Bishop of Béziers

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Béziers was situated in France. It is no longer an independent diocese, and is part of the Diocese of Montpellier.

Traditionally, the first Bishop of Béziers is considered to be the Egyptian saint, Aphrodisius, said to have sheltered the Holy Family at Hermopolis and to have become a disciple of Christ, also to have accompanied Sergius Paulus to Gaul when the latter went thither to found the Church of Narbonne, and to have died a martyr at Béziers.

Local traditions made St. Aphrodisius arrive at Béziers mounted on a camel. Hence the custom of leading a camel in the procession at Béziers on the feast of the saint; this lasted until the French Revolution but was revived in the late 20th century.

The first historically known bishop is Paulinus mentioned in 418; St. Guiraud was Bishop of Béziers from 1121 to 1123; St. Dominic refused the See of Béziers to devote himself to the crusade against the Albigenses. Among the fifteen synods held at Béziers was that of 356 held by Saturninus of Arles, an Arian archbishop, which condemned Hilary of Poitiers. Later synods of 1233, 1246 and 1255 condemned the Cathars. A Papal Brief of 16 June 1877, authorized the bishops of Montpellier to call themselves bishops of Montpellier, Béziers, Agde, Lodève and Saint-Pons, in memory of the different dioceses united in the present Diocese of Montpellier.

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