Diocese of Nantes Dioecesis Nannetensis Diocèse de Nantes |
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Location | |
Country | France |
Ecclesiastical province | Rennes |
Metropolitan | Archdiocese of Rennes, Dol, and Saint-Malo |
Statistics | |
Area | 6,980 km2 (2,690 sq mi) |
Population - Total - Catholics |
(as of 2013) 1,303,103 912,172 (70.0%) |
Parishes | 79 'new parishes' |
Information | |
Denomination | Roman Catholic |
Sui iuris church | Latin Church |
Rite | Roman Rite |
Established | 4th Century |
Cathedral | Cathedral of St. Peter in Nantes |
Patron saint | St. Donatian and St. Rogatian |
Secular priests | 352 (diocesan) 50 (Religious Orders) |
Current leadership | |
Pope | Francis |
Bishop | Jean-Paul James |
Metropolitan Archbishop | Pierre d'Ornellas |
Emeritus Bishops | Georges Pierre Soubrier Bishop Emeritus (1996-2009) |
Map | |
Website | |
Website of the Diocese |
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Nantes (Latin: Dioecesis Nannetensis; French: Diocèse de Nantes) is a diocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman 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. Its see is Nantes Cathedral, in the city of Nantes. Georges Pierre Soubrier was the bishop since his appointment in 1996 until his retirement on 8 July 2009, when Pope Benedict XVI appointed Jean-Paul André Denis Marcel James, as new Head of the Diocese. Prior to his new appointment, Bishop James had been the bishop of Diocese of Beauvais, Noyon, and Senlis.
According to late traditions, Saint Clarus (Saint Clair), first Bishop of Nantes, was a disciple of Saint Peter. De la Borderie, however, has shown that the ritual of the Church of Nantes, drawn up by Helius the precentor in 1263, ignores the apostolic mission of Saint Clarus, and also that Saint Peter's nail in Nantes Cathedral was not brought there by Saint Clarus, but at a time subsequent to the invasions of the Northmen in the 10th century. He showed further that Saint Felix, writing with six other bishops in 567 to Saint Radegund, attributed to Saint Martin of Vertou the chief role in the conversion of the Nantais to Christianity, and that the traditions concerning the mission of Saint Clarus are later than 1400.