Diocese of Lille
The Diocese of Lille is a diocese and the chief city of the northern department in France.
It covers an area of approximately 2,288 km² with a population of 1,077,399. The diocese is divided into two archdeaconries: Lille and Flanders, and five archpriest districts, comprising a total of 377 parishes (including the annexed parish of Escobecques), served by 1,569 diocesan priests and 181 religious priests. There are two minor seminaries, one seminary of philosophy, and one of theology. Additionally, there are 27 male religious communities and 247 female religious communities (Annuario Pontificio, 1951, p. 246).
Pius X, by the decree *Ut consulere* of the Sacred Consistorial Congregation (5 Feb. 1913), established a general vicariate in the city of Lille, including the civil districts of Lille, Hazebrouck, and Dunkirk, under a vicar general, titular bishop, as an auxiliary to the Archbishop of Cambrai (AAS, 5 [1913], p. 94). Then, by the consistorial decree *Concistoriali decreto* (25 Oct. 1913), he created the Diocese of Lille by separating the aforementioned territory of the general vicariate from the Archdiocese of Cambrai. Before the French Revolution, this territory was divided among the four dioceses of Tournai, Ypres, St-Omer, and Cambrai. At the same time, the church of Notre-Dame de la Treille in Lille was elevated to the rank and dignity of a cathedral, and the Diocese of Lille was assigned as a suffragan of Cambrai (ibid., pp. 481-85). The Pope delegated Cardinal Luçon, Archbishop of Reims, to preside over the ceremony of the erection of the diocese on 10 Dec. 1913. The sole vicar general and first bishop was Msgr. A. Charost in 1913, later Cardinal Archbishop of Rennes.
The settlement, known as "Isla" (from the Latin *insula*) since 1054 due to its island-like position at the confluence of the Deûle and Bucquet rivers, had already been fortified by Baldwin IV, Count of Flanders, around 1030. Conquered by Philip Augustus of France in 1213, it soon returned to the control of the Counts of Flanders, who made it a center of the linen industry.
Returned to France in 1320, it passed to the Duchy of Burgundy in 1369, flourishing especially in the 15th century under Duke Philip the Good. It then came under the Habsburgs, to whom Louis XIV ceded it in 1667. In 1708, it was conquered by Prince Eugene, but the Treaty of Utrecht definitively returned it to France. The great urban development of Lille occurred in the 19th century with the linen industry and more recently with the chemical industry, facilitated by proximity to the coal basin.
Among the churches of Lille are St. Maurice in Gothic style; St. Catherine, built in the 15th century but with renovations in the 16th and 17th centuries; and St. Mary Magdalene, with a central plan and dome from the late 18th century.
Catholic University of Lille
The Catholic University of Lille began with free courses established on 23 Dec. 1874. Following the proclamation of freedom for higher education (law of 12 July 1875), the Institut catholique was inaugurated on 18 Nov. 1875, comprising, in addition to some chairs in sciences and letters, a Faculty of Law, legally constituted on 28 Oct. 1875. The following year, the Faculties of Letters (25 Nov. 1876) and Sciences (22 Dec. 1876) were established, and "free courses" in medicine and pharmacy were instituted. With these three faculties, the Institut catholique legally assumed the title of Université catholique de Lille. It was canonically erected by decree of 8 Nov. 1876 and by the brief *Ad catholica Ecclesiae* (16 Dec. 1876) of Pius IX. Today, it comprises, in addition to the aforementioned three faculties, a Faculty of Medicine, established on 8 July 1877, and a Faculty of Theology, inaugurated on 13 Nov. 1877.
Subsequently, the following higher schools were added:
1) Hautes-Etudes industrielles (civil engineering, electrical engineering, chemistry);
2) Hautes-Etudes commerciales;
3) École d'expertise-comptable;
4) Institut des sciences sociales et politiques;
5) Journalism (the only higher school of its kind in France);
6) École des missionnaires du travail (for ecclesiastics destined to be "aumôniers du travail");
7) École d’infirmières hospitalières;
8) École des sages-femmes, Service social, Pédagogie infantile.
Within the Catholic university district of France, Lille comprises only the ecclesiastical province of Cambrai (dioceses: Cambrai, Lille, Arras), a region, however, flourishing in schools, industries, and commerce. The mixed Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy, unique among all Catholic faculties in France, admits students from other parts of the nation and abroad (cf. letter from the Secretariat of State of His Holiness, 14 Jan. 1913; AAS, 5 [1913], p. 53 ff.). The Bishop of Lille serves as its Grand Chancellor.
The University is housed in extensive buildings. The student body, numbering 270 in 1877, now exceeds 2,000.
