Roman Catholic Diocese of Nevers

The Diocese of Nevers (Dioecesis Nivernensis; Diocèse de Nevers) is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church in France. The diocese comprises the department of Nièvre, in the Region of Bourgogne.

Suppressed by the Concordat of 1801 and united to the See of Autun, it was re-established in 1823 as suffragan of the Archdiocese of Sens and took over a part of the former Diocese of Autun and a part of the ancient Diocese of Auxerre.

History
The Gallia Christiana mentions as first Bishop of Nevers St. Eladius, restored to health in the reign of Clovis by St. Severinus, Abbot of St. Maurice. According to Louis Duchesne, the first authentic bishop is Tauricanus, present at the Council of Epaone in 517.

A number of former bishops of Nevers are venerated as saints: St. Jerome (800–816) who rebuilt the cathedral in honour of the martyrs Cyricus and Julitta, which until then had been dedicated to Saints Gervasius and Protasius. It is possible that in the 7th century three other saints occupied the See of Nevers: St. Diè (Deodatus), the same perhaps who died a hermit in the Vosges.

The following bishops of Nevers were notable:
 * the future cardinal Pierre Bertrandi (1320–22) who, in 1329–30, defended ecclesiastical immunities against the barons in the celebrated conferences of Paris and Vincennes presided over by Philip VI of France;
 * Charles, Cardinal de Bourbon (1540–47) subsequently cardinal and whom the Leaguers wished to make King of France under the name of Charles X;
 * Jacques Spifame (1548–58) who became a Calvinist in 1559, and was afterwards accused of forgery and beheaded at Geneva in 1566;
 * the polemicist Sorbin de Ste-Foi (1578–1606), the Confessor of King Charles IX and a voluminous writer.

Among the saints of this diocese must be mentioned:
 * Sts. Paul, priest; Péreux and Pélerin, martyrs between 272 and 303;
 * St. Paroze (Patritius), Abbot of Nevers in the 6th century;
 * the hermit St. Franchy (Francovæcus); the priest St. Vincent of Magny in the 9th century;
 * the blessed Nicholas Applaine, once Canon of the collegiate church of Prémery (15th century), whose cassock Louis XI demanded of Bishop Pierre de Fontenay.
 * Claude Fauchet, constitutional Bishop of Calvados during the Revolution, was a native of the diocese.

The Abbey of La Charité sur Loire, founded in 1056, and known as the "eldest daughter" of Cluny, was inaugurated on 9 March 1107 by Pope Paschal II; Bishop Hervé of Nevers was present. The celebrated Suger of Saint-Denis, then a simple cleric, has left an account of the ceremony.

The Benedictine Abbey of Corbigny, founded under Charlemagne, was occupied by the Huguenots in 1563, as a basis of operations.

Bernadette Soubirous, the visionary of Lourdes, died in the Convent of the Sisters of Charity and Christian Instruction in Nevers, 16 April 1879. The chief places of pilgrimage in the diocese are: Notre Dame de Pitié, at St. Martin d'Heuille, dating from the 14th century; Notre Dame de Fauboulvin at Corancy, dating from 1590; Notre Dame du Morvan at Dun-sur-Grandry, dating from 1876.

Among the congregations for women which originated in the diocese must be mentioned: the Ursuline nuns, a teaching order founded in 1622 at Nevers by the Duke of Gonzaga and the Nevers aldermen; the Hospitallers, founded in 1639 at La Charité-sur-Loire by Sister Médard-Varlet; the congregation of Sisters of Charity and Christian Instruction of Nevers, founded in 1680, with mother-house at Nevers.

To 1000

 * c. 506: St Euladius
 * c. 517: Tauricianus
 * c. 538–c. 541: Rusticus
 * c. 549–c. 552: Aregius (Aridius)
 * Euphronius
 * c. 567: St Aeoladius (Eloade)
 * c. 580 – 26 February 594: Agricola
 * Fulcilius
 * c. 624–c. 653: Rauracus
 * c. 658: Leodebaudus
 * c. 660: Hecherius
 * c. 665 – 668 : Deodatus (St Dié)
 * c. 666: Gilbert
 * c. 672: Rogus
 * c. 691: St Itier
 * c. 696–c. 697: Ebarcius
 * c. 702: Opportunus
 * c. 726: Nectarius
 * c. 747: Chebroaldus
 * Raginfredus (Raginfroi)
 * Waldo
 * c. 800–816: Hieronymus (Jerome)
 * c. 817–c. 829: Jonas
 * c. 833: Gerfredus (Gerfroi)
 * Hugo I.
 * c. 840 – 22 July 860: Hériman
 * Raginus
 * c. 861: Abbo I.
 * c. 864: Luido
 * 866–c. 884: Abbo II.
 * c. 886–c. 892: Emmenus
 * [c. 893: Adalgaire (?)]
 * 894–c. 905: Franco
 * c. 906–c. 914: Atto
 * c. 916: Launo
 * c. 935–c. 947: Tedalgrin
 * 948–c. 955: Gaubert
 * c. 958: Gérard
 * 959–979 or 980: Natran, O.S.B.
 * 980–c. 1011: Roclenus

