BÉZIERS, DIOCESE OF. - Béziers, included among the territories of the Narbonensis province in the Notitia Galliarum, is today the seat of a subprefecture in the department of Hérault.
The tradition centered on the life of St. Paul of Narbonne indicates St. Aphrodisius as the first bishop of Béziers, recorded as such in the martyrology of Usuard on March 22. Béziers was the site of several synods, among which the one of 356 is notable. The diocese was suppressed in 1790 and, after an attempt to restore it in 1817, was united with Montpellier. Its territory was devastated by the Goths and the Saracens. After 752, the reconstruction of its churches began. The oldest of these is St. Aphrodisius, with a crypt from the 10th century. The cathedral, St. Nazarius, built in the second half of the 10th century, was burned in 1209 and rebuilt between the 13th and 14th centuries; at the end of the 13th century, it was equipped with two towers on the exterior. The attached cloister dates from the 14th century. The churches of St. James and of St. Mary Magdalene, dating from the 12th century, also belong to this period; the latter was transformed in the 18th century.
(Interno Archives Photographiques) BÉZIERS – Interior of the Cathedral (13th–14th centuries).