GAP. - City and diocese in southern France, capital of the department of Hautes-Alpes, on the river Luye, a suffragan of Aix. The diocese has an area of 5,670 sq km and counts 85,000 inhabitants, of whom 80,000 are Catholics. It possesses 202 parishes with 250 churches, served only by 152 diocesan priests and 8 regulars. The patron of the diocese is St. Arnulf.

The Hieronymian Martyrology lists under 3 February as bishops of G. Teridius and Remedius, not remembered in any document of the 5th century. In the said Martyrology under 12 April, however, a Constantius or Constantinus is remembered, present at the Council of Epaon in 517 and later at the provincial Synods of 527 and 529. There are then: Vellesius, ca. 549-54; Sagittarius, deposed in 579; Aredius, in epistolary contact with Gregory the Great (Jaffé-Wattenbach 1748, 1832); Vol Antonius, who was at the Council of Paris of 644; Potentissimus (ca. 650); Symphorianus (ca. 739); Donadius (ca. 789); Biricus (ca. 879). It was part of Provence for a long time; in 1632 the territory passed to the Dauphiné, though the city remained under the authority of the bishop; in 1512 it was united to the crown of France, but the bishops continued to hold the title of counts of G. until the Revolution.

Bibliography3 works

BIBL.: L. Duchesne, Les fastes épiscopaux de l'ancienne Gaule, I, 2nd ed., Paris 1907, pp. 286-88; G. de Manceyer, Les origines chrétiennes de la II Narbonnaise, ibid. 1925; Guide de la France chrétienne et missionnaire 1948-49, ibid. 1948, pp. 325, 378-77.

Enrico Jusi

@incollection{ec5_gap, author = {Josi, Enrico}, title = {Gap}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {V}, pages = {1932}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1950}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/gap} }

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