The former French diocese of Saintes existed from the sixth century, to the French Revolution

French Revolution

The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...

. Its see was at Saintes in western France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, in the modern department of Charente-Maritime

Charente-Maritime

Charente-Maritime is a department on the west coast of France named after the Charente River.- History :Previously a part of Saintonge, Charente-Inférieure was one of the 83 original departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790...

. After the Concordat of 1801

Concordat of 1801

The Concordat of 1801 was an agreement between Napoleon and Pope Pius VII, signed on 15 July 1801. It solidified the Roman Catholic Church as the majority church of France and brought back most of its civil status....

, its territory passed mainly to the diocese of La Rochelle.

History

Saintes has numerous Roman monuments. The oldest bishop of known date is Peter, who took part in the Council of Orléans (511)

First Council of Orléans

The First Council of Orléans was convoked by Clovis I in 511. Shortly before his death, Clovis called a synod of Gallic bishops to meet at Orléans to reform the church and create a strong link between the crown and the Catholic episcopate. 33 bishops assisted and passed thirty-one decrees on the...

.

The first bishop, however, is St. Eutropius

Eutropius of Saintes

Saint Eutropius of Saintes is venerated as the first bishop of Saintes, France. According to tradition, he was a Roman or a Persian of royal descent who was sent to evangelize Gaul either by Saint Clement in the 1st century or by Pope Fabian in the 250s as a companion of Saint Denis.He lived as a...

. Venantius Fortunatus

Venantius Fortunatus

Venantius Honorius Clementianus Fortunatus was a Latin poet and hymnodist in the Merovingian Court, and a Bishop of the early Catholic Church. He was never canonised but was venerated as Saint Venantius Fortunatus during the Middle Ages.-Life:Venantius Fortunatus was born between 530 and 540 A.D....

, in a poem written in the second half of the sixth century, makes explicit mention of him in connection with Saintes. Eutropius was said to be a Persian of royal descent, ordained and sent to Gaul by St. Clement

Pope Clement I

Starting in the 3rd and 4th century, tradition has identified him as the Clement that Paul mentioned in Philippians as a fellow laborer in Christ.While in the mid-19th century it was customary to identify him as a freedman of Titus Flavius Clemens, who was consul with his cousin, the Emperor...

; at Saintes he converted to Christianity the governor's daughter, St. Eustelle, and like her suffered martyrdom. This tradition is noted by Gregory of Tours

Gregory of Tours

Saint Gregory of Tours was a Gallo-Roman historian and Bishop of Tours, which made him a leading prelate of Gaul. He was born Georgius Florentius, later adding the name Gregorius in honour of his maternal great-grandfather...

, with a cautious ut fertur; Saintes is thus the only church of Gaul which Gregory traces back to the first century. This evidence is much weakened, says Louis Duchesne

Louis Duchesne

Louis Marie Olivier Duchesne was a French priest, philologist, teacher and a critical historian of Christianity and Roman Catholic liturgy and institutions....

, by Gregory's remark to the effect that no one knew the history of St. Eutropius before the removal of his relics by Bishop Palladius, which took place about 590. At this tardy date seems to have arisen the account of Eutropius as a martyr.

Among the bishops of Saintes are mentioned:

• St. Vivianus (119-52?), once Count of Saintes, later a monk
• St. Trojanus, died about 532
• St. Concordius (middle of the sixth century)
• St. Pallais (Palladius), about 580, to whom Gregory the Great recommended St. Augustine on way to England
• St. Leontius, bishop in 625
• Cardinal Raimond Perauld (1503-05), an ecclesiastical writer, several times nuncio, legate for a crusade, against the infidels, and the re-establishment of peace between Maximilian and Louis XII
• Cardinal François Soderini (1507-16), who died in Rome as dean of the Sacred College
• his nephew Jules Soderini (1516-44)
• Charles, Cardinal de Bourbon
  Charles, Cardinal de Bourbon
  Charles de Bourbon was a French cardinal. The Catholic League considered him the rightful King of France after the death of Henry III of France in 1589.-Biography:...
  
   (1544-50), cardinal in 1548, afterward Archbishop of Rouen
  Archbishop of Rouen
  The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Rouen is an Archdiocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in France. As one of the fifteen Archbishops of France, the ecclesiastical province of the archdiocese comprises the majority of Normandy....
  
  , whom Mayenne wished later to make King of France
• Pierre Louis de La Rochefoucauld (1782-92), killed at Paris with his brother, the Bishop of Beauvais, 2 September 1792.

