The Diocese of Carcassonne and Narbonne (; ) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or diocese of the Catholic Church in France. The diocese comprises the entire department of Aude. It is suffragan to the Archdiocese of Montpellier.

On the occasion of the Concordat of 1802, the former Diocese of Carcassonne, nearly all the old Archdiocese of Narbonne, almost the entire Diocese of Saint-Papoul, a part of the ancient Diocese of Alet and ancient Diocese of Mirepoix, and the former Diocese of Perpignan, were united to make the one Diocese of Carcassonne. In 1822 the Diocese of Perpignan was re-established.

In 2006 the diocese of Carcassonne was renamed the Diocese of Carcassonne and Narbonne.

History Carcassonne was founded by the Visigoths (the Volcaii Tectosages), who sought to compensate themselves for the loss of Lodève and Uzès by having Carcassonne made an episcopal see. The first of its bishops known to history was Sergius (589) and an Archdeacon of Carcassonne, Donnel, is recorded as having subscribed to the acts of the 4th Council of Toledo in 633.Mahul, V, pp. 393 and 539. In 759, Pepin the Short conquered Septimania from the Muslims and united it, Carcassonne included, to the Frankish crown.Gaetano Moroni (ed.), Dizionario di erudizione historico-ecclesiastica , Volume 9 (Venice: Tip. Emiliana 1841), p. 255. Trouvé, Etats de Languedoc... Vol. 2, p. 166.

The churches of Nôtre-Dame de Canabès and Nôtre-Dame de Limoux, both of which date back to the ninth century, are still visited by pilgrims.

Peter of Castelnau, the Cistercian inquisitor, was murdered in January 1208, perhaps on order of Raymond VI, Count of Toulouse. St. John Francis Regis (1597–1640), the Jesuit, born at Fontcouverte, Aude, in the Diocese of Narbonne, is honored in the present Diocese of Carcassonne.

Chapter and cathedral The date of the foundation of the first cathedral is unknown.Mahul V, p. 539: "Nous ne connaissons aucun monument authentique pour dater avec précision, la fondation ou même l'existence de la première église cathédrale de Carcassonne, dédiée aux SS. Nazaire et Celse, martyrs de Milan, sous Néron." The Cathedral of Saints-Nazaire-et-Celse at Carcassonne was rebuilt toward the end of the eleventh century, the first work upon it being blessed by Pope Urban II, who had come to Carcassonne in 1088 to urge the Viscount Bernard Ato IV de Trincavel to join the Crusade.

In that year the cathedral Chapter was already in existence and its canons followed the Rule of Saint Augustine. The Chapter had existed for a considerable time, perhaps going back to Bishop Gimerius in the tenth century, but papal sanction confirmed and strengthened its position as a corporate body living under a Rule.Mahul, V, pp. 403, 501, and 539, insisting on a date of 1088, but the Pope was nowhere near Milan, the place from which the letter was issued, in 1088. The correct date is 21 May 1095. See Philipp Jaffé, Regesta pontificum Romanorum I (Leipzig 1885), no. 5565. On 26 May 1095, Pope Urban addressed a letter to Bishop Pierre, confirming the institution of Clercs Regular of Saint Augustine in the Chapter of the Cathedral and two other churches in the diocese of Carcassonne.Gallia christiana VI, "Instrumenta", pp. 431-432, no. XXIII, with the incorrect date of 1288. The approbation of Urban II was confirmed by Pope Anastasius IV on 5 April 1154.Mahul V, p. 543. On 11 June 1096, Pope Urban II arrived in Carcassonne from Toulouse, where he spent five days, celebrating a pontifical Mass in the unfinished cathedral.Mahul V, p. 544: "Anno Dominicæ incarnationis M.XCVI. IVO indictione, feria Iv³ , Vrbanus papa Carcassonam ingressus et missas ibidem celebravit, vivos et defunctos benedicens absolvit, etiam ecclesiæ B. Nazarii saxa benedixit; et subsequenti sexta feria super B. Mariæ semper virginis, sanctique Salvatoris altare missas celebratus, sermonem nobis fecit, cometerium propriis manibus, salis aspersione absolvit, et sic, diebus quinque nobiscum commorans, vivis ac defunctis consignatis, cum laude et gratiarum actione discesit." Gallia christiana Vol. VI, p. 841.

The Chapter included as officers the two Archdeacons, two archpriests, a Sacristan, a Precentor, a Chamberlain, an Eleemosynary, and a master of the works. On 28 January 1227, Pope Gregory IX issued a bull in which he took the Prior and canons and cathedral of Saint-Nazaire under papal protection, along with all the churches which belonged to it, which are listed.Mahul V, pp. 550-551. In 1439, the canons were secularized by Pope Eugenius IV, and the Chapter came to have as officers a Dean, the Archdeacon, a Precentor, and a Sacristan. There were thirty Canons, each with a prebend, and they received a new set of Statutes.Mahul, V, pp. 575-586. The first Dean was Hélie de Pompadour, Canon of the Cathedral, licentiate in laws and Bachelor of Canon Law. In 1660, there were four dignities and sixteen canons.Ritzler & Sefrin V, p. 143, note 1. In 1730, there were three dignities and twelve canons.Ritzler & Sefrin VI, p. 147, note 1.

There was a collegiate church dedicated to Saint-Vincent at Montréal, established by Pope John XXII in 1317.Mahul III, pp. 281-288. It was administered by fifteen canons, among whom were three dignities (Dean, Sacristan, and Precentor). The Deanship was elective, but the bishop of Carcassonne had to be summoned to the electoral meeting, and he had the first vote as well as the right to confirm or decline the dean-elect.Gallia christiana VI, p. 862. Moroni, Dizionario di erudizione... volume 9, p. 256. Mahul III, p. 281.

