CAHORS, Diocese of. — In France, the chief town of the department of Lot, situated on the peninsula formed by the River Lot. It is a suffragan of Albi. Area: 5,213 sq. km.; population 162,572, of whom 160,000 are Catholics, with 480 parishes, 152 diocesan priests and 74 regular clergy; two seminaries; it is divided into three archpriestships: Cahors, Figeac and Gourdon; the patron of the diocese is the Protomartyr St Stephen.
As the *civitas Cadurcorum*, it belonged in Roman times to the province of Aquitania Prima. The origins of the diocese of Cahors date back to the 3rd century. In 1317, John XXII removed the territory of Montauban from it and erected it into a diocese. Cahors was a suffragan of Bourges until 1678, when it passed to Albi; it became a departmental diocese in 1790 under Toulouse, but in 1822 the province of Albi was reconstituted and Cahors became its suffragan once more.
The cathedral, dedicated to St Stephen, dates from the 12th century and consists of a single nave with two large bays and domes resting on massive pillars. Some sculptures from about 1130 still remain, but part of the choir was rebuilt in 1285. The domes, 32 m high and 18 m in diameter, according to Rey, are of local inspiration, the first to be built in France; indeed, they served as a model for others in the same region (Angoulême, Moissac, Souillac). The high altar was consecrated on 27 July 1119 by Pope Calixtus II on his return from the Council of Toulouse. In 1324 the internal decoration of the walls was completed, later covered with plaster. In 1872, portraits of the SS. Bishops Genulfus and Urcisus of Cahors were uncovered in the first dome and in the choir. The body of the Venerable Alano of Solminihac is preserved here; he was the reformer of the abbey of Chancelade (in Périgord) and of the diocese of Cahors, and his cause of beatification has been introduced. The central façade was adorned with the portal now placed on the north façade; in the tympanum is carved the majestic scene of the Ascension.
Other notable churches are: St Urcisus the Bishop, built at the beginning of the 12th century; it is a characteristic example of the transitional period between Romanesque and Gothic, with massive quadrilateral pillars flanked by a cluster of four columns. Notre-Dame, called du Pont Vieux because it stands near the ancient Roman bridge; the central part was rebuilt and enlarged in 1466. St Bartholomew (formerly St Stephen), restored or rebuilt by John XXII, who had been baptised there; it has a single nave divided into four bays with a rectangular bell tower. St Ursula, dating from the 12th–13th centuries, with Romanesque capitals.
The palace of John XXII now serves as a museum; among other items it contains 12th-century capitals from the abbey of Marcillac (Lot). The episcopal palace, built by Bishop Guglielmo Le Jay at the end of the 16th century, is now the seat of the prefecture.
The diocese was rich in abbeys in the Middle Ages: the most famous is that of Moissac (q.v.); mention should also be made of those at Figeac, Aurillac, Marcillac, Souillac, Notre-Dame de Rocamadour, La Nouvelle de Gordon, etc.
Among the most distinguished shrines is that of the Madonna at Rocamadour, one of the most venerated in France since the 10th century.
Cahors was the birthplace of Jacques Duèze, later Pope John XXII (1316–34); at Puèch, in the diocese of Cahors, was born the Blessed Gabriel Perboyre (q.v.).