The Diocese of Nevers (Latin: Dioecesis Nivernensis; French: 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

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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.

Bishops

To 1000

1000 to 1300

1300 to 1500

1500 to 1800

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

See also

• Catholic Church in France