POITIERS, Diocese of. - City and diocese in the department of Vienne in France; it comprises the two civil departments of Vienne and Deux-Sèvres with an area of 12,970 sq km and a population of 620,000 inhabitants, of whom 580,000 are Catholics, distributed in 61 deaneries with 643 parishes, served by 666 diocesan priests and 100 regulars. The major seminary is at P., the minor one at Montmorillon; it also has the "Ecole cléricale" at Châtillon-sur-Sèvre and the Collège St-Joseph at Bressuire; in the diocese there are 14 male religious communities and 195 female ones. The diocese is a suffragan of Bordeaux. It was the capital of the Pictavi under the name Limonum and formed part of the Roman province of Aquitania.
After Poitou was occupied by the Saracens, these were defeated in 732 by Charles Martel; it then passed to the Carolingian Kingdom and to the Duchy of Aquitaine, then under the English through the marriage of Henry Plantagenet to Eleanor of Aquitaine. It was reunited with the crown of France by Philip Augustus. Charles VII installed there in 1423 the Parliament of Paris, which remained there until 1436. Of the bishops of P. there are 4 catalogues earlier than the 13th century; that of Robert of Torigni, today in ms. Lat. 6042 of the National Library of Paris, ends with Gilbert de la Porée (1142-54); the other in ms. 4955 of the same Library ends with John "aux Blanches mains" (1169-82), as does ms. 450 of the Regina fund (Christina of Sweden of the Vatican Library); while ms. 711 of the same fund reaches William III (1184-97). The last three lists were compiled at St-Aubin d'Angers at the end of the 12th century, from which come the mss. Bibl. nat. 4955 and Regina 711. The catalogue contained in the great chronicle of Tours reaches as far as Bishop Philip (1233); while the Cartulary of P., known by the title of the Grand Gautier, is from the beginning of the 15th century; it seems identical to that of the chronicle of Tours but continued to the 15th century. John XXII (1316-34) dismembered from P. the territories to create the new dioceses of Maizellay and Luçon.
St. Hilary was already bishop of P. around 330; he was sent into exile after the Council of Béziers in 356 and took part in 359 in that of Seleucia of Isauria. The Hieronymian Martyrology commemorates him on 13 Jan., the day on which he died in 367 or 368. Then are commemorated Adelfius, present at the Council of Orléans in 511; Daniel took part in that of 541; he was followed by Pientius, d. after 561 and commemorated on 13 March, and then Pascentius, abbot of St-Maixent, to whom Fortunatus dedicated in 565 the Life of St. Hilary; then Maroveus, mentioned several times by Gregory of Tours between the years 585-90 (Hist. Franc., VII, 24; IX, 30, 33, 39-41, 43; X, 15, 16), and he was succeeded by Plato, archdeacon of Gregory of Tours, who presided over his entry into the diocese (id., Miracula s. Martini, IV, 132). Then Venantius Honorius Clementianus Fortunatus, whose epitaph was composed by Paul the Deacon (Hist. Langobard., II, 13). Later there were Dido, uncle of St. Leodegar of Autun around 628-70; Ansoald, who transferred to St-Maixent the relics of St. Leodegar at the end of the 7th century; John, to whom Alcuin dictated the epitaph (PL 101, 750); Ebroin, who took part in the Council of Ver in 844 and was killed by the inhabitants of P. around the year 850; Engenald, who took part in the Councils of Toul in 860 and of Douzy in 871; Ecrifidus, to whom Pope John VIII wrote in 878 (Jaffé-Wattenbach, 3145, 3181). Then are commemorated: St. Peter (1087-1115), exiled by William IX, count of P.; Gilbert de la Porée (1142-54), the blessed William Tempier (1184-97), the blessed Walter de Bruges (1278-1306); Arnaud d'Aux (1306-12), created cardinal in 1312; Guy de Malsec (1371-75) in 1375, and Simon de Gramaud (1385-91), who in 1413 became administrator of the diocese until 1422; while in 1394-95 L. De Bar was bishop, then cardinal in 1397, who was its administrator in 1423; furthermore G. G. Orsini (1449-57), the cardinals G. F. De Tremouille (1505-1507), G. De Grammont (1532), Cl. de Longwy de Giory (1534-51), A. Barberini (1632-57). Pius VII consecrated in Paris in 1805 as bishop of P. Msgr. D. de Pradt, b. in 1837; from 1849 to 1880 Msgr. L. Pie (v.) was bishop, then cardinal.
In P. Synods were held in the years 355, 389, 395, 937, 1000; 1004, 1023, 1030, 1036, 1073, 1078, 1094, 1100. Pope Pius VII granted the use of the mitre to the deacon and subdeacon ministering to the bishop in the Cathedral.
On 2 Sept. 1792 the parish priest of Niort, Jean Gozet, with his vicars Pierre Landry and Jean Philippe Marchand, were martyred in the convent of the Carmelites, beatified by Pius XI in 1926; they are venerated in a chapel of the church of Notre-Dame of Niort erected between 1491-1520. Charles VII erected in P. a university that was approved by Eugene IV with the bull of 28 May 1431; among the students was Bacon. There were ten colleges annexed to the University. In 1540 M. A. Muret was at the college of St. Martha; in 1570 Fr. Maldonatus came to P. to erect there a college of Jesuits, which in 1605 passed to the college of St. Martha, to which the college of Puygareau was later united. In 1674 the Jesuits founded a college for Irish ecclesiastical students. The University was suppressed by the French Revolution.
The Cathedral is dedicated to St. Peter. Begun in 1166, it was completed in 1271, except for the two outer towers and the upper part of the façade, finished between the 14th and 16th centuries. It was consecrated in 1379. The interior has three naves with eight bays, measuring 90 x 27 m. The windows are from the beginning of the 13th century with magnificent contemporary stained glass, among which the most notable, with the triumph of the Cross, was donated by Thibaud de Blason, seneschal of Poitou, for the victory of Navas (1212). The choir stalls are also from the 13th century. On the outside the three portals are decorated with scenes of the death, the coronation of the Virgin and the Last Judgment. On the north side is the portal called that of St. Michael, with scenes from the life of the Blessed Virgin; near the south transept are the chapels of St. Martin and St. Hilary, rebuilt in the 19th century on the presumed site of the cell of St. Martin and the dwelling of St. Hilary. Nearby is the baptistery of St. John, with a pentagonal apse and added apsidioles; in the center of the rectangular hall stands the octagonal basin; the columns come from Roman buildings, as do some of the capitals that were imitated in the 7th century: the building was later used as a parish; it was restored and enlarged after a fire in 1018 with a narthex and a small bell tower. In the walls are remains of a decoration with frescoes from the 12th-16th centuries with the Ascension, saints, emperors, the Blessed Virgin, etc. The interior is now used as a museum.
Notre-Dame-la-Grande, so called to distinguish it from Notre-Dame-la-Petite, or l'Ancienne, called "de la Chandelière." It has three naves with a choir and a central bell tower belonging to the end of the 11th century and the beginning of the 12th, while the chapels on the north side are from the 16th century. The apse on the south side, with the chapel of the Holy Sepulchre, was erected by Jvon du Fou, seneschal of Poitou, in 1475. Much venerated is the statue of Notre-Dame-des-Clefs from the 16th century. Very precious is the cycle of paintings discovered in 1857. In the center of the vault, Christ in majesty, surrounded by the symbols of the four Evangelists, the sun and the moon; above, the divine lamb among adoring cherubim; below, the Madonna enthroned with the Child and an inscription today almost invisible (only "Matri" can be read); to the right and left of the divine lamb are the elect, then all around the central panels the twelve Apostles, originally accompanied by their names. P. Deschamps dated the paintings to the 12th century with some additions from the 13th (P. Deschamps, Les peintures du chœur de Notre-Dame-la-Grande de P., in Comptes rendus de l'Acad. des Inscr. et belles lettres, 1949, pp. 288-93). Church of St-Hilaire-le-Grand. It was formerly a collegiate church; it was rebuilt in the 11th century and consecrated in 1049 on the site of a building founded by St. Hilary; it was largely damaged by the collapse of the bell tower in 1590. In the interior with seven naves, the piers with clusters of 4 columns support dome vaults and arches that rest on the side naves. On the walls are remains of frescoes that decorated the entire building (about the middle of the 12th century); better preserved on two piers are the figures of two bishops, one of whom, indicated by name, is the bishop of St. Quinziano, which is believed to belong to the series of twenty bishops representing the episcopal glories of Christian P. Now vanished is the image of Fulbert, bishop of Chartres and treasurer of this collegiate church, who died in 1029 (R. Crozet, L'art roman en Poitou, Paris 1948, pp. 