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Diocese of Belley–Ars Dioecesis Bellicensis–Arsensis Diocèse de Belley–Ars
Belley Cathedral
Location
Country	France
Ecclesiastical province	Lyon
Statistics
Area	5,554 km (2,144 sq mi)
Population - Total - Catholics	(as of 2022) 647,634 382,000 (est.)
Parishes	110
Information
Denomination	Catholic Church
Sui iuris church	Latin Church
Rite	Roman Rite
Established	5th Century
Cathedral	Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Belley
Patron saint	St. John the Baptist
Secular priests	125 diocesan 10 (Religious Orders) 14 Permanent Deacons
Current leadership
Pope	Francis
Bishop	Pascal Marie Roland
Metropolitan Archbishop	Olivier de Germay
Bishops emeritus	Guy Claude Bagnard, Bishop Emeritus (1987–2012)
Map
Website
Website of the Diocese

The Diocese of Belley–Ars (Latin: Dioecesis Bellicensis–Arsensis; French: Diocèse de Belley–Ars) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or diocese of the Catholic Church in France. Erected in the 5th century, the diocese was renamed in 1988 from the former Diocese of Belley to the Diocese of Belley–Ars. Coextensive with the civil department of Ain, in the Region of Rhône-Alpes, the diocese is a suffragan see of the Archdiocese of Lyon. The cathedra of the bishop is at Belley Cathedral. The current bishop is Guy Claude Bagnard, appointed in 1987.

Although suppressed at the time of the Napoleonic Concordat (1801), the Diocese of Belley was re-established in 1822 and took from the Archdiocese of Lyon the arrondissements of Belley, Bourg, Nantua and Trévoux, and from the Archdiocese of Chambéry the Arrondissement of Gex.

History

Local tradition maintains that Belley was evangelized in the 2nd century by the martyrs Marcellus and Valerian, companions of St. Pothinus. The first bishop of historic certainty is Vincentius, mentioned in 552. Others who occupied the see were St. Hippolytus, Abbot of Condat (8th century); St. Anthelm (1163–78), seventh General of the Carthusian Order; St. Arthaud (1179–90), founder of the Carthusians at Arvières; Camus (1609–29), a noted preacher and romancist; and Monseigneur François M. Richard (1872–75), later Cardinal Archbishop of Paris.

Belley honours, in a special manner, St. Amandus, Bishop of Maastricht, who founded the Benedictine Abbey of Nantua about 660; Saint-Vulbas, a patrician of Bourgogne and a war companion of King Dagobert I; Saint Rambert, killed by order of Ebroin in the 7th century, whose name has been given to Saint-Rambert-en-Bugey, a city in the diocese; Saint Trivier, the solitary, who died about 650; Saint Barnard of Vienne (9th century), who founded the great Benedictine Abbey of Ambronay (destroyed during the French Revolution) and died the Archbishop of Vienna; St. Lambert (12th century), founder of the Cistercian Abbey at Chézery; St. Roland, Abbot of Chézery during the 12th century; Saint Stephen of Châtillon, who founded the Carthusian monastery at Portes in 1115, and died Bishop of Die; Saint Stephen of Bourg, who founded the Carthusian monastery at Meyria in 1116; and Saint Jean-Baptiste Vianney (1786–1859), parish priest at Ars.

The Diocese of Belley which, in the Middle Ages, had no less than eight Carthusian monasteries, was the birthplace of the Joséphistes, a religious congregation founded by Jacques Crétenet (1606–67), a layman and surgeon who became a priest after the death of his wife; of the teaching order of the Sisters of St. Charles, founded by Charles Demia of Bourg (1636–89); and of three teaching orders founded in the first half of the 19th century: the Brothers of the Society of the Cross of Jesus; the Brothers of the Holy Family of Belley, and the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Bourg. In 1858 a Trappist monastery was established in the deprived Dombes district.

Cardinal Louis Aleman (1390–1450) and Sister Rosalie (1787–1856), noted in the history of modern Parisian charities, were both native of the Diocese of Belley. Saint Pierre-Louis-Marie Chanel was born at Cuet near Bourg. For thirty years of its existence (1701–31), "Journal de Trévoux", a valuable repertory of the literary and religious history of the period, was published by the Jesuits at Trévoux (now a suburb of Lyon), in the diocese. The church at Brou, near Bourg, was built under the direction of Margaret of Austria, widow of Philibert II the Fair, Duke of Savoy.

