LISIEUX. — Ancient diocese and shrine, capital of an arrondissement
in Calvados, in northern France (Normandy). Noviomagus of the Romans, capital
of the Lexovii in the second Lugdunensis, corresponds
to the present-day L. The Normans occupied it in 887; it formed
part of the Duchy of Normandy; it was united with the Kingdom
of France in 1203.
The catalogue of its bishops, however, is very incom-
plete up to the end of the 10th century. Among the best known are
Theobald, who was present at the Councils of Orléans in
538 and 549; Etherius, 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; Friculphus, who came
to Rome in 825; Airard, present at the Synods of Sois-
sons in 853 and of Ponthion in 876. Thereafter the series is
in order. Later there were: Nicola Oresme (14th
cent.); Pietro Cauchen (1432), one of the judges of Joan
of Arc; Tommaso Bazin (15th cent.); Filippo
Cospeau in the time of Louis XIII. The diocese was sup-
pressed in 1790; under the Concordat of 1801 it became
part of the diocese of Bayeux.
The ancient cathedral is the church of S. Pietro, begun
around the year 1170 by Bishop Arnulf. The ambulatory
of the apse and its chapels date from the beginning of the
13th century. The façade also dates from that century, terminating on
either side in two towers, the one to the north unfinished, rising
40 m., and the other to the south, added in the 16th century, whose
spire reached a height of 70 m. A central tower with a lantern
constructed in 1452 also rises over the crossing. On the south
side of the crossing itself there is an elegant portal between two
buttresses, dating from the end of the 12th century;
it is called the Porta Paradisi. 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 is related to the churches of S. Stefano
in Caen and to Bayeux Cathedral. The apse chapel was rebuilt
by Bishop Pietro Cauchen (1432–42), who was buried there.
The painted windows date from the 13th–15th centuries. Attached to
the cathedral was the episcopal palace, whose façade was erected
by Bishop Cospeau in the time of Louis XIII; it is currently used
as a museum, library, and courthouse. Also noteworthy is the
Gothic church of S. Giacomo, built by Guillemot de Samains between
1496 and 1501, with a three-lobed apse, beautiful 16th-century
windows, and carved choir stalls, some of which come from the
ancient Cistercian abbey of Val-Richer, founded in the second
half of the 12th century by a disciple of s. Bernardo, Tommaso,
who was its first abbot (Cottineau, II, col. 3264). The abbey was
transformed into a château by the historian Guizot. The church
of S. Giacomo was badly damaged in the last war, as was the other
church of S. Desiderio near the former Benedictine Convent. The
Carmelite Convent, founded in 1835, became famous because of
the residence there of s. Teresa (v.) of the Child Jesus. The convent
chapel, erected between 1845 and 1852, was extended between
1920 and 1922; the Saint is laid to rest in a silver sarcophagus
with Limoges enamels and onyx, offered by Brazil.
is being constructed. In the locality called ai Buissonnetts, the house
where s. Teresa of the Child Jesus spent her childhood is preserved;
the room in which she lived has been converted into an oratory.