252-53; P. Deschamps et M. Thibout, La peinture murale en France, le haut moyen-âge et l'époque romane, ibid. 1951, pp. 64-65, fig. 20 and plates 20, 22 and 37, 11). The capitals offer scenes of the Nativity, the Flight into Egypt, the death of St. Hilary, monsters, confronted lions, doves near a chalice; two contain the names of the Romanesque craftsmen Ugo Monedarius and Nilliacus. The choir is raised, with a main apse, ambulatory and four radial chapels from the 12th century. St. Radegund: originally the church was St. Mary outside the walls and served as a burial place for the nuns of St. Cross, but then it took the name of St. Radegund, foundress of the abbey, who died in 590 and was laid in the crypt. The church burned in 1083; rebuilt, it was consecrated in 1099, to which belong the choir, the ambulatory, the lower part of the portico and of the bell tower; the rest is from the 12th century, while the Gothic nave is from the 13th century, the portal from the 15th. In the interior there is an upper gallery; the capitals are foliate or with crude scenes, such as Adam and Eve, Daniel. The portal, richly decorated with Christ enthroned and saints under tabernacles, has a double entrance; around it are arranged stone benches with angels and lions; there ecclesiastical justice was administered "inter leones." In a niche on the right is represented the Lord appearing to St. Radegund shortly before her death. The stained-glass windows (13th-14th centuries) contain episodes from the life of the Saint and the Last Judgment. G. B. De Rossi reported the discovery of a gold ring with a seal (Radegondis), probably of Queen Radegund (Bull. arch. crist., 1 [1863], p. 40). St-Porchaire: it is a 16th-century building with two naves, with decorated capitals, among which one with Daniel among the lions. The great bell tower (late 16th century) rises above the entrance portico. Noteworthy for 17th-century art is the ancient chapel of the Jesuit college with an artistic sacristy (today the "Licée des garçons"). The church of St-Hilaire-de-la-Celle was built in the 12th century on the site of the original tomb of St. Hilary; it has a crossing covered by an octagonal dome and a tower. The chapel of the monastery of St. Cross (erected in 1865) preserves mementos of St. Radegund. Near P., at the place called "la pierre levée," there is a large Gallo-Roman necropolis, later Christian, where Father C. De la Croix found a vaulted funerary monument with a hypogeum, on whose door the two inscriptions could be read: "In the name of God, I, Mellebaudo, debtor and servant of J. C., have built for myself this subterranean tomb, in which, however unworthy, I shall be laid. I made it in the name of the Lord J. C. whom I have loved, in whom I have believed, because He must be recognized as the living God, shining with glory. In Him is peace, faith and charity. He is God and man, and God is in him. If anyone does not wish to adore the Lord J. C. here and destroys this monument, let him be anathema, 'maranatha' until the end of the ages." The other epigraph says: "Here is the tomb of Mellebaudo, abbot and debtor of Christ... beginning and end, for everything goes from bad to worse every day, the end of the times is approaching." On the threshold is engraved a cabalistic formula: "grama, grumo, ax, cax, pix." In the crypt were found stone sarcophagi, some within large niches; at the back, an altar base. The barbarous form of the Latin and the crude decoration of one of the sarcophagi with the archangels Raphael and Raguel indicate the end of the 7th century (L. Duchesne, La crypte de Mellebaudo et les pretendus martyrs de P., in Revue poitevine et saintongeaise, 1885, pp. 120-54; L. Le Blant, Nouveau recueil des inscriptions chrétiennes de la Gaule, Paris 1892, pp. 250-73; L. Lavillain, La "memoria" de l'abbé Mellebaudo, in Bulletin de la Société des antiquaires de l'Ouest, 3e serie, 2 [1911], pp. 355-416; H. Leclercq, Mellebaudo, in DACL, XI, 1, coll. 241-66. A. W. Clapham, English romanesque architecture before the conquest, Oxford 1930, p. 43, fig. 14). Montierneuf: that is, monasterium novum, founded by Count Guy Geoffrey William around 1078 under the direction of the monk Ponce of Cluny and consecrated by Urban II in 1096, as is recalled by an inscription in the interior, where there is a Romanesque ambulatory with chapels and the Gothic apse. The Library is rich, with over 75,000 volumes, 215 incunabula and 629 manuscripts, among which a Carolingian evangeliary in uncial script from the end of the 8th century; a Life of St. Radegund and a Pontifical from the 11th century; the Psalter of Jeanne de Laval from the 15th century; attached are the municipal archives with parish registers going back to 1412.