1000 to 1300

 * 1013 – May 1065 : Hugues II. de Champ-Allemand
 * c. 1066 – 1 June 1074 : Malguin
 * 1. November 1074 – c. 1090 : Hugues III. de Champ-Allemand
 * c. 1096 – c. 1099 : Gui
 * 18 December 1099 – 8 August 1109 : Hervé
 * 1110 – c. 1120 : Hugues IV.
 * 1121 – c. 1145 : Fromond
 * 1146 – 1159 : Geoffroi
 * 1160 – 14 January 1177 : Bernard de Saint-Saulge
 * 1177 – 25 April 1188 : Theobaldus (Thibaut)
 * 1188 – 15 June 1196 : Jean I.
 * 1196 – 11 January 1202 : Gauthier
 * c. 1204 – 19 May 1221 : Guillaume I. de Saint-Lazare
 * 1222 – 4 December 1222 : Gervais de Châteauneuf
 * 1223 – 28 July 1230 : Renaud I.
 * 1232 – c. 1240 : Raoul de Beauvais
 * 1240 – 1252 or 1253 : Robert Cornut
 * 1252 or 1253 – 1254 : Henri Cornut
 * 1254 – 31 May 1260 : Guillaume II de Grandpuy
 * c. 1262 – 14 January 1273 : Robert II. de Marzi
 * 1273–1285 : Gilles de Châteaurenaud
 * 23 July 1285 – 28 July 1294 : Gilles II. du Chastelet
 * 28 March 1294 – 4 June 1314: Jean II. de Savigny

1300 to 1500

 * 1314 – 2 February 1319 : Guillaume III. Beaufils
 * 28 January 1320 – 19 May 1322 : Pierre Bertrand
 * 19 May 1322 – 1332 : Bertrand I. Gascon
 * 1333 – 12 September 1334 : Jean III. Mandevillain
 * 20 January 1335 – 15 March 1339 : Pierre Bertrand de Colombier
 * 15 March 1339 – c. 1357 : Bertrand II. (Tissandier)
 * 6 November 1359 – 1361 : Renaud II. des Moulins
 * 2 August 1361 – 1371 : Pierre Aycelin de Montaigut
 * 1371–1372 : Jean IV. de Neufchâtel
 * 1374–1380 : Pierre V. de Dinteville
 * 1381 – 16 January 1395 : Maurice de Coulange-la-Vineuse (Avignon Obedience)
 * 1395–1400 : Philippe I. Froment (Avignon Obedience)
 * 1401 – 22 July 1430 : Robert III. de Dangueil (Avignon Obedience)
 * 1430–1436 : Jean V. Germain
 * 30 August 1436 – 1444 : Jean VI. Vivien
 * 8 October 1445 – ? : Jean Troufon
 * [1446]/1448 – 1461: Jean VII. d'Étampes
 * 23 September 1461 – 3 June 1499: Pierre VI. de Fontenai

1500 to 1800

 * 24 January 1500 – 1505: Philip of Cleves
 * 9 August 1503 – 31 May 1505: Niccolò Fieschi, Administrator
 * 31 May 1505 – 12 September 1507 : Antoine de Fleurs
 * 29 October 1508 – 30 July 1512 : Jean VII. Bohier
 * 9 January 1513 – 11 February 1519 : Imbert de la Platière de Bourdillon
 * 13 March 1519 – 22 April 1539 : Jacques I. d'Albret
 * 5 June 1540 – 23 January 1545 : Charles, Cardinal de Bourbon
 * 5 May 1546 – 1558 : Jacques Spifame
 * 27 January 1559 – 7 April 1578: Gilles Spifame
 * 22 July 1578 – 1 March 1606 : Arnaud Sarbin de Sainte-Foi
 * 19 November 1606 – 17 June 1643 : Eustache I. du Lys
 * 1643–1666: Eustache II. de Chéri
 * 28 August 1667 – 3 September 1705 : Edouard I. Valot
 * 1705 – 20 July 1719: Edouard II Bargedé
 * 1719 – 20 February 1740: Charles II Fontaine des Montées
 * 1740 – 4 April 1751: Guillaume IV d'Hugues
 * 4 April 1751 – 1782: Jean-Antoine Tinseau
 * 5 January 1783 – 1788: Pierre VII. de Séguiran
 * 1789–1790: Louis-Jérôme de Suffren de Saint-Tropez
 * 1791–1801: Guillaume Tollet (Constitutional Bishop of Nièvre)

From 1800

 * 1823–1829: Jean-Baptiste-François-Nicolas Millaux
 * 1829–1834: Charles de Douhet d'Auzers
 * 1834–1842: Paul Naudo (later Archbishop of Avignon)
 * 1842–1860: Dominique-Augustin Dufêtre
 * 1860–1873: Théodore-Augustin Forcade, M.E.P. (later Archbishop of Aix)
 * 1873–1877: Thomas-Casimir-François de Ladoue
 * 1877–1903: Etienne-Antoine-Alfred Lelong
 * 1906–1910: François-Léon Gauthey (later Archbishop of Besançon)
 * 1910–1932: Pierre Chatelus
 * 1932–1963: Patrice Flynn
 * 1963–1966: Michel-Louis Vial (later Bishop of Nantes)
 * 1966–1987: Jean-François-Marie Streiff
 * 1988–1997: Michel Paul Marie Moutel, P.S.S.
 * 1998–2011: François Deniau
 * 2011–2023: Thierry Brac de la Perrière
 * 2024– : Grégoire Drouot

Reference works

 * pp. 333–334. (in Latin)
 * p. 189 (in Latin)
 * p. 237 (in Latin)
 * p. 263 (in Latin)
 * p. 284. (in Latin)
 * p. 284. (in Latin)