LISIEUX. – Ancient diocese and shrine, seat of a subprefecture in the Calvados department, in northern France (Normandy). The Roman Noviomagus, capital of the Lexovii in the Second Lugdunensis, corresponds to present-day Lisieux. The Normans occupied it in 889; it became part of the Duchy of Normandy and was reunited with the Kingdom of France in 1203.
The list of its bishops, however, is very incomplete up to the end of the 10th century. Among the most notable are: Teobaldo, who attended the Councils of Orléans in 538 and 549; Eterio, who was forced to leave his see temporarily in 584 (Gregory of Tours, Hist. Franc., VI, 36); Launobadis, present at the Synod of 650 in Chalon-sur-Saône; Friculfo, who came to Rome in 825; Airaudo, present at the Synods of Soissons in 853 and of Ponthieu in 876. Thereafter the series is continuous. Later bishops include: Nicola Oresme (14th century); Pierre Cauchon (1422), one of the judges of Joan of Arc; Thomas Bazin (15th century); Philippe Cospeau during the reign of Louis XIII. The diocese was suppressed in 1790 and, under the Concordat of 1801, was incorporated into the Diocese of Bayeux.
The ancient cathedral is the church of St Peter, begun c. 1170 by Bishop Arnulf. The ambulatory of the apse and its chapels date from the early 13th century. The façade, with two towers at the sides, is also from the same century: the northern tower was left unfinished and rises 40 m, while the southern tower, added in the 16th century, reaches 70 m with its spire. In the crossing stands a central lantern tower built in 1452. On the south side of the crossing is an elegant portal between two buttresses, dating from the late 13th century and known as the “Porta Paradisi.” The interior of the nave (110 m long), supported by massive cylindrical piers, is a fine example of 13th-century Norman Gothic, with some features linking it to the churches of St Stephen in Caen and the cathedral of Bayeux. The apse chapel was rebuilt by Bishop Pierre Cauchon (1432–42), who was buried there. The stained glass dates from the 13th to 15th centuries. Attached to the cathedral was the episcopal palace, whose façade was erected by Bishop Cospeau during the reign of Louis XIII; it now serves as a museum, library, and courthouse.
Notable too is the Gothic church of St James, built by Guillemot de Samains between 1496 and 1501, with a three-apsed choir, fine 16th-century stained glass, and carved stalls partly from the ancient Cistercian abbey of Val-Richer, founded in the second half of the 12th century by a disciple of St Bernard, Thomas, who became its first abbot (Cottineau, II, col. 3264). The abbey was later converted into a château by the historian Guizot. The church of St James was heavily damaged in the last war, as was the nearby church of St Désir beside the former Benedictine convent. The Carmelite convent, founded in 1835, became famous as the home of St Thérèse of the Child Jesus (v.). The convent chapel, built between 1845 and 1852, was extended between 1920 and 1922; the Saint’s relics repose in a silver sarcophagus with Limoges enamels and onyx, a gift from Brazil.
A large monumental basilica is under construction between the monastery and the cemetery. At the place called Les Buissonnets is preserved the house where St Thérèse of the Child Jesus spent her childhood; the room she occupied has been turned into an oratory.