Quimper, Diocese of
Quimper, Diocese of. — Diocese and city, the chief town of the department of Finistère in France, situated at the confluence of the Steir with the Odet, which form an estuary. The name comes from the Breton *Kemper* (= confluence); until the French Revolution it was generally called Q. - Corentin after the first bishop. The diocese is a suffragan of Rennes; the patron saint of the diocese is St Corentin.
The diocese has the same boundaries as the department, with an area of 7,029 sq. km. and a population of 724,635 inhabitants, almost all Catholic. It has 340 parishes served by 1,080 diocesan priests and 18 regulars; it has a major seminary and a minor seminary; 4 male and 6 female religious communities. The bishop also holds the title of Léon. It is the ancient *Corisopitