MEAUX, DIOCESE OF. — A city and diocese in the department of Seine-et-Marne (France). It covers an area of 5,664 sq km with 407,137 inhabitants, of whom 350,000 are Catholic. The diocese is divided into 2 archdeaconries, 5 deaneries and 29 districts, with 531 parishes served by 301 secular priests and 21 regular clergy; it has 8 male and 83 female religious communities (Ann. Pont., 1951, p. 267). It is a suffragan of Paris.
Meaux also had an episcopal list at the end of the 9th century, mentioned by Bishop Hildegar in the life of St Fara. The first bishop was Desiderius, followed by 19 Valdebertus, 20 Paro, 36 Hildegar; but Desiderius, placed first in the lists, was instead Bishop of Paris, and Valdebertus was Abbot of Luxeuil. Among the bishops of Meaux may be recognized: Rigmo, commemorated on 28 May in the Martyrologium Hieronymianum; Medoveus, present at the Council of Orléans (549); Gundolandus, who attended the Council of Paris (614) and of Clichy (627); Burgundofarus (643), commemorated on 28 May in the Hieronymianum, and Hildebertus on 27 May; Erlingus, known from a privilege of 683; Romanus, to whom Pope Zachary wrote in 748; Vulfranus, present in Rome in 769; Hubertus, present at the Councils of Soissons and Verberie (853); Hildegarus, at the Council of Senlis (856); Ragenfredus, at that of Ponthion (876); Sigimundus, taken prisoner by the Normans in 888 when they captured Meaux; Agelrannus, present at Reims at the consecration of Bishop Eriveus. In more recent times...
The cathedral of Meaux was begun in 1175 by Bishop Gauthier de Provins and the architect was Gautier de Varinfroy. New chapels and other works were commissioned in 1322 by Charles the Fair; Rose, a wealthy merchant of Meaux, added the chapel of the Blessed Sacrament. More notable was the restoration begun in 1335 according to the design of Nicolas de Chaume, which lasted beyond 1390, and new works from 1459 to 1500. Then came the damage inflicted by the Huguenots in 1563, the destruction of the reliquaries of the Treasury, the choir, the statues, etc.; followed by the transformations of Cardinal de Bissy (1723–31); good restorations in the first decades of the 20th century have restored the cathedral to its original design.