PAMIERS, DIOCESI of. — City and diocesan capital of Ariège on the right bank of the Ariège River. It has an area of 4,903 sq. km., with a population of 153,134 inhabitants, of whom 141,160 are Catholics. The diocese is divided into 5 archpriestships and 20 deaneries, with 383 parishes served by 202 diocesan priests. It has a major and a minor seminary.
On the hill of Castellas, a castle of the counts of Foix arose in the 7th century, while the abbey of Fredelas or of S. Antonino was founded over the tomb of S. Antonino (d. in 506). On 16 September 1295, Pope Boniface VIII created the diocese, whose first bishop was Bernardo Basset (1295–1314). The cathedral of Notre-Dame de Mercadal, the abbey of S. Antonino, and the town were burned and destroyed by the Huguenots.
The diocese was suppressed in 1801 and restored in 1822; it is suffragan to Toulouse. The present cathedral of S. Antonino was rebuilt in brick between 1658 and 1689, but preserves its 14th-century octagonal tower. Also built in brick is the church of Notre-Dame-du-Camp, whose façade is still from the 14th century, while the rest belongs to the 17th–18th centuries. Of the church and the octagonal tower of the Cordeliers (1512), some remains survive, while the theatre was built on the site of the Jesuit church. The patron of the diocese is the martyr S. Antonino. The bishop of P. is also titular of the suppressed dioceses of Couserans and Mirepoix; parts of two other suppressed dioceses are also located within the territory: those of Alet and Comminges. Couserans preserves the ancient name of the region of the Cousorani, corresponding to that of St-Girons. One of the region’s nine cities was «Lugdunum Cousoranorum»; it later became an episcopal see around the middle of the 5th century. In the 7th century the city was then called St-Lizier, after a Portuguese bishop who is said to have defended it against the Visigoths. It was nevertheless sacked by Bernardo III, count of Comminges. The ancient cathedral was dedicated to S. Lizier. It is Romanesque, with three naves, dating from the end of the 18th century, with two lateral apses; it preserves the tomb statues of its bishops A. de Montfaucon (d. in 1303) and H. d’Ossun (d. in 1574). The ancient episcopal residence, rebuilt by Bishop B. de Marmiesse (1655–80), has now been converted into an asylum; it preserves the ancient chapel of Ste-Marie-de-la-Sède or du-Siège, from the 14th century.
Mirepoix, situated on the bank of the Hers, was made a diocese by Pope John XXII in 1317 and was suppressed by the French Revolution. Its cathedral was the church of S. Maurizio, rebuilt from 1401 to 1433 and by Bishop Lévis between 1497 and 1537; it has a single nave, with an apse surrounded by rectangular chapels. The former episcopal residence also dates from 1497.
Alet is ancient Electa, where the count of Razès founded an abbey in 813, which John XXII raised to an episcopal see; it was suppressed by the French Revolution. The abbey church of Notre-Dame, erected in the first half of the 12th century, became the cathedral; it was damaged by the Huguenots and was in the Romanesque-Provençal style, with a Gothic ambulatory around the apse. The present parish church of S. Andrea, in the southern Gothic style, dates from the end of the 14th century; a chapel preserves 14th-century frescoes depicting scenes from Benedictine life.
Comminge is ancient «Lugdunum Convenarum», today St-Bertrand de Comminge; it developed from the time of Augustus. Caligula exiled Herod Antipas there with his wife Herodias. It was destroyed by the Vandals in 408. The bishop Bertrando de l’Isle-Jourdain (1075–1123) founded a Romanesque cathedral and an episcopal residence on the hill overlooking the Garonne; a new city soon developed there, taking its name from the bishop, who was canonized in 1175. Bertrando de Got (1295–1309) later became its bishop; having become Pope Clement V (v.), he instituted there a jubilee lasting three days in every year in which the feast of the Holy Cross (3 May) fell on a Friday. The diocese was suppressed by the Revolution. The cathedral of Notre-Dame, begun by S. Bertrando in 1120, was completed in 1304 and finished by Bishop U. de Chatillon in 1349. It was damaged during the Wars of Religion. The tympanum of the portal is carved with the Twelve Apostles and the Adoration of the Magi. The stained-glass windows date from the 16th century; of great artistic value are the 66 choir stalls, with panels representing biblical figures, saints, popes, the virtues, the stars, etc.; the Treasury, with sacred furnishings from the 13th–14th centuries, is precious. The cloister preserves three Romanesque galleries and one from the 15th century. The local «Société archéologique du Midi» has converted the former chapel of the Olivetan Benedictines into a museum called «Galerie du Trophée». A sarcophagus discovered in the Christian basilica contains the inscription: Du Christe famulae tuae Aemilianae requiem et vitam aeternam.