.
The diocese has experienced a number of transfers among different metropolitans. In 1622, the diocese was suffragan of the Archdiocese of Paris; previously the diocese had been a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Sens. From 1966 until 2001 it was under the jurisdiction of the Archdiocese of Bourges, but since the provisional reorganisation of French ecclesiastical provinces, it is now subject to the Archdiocese of Tours.
After the Revolution it was re-established by the Concordat of 1802. It then included the Departments of Loiret and Loir et Cher, but in 1822 Loir et Cher was moved to the new Diocese of Blois.
The current bishop is Jacques André Blaquart, who was appointed in 2010. In 2021, in the Diocese of Orleans, there was one priest for every 4,306 Catholics.
Jurisdiction
The present Diocese of Orléans differs considerably from that of the old regime; it has lost the arrondissement of Romorantin which has passed to the Diocese of Blois and the canton of Janville, now in the Diocese of Chartres. It includes the arrondissement of Montargis, formerly subject to the Archdiocese of Sens, the arrondissement of Gien, once in the Burgundian Diocese of Auxerre, and the canton of Châtillon sur Loire, once belonging to the Archdiocese of Bourges.
History Foundation myth
To Gerbert, Abbot of St. Pierre le Vif at Sens (1046–79), is due a detailed narrative according to which Saint Savinianus and Saint Potentianus were sent to Sens by St. Peter with St. Altinus; the latter, it was said, came to Orléans as its first bishop.Pelletier, pp. 1-4. Before the ninth century there is no historical trace in the Diocese of Sens of this Apostolic mission of St. Altinus, nor in the Diocese of Orléans before the end of the fifteenth. Christianity was an illegal cult in Roman law until the Edict of Milan.Louis Duchesne, Early History of the Christian Church, translated from the 4th edition, Volume 1 (London: John Murray 1909), pp. 276-281.
Diclopitus is the first authentic bishop; he figures among the bishops of Gaul who (about 344) ratified the absolution of St. Athanasius. Other bishops of the early period are: St. Euvertius (who features in the Calendar of the Book of Common Prayer), about 355 to 385, according to M. Cuissard; Anianus (385–453), who invoked the aid of the "patrician" Ætius against the invasion of Attila, and forced the Huns to raise the siege of Orléans [see Gregory of Tours, The History of the Franks II.6-7]; St. Prosper (453–63); St. Monitor (about 472); St. Flou (Flosculus), died in 490; St. Eucherius (717-43), native of Orléans and a monk of Jumièges, who protested against the depredations of Waifre, a companion of Charles Martel, and was first exiled by this prince to Cologne, then to Liège, and died at the monastery of St. Trond.
Cathedral
The cathedral of Sainte Croix, perhaps built and consecrated by Bishop Euvertius in the fourth century, was destroyed by fire in 999, and rebuilt between 1278 and 1329; the Protestants pillaged and destroyed it during the Wars of Religion, from 1562 to 1567; the Bourbon kings restored the cathedral in the 17th century.Gallia christiana VIII, p. 1409.
In 816, the Emperor Louis the Pious held a council at Aix, at which it was ordered that Canons and Canonesses live together according to a set of rules (canons, regulae), expressed in great detail.Foulques de Villaret, p. 6. Jacques Sirmond, Concilia Antiqua Galliae Volume 2 (Paris: S. Cramoisy 1629), p. 393, Canon CXXIII"...Ergo, sicut subditis necessaria corporis tribuunt, ita nihilominùs studere debet vt iidem religiosissimè ordinem canonicum feruent, & prælatis suis ac magistris honorem debitum humiliter impendant, ut horis canonicis diuinum officium deuotissimè expleant: intus, forísque non solum habitu & actu, sed etiam ipso incessu irreprehensibiles existant. Vt non otio vacent, non vaniloquiis inseruiant, non detractionibus, & ceteris vitiorum illecebris incumbant: sed potiùs aut orationi, aut lectioni, aut quibuslibet Ecclesiæ, aut certè propriis vtilitatibus vacent; aut etiam doctrinis sanis, & diuersarum artium erudiantur disciplinis: ita videlicet, vt nullus in congregatione inutilis, aut otiosus existens, stipendia Ecclefiæ inofficiosè accipiat. Vt quotidiè ad collationem veniant, vbi & hac institutionem, & aliarum Scripturarum sanctarum lectiones perlegant, & pro admissis veniam postulent, & sententiam pro qualitate admissi suscipiant: vbi etiam de communi profectu & vtilitate Ecclesiæ pertractent. Vt omnes in dormitorio, nisi quem infirmitas aut senectus id facere prohibuerit, dormiant. in refectorio quotidiè vnà reficiantur: nifi fortè quem necessitas abesse compulerit, & hoc non sine licentia magistri fiat....' In the Roman synod of Pope Eugene II of November 826, it was ordered that Canons live together in a cloister next to the church.J.D. Mansi (ed.), Sacrorum Conciliorum nova et amplissima collectio, editio novissima Volume 14 (Venice: A. Zatta 1762), p. 1003, Canon VII: "Necessaria etenim res extitit, ut juxta ecclesiam claustra constituantur in quibus clerici disciplinis ecclesiasticais vacent. Itaque obnibus unum sit refectorium ac dormitorium seu ceterae officinae ad usus clericorum necesseriae. Ministriae vero post episcopum super eos tales eligantur, quorum vita et doctrina illos potius exornent quam dehonestent." In 876, the Council of Pavia decreed in Canon X that the bishops should enclose the Canons: uti episcopi in civitatibus suis proximum ecclesiae claustrum instituant, in quo ipsi cum clero secundum canonicam regulam Deo militent, et sacerdotes suos ad hoc constringant, ut ecclesiam non relinquant et alibi habitare praesumant. 'Bishops are to create a cloister next to their church, in which they serve God along with their clergy according to the rule of canons, and they should compel their priests not to leave the church and presume to live elsewhere.' The term "canon" (canonicatus) first appears at Orléans next to the signatures of eight persons in a charter of Bishop Isambard in 1038.Cuissard, p. 60.
