The Diocese of Amiens (Latin: Dioecesis Ambianensis; French: Diocèse d'Amiens) is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church in France. The diocese comprises the department of Somme, of which the city of Amiens is the capital. In 2022 it was estimated that there was one priest for every 6,916 Catholics in the diocese.

History

The diocese of Amiens was a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Reims during the old regime; it was made subordinate to the diocese of Paris under the Concordat of 1801, from 1802 to 1822; and then in 1822 it became a suffragan of Reims again. Louis Duchesne denies any value to the legend of two Saints Firmin, honoured on the first and twenty-fifth of September, as the first and third Bishops of Amiens. The legend is of the 8th century and incoherent. Regardless of whether a St. Firmin, native of Pampeluna, was martyred during the Diocletianic Persecution, it is certain that the first bishop known to history is St. Eulogius, who defended the divinity of Christ in the councils held during the middle of the 4th century.

Cathedral and churches

The cathedral (13th century) is a Gothic building. It was the subject of careful study by John Ruskin in his Bible of Amiens. The nave of this cathedral is considered a type of the ideal Gothic.

Cathedral Chapter

The Cathedral of Notre Dame d'Amiens was served by a Chapter composed of eight dignities and forty-six Canons. The dignities were: the Dean, the Provost, the Chancellor, the Archdeacon of Amiens, the Archdeacon of Ponthieu, the Cantor, the Master of the Schola, and the Penitentiary. The Dean was elected by the Chapter.

Churches

The city of Amiens also had a Collegiate Church of Saint-Firmin, whose Chapter was composed of a Dean and six prebendaries. All were elected by the Chapter and installed by the bishop. Saint-Nicolas-au-Cloître d'Amiens also had a Chapter, composed of a Dean and eight prebendaries, all elected by the Chapter and installed by the bishop. The church of St. Acheul, near Amiens, and formerly its cathedral, was, in the 19th century, the home of a major Jesuit novitiate. The beautiful churches of St. Ricquier and Corbie perpetuate the memory of the great Benedictine abbeys and homes of learning founded in these places in 570 and 662. In 859 the Normans invaded the valley of the Somme, and sacked the abbey of Saint-Riquier. They pillaged Amiens and held it for more than a year, until the city was ransomed by Charles the Bald.

Bishops

There is a medieval list of the Bishops of Amiens, but it first appears in the work of Robert of Torigni in the second half of the 12th century, and its names before the 8th century are very uncertain.

to 1000

1000 to 1300

1300 to 1500

1500 to 1800

From 1800

Notes and references

Sources

Reference works

Studies

Acknowledgment