Lisieux

LISIEUX. - Ancient diocese and shrine, district capital in Calvados, in northern France (Normandy). Noviomagus of the Romans, capital of the Lexovii in the Second Lugdunensis, it corresponds to present-day L. The Normans occupied it in 887; it formed part of the Duchy of Normandy; it was reunited with the Kingdom of France in 1203.

The catalogue of its bishops, however, is very incomplete down to the end of the 10th century. Among the best known are remembered Theobald, who was present at the Councils of Orléans in 538 and 549; Eterius, forced in 584 to leave his see temporarily (Gregory of Tours, Hist. Franc., VI, 36); Launobadis, present at the Synod of 650 at Chalon-sur-Saône; Friculf, who came to Rome in 825; Airard, present at the Synods of Soissons in 853 and of Ponthion in 876. Thereafter the series is in order. Later there are: Nicholas Oresme (14th century); Pierre Cauchen (1432), one of the judges of Joan of Arc; Thomas Bazin (15th century); Philippe Cospeau in the time of Louis XIII. The diocese was suppressed in 1790; by the Concordat of 1801 it became part of the diocese of Bayeux.

The ancient cathedral is the church of St. Peter, begun around the year 1170 by Bishop Arnulf. The ambulatory of the apse and its adjoining chapels are from the beginning of the 13th century. From the same century is the facade, ending at the sides with two towers, the north one unfinished, which rises to 40 m., the other, the south one, which was added in the 16th century and with its spire reached a height of 70 m. In the crossing too there rises a central tower with a lantern executed in 1452. On the south side of the crossing itself there opens an elegant portal between two buttresses which is from the end of the 12th century; it is called the Gate of Paradise. The interior of the central nave (110 m. long), bounded by sturdy cylindrical pillars, constitutes a fine example of 13th-century Norman Gothic, which in some parts connects with the churches of St. Stephen of Caen and with the cathedral of Bayeux. The chapel of the apse was rebuilt by Bishop Pierre Cauchen (1432-42), who was buried there. The stained-glass windows are from the 13th-15th centuries. Annexed to the cathedral was the episcopal palace, whose facade was erected by Bishop Cospeau in the time of Louis XIII; it is currently used as a museum, library and courthouse. Also notable is the Gothic church of St. James erected by Guillemot de Samains between 1496 and 1501, with a triconchal apse, fine 16th-century stained-glass windows and carved stalls that come in part 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 was its first abbot (Cottineau, II, col. 3264). The abbey was transformed into a castle by the historian Guizot. The church of St. James was heavily damaged in the last war, as was also the other one of St. Desiderius near the ancient Convent of the Benedictines. The Convent of the Carmelites, founded in 1835, has become famous for the residence of St. Thérèse (v.) of the Child Jesus. The chapel of the convent, erected between 1845 and 1852, was extended between 1920 and 1922; the Saint is laid in a silver sarcophagus with Limoges enamels and onyxes, offered by Brazil.

Between the monastery and the cemetery a great monumental basilica is being built. In the locality known as Les Buissonnets the house is preserved where St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus spent her childhood; the room she lived in has been transformed into an oratory.

Enrico Josi