The cathedral of Sainte-Croix was served and administered by the Chapter, which was composed of twelve dignities (including the Dean, the Subdean, the Cantor, the five Archdeacons,These were the archdeacons of: Baugency, Beauce, Pithiviers, Sologne, and Sully. Cuissard, pp. pp. 253-255. The Archdeacon of Orléans was directly dependent and appointed by the bishop as his most important assistant. the Scholasticus, the Subcantor, the Penitentiary, and the Archpriest) and forty six-canons (one of whom was the Theologus).Gallia christiana VIII, p. 1409. Foulques de Villaret (p. 10) makes the number of canons forty-nine. The earliest known dean, Humbert, in 974, bears the old title "abbot", but in 1027, Erfred signs himself decanus, and the title abbot disappears.Cuissard, p. 60 Cf. Gallia christiana VIII, pp. 1498-1499.
Plagues in Orléans
It is recorded that in the early Middle Ages, there were plagues in 590. 874, and 906, and a plague of locusts in 1043. Leprosy was alreeady known in Orléans by 549, when the Fifth Council of Orléans ordered the bishops to take care of the sufferers.Cuissard (1898), p. 109. Charles De Clercq, Concilia Galliae, A. 511 - A. 695, , (Turnholt: Brepols 1963), p. 156: "21. Et licet propitio Deo omnium Domini sacerdotum uel quorumcumque haec cura possit esse fidelium, ut aegentibus necessaria debeant ministrare, specialiter tamen de leprosis id pietatis causa conuenit, ut unusquisque episcoporum, quos ingolas hanc infirmitatem incurrisse tam territorii sui quam ciuitatis agnouerit, de domo ecclesiae iuxta possibilitatem uictui et uestitui necessaria subministret, ut non his desit misericordiae cura. Nothing is known about the Black Death in Orléans in 1348–1349; the record of morbidity and mortality kept by the Hotel-Dieu is either missing or was never written.Bpuvier, p. 10, p. 16. Records do survive testifying to its bloody reappearance in 1414, 1430, 1458 and 1482–1483. In 1430, the plague carried off the hospital's chaplain, and the survivors were not able to find a replacement.Cuissard (1898), p. 111-112. In the 16th century, there were twenty-two outbreaks of the plague; in 1529, 2383 burials were reported; in 1530, 2736; in 1531, 3080; in 1532, 2675; in 1533, 2752 burials.Cuissard (1898), p. 112-113. In 1562, from August to November, according to a report of Theodore de Béze, the Protestant leader, more than 10,000 persons died in Orléans.Cuissard (1898), p. 114: "...estans mors en peu de mois, du 5 aoust au 7 novembre,, plus de dix mille personnes, dont il y avoit une partie de ceux de la Religion, qui avoient esté chassés de Paris, Blois, Tours, Gyen et plusieurs autres lieux; comme aussi moururent trois ministres, à savoir le Plessis, Badius, avec toute sa famille, sans en excepter un seul, et Cosson."
Abbey of Micy After his victory over the Alamanni, the Frankish king Clovis was bent on the sack of Verdun, but the archpriest there obtained mercy for his fellow-citizens. To St. Euspicius and his nephew St. Mesmin (Maximinus), Clovis also gave the domain of Micy, near Orléans at the confluence of the Loire and the Loiret, for a monastery (508). When Euspicius died, the said St. Maximinus became abbot, and during his rule the religious life flourished there notably. The monks of Micy contributed much to the civilization of the Orléans region; they cleared and drained the lands and taught the semi-barbarous inhabitants the worth and dignity of agricultural work. Early in the eighth century, Theodulfus restored the Abbey of Micy and at his request St. Benedict of Aniane sent fourteen monks and visited the abbey himself.Duchateau, pp. 26-28.
From Micy monastic life spread within and around the diocese. St. Liphardus and St. Urbicius founded the Abbey of Meung-sur-Loire; St. Lyé (Lætus) died a recluse in the forest of Orléans; Viator of Orleans in Sologne; St. Doulchard in the forest of Ambly near Bourges. Leonard of Noblac introduced the monastic life into the territory of Limoges; St. Almir, St. Ulphacius, and St. Bomer in the vicinity of Montmirail; St. Calais (died before 536) and St. Leonard of Vendœuvre (died about 570) in the valley of the Sarthe; St. Fraimbault, and the aforesaid St. Bomer (died about 560) in the Passais near Laval; St. Leonard of Dunois; St. Alva and St. Ernier in Perche; St. Laumer (died about 590) became Abbot of Corbion. St. Lubin (Leobinus), a monk of Micy, became Bishop of Chartres from 544 to 56. Finally Agilus, Viscount of Orléans (died after 587), was also a protector of Micy.Duchateau, pp. 28-38.
The last abbot of Micy, Chapt de Rastignac, was one of the victims of the 1792 "September Massacres", at Paris, in the prison of L'Abbaye.Duchateau, pp. 365, 384.
Theodulf
Charlemagne had the church of St. Aignan rebuilt, and reconstructed the monastery of St. Pierre le Puellier.