MEAUX, Diocese of. - City and diocese in the department of Seine-et-Marne (France). It has an area of 5664 sq km with 407,137 inhabitants, of whom 350,000 are Catholics. The diocese is divided into 2 archdeaconries; 5 archpriesthoods and 29 deaneries, 531 parishes served by 301 secular priests and 21 regulars; it has 8 male religious communities and 83 female ones (Ann. Pont., 1951, p. 267). It is a suffragan of Paris.
Meaux too had an episcopal catalogue at the end of the 9th century, mentioned by Bishop Hildegarius in the life of St. Faro. The first bishop was Desiderius, the 19th Valdebert, the 20th Faro, the 36th Hildegarius; but Desiderius, placed first in the lists, was in fact bishop of Paris, and Valdebert was abbot of Luxeuil; those who can be recognized as bishops of Meaux are Rigomer, mentioned on 28 May in the Hieronymian Martyrology; Medovecus, present at the Council of Orléans (549); Gundwald, who took part in the Council of Paris (614) and of Clichy (627); Burgnodofarus (643), mentioned on 28 May in the Hieronymian Martyrology, and Hildebert on 27 May; Erlingus, known from a privilege of 683; Romanus, to whom Pope Zachary wrote in 748; Wulfram, present in Rome in 769; Hugbert, present at the Council of Soissons and of Verberie (853); Hildegarius, at the Council of Senlis (856); Ragenfrid, at that of Ponthion (876); Sigimund, taken prisoner by the Normans in 888 when they conquered Meaux; Agelrannus, present at Reims at the consecration of Bishop Eriveus. In more recent times the bishops remembered are J. du Drac (1459-73); G. Briçonnet (1516-33); D. Segnier (1637-59); Card. De Ligny (1659-81). Bossuet (v.) was bishop of Meaux from 7 February 1682 until his death (1704).
One of the most venerated sanctuaries was the abbey church of Bishop St. Faro, today destroyed, whose plan is known from Villard de Honnecourt.
Meaux was part of the Kingdom of Austrasia, and was later taken by the Normans in 887, who burned the city and took Bishop Sigimund prisoner. In the 10th century Theobald, count of Troyes, also became count of Meaux; his son Odo I incorporated it into the county of Champagne. Meaux then acquired commercial importance. It was later reunited with the crown of France by Philip the Fair in 1285. In 1385 it suffered from the revolt of the Jacquerie. In 1422 it was taken by Henry IV of England; recaptured in 1439, it suffered during the wars of religion; in 1562 the Huguenots plundered the churches.
The Cathedral is dedicated to St. Stephen. Bishop Hildegarius in the mid-9th century, in the life of St. Faro, speaks of the church of Meaux. But its origins remain obscure. In the 12th century there were already some canons. In 1723 Card. de Bissy, while digging to build the burial place for the bishops, found beneath the Cathedral a crypt, remains of columns and a capital of the 11th century; other remains of similar columns were found in 1840, together with remains of calcined materials and ashes that suggested the fire of the Normans. It is certain that in 1798 Mary of France, daughter of Louis VII and wife of Count Henry I of Champagne, was buried there. Between 1225 and 1235 the architect Villard de Honnecourt drew the « presbyterum Pharanonis in Miasus » and « les ligements de l'église Miasus de St-Etienne ». The building, however, was rebuilt in 1253 in the time of Bishop
Peter de Cuisy, and the architect was Gautier de Varinfroy. A new chapel and other works were however commissioned in 1322 by Charles the Fair; Rose, a rich merchant of Meaux, added the chapel of the Blessed Sacrament; more notable were the restoration begun in 1335 on a design by Nicolas de Chaume, which lasted beyond 1390, and new works from 1459 to 1500. Then came the damage by the Huguenots in 1563, the destruction of the reliquaries of the Treasury, of the choir, of the statues, etc.; then the alterations by Card. De Bissy (1723-31); good restorations in the first decades of the 20th century have brought the Cathedral back to its original design.