Parishes 509 Sui iuris church Latin Church Area 5,780 km² Archbishop Jean Marie Henri Legrez Cathedral Albi Cathedral | Denomination Roman Catholic Rite Roman Rite Country France Patron saint Saint Cecilia | |
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Metropolitan Archdiocese of Toulouse Population
- Total
- Catholics (as of 2012)
385,700
286,600 (74.3%) Ecclesiastical province Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Toulouse | ||
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Albi (–Castres–Lavaur) (Latin: Archidioecesis Albiensis (–Castrensis–Vauriensis); French: Archidiocèse d'Albi (–Castres–Lavaur)), usually referred to simply as the Archdiocese of Albi, is a non-metropolitan archdiocese (one having no suffragan dioceses) of the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church in southern France. The archdiocese comprises the whole of the department of Tarn, and is itself currently suffragan to the Archdiocese of Toulouse, a metropolitan archdiocese. The current Archbishop of Albi is Jean Legrez, O.P. appointed archbishop by Pope Benedict XVI on Wednesday, February 2, 2011. He formerly served as Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saint-Claude, France. In 2012, in the diocese of Albi there was one priest for every 1,656 Catholics.
History
Originally erected in the 3rd century as the Diocese of Albi, the diocese at the time was the suffragan of the Archdiocese of Bourges. In 1678, the diocese was finally promoted to an Archdiocese.
Following the Concordat of 11 June 1817, the archdiocese was restored in 1822 to its former borders and title.
In February 1922, the name was changed to its current designation: the Archdiocese of Albi-Castres-Lavour.