Diocese of Aire and Dax


The Diocese of Aire and Dax is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in France. It comprises the département of Landes, in the région of Gascony in Aquitaine.
It was a suffragan diocese of the Archdiocese of Auch under the Ancien Régime, but was not re-established until 1822, when it was again made a suffragan of the re-established Archdiocese of Auch, and was assigned the territory of the former Diocese of Aire and Diocese of Acqs. It is now a suffragan in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Bordeaux.
It has been known since 1857 as the Diocese of Aire and Dax. It is a co-cathedral diocese, with cathedras in the Cathedral St-Jean-Baptiste d' Aire and in Nôtre Dame de Dax.
On April 6, 2017, the resignation letter of recent Bishop Herve Gaschignard was officially accepted by Pope Francis following allegations that Gaschignard engaged in inappropriate behavior with young people.

History

The first reference to a bishop of Aire, on the river Adour, in history is to Marcellus, represented at the Council of Agde, 506. Aire was also the home of St. Philibert; it numbered among its bishops during the second half of the sixteenth century François de Foix, Count of Candale, an illustrious mathematician, who translated Euclid and founded a chair of mathematics at the University of Bordeaux, though he never visited his diocese.
In 1572, on the death of Bishop Christophe de Candale, the Capitular Vicar of Aire submitted a status report to King Charles IX, providing a picture of the diocese at that time. There were two Archdeacons, that of Marsan and that of Chalosse. In addition to the two archdeacons, the Cathedral Chapter was composed of ten Canons and seven Prebendaries, two semi-Prebendaries, the Master of the Children of the Choir, and the Basse-Contre. The Statutes of the Chapter were confirmed by Bishop Tristan d'Aure in 1459 or 1460.
Religious establishments included:
  • the Abbaye du Mas d'Aire
  • the Abbaye de St-Jean de la Castelle
  • the Abbaye of Saint-Loubouer
  • the Collegiate Church of Pimbo
  • the Abbaye of Pontaut
  • the Convent of Augustine Religious at Geune.
  • the Priory of Mongaillard
  • the Commanderie of St-Antoine
  • the Abbaye of Saint-Sever
  • the Jacobins, or Frères Prêcheurs de Ste-Ursule
  • the Priory of Nervis
  • the Collegial Church of Saint-Girons
  • the Commanderie of the Holy Spirit.
  • the Priory of Roquefort
  • the Commanderie de Bessaut
  • the Commanderie de St-Antoine de Gelonies
  • the Priory of Mont-de-Marsan
  • the Priory of Sen a Labrit.

Bishops

To 1000

  • 506, 533 : Marcellus
  • 585 : Rusticus
  • 614 : Palladius
  • ca. 620–630 : Philibaud
  • ca. 633–675 : Ursus
  • ca. 788 : Asinarius
  • ca. 977 : Gombaud

1000 to 1300

  • ca. 1017 : Arsius-Racca
  • 1060 : Raymond le Vieux
  • 1060–1092 : Peter I.
  • 1092–1099 : Peter II.
  • 1100–1115 : Wilhelm
  • 1116–1147 : Bonhomme
  • 1148–ca. 1176 : Vital de Saint-Hermes
  • ca. 1176–1179 : Odon d’Arbéchan
  • ? : Bertrand de Marsan
  • ? : Guillaume Bernard
  • 1211 : Vital de Beufmort
  • 1211 : Jourdain
  • ? : Gauthier
  • 1224–1237 : Auger
  • 1237–1266 : Pierre III. et Raymond de Saint-Martin
  • 1266–1295 : Pierre IV. de Betous
  • 1295–1307 : Martin

1300–1500

1500 to 1800

  • 1512–1516 : Antoine du Monastey
  • 1516 – 22 December 1521 : Arnaud-Guillaume d’Aydie
  • 24 April 1523 – 1530 : Charles de Gramont
  • 9 March 1530 – 6 February 1538 : Gabriel de Saluces
  • 1538–1560 : Jacques de Saint-Julien
  • 1560–4 September 1570 : Christophe de Foix-Candale
  • 1576–5 February 1594 : François de Foix-Candale
  • Vacant
  • 4 December 1606 – 1621 : Philippe Cospéan
  • 1621 – 17 January 1625 : Sébastien Bouthilier
  • 1625–1649 : Gilles Boutault
  • 1650–1657 : Charles-François de Bourlemont
  • 1657 – 12 October 1672 - Bernard de Sariac
  • 12 January 1673 – 18 December 1684 : Jean-Louis de Fromentières
  • 1693 – 29 March 1698 : Armand Bazin de Bezons
  • 1698–1706 : Louis-Gaston Fleuriau d’Armenonville
  • 1706 – 30 June 1710 : François-Gaspard de la Mer de Matha
  • 1710–1723 : Joseph-Gaspard de Montmorin de Saint-Hérem
  • 1723–1734 : Gilbert de Montmorin de Saint-Hérem
  • 1735–1757 : François de Sarret de Gaujac
  • 1758–1783 : Playcard de Raigecourt
  • 1783–1801 : Sébastien-Charles-Philibert de Cahuzac de Caux

From 1800 — Bishops of Aire and Dax

Studies

  • Instrumenta, pp. 181–185.