The "Société des Antiquaires de l'Ouest" has formed three Museums: that of "l'Echevinage" contains a prehistoric collection, furnishings from the ancient Gallo-Roman necropolises of Poitou and material from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, among which the so-called capital of discord, formerly in St. Hilaire-le-Grand, the scene of St. Hilary and St. Triaise; the "de Chièvres" Museum contains a lapidary collection, furniture, ceramics and paintings of the Flemish, German, etc. schools; Merovingian art is gathered in the baptistery of St. John. The "des Beaux-Arts" Museum contains collections of paintings of the Italian, French and Flemish schools, enamels, furniture, art objects, sculptures, among which the archaic Hellenistic marble statue of Minerva and a small bronze of an athlete. The "Musée des Augustins" is the seat of the "Société de Antiquaires de l'Ouest." Its portal comes from the ancient church of the Augustinians. It is rich in collections of porcelain, ceramics, furniture, bronzes, tapestries, enamels, ivories; it has a room of religious art and a lapidary museum. Under an altar, in the chapel of St. Sixtus, was found a lead reliquary with an inscription recalling the bishops Sixtus and Isinicius (L. Levillain, Note sur l'ancien reliquaire en plomb trouvé dans la chapelle de St-Sixte et la cathédrale de P., in Bull. de la Soc. des antiq. de l'Ouest, 2ª serie, 10 [1906], pp. 54-56).
The main sanctuaries of the diocese are Notre-Dame de l'Agenouillée at Azay-sur-Thouet, Notre-Dame de Pitié near the chapel of St. Lawrence, and Notre-Dame de Beauchene at Cerizay. At Ligugé the oldest monastery in France was founded by St. Martin, whence the name of the abbey, suppressed by the French Revolution and re-established in 1853. The hall at the base of the present bell tower corresponds to the south transept of the primitive church, where around 1075 the feast of Herod and the beheading of St. John the Baptist were depicted (P. Deschamps - M. Thibout, op. cit., pp. 65-66 and fig. 66). The abbey church, rebuilt in the 15th century, has recently been restored (P. Monsabert, Le monastère de Ligugé, Ligugé 1929; Cottineau, I, col. 1613). The Benedictine abbey of St-Savin sur Gartempe, in the district of Montmorillon, founded at the end of the 8th or the beginning of the 9th century, was rebuilt in the 11th century; it passed to the Congregation of the Maurists in 1643. The abbey church dates back to the 11th century; it has three naves, each ending in an apse; in the ambulatory five chapels open, also apsidal, like the two ends of the transept; in the crypt St. Savinus is buried. The crypt, the interior of the church and the portico offer the most interesting iconographic cycle so far known in France. In the portico are the principal episodes of the Apocalypse; in the central nave the biblical cycle occupies about 412 sq. m.; it is arranged in two registers on each side; from the north it begins with the creation of the world, of Adam and Eve, their whole story, Cain and Abel, Enoch, the story of Noah, the exodus of the Hebrews. The tribune is decorated with scenes devoted to the passion of Christ, while in the crypt are episodes relating to the martyrdom of Sts. Savinus and Cyprian. The technique, the style and the inscriptions agree in the proposed dating of the paintings to the end of the 11th century, as early as 1905 by E. Mâle (in A. Michel, Hist. de l'art, I, Paris 1906, p. 758; Cottineau, II, coll. 2881-82; E. Maillard, L'église de St-Savin sur Gartempe, Paris 1926; P. Deschamps - M. Thibout - A. Grabar, Observations sur les fresques de St-Savin, in Cahiers archéol., 4 [1949], pp. 135-47; P. Deschamps - M. Thibout, La peinture murale en France, le haut moyen-âge et l'époque romane, Paris 1951, pp. 71-86; figs. 21-27, pls. 23-32 and 37,1).
The Ven. Coudrin (v.) founded in 1800 at P. on the rue de Picpus the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts, also known as the Picpus Congregation; also born in the diocese of P. were the missionaries Ch. Cornay, b. in London, martyred in China in 1839, and the Bl. Th. Venard, b. at St Loup-sur-Thouet, martyred in Tonkin in 1861. In the region of P. were found the Merovingian-era cemeteries of Antigny, Béruges, and Civaux with stone sarcophagi; for a Christian sarcophagus see Wilpert, Sarcofagi, p. 290.