The Diocese of Nantes (; ; ) is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church in Nantes, France. The diocese consists of the department of Loire-Atlantique. It has existed since the 4th century. It is now suffragan of the Archdiocese of Rennes, Dol, and Saint-Malo, having previously been suffragan to the Archdiocese of Tours. The seat of the bishop is the Cathedral of Ste. Pierre in the city of Nantes.
In 2021, in the Diocese of Nantes there was one priest for every 3,802 Catholics.
History
According to late traditions, Saint Clarus (Saint Clair), first Bishop of Nantes, was a disciple of Saint Peter. Arthur Le Moyne de La Borderie, however, has shown that the ritual of the Church of Nantes, drawn up by Helias the precentor in 1263,De la Borderie, Etudes historiques bretonnes p. 3: "La plus ancienne mention de S. Clair, évêque de Nantes, qu'on puisse citer est de l'an 1263. Elle existe dans l'Ordinaire ou rituel de l'église de Nantes, rédigé cette année même par Hélie, chantre de cette église...." ignores the apostolic mission of Clarus, and also that Saint Peter's nail in Nantes Cathedral was not brought there by Clarus, but at a time subsequent to the invasions of the Northmen in the 10th century. He showed further that Felix of Nantes, writing with six other bishops in 567 to Saint Radegund, attributed to Martin of Vertou the chief role in the conversion of the Nantais to Christianity, and that the traditions concerning the mission of Clarus are later than 1400.De la Borderie, Etudes historiques bretonnes p. 4: "Le plus ancien document qui rapporte aux temps apostoliques la mission de S. Clair est un bréviaire de Nantes manuscrit, sans date, mais dont l'écriture accuse le commencement du XVe siècle, et qu'on appelle d'ordinaire Bréviaire de 1400."
The earliest list of the bishops of Nantes (made, according to Louis Duchesne, at the beginning of the 11th centuryDuchesne, p. 360.) does not favour the thesis of a bishop of Nantes prior to Constantine I. The author of the Passion of Donatian and Rogatian, martyrs of Nantes, places their death in the reign of Constantius Chlorus, and seems to believe that Rogatian could not be baptized, because the bishop was absent. Duchesne believes that the two saints suffered at an earlier date, and disputes the inference of the ancient writer concerning the absence of the bishop.Duchesne, 364 The first bishop of Nantes whose date is certain is Desiderius (453), correspondent of Sulpicius Severus and Paulinus of Nola. The Saint Aemilianus supposed to have been Bishop of Nantes in Charlemagne's reign and to have fought the Saracens in Burgundy is considered legendary.
Among the noteworthy bishops is Felix (550–583), whose municipal improvements at Nantes were praised in the poems of Venantius Fortunatus, and who often mediated between the people of Brittany and the Frankish kings. Bishop Gohardus was killed by the Northmen in 843, with the monks of the monastery of Aindre.
Another was Bishop Actardus (843–871), who was driven out of his see by Prince Nominoe (d. 851) because he opposed Nominoe's moves to make himself king of Brittany and dominate the church in northwestern France. Nominoe attempted to create a new ecclesiastical province, depose opposition bishops, and create new dioceses, separate from the province of Tours and centered on Dol. With regard to his interference at Nantes, Nominoe received a sharp letter from Pope Leo IV, exhorting him to cease his support of his usurper Gislard, and support the true bishop, Actardus.Philippus Jaffe and S. Loewenfeld, Regestum pontificum Romanorum, second edition , Volume 1 (Leipzig: Veit 1885), p. 331, no. 2600. During his son's reign, the Breton prince, in his conflict with the metropolitan see of Tours, created a see at Guérande 853, and filled it with the deposed usurper of the see of Nantes, who had been expelled.Joseph Morlent, Précis historique, statistique et minéralogique sur Guérande, Le Croisic et leurs environs: précédé d'un abrégé de l'histoire de Bretagne, (Nantes: Kermen, 1819), pp. 14–15. Gislard (or Gillard) died in 899, and had no successor. in favour of Gislard, an ecclesiastic of Vannes who had usurped the see of Nantes, at the western end of the diocese of Nantes.
Another notable bishop was the preacher Philippe Cospeau (1621–1636), who had been a professor at the Sorbonne and at the University of Paris.J. de Kersauson, "L'Épiscopat Nantais à travers les siècles," , in: Revue historique de l'Ouest, Volume 8 (Vannes 1892), pp. 288: "Rempli d'instruction et de talents qui le placèrent bientôt au premier rang des prédicateurs de son siècle, le jeune Cospéau ne dut son élévation qu'à son mérite . Etant venu faire ses humanités à Paris, où il fut le disciple du fameux Juste Lipse, il devint successivement professeur à la Sorbonne et à l'Université de Paris".
Françoise d'Amboise (1427–1485), who became Duchess of Brittany in 1450, rebuilt the choir of the collegiate church of Notre-Dame,Stéphane Praud de La Nicollière-Teijiero, Église royale et collégiale de Notre-Dame de Nantes, (Nantes: Forest & Grimaud, 1865), p. 75. and founded at Nantes the monastery of the Poor Clares; she had a share in the canonization of Saint Vincent Ferrer (1455–1456), and was given one of the saint's fingers as a memento.Édouard Sioc'han de Kersabiec, La Bienheureuse Françoise d'Amboise, Duchesse de Bretagne, , (Nantes: Forest & Grimaud 1865), pp. 147-150. Françoise was also given Ferrer's doctoral cap and his belt. She placed them in the monastery of Couëts. Widowed in 1457, she resisted the intrigues of Louis XI, who urged her to contract a second marriage, and even attempted to persuade her personally during a pilgrimage to Redon in the Spring of 1462; she sought refuge in Nantes;François Marie Benjamin Richard, Vie de la bienheureuse Françoise d'Amboise, Duchesse de Bretagne, , Volume 1 (Nantes: Forest & Grimaud 1865), pp. 240-249. in 1468 she became a Carmelite nun at Vannes.Sioc'han de Kersabiec, pp. 263-272. François Marie Benjamin Richard, Vie de la bienheureuse Françoise d'Amboise, Duchesse de Bretagne, , Volume 2 (Nantes: Forest & Grimaud 1865), pp. 5-26. In 1477, at the request of Sixtus IV, she restored the Benedictine monastery of Couëts, near Nantes.Sioc'han de Kersabiec, pp. 293-301; 419-427.
Gilles de Rais, marshall of France, executed in 1440 in the castle of Nantes, was buried in the chapel of the Carmelite house in Nantes.Georges Durville, Études sur le vieux Nantes: d'après les documents originaux, Vol. 2 (Nantes: Lafolye, 1915), pp. 192-198.
Chapter and cathedral
The cathedral in Nantes is dedicated to Saint Peter. It was begun by Bishop Eumelius, and completed by Bishop Felix, who consecrated it in 568. It was destroyed by the Northmen. The first stone of a new cathedral was laid by Duke Jean V of Brittany on 14 April 1434. Building went slowly. The vaults of the nave were begun only in 1628. The choir screen was built between 1622 and 1659. The sacristy was added in 1772.Grégoire, État du Diocèse de Nantes en 1790, p. 27.
The mausoleum of Francis II, Duke of Brittany in the cathedral, executed in 1507 by Michel Colomb, is one of the finest monuments of the Renaissance.Leslie Richardson, Brittany and the Loire (New York: Dodd, Mead, 1927), pp. 25-26.
The cathedral is staffed and administered by a corporation called the Chapter. It originally consisted of six dignitaries (the Dean, the Grand-Archdeacon, the Archdeacon of the Mée, the Cantor, the Treasurer, and the Scholasticus) and fourteen canons. Bishop Brice created seven canonicates on 2 August 1137. The deanship was founded 1307, by Bishop Daniel Vigier. The cantorship was established by Pope Pius II in 1460. The scholasticus was founded on July 1471, and the office of penitentiary around 1630. The Dean and the canon of La Psallette are appointed by the bishop. All the others are appointed alternatively by the Pope and the bishop.Grégoire, État du Diocèse de Nantes en 1790, pp. 25-26.
Councils and synods
A diocesan synod was an irregularly held, but important, meeting of the bishop of a diocese and his clergy. Its purpose was (1) to proclaim generally the various decrees already issued by the bishop; (2) to discuss and ratify measures on which the bishop chose to consult with his clergy; (3) to publish statutes and decrees of the diocesan synod, of the provincial synod, and of the Holy See. John Paul II, Constitutio Apostolica de Synodis Dioecesanis Agendis (19 March 1997): Acta Apostolicae Sedis 89 (1997), pp. 706-727.
Councils were held at Nantes, in 600 and 1127. A provincial council was held at Nantes by Archbishop Vincent de Pirmil of Tours on the Tuesday after the Feast of Ss. Peter and Paul (29 June) in 1264; it issued nine canons.J.-D. Mansi (ed.), Sacrorum Conciliorum nova et amplissima collectio, editio novissima, , Vol. 23 (Venice: A. Zatta, pp. 1117-1122.
Bishop Daniel Vigier (1304–1337) established a regulation, stating that there would be a general synod every year at Pentecost, and study conferences for clergy on the Feast of St. Luke (18 October), at Christmas, and during Lent.Edmond Martène & Ursin Durand, Thesaurus novus anecdotorum ... Varia concilia, , Volume 4 (Paris: Delaulne, 1717), p. 953: "præcipimus & mandamus, temporibus infra acriptis: videlicet, una vice inter synodum sancti Lucæ, & Nativitatem Domini; aecunda vice infra mediam quadrageaimam; tertia vice infra Pentecoaten; quarta vice infra sequentem synodum annualem, & sic deinceps singulis annis."
Bishop Jean de Montrelais (1384–1391) held a diocesan synod in 1387, and published statutes.Martène & Durand, Thesaurus novus anecdotorum ... Varia concilia, Volume 4, pp. 972–978. At Pentecost 1389, Bishop Jean de Montrelais held a diocesan synod, and published twenty statutes.Martène & Durand, Thesaurus novus anecdotorum ... Varia concilia, , Volume 4, pp. 979–989. In September 1389, Bishop Jean held a diocesan synod, and published the statutes.Martène & Durand, Thesaurus novus anecdotorum ... Varia concilia, Volume 4, pp. 990-993. Bishop Henri le Barbu (1404–1419) remarked after Pentecost 1406 that he had held more than one diocesan synod.Martène & Durand, Thesaurus novus anecdotorum ... Varia concilia, Volume 4, p. 994: Omnia & singula statuta prædecssorum nostrorum per nos alias non revocata, unà cum statutis in nostris synodis præcedentibus factis insuper & additis approbamus, ratificamus, ac de novo, si opus est, nostra auctoritate ordinaria confirmamus." On 24 October 1408, Bishop Henri's vicars held a synod. On the Thursday after Pentecost 1409, Bishop Henri himself presided over a synod.Martène & Durand, Thesaurus novus anecdotorum ... Varia concilia, Volume 4, p. 998-1002; 1102-1103.