Bishop of Lodève

The Bishopric of Lodève is a former Roman Catholic diocese in southern France. Its episcopal see was located in Lodève, in the modern department of Hérault. Its territory is now part of the archdiocese of Montpellier.

Since the 14th century local tradition has made St. Florus first bishop of Lodève, and relates that as a disciple of St. Peter, he afterwards evangelized Haute-Auvergne and died in the present village of Saint-Flour.

Bishops of Lodève have existed since 421; the first historically known bishop is Maternus, who was present at the Council of Agde in 506. Among the bishops of Lodève are: St. George (863-884), previously a Benedictine monk; St. Fulcran (949-1006), who in 975 dedicated the cathedral of St. Genès and founded the Abbey of St. Sauveur; the Dominican inquisitor Bernard Gui (1324-1331); Cardinal Guillaume d'Estouteville (1450-1453), who played an important part as papal legate, also in the rehabilitation of Joan of Arc; the brothers Guillaume Briçonnet (1489-1516) and Denis Briçonnet (1516-1520).

A Brief of 16 June 1877, authorized the bishops of Montpellier to call themselves bishops of Montpellier, Béziers, Agde, Lodève, and Saint-Pons (Saint-Pons-de-Thomières), in memory of the different former suffragan dioceses at that date united in the present metropolitan archbishopric of Montpellier.

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