Councils

Several councils were held at Saintes: in 562 or 563, when Bishop Emerius, illegally elected, was deposed and Heraclius appointed in his stead; other councils were held in 579, 1074 or 1075, 1080, 1081, at which last, metropolitan authority over the sees of Lower Brittany was granted to Tours as against the claims of Dol, and William VII

William VII

William VII may refer to:* William VII of Aquitaine * William VII the Young of Auvergne * William VII of Montpellier * William VII of Montferrat * William VII of Chalon...

gave the church of St. Eutropius to the monks of Cluny

Cluny

Cluny or Clungy is a commune in the Saône-et-Loire department in the region of Bourgogne in eastern France. It is 20 km northwest of Mâcon.The town grew up around the Benedictine Cluny Abbey, founded by Duke William I of Aquitaine in 910...

; also in 1083, 1088, 1089, 1097.

Bishops

• Eutropius, fourth century
• Ambroise, beginning of fifth century
• Vivien, fifth century
• Concorde, end fifth century
• Trojan c. 500
• Peter I. 511
• Eusebius 553 - by 555
• Emerius, before 561
• Palladius 573-596
• Leodegarius, beginning of seventh century
• Audebertus 614
• Leontius 625-634
• Ailphus 637
• Bertarius 660
• Agnebertus 662-675
• Ulric seventh century
• Dizan  eighth century
• Benjamin c. 785
• Ato 799-before 805
• Thebert 805
• Frotmundus 846
• Frecultus 862
• Alo (?) 908
• Abbon 989 and 990
• Islus 1000 and 1031
• Godefroy 1032-1036
• Arnulfus 1037-1040
• Engelricus 1040-1047
• Wilhelm 1066-1067
• Goderanus 1067-1072
• Boso 1072-1082
• Ramnulfus Focaudi 1083-1106
• Pierre II. de Soubise 1107-1112
• Rainaldus Chainel 1113-1116
• Pierre III. de Confolens 1117-1126
• Guilelmus Gardradus 1127-1142
• Bernard I. 1142-ca. 1165
• Ademar Charbonnel 1167-1189
• Helias I. 1189
• Heinrich 1190-1217
• Ponce de Pons 1216-1221
• Michel I. 1221
• Hélie II. 1222-1231
• Johann I. 1231-1235
• Peter IV. 1235-1237
• William III. 1237-1239
• Hélie III. 1239-1241
• Peter V. 1241-1250
• Hugues II. de Féletz 1250-1256
• Ponce II. de Pons 1257-1266
• Hélie IV. de Fors 1266
• Pierre VI. Laud 1267-1271
• Ponce III. de Pons 1271-1275
• Pierre VII. 1275-1277
• Geoffroy II. de Saint-Briçon 1277-1284
• Pierre VIII. 1284-1287
• bis. Gimer 1288
• Geoffroy III. d'Archiac 1288-1294
• Ramnufle de Carel 1296
• Gui de Neuville 1296-1312
• Geoffroy IV. 1313
• Guillaume IV. de La Mothe 1313-1322
• Thibaud de Castillon 1322-1342
• Etienne de La Garde  1343-1351 (Cardinal)
• Gaillard du Puy 1351-1361 (Cardinal)
• Bernard II. du Sault 1362-1381 (Rome nomination)
• Raymond d'Angoulême 1380 (Avignon nomination)
• Helie V. de Lestrange 1381-1396
• Pierre Mignot 1380-1397
• Bernard III. de Chevenon 1398-1413
• Geoffroy de Pérusse des Cars 1411-1418
• Jean II. Boursier 1415-1424
• Guy II. de Rochechouart 1424-1460
• Louis I. de Rochechouart 1461-1493
• Pierre IX. de Rochechouart 1493-1503
• Raymond Péraud 1503-1505 (Cardinal)
• Eustache 1505-1506
• François Soderini 1506-1515 (Cardinal)
• Julien Soderini  1515-1544
• Charles, Cardinal de Bourbon
  Charles, Cardinal de Bourbon
  Charles de Bourbon was a French cardinal. The Catholic League considered him the rightful King of France after the death of Henry III of France in 1589.-Biography:...
  
  1545-1550 (Cardinal)
• Tristan de Bizet 1550-1576
• Nicolas Le Cornu de la Courbe de Brée 1576-1617
• Michel II. Raoul 1617-1630
• Jacques-Raoul de la Guibougère 1631-1648
• Louis II. de Bassompierre 1648-1676
• Guillaume V. du Plessis de Gesté 1677-1702
• Bertrand de Senaux 1702
• Alexandre de Chevrières de Saint-Mauris 1703-1710
• Henri III. Augustin Le Pileur 1711-1716
• Léon de Beaumont 1718-1744
• Simon-Pierre de Lacoré 1744-1762
• Germain du Chastergner de la Chasteigneraye 1763-1781
• Bienheureux Pierre-Louis de La Rochefoucauld 1781-1792
• Isaac-Etienne Robinet 1791-1797
• Jean François de Couet du Vivier de Lorry (La Rochelle) 1802