Bishops of Belley

To 1000

• Audax
• Tarniscus
• Migetius
• Vincent 555–567
• Evrould
• Claude I
• Félix 585–589
• Aquilin
• Florentin v.650
• Hypodimius
• Ramnatius(Pracmatius)
• Bertere
• Ansemonde 722
• Saint-Hipolyte
• Gondoal
• Agisle
• Euloge
• Adorepert
• Ermonbert
• Rodoger
• Rhitfroy
• Étienne I v.790
• Ringuin
• Sigold
• Adabald 886–899
• Étienne II v.900
• Elisachar 915–927
• Isaac
• Jérôme v.932
• Hérice
• Didier
• Herdulphe 985
• Eudes I 995–1003

1000–1300

• Aymon c.1032–1055
• Gauceran v.1070
• Ponce I 1091–1116
• Amicon v.1118–1121
• Ponce de Balmey v.1124–1129
• Berlion v.1134
• Bernard de Portes 1134–1140
• Guillaume I 1141–1160
• Ponce de Thoire v.1162
• Saint Anthelme 1163–1178
• Renaud 1178–1184
• Artaldus 1188–1190
• Eudes II 1190
• Bernard II 1198–1207
• Benoit de Langres v.1208
• Bernard de Thoire-Villars 1211–1212
• Boniface de Thoire-Villars 1213
• Jean de Rotoire
• Pierre de Saint-Cassin
• Boniface de Savoie 1232–1240, Bishop-elect,Administrator
• Bernard IV 1244
• Pierre II 1244–1248
• Thomas de Thorimbert 1250
• Jean de Plaisance 1255–1269
• Bernard V v.1272
• Berlion D'Amisin v.1280–1282
• Guillaume
• Pierre de La Baume 1287–1298
• Jean de La Baume

1300–1500

• Thomas II 1309
• Jacques de Saint-André 1325
• Amédée 1345
• Guillaume de Martel 1356–1368
• Edouard de Savoie 1370–1373
• Nicolas de Bignes 1374–1394
• Rodolphe de Bonet 1413
• Guillaume Didier 1430–1437
• Perceval de La Baume
• Aimeric Segaud
• Pierre de Bolomier v.1458
• Guillaume de Varax v.1460–1462
• Jean de Varax v.1467–1505

1500–1800

• Claude de Estavayer 1507–1530
• Philippe de La Chambre 1530–1536
• Antoine de La Chambre 1536–1575
• Jean-Godefroi Ginod 1576–1604
• Jean-Pierre Camus 1608–1629
• Jean de Passelaigne 1629–1663
• Jean-Albert Belin 1663–1677
• Pierre du Laurent 1678–1705
• François Madot 1705–1712
• Jean du Doucet 1712–1745
• Jean-Antoine Tinseau 1745–1751
• Gabriel Cortois de Quincey 1751–1790, last bishop of Belley

French Constitutional Church

• Jean-Baptiste Royer 1791–1793, constitutional bishop

1800-Present

• Alexande-Raymond Devie † (13 Jan 1823 Appointed – 25 Jul 1852 Died)
• Georges-Claude-Louis-Pie Chalandon † (25 Jul 1852 Succeeded – 4 Feb 1857 Appointed, Archbishop of Aix
• Pierre-Henri Gérault de Langalerie † (14 Feb 1857 Appointed – 30 Sep 1871 Appointed, Archbishop of Auch)
• François-Marie-Benjamin Richard de la Vergne † (16 Oct 1871 Appointed – 7 May 1875 Appointed, Coadjutor Archbishop of Paris)
• Jean-Joseph Marchal † (8 Jun 1875 Appointed – 30 Jan 1880 Appointed, Archbishop of Bourges)
• Pierre-Jean-Joseph Soubiranne † (30 Jan 1880 Appointed – Oct 1887 Resigned)
• Louis-Henri-Joseph Luçon † (8 Nov 1887 Appointed – 21 Feb 1906 Appointed, Archbishop of Reims)
• François-Auguste Labeuche † (13 Jul 1906 Appointed – 18 Mar 1910 Died)
• Adolph Manier † (13 Apr 1910 Appointed – 30 Jul 1929 Died)
• Virgile-Joseph Béguin † (15 Nov 1929 Appointed – 24 Dec 1934 Appointed, Archbishop of Auch
• Amédée-Marie-Alexis Maisonobe † (29 May 1935 Appointed – 15 Nov 1954 Died)
• René-Fernand-Eugène Fourrey † (2 Jun 1955 Appointed – 17 May 1975 Retired)
• René-Alexandre Dupanloup † (17 May 1975 Succeeded – 7 Nov 1986 Resigned)
• Guy-Marie Bagnard (8 Jul 1987 Appointed – 15 June 2012 Resigned)
• Pascal Roland (since 15 June 2012)

See also

• Belley
• Bugey
• Catholic Church in France

References

1. Jean Irénée Depéry, Histoire hagiologique de Belley, (in French), Volume 2 (Bourg: Bottier, 1835), pp. 247-261.
2. C.W. Previté-Orton, Early History of the House of Savoy, (Cambridge University Press, 1912), 29.
3. Boniface was consecrated a bishop in Lyon by Pope Innocent IV in 1245, according to Matthew of Paris (IV, p. 425 ed. Luard).

Sources

• (in French) Official website Archived 9 March 2011 at the Wayback Machine
• Catholic Encyclopedia: Diocese of Belley

46°12′17″N 5°13′32″E / 46.20472°N 5.22556°E / 46.20472; 5.22556

• Catholicism
• France

• Roman Catholic dioceses in France
• 5th-century establishments in sub-Roman Gaul