Roman Catholic Diocese of Dax


The Diocese of Dax or Acqs was a Roman Catholic ecclesiastical territory in Gascony in south-west France. According to tradition it was established in the 5th century. It was suppressed after the French Revolution, by the Concordat of 1801 between First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte and Pope Pius VII. Its territory now belongs to the Diocese of Aire and Diocese of Bayonne.

History

It is not certain that the patron of the diocese, the martyr St. Vincent, was a bishop. His cult, at least, existed in the time of Charlemagne, as is proved by a note of the Wolfenbüttel manuscript of the Hieronymian Martyrology. The oldest account of his martyrdom is in a breviary of Dax, dating from the second half of the thirteenth century, but the author knows nothing of the martyr's time period or the reasons for his death.
Excavations near Dax proved the existence of a Merovingian cemetery on the site of a church which, it is claimed, was dedicated to St. Vincent by Bishop Gratianus. Gratianus, present at the Council of Agde, is the first historically known bishop. Among the other bishops of the see were St. Revellatus, St. Macarius, Cardinal Pierre Itier, Cardinal Pierre de Foix, founder of the University of Avignon and the Collège de Foix at Toulouse.
The synodal constitutions of the ancient Diocese of Dax, published by Abbé Antoine Degert, are of great historical interest for the study of the ancient constitutions and customs of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Degert in the course of this publication succeeded in rectifying certain errors in the episcopal lists of the Gallia christiana and of Father Eubel in Hierarchia catholica.
During the Great Schism, Dax, which was part of Aquitaine, belonged to the Kings of England. King Richard chose to support the popes of the Roman Obedience rather than the popes of the Avignon Obedience, who were French and likely to support the King of France in what is now called the Hundred Years' War. All of the cardinals of the Avignon obedience were deprived of their offices and benefices in the Kingdom of Richard II of England, by act of Parliament and decree of the King Dax was required to adhere to the Obedience of Rome.
About 1588 St. Vincent de Paul made his first studies with the Cordeliers of Dax, but good secondary education at Dax dates only from the establishment of the Barnabites in 1640. His learning, however, was sufficient to allow him to study at the University of Toulouse.
On 3 June 1857, the title "Bishop of Dax" was added to the titulature of the Bishop of Aire.

Bishops of Dax

Early bishops

  • Vincentius
  • Gratianus
  • Carterius
  • Liberius
  • Faustianus
  • Nicetius
  • Illidius
  • Revelatus
Sede Vacante
  • Oltherius

    Bishops of Gascony

  • Gombaud
  • Arsius-Raca
  • Raymond
  • Raymond

    Bishops of Dax, 1000–1200

  • Macarius
  • Gregory de Montaner, O.S.B.
  • Bernard de Mugron, O.S.B.
  • Raymond de Sentes
  • Guillaume de Heugas
  • Arnaud-Guillaume de Sort
  • Guillaume Bertrand

    1200–1400

  • ? Jean de Caunar
  • Fortanerius de Mauléon
  • Guilelmus de Salies
  • Arnaud Raymond de Tartas
  • Navarre de Miossenx, O.Cist.
Sede Vacante
  • Arnaud de Ville
  • Garsias Arnaud de Capenne
  • Bernard de Liposse
  • Pierre la Colre
  • Pierre Itier
  • Bernard d'Albret , O.Min.
  • Jean de Saya
  • Jean de Hanecourt
  • Jean Bauffès
  • Joannes Guterii
  • Pierre Troselli, O.P.
  • Pierre du Bosc

    1400–1600

  • Petrus Ameil de Brénac, O.E.S.A., Patriarch of Alexandria, Administrator of Dax
  • Garsias-Arnaud de Navailhes
  • Pélegrin du Fau
  • Petrus de Anglada, O.P.
  • Nicolaus Duriche, O.P.
  • Francesco Piccolpasso
  • Bernard de la Planche
  • Garsias Arnaldi de Sega
  • Beltrandus
  • Pierre de Foix, O.Min.
  • Jean de Foix
  • Bertrand de Borie
  • Arnaldus de Borie
  • Petrus de Caupena
  • Jean de la Martonie
  • Gaston de la Martonie
  • François de Noailles
  • Gilles de Noailles resigned

    1600–1801

  • Jean-Jacques du Sault
  • Philibert du Sault
  • Jacques Desclaux
  • Guillaume Le Boux, Orat.
  • Hugues de Bar
  • Paul-Philippe de Chaumont Quitry
  • *Leo de La Lanne
  • *Jean Marie de Prugues
  • Bernard d'Abbadie d'Arbocave
  • François d'Andigné
  • Louis-Marie de Suarès d'Aulan
  • Charles-Auguste Le Quien de La Neufville
  • *Jean-Jacques Saurine

    Books and articles

Studies

  • Attribution

Dax
Dax
Category:5th-century establishments in sub-Roman Gaul
Category:1801 disestablishments in France