Since the Synod of 2007, the diocese has been reorganized into fourteen 'new parishes'.Le diocèse de Carcassonne et Narbonne, les-paroisses. Retrieved: 29 July 2016.

Albigensians The history of the region of Carcassonne is intimately connected with that of the Albigenses. Notre-Dame-de-Prouille Monastery, where the Spaniard Dominic de Guzman established a religious institute for converted Albigensian women in 1206, is still a place of pilgrimage.

In 1206 or 1207, the Abbot Guy of Vaux de Cernay (Paris) began a preaching tour of the province of Narbonne, from which he returned to France in 1208, to help launch a crusade against the heretics of Languedoc. He was back in Languedoc in 1209, as a friend and councilor of Simon de Montfort.Mahul V, pp. 411-412. Gallia christiana VI, pp. 881-882. In 1209, the people of Carcassonne, faced with the approaching forces of the Albigensian Crusade, destroyed the stalls of the canons in the cathedra, as well as the refectory and cellars of the quarters of the canons, from which they reinforced the city walls.Mahul V, p. 548: "Nec silendum quod cives Carcassonenses pessimi et infideles refectorium et cellarium Canonicorum Carcassonensium qui erant canonici regulares, ipsas etiam stallas ecclesiæ, quod execrabilius est, destruxerunt, ut muros Civitatis indè munirent (Petrus Vallium Cernaii, Historia Albigensium, cap. 16). Vicomte Raymond Roger of Carcassonne died in prison, attended in his last hours by Bishop Bernard-Raimond de Roquefort, on 10 November 1209.Mahul V, pp. 289-290.

In July 1210, a massacre of Albigensians was perpetrated at a place called Minerva, under the superrvision of Simon de Montfort and Abbot Gy de Vaux, in which 140 men and women were burnt alive, after having refused Abbot Guy's exhortations to reject their heresy.

On 15 April 1211, Pope Innocent III, who was a firm supporter of the crusade and of Simon de Montfort, wrote to hi papal legate, Bishop Raymond of Uzès, to accept the resignation of the bishop of Carcassonne, Bishop Bernard-Raimond, and to absolve him from pontifical responsibilities.August Potthast, Regesta pontificum Romanorum Volume I (Berlin De Decker 1874), p. 364, nos. 4223-4224. He died in 1224, calling himself quondam eiscopus et Praepositus Montislongi. Within eight days, with the legate's assistance, a suitable successor was to be found; a second letter was directed to the Chapter of Carcassone, ordering them to elect a person who was suitable for the honor and burden (oneri et honore).Benedict Wiedemann, Papal Overlordship and European Princes, 1000-1270 (Oxford: OUP 2022), p. 129. In the same year, Abbot Guy de Vaux de Cernay was named bishop of Carcassonne, with the support of Simon de Montfort. He was still bishop-elect in June and July 1211, when he participated in the siege of Toulouse. His consecration, along with that of Arnaud de Cîteaux, archbishop-elect of Narbonne, took place after 12 March 1212,Mahul V, p. 412. Eubel I, p. 356. but before the council of Narbonne on 30 April 1212, summoned by Archbishop Arnaud and attended by Bishop Guy.Gallia christiana VI, p. 62. In February 1213, Bishop Guy de Vaux set off for Paris to secure additional support for the crusading forces; he left his diocese in the care of Dominic de Guzman as his vicar-general. Bede Jarrett, Life of St. Dominic (1170-1221) (London: Burns, Oates & washbourne 1924), p. 61. Mahul V, p. 413.

Simon de Montfort, Lord of Montfort (1188), Earl of Leicester (1204), Viscount of Albi, Béziers and Carcassonne (1213), and Count of Toulouse (1215), died on 26 June 1218Elaine Graham-Leigh, The Southern French Nobility and the Albigensian Crusade (Woodbridge: Boydell Press 2005), p. 45. and was buried in the cathedral of Carcassonne.Peter of les Vaux-de-Cernay, Historia Albigensis 615. Chanson de la Croisade Albigeoise laisse 206. Rion Klawinsky, "Carcassonne," in: Trudy Ring, Noelle Watson, Paul Schellinger (edd.), Northern Europe: International Dictionary of Historic Places (London-New York: Routledge, 2013): "Also within the walls on the Cité is the basilica of Saint-Nazaire, the first stones of which were blessed by Pope Urban II and laid in 1096. The tomb of Simon the Montfort is located in the basilica, although his body is not. It has been removed from the tomb and placed at Montfort l'Amaury, west of Paris."

In 1229, the Inquisition was formally established in Carcassonne, and on 22 April 1232 (i.e. 1233) Pope Gregory IX assigned the Dominicans to staff it.Claude-Joseph baron Trouvé, États de Languedoc et Département de l'Aude, Volume 2, pp. 170-171. A. Potthast, Regesta pontificum Romanorum , Volume 1 (Berlin: De Decker 1874), p. 784, no. 7155.

On June 1245, at the First Council of Lyon, Pope Innocent IV ordered six bishops including Bishop Clarus of Carcassonne to continue the operation of the Inquisition in their dioceses.Gallia christiana VI, p. 886.

In 1247, Count Raymond II Trencavel of Carcassonne surrendered to King Louis IX of France, and the County of Carcassonne became part of the French kingdom.Moroni, Dizionario di erudizione... vol. 9, p. 255.

In 1270, Bishop Bernard de Capendu (1265–1278) held a synod and issued constitutions.Mahul V, pp. 419-435. Bishop Pierre de Roquefort (1300–1321) held a diocesan synod in 1309, and issued a set of statutes.Mahul V, p. 535.

Episcopal elections and appointments of 1456