The Diocese of Nîmes (; ) is a Latin diocese of the Catholic Church in France. The diocese comprises all of the department of Gard.
By the Concordat of 1801 the Diocese of Nîmes was not restored, and the territory of the former Diocese of Gard was assigned to the Diocese of Avignon. Nîmes was re-established as a separate diocese in 1821 and a Brief of 27 April 1877, granted its bishops the right to add Alais (the modern Alès) and Uzès to their episcopal style, these two dioceses being now combined with that of Nîmes. Therefore, the formal name is the Diocese of Nîmes (–Uzès and Alès) (; ).Durand, p. 415. Adolphe Pieyre, Histoire de la ville de Nîmes depuis 1830 jusqu'à nos jours, , Volume 3 (Nîmes: Catalan, 1888), p. 251.
History
Nîmes (Latin: Nemausus) was an important city in Roman antiquity, located on the Via Domitia, the principal land route between the Iberian peninsula and Italy.Clement, P. and Peyre, A., La voie Domitienne , 2nd edition (Montpellier: Les Presses du Languedoc 1998). The Pont du Gard, an aqueduct once the major source of fresh water, is or 17 mi east-northeast of Nîmes.
Late and rather contradictory traditions attribute the foundation of the Church of Nîmes either to Celidonius, the man "who was blind from his birth" of the Gospel, or to St. Honestus, the apostle of Navarre, said to have been sent to southern France by St. Peter, with St. Saturninus (Sernin) of Toulouse. A martyr of Nîmes was St. Baudilus, whose martyrdom is variously placed at the end of the 3rd century, or at the end of the 4th.
There was a see at Nîmes at least as early as 396, for in that year a synodical letter was sent by the twenty-one bishops of a council of Nîmes to the bishops of Gaul.Duchesne, p. 310. Charles Munier, Concilia Galliae, A. 314 - A. 506, , (Turnholt: Brepols 1963), pp. 49-51. None of the subscribing bishops has his diocese attached. Many writers affirm that a certain Felix of Nîmes, killed by the Vandals about 407, was a Bishop of Nîmes, but this is disputed by Louis Duchesne.Duchesne (p. 312, note 1) points out that the information concerning Felix derives from the 17th century writer Polycarpe de la Rivière, a notorious forger of purportedly early documents.
The first bishop whose date is positively known is Sedatus, present at the Council of Agde in 506.Duchesne, p. 312, no. 1.
In 737, Charles Martel set fire to the city of Nemausus, which at that time was in the hands of the Saracens.Gallia christiana VI, p. 429.
Bishop Gilbert (c. 875–892) attended the council of the province of Narbonne, summoned by Archbishop Theodard, at a place called Portus in the diocese of Nîmes. It was held in 886, 887, or slightly later.J.D. Mansi (ed.), Sacrorum Conciliorum nova et amplissima collectio, , Vol. 18 (Venice: A. Zatta 1773), pp. 43-46. Ménard Vol. 1, p. 119.
In 924, in the time of Bishop Ugbertus, the Hungarians invaded Languedoc, and invested and pillaged Nîmes. They were eventually driven out by Count Raymond-Pons of Toulouse.Ménard I, pp. 128-129.
Popes and Nîmes Urban II, having come to France to preach the crusade, on 6 July 1096 consecrated the Cathedral of Nîmes, which had been begun by Bishop Pierre Ermangaud (1080–1090) and financed, at least in part, by Count Raymond de Saint-Gilles.Ménard, Vol. 1, pp. 159-164. On 8 July Pope Urban presided over a council in the cathedral of Notre-Dame.Philipp Jaffé and S.Lowenfeld, Regesta pontificum Romanorum volume 1, second edition (Leipzig: Veit 1885), p. 688. Carl Joseph Hefele, Histoire des Conciles: d'aprés les documents originaux, Volume 7 (Paris: Le Clere 1872), pp. 56-57.
Pope Alexander III passed through the territory of Nîmes in mid-July 1162, on his way from Montpellier to Mende.Philipp Jaffé and S.Lowenfeld, Regesta pontificum Romanorum volume 2, second edition (Leipzig: Veit 1888), p. 160. Pope Clement IV (1265–1268), born at Saint Gilles in the diocese of Nîmes, with a letter dated 4 February 1266 presented the monastery of Saint-Gilles (Egidius) a silver seal which he had ordered fabricated.Gallia christiana VI, "Instrumenta", p. 203, no. XXXIII. Augustus Potthast, Regesta pontificum romanorum, , volume 2 Berlin: De Decker 1875), p. 1578, no. 19535.
Albigensians and Languedoc The Albigensian Crusade brought regular military campaigns to Languedoc. Count Raymond VI of Toulouse and his son Raymond VII were favorable to the heretics, partly out of distaste of the French kings, who had supported Simon de Montfort in his seizure of the county of Toulouse. Bishop Arnaud of Nîmes (1212–1242), urged on by Pope Innocent III, was vigorous in his pursuit of heretics, which brought him into conflict with the counts of Toulouse, who had been excommunicated and driven out of their ancestral lands. When Count Raymond VII undertook an expedition against the castle of Penne in 1223, the bishops of Nîmes, Agde, and Lodève were forced to flee from the ravages of the count's forces, taking refuge with the papal legate, Cardinal Conrad von Urach, bishop of Porto, in Béziers. The quartet of bishops sent a letter of appeal for aid on 1 May 1233 to King Philip II of France, but unfortunately the king died on 14 July.De Vic & Vaissete, Vol. 3, p. 178. Ménard, vol. 1, pp. 254-255. In December 1223, Pope Innocent wrote to the new king, Louis VIII, urging him not only to send money to finance the crusade, but to take part personally.De Vic & Vaissete, Vol. 3, p. 334-335. In 1224, Bishop Arnaud was one of the negotiators who persuaded Simon de Montfort's son, Amaury, to relinquish the county of Toulouse. Arnaud was present at Montpellier on 25 August 1224, when Raymond VII swore the oaths which brought about his restoration as count, and promised the restoration of the territory of Millau to the bishop of Nîmes.Ménard, Volume 1, pp. 255-257. The leaders and people of Nîmes finally submitted to the king of France and to the Church on 3 June 1226; Bishop Arnaud received their oaths of obedience to the Church.Ménard, vol. 1, p. 259.
In 1226, King Louis VIII established the royal seneschal of Beaucaire, and located its headquarters at Nîmes.Ménard, vol. 1, p. 261.. Bishop Arnaud himself swore his allegiance to the new king, Louis IX, in May 1227.Ménard, vol. 1, p. 262.
Louis IX of France, who embarked at Aigues-Mortes for his two crusades, the earlier in 1248, the later in 1270, surrounded Nîmes with walls.Jacques Hector Rivoire, Statistique du département du Gard, , Vol. 1 (Nîmes: Ballivet et Fabre, 1842), p. 26.
Conflict between Philip IV and Pope Boniface VIII
Bishop Bertrand de Languissel (1280–1323) held a diocesan synod in Nîmes in 1284, and issued an extensive collection of canons.J.D. Mansi (ed.), Sacrorum Conciliorum nova et amplissima collectio, editio novissima, , Volume 24 (Venice: A. Zatta 1780), pp. 521-566.
In the midst of their struggle for power between church and state, King Philip had had the Bishop of Pamiers, Bernard Saisset arrested, charged with treason, and imprisoned, refusing permission for the bishop to travel to Rome to have his case heard there.Ménard vol. 1, p. 362. On 5 December 1301, Pope Boniface demanded that Bishop Bernard be sent to Rome, lest the king offend the divine majesty and the dignity of the Apostolic See. On the same day, the Pope announced that he was summoning a council of the prelates of France, to meet in Rome on 1 November 1302, to correct and reform the various offenses of King Philip and his officials.A. Potthast, Regesta pontificum Romanorum, , Volume 2 (Berlin: De Decker 1875), p. 2007, nos. 25099, 25101. Philip responded by summoning a council of his own, of delegates from the cities of Languedoc, to meet in Paris on the Sunday before Palm Sunday, to give their advice on matters to be submitted to them. The prelates who attended asked the king's permission to attend the council in Rome in November, which the king refused.Ménard vol. 1, p. 363, 365.
Immediately upon his return to Languedoc, Archbishop Gilles Aicelin of Narbonne held a provincial council in Nîimes, to debate whether to obey the king or obey the pope. Bishop Bertrand de Languissel of Nîmes chose to attend the papal council in Rome in November, and for that act he had his episcopal temporalities seized by the king, and was expelled from his diocese.Ménard vol. 1, p. 365. He was restored by mid-August 1303, when King Philip IV wrote to him, to have his clerics pay the 10% levy which the king needed for his war in Flanders.Ménard vol. 1, pp. 369-370.
In the second half of February 1304, King Philip IV and Queen Jeanne de Navarre visited Nîmes. In 1305, Pope Clement V (Bertrand de Got) passed through the city on his way to Lyon to be crowned; he was in Nîmes on 21 October 1305.Regestum Clementis papae V, , Volume 1 (Roma: Typographia Vaticana 1885), p. 1, no. 1. Ménard vol. 1, p. 370, 375. Pope Clement visited Nîmes again at the end of April 1309.Ménard vol. 1, p. 390.
On 13 October 1307, on orders of King Philip IV, all the Knights Templar in the kingdom of France were arrested and imprisoned, including those who had a house at Saint-Gilles in the diocese of Nîmes. Bishop Bernard de Languessel conducted his own interrogation of the accused, in addition to those of royal officers. He submitted his report to the king in April 1308. Another interrogation, by a delegate of the bishop, took place at the royal château d'Alais in June 1310. On 29 August, the commissioner declared the prisoners guilty, and had them put to torture.Ménard vol. 1, pp. 384-388, 393, 396-397.
Hundred Years' War
In April 1355, King Edward III of England decided to renew his war against France. At the Battle of Poitiers on 19 September 1356, King John II of France was captured, taken to England, and held for ransom. The seneschal of Beaucaire was expected both to help raise the king's ranson and to defend southern France, which included Nîmes from English invasion from Aquitaine, led by the Black Prince.Menard, vol. 2, pp. 145-152. Nîmes was required to reinforce its defences, raise troops, and send representatives to the Estates General of the province at Toulouse, two of whom went to England as negotiators. In consequence of disputes about the requisition of grapes for wine for the papal household, Pope Innocent VI laid an interdict on Nîmes in September 1358. The dispute was resolved by a delegation of prelates sent from Avignon on 6 September 1359, and the interdict was cancelled.Menard, vol. 2, pp. 190-191. Germain, vol. 1, pp. 394-396; p. 212.
On 21 May 1474, the Franciscans (Cordeliers) began their General Chapter, at Nîmes. Between 500 and 600 members attended.Ménard, vol. 3, p. 221. Germain, vol. 1, pp. 470-474.
In 1498, the Carmelites held their General Chapter in Nîmes. In 1505, the Franciscans held a provincial chapter in Nîmes.Ménard, vol. 4, p. 60. Germain, vol. 1, p. 500.
Huguenots
In 1539, with the support of King Francis I of France, and later King Henry II of France, a collège was established in Nîmes. Originally intended for Catholics and Protestants, it gradually fell under the influence of the consistory of Nîmes, and by 1562 had established a school of theology, Hebrew, and Greek.Karin Maag, "The Huguenot academies; an uncertain future," in: Raymond A. Mentzer, Andrew Spicer (edd.), Society and Culture in the Huguenot World, 1559-1685 (Cambridge: CUP 2002), p. 146.
In 1545, some enthusiastic followers of Luther's doctrine against the cult of the saints, attacked an image of the Virgin Mary in one of the chapels of the cathedral. A procession to expiate for the sacrilege was ordered to be held on 28 October, in which the entire population was ordered to take part by the seneschal of Nîmes.Ménard, vol. 4, p. 176. In 1551, a number of Protestants were discovered in the sénéchaussée ob Beaucaire, one of whom, Maurice Secenat, had been preaching in Nîmes. They were condemned to be burnt at the stake, and were executed.Ménard, vol. 4, p. 189-190.