PAMIERS, DIOCESE OF
PAMIERS, DIOCESE OF. – Town and episcopal see, capital of the Ariège department on the right bank of the Ariège River. It has an area of 4,903 sq. km and a population of 155,134, of whom 141,160 are Catholic. 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 there stood in the 7th century a castle of the Counts of Foix, while over the tomb of St. Antoninus (d. 560) the abbey of Fredelas or St. Antoninus was founded. On 16 September 1295 Pope Boniface VIII erected the diocese, and its first bishop was Bernard Sasset (1295–1314). The cathedral of Notre-Dame de Mercadal, the abbey of St. Antoninus, and the town were burned and destroyed by the Huguenots.
The diocese was suppressed in 1801 and re-established in 1822; it is a suffragan of Toulouse. The present cathedral of St. Antoninus was rebuilt in brick between 1658 and 1689 but preserves the octagonal tower of the 14th century. Also of brick is the church of Notre-Dame-du-Camp, whose façade still belongs to the 14th century, while the rest dates from the 17th–18th centuries. Of the church and octagonal tower of the Cordeliers (1512) some remains survive, while on the site of the Jesuit church the theatre was built. The patron saint of the diocese is the martyr St. Antoninus. The bishop of Pamiers also holds the titular sees of the suppressed dioceses of Couserans and Mirepoix; parts of two other suppressed dioceses, Alet and Comminges, also lie within its territory. The name Couserans preserves the ancient designation of the region of the *Cousorani*, corresponding to that of St-Girons. One of the nine towns of the region was *Lugdunum Cousoranum*, which later became an episcopal see about the middle of the 5th century. In the 7th century the town was called St-Lizier after a Portuguese bishop who is said to have defended it against the Visigoths. It was however sacked by Bernard III, Count of Comminges. The ancient cathedral was dedicated to St. Lizier. It is Romanesque, with three naves, dating from the end of the 12th century, with two lateral apses; it preserves the tomb statues of its bishops A. de Montfaucon (d. 1303) and H. d’Ossun (d. 1574). The old episcopal palace, rebuilt by Bishop B. de Marmiesse (1655–80), is now a lunatic asylum; it preserves the ancient chapel of Ste-Marie-de-la-Sède or du-Siège, of the 14th century.
Mirepoix, situated on the banks of the Hers, was created a diocese by Pope John XXII in 1317 and was suppressed during the French Revolution. Its cathedral was the church of St. Maurice, 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 old episcopal palace also dates from 1497.
Alet is the ancient *Electa*, where the Count of Razès founded in 813 an abbey which John XXII raised to an episcopal see, suppressed during the French Revolution. The abbey church of Notre-Dame, built in the first half of the 12th century, became the cathedral; it was ruined by the Huguenots and was in Provençal Romanesque style with a Gothic ambulatory around the apse. The present parish church of St. Andrew, in southern Gothic style, dates from the end of the 14th century; a chapel preserves 14th-century frescoes depicting scenes from Benedictine life.
Comminges is the ancient *Lugdunum Convenarum*, today St-Bertrand de Comminge; it developed from the time of Augustus. Caligula exiled Herod Antipas with his wife Herodias there. It was destroyed by the Vandals in 408. Bishop Bertrand de l’Isle-Jourdain (1075–1123) built a Romanesque cathedral and an episcopal palace on the hill overlooking the Garonne; a new town soon grew up there, taking its name from the bishop who was canonized in 1175. Later its bishop was Bertrand de Got (1205–1309), who, upon becoming Pope Clement V (v.), instituted a three-day jubilee in every year in which the Feast of the Holy Cross (3 May) falls on a Friday. The diocese was suppressed during the Revolution. The cathedral of Notre-Dame, begun by B. Bertrand in 1120, was completed in 1304 and finished by Bishop U. de Châtillon in 1349. It was damaged in the religious wars. In the tympanum of the portal are carved the Twelve Apostles and the Adoration of the Magi. The stained glass is of the 16th century; of great artistic value are the 66 stalls of the choir with panels representing biblical figures, saints, popes, the virtues, stars, etc.; precious is the Treasury with sacred furnishings of the 13th–14th centuries. The cloister preserves three Romanesque galleries and one of the 15th century. The local *Société archéologique du Midi* has converted into a museum, called the *Galerie du Trophée*, the ancient chapel of the Olivetan Benedictines. A sarcophagus found in the Christian Basilica bears the inscription: *Da Christe famulae tuae Aemiliae requiem et vitam aeternam*.