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The former French diocese of Saintes existed from the sixth century to the French Revolution. Its see was located in Saintes in western France, in the modern department of Charente-Maritime. After the Concordat of 1801, its territory passed mainly to the diocese of La Rochelle.
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History
Saintes has numerous Roman monuments, including a large amphitheater and an arch dedicated to Germanicus, the nephew of the Emperor Tiberius.
The oldest bishop to whom a date can be assigned is Bishop Peter, who took part in the Council of Orléans (511).
The first reference to a bishop, however, is to one Eutropius. Venantius Fortunatus, in a poem written in the second half of the sixth century, makes explicit mention of him in connection with Saintes: Urbis Santonicae primus fuit iste sacerdos. A quite different tale is related, however, by Venantius' friend, Gregory of Tours, in a work called de gloria martyrum (I. 56), with a cautious ut fertur ('as is said'), indicating Gregory's doubt as to the historicity of the narrative. Eutropius was said to have been consecrated a bishop and sent to Gaul by Pope Clement I in the late first century; at Saintes he began converting people to Christianity, but enraged pagans killed him with a blow to the head. (He is later given a virgin companion, Eustella, the daughter of the local king, who pays the butchers of the town some 150 solidi apiece to kill Eutropius and Eustella.) Were it true, Saintes would be the only church of Gaul which Gregory traces back to the first century, though far from the only church which makes such a claim to antiquity. The evidence is much weakened, in the view of Louis Duchesne, by Gregory's remark that no one knew the history of St. Eutropius before the removal of his relics to a church built in Eutropius' honor by Bishop Palladius of Saintes, which took place about 590. It is at this late date that the legend of Eutropius as a martyr seems to have begun.
Among the bishops of Saintes are several popularly believed to have been saints, including Vivianus, Trojanus, Concordius, Palladius, and Leontius (of the fifth to seventh centuries). Other notable bishops include:
In 1568 during the French Wars of Religion the Cathedral of Saint-Pierre was nearly completely destroyed, except for the tower.
The Cathedral Chapter had five dignitaries: the Dean, the two archdeacons, the Scholastica, and the Precentor. Except for the Dean, the dignitaries were appointed by the Bishop. There were twenty-four prebends. In the early thirteenth century, Innocent III had to warn the Chapter not to allow the number of Canons to exceed forty.
During the French Revolution, when the Civil Constitution of the Clergy instituted a national church, and the nation was redivided into dioceses which matched as far as possible the civil departments into which the administration of the state was divided, the diocese of Saintes and the diocese of La Rochelle were combined into the Diocese of Charente-Inferieure. Both Bishop de La Rochefoucauld and Bishop de Coucy refused to take the oath of loyalty to the Civil Constitution, as required by law. They were therefore deposed. The electors of Charente-Infeurieure assembled on 27 February 1791 and elected Fr. Isaac-Étienne Robinet, the curé of Saint-Savinien-du-Port as their Constitutional Bishop. He made his formal entry into Saintes on 31 March, and took formal possession of the cathedral on 10 April. He roused up the anti-clerical feelings of the populace against the non-jurors, but, once roused, they turned against all the clergy, including Robinet. In November 1793 the crypt of the cathedral was broken into, and the supposed relics of S. Eutropius were thrown out of their tomb. Bishop Robinet resigned on 6 December 1793, and took up residence with his brother at Torxé, where he died on 8 September 1797.
As a result of the negotiations leading to the Concordat of 1801 between First Consul N. Bonaparte and Pope Pius VII, the diocese of Saintes was suppressed.
On 19 May 1843 the supposed relics of S. Eusebius were discovered in the crypt of the Cathedral, and on 14 October 1845 they were solemnly transferred to a new resting place.
On 22 January 1852, the title 'Bishop of Saintes' (though not the diocese itself) was revived by Pope Pius IX and conferred on the Bishop of La Rochelle, Clément Villecourt (1836–1856). The bishops of La Rochelle have enjoyed the additional episcopal title since that time.
Councils
Several councils were held at Saintes. In 562 or 563, the Archbishop of Bordeaux held a provincial Council in Saintes, for the purpose of dealing with Bishop Emerius of Saintes, who had been elected uncanonically. Emerius was deposed by the council, and Heraclius, a priest of Bordeaux, appointed by the council in his place. Heraclius was then sent off to Paris to obtain recognition from Charibert, the new King of the Franks. The King, however, was greatly angered at the bishops, since his late father had ordered the consecration and installation of Emerius, whose deposition was therefore an insult to royal power. Heraclius was sent into exile. Archbishop Leontius of Bordeaux, who had presided at the council, was heavily fined, and additional fines were imposed on the other bishops as well.
Other councils or synods were held in 579, 1074 or 1075, and 1081. Synods were also held in 1083, 1088, 1089, and 2 March 1097.