GAP. - A city and diocese in southern France, capital of the department of the Hautes Alpes, on the river Luve, suffragan of Aix. The diocese has an area of 5,670 sq. km. and a population of 85,000, of whom 80,000 are Catholics. It comprises 202 parishes with 250 churches, served by only 152 diocesan priests and 3 regulars. The patron saint of the diocese is St. Arnold.
The Germanician Martyrology records on 3 February the bishops Tercio and Remedio of G., not mentioned in any 6th-century document. On 12 April the same Martyrology mentions a Constantius or Constantinus, who attended the Council of Épaone in 517 and later the provincial synods of 527 and 529. Other bishops include: Vellesius, c. 549-541; Sagittarius, deposed in 579; Aredius, in correspondence with Gregory the Great (Jaffé-Wattenbach 1748, 1832); Volatinius, who attended the Council of Paris in 614; Potentissimus (c. 650); Sinfarinus (c. 739); Donadius (c. 788); Briccius (c. 879). For a long time Gap belonged to Provence; in 1632 its territory passed to the Dauphiné, though the city remained under the authority of the bishop. In 1512 it was united to the French crown, but the bishops continued to bear the title of Counts of Gap until the Revolution.