The Diocese of Aire and Dax (Latin: Dioecesis Adurensis et Aquae Augustae; French: Diocèse d'Aire et 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 (Dax). 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 (pouillé) 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 (O.S.B.: four religious, a Prior, a Sacristan, a Chamberlain and an Almoner; eleven other positions vacant)
• the Abbaye de St-Jean de la Castelle (Premonstratensians: six religious priests, a child servant, and a soldier, though there were places for 18-20 religious and four novices)
• the Abbaye of Saint-Loubouer (Collegiate church: Abbot, eight Canons, Cantor)
• the Collegiate Church of Pimbo (Abbot, seven Canons and a Cantor)
• the Abbaye of Pontaut (Cistercians: Abbot, seven religious and a soldier)
• the Convent of Augustine Religious at Geune.
• the Priory of Mongaillard (O.S.B.)
• the Commanderie of St-Antoine
• the Abbaye of Saint-Sever (O.S.B.) (Abbot commendatory: Archbishop of Turin, thirteen religious, a vicar, and a soldier)
• the Jacobins, or Frères Prêcheurs de Ste-Ursule (six religious)
• the Priory of Nervis
• the Collegial Church of Saint-Girons (Abbot and eight Canons)
• the Commanderie of the Holy Spirit.
• the Priory of Roquefort (O.S.B.)
• the Commanderie de Bessaut
• the Commanderie de St-Antoine de Gelonies
• the Priory of Mont-de-Marsan (O.S.B.)
• 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

1300–1500

1500 to 1800

From 1800 — Bishops of Aire and Dax

• 1823–1827 : Jean-François-Marie Le Pappe de Trévern (also Archbishop of Strasbourg)
• 1827–1839 : Dominique-Marie Savy
• 1839 – 30 June 1856 : François-Adélaïde-Adolphe Lanneluc
• 15 December 1856 – 6 June 1859 : Prosper-Michel-Armand Hiraboure
• 26 September 1859 – 23 July 1876 : Louis-Marie-Olivier Épivent
• 18 December 1876 – 7 August 1905 : Victor-Jean-Baptiste-Paulin Delannoy
• 21 February 1906 – 1911 : François Touzet
• 1911–1930 : Maurice Charles Alfred de Cormont
• 1930–1963 : Clément Mathieu
• 1963–1978 : Fernand Pierre Robert Bézac des Martinies
• 1978–2002 : Robert Pierre Sarrabère
• 2002–2012 : Philippe Breton
• 2012–2017 : Hervé Gaschignard (fr)
• 2017–present: Nicolas Jean-Marie Souchu

See also

• Catholic Church in France
• List of Catholic dioceses in France