LIST OF THE BISHOPS OF LIMOGES

The cathedral is both the mother church of the diocese of Limoges and the bishop’s church. In its choir stands the cathedra (hence the name cathedral) on which the bishop sits during the great celebrations.

The current and 106th bishop of Limoges is Mgr François Kalist, appointed in 2009.

 

 

 

List of the bishops of Limoges

(Crédit : Contenu soumis à la licence CC-BY-SA 3.0. Source : Article Liste des évêques de Limoges de Wikipédia en français)

 

Bishops before 1000 AD

 

The oldest list of the Limoges bishops was drawn up between 1021 AD and 1034 AD by Adémar de Chabannes, a monk in St Martial abbey. Following the tradition according to which Limousin was evangelized during the 1st century it dates St Martial’s appointment back to 28 A.D. (« Primus episcopus Lemovicensis est beatus Marcialis apostolus : sedit annis XXVIII »).

According to Adémar the first successors of St Martial were Alpiniacus, Anteliniacus,Ebulius, Atticus etc 1. Adémar de Chabannes’ assertions –or rather « inventions »- (the original manuscript is kept in the library of Leyden, Netherlands) were taken up in the 17th century by Bonaventure de Saint-Amable 2 and later in Gallia Christiana Nuova3

But, as various 19th century scholars -among them H. de Lasteyrie- have shown, the dates concerning St Martial, as mentioned by Adémar and Bonaventure, do not stand against elementary criticism. Besides, it has been ascertained that Adémar, a monk in the abbey of St Martial, Limoges, intent as he was on magnifying the evangelizer of Limousin, had not been afraid of producing a piece of forgery to confirm his assertions4.

Much more reliable seems to be the list printed below, established in 1910 by Mgr Duchesne (see bibliography). There are probably omissions, or errors, due to the lack of reliable sources particularly between the middle of the 3rd century -a period when St Martial is supposed to have been preaching in Limousin- and the episcopate of Ruricius II.

  • Saint Martial, apostle of Aquitaine and first bishop of Limoges.
  • Aurélien de Limoges, second  bishop.
  • Rurice de Limoges or Ruricius or Rorice (his correspondance is known) (487-507).
  • Rurucius II, who, according to tradition, was his nephew and had presided over Saint Junien’s obsequies (testified in 535,541, 549)
  • Exocius, a bishop for 5 years (his epitaph is known) .
  • Ferréol de Limoges, or Ferreolus, celebrated  in the city of Nexon during the septennial ostensions (mentioned in 579,591)
  • Saint-Loup whose relics are kept in the church of Saint-Michael-of-the-Lions in Limoges (appointed under the reign of Clothaire II, he signed the statute of Solignac abbey in 632).
  • Simplicius
  • Felix (he sent a representative to the council of Chalon (Chalon-sur –Saône).
  • Rusticus
  • Antsindus (Antsinus ou Antsmus), attested in 683.
  • Emenus, attested in 696, 697, 700.
  • Agericus
  • Sacerdos
  • Regimpertus, attested in 817
  • Odacear, attested in 832 and 843.
  • Stodilus, attested in 846,849,855,860.
  • Aldo, attested in 860.
  • Geito
  • Anselmus, attested in 870,897,898.
  • Turpio (Turpion d’Aubusson) (898-944)
  • Ebulus II 958-963

Some hagiographies  also mention :

  • Cessateur or Cessator or Cessadre or Cossadre or Sadre (+ 732 ?), a Christian saint celebrated on November 15th 5-6
Bishops between 1000 AD and the French Revolution

This list is slightly different from the one in Gallia Christiana nuova. The main differences are given between brackets and some complementary details are added.

Bishops since 1802

References
  1. This list « multiplies the names of the bishops with the obvious purpose to fill the long period stretching from the 1st century when, according to the legend, the death of St Martial took place. (R. Limouzin-Lamothe, Le Diocèse de Limoges des origines à la fin du Moyen Âge, Paris, Leroux, 1951)
  2. Histoire de St Martial,apôtre des Gaules (…) Clermont, Jacquart, 1671-1684, 3 vol.
  3. St Martial is mentioned therein as the first bishop of Limoges without any date being given. On the contrary, the second bishop, « SŠanctus‹ Aurelianus » is mentioned for 89 AD. According to Gregory of Tours, writing in the 6th century, Pope Fabian, in the middle of the 3rd century, delegated  six missionaries –among them Martial- in order to evangelize the whole of Gaul.
  4. See particularly Alfred Leroux, La légende de saint Martial dans la littérature et l'art anciens, Limoges, Ducourtieux & Gout, 1911.
  5. Nominis : Saint Cessateur [archive]
  6. Forum orthodoxe.com : saints pour le 15 novembre du calendrier ecclésiastique 
  7. Nobiliaire universel de France: ou Recueil général des ..., Volume 14 by M. de Saint-Allais (Nicolas Viton) note de bas de page, footnote p. 187 [archive]
  8. J. Aulagne, La réforme catholique du dix-septième siècle dans le diocèse de Limoges, Paris/Limoges, Champion/Ducourtieux, 1906
  9. François de La Fayette évêque de Limoges [archive] , Lemouzi (n° 180,October 2006,)

 

Bibliographie
  • Gallia Christiana Nuova, tome II ("Ecclesia Lemovicensis")  and addenda to tome III.
  • Mgr L. Duchesne, Fastes épiscopaux de l'ancienne Gaule, Paris, Fontemoing, 1910 (tome II : "L'Aquitaine et la Lyonnaise")
  • R. Limouzin-Lamothe, Le diocèse de Limoges des origines à la fin du Moyen âge, Paris/Strasbourg, Leroux, 1951
  • New Advent /Catholic Encyclopedia>Limoges

Ouvrages cités par "Draconius" (to be completed) :

  • La Grande Encyclopédie … (LGE), tome XXII, p. 260
  • ANNUAIRE HISTORIQUE 1846 (année 1847), p. 167-170
  • TRÉSOR DE CHRONOLOGIE=TC, p. 1434-1436
  • « FRANCE ÉPISCOPAT », in Dictionnaire d’histoire et de géographie ecclésiastiques (DHGL).
  • L´épiscopat français de Clément VIII à Paul VI (1592-1973) – pp. 157-543. All the bishops and archbishops in office in France  between 30th January 1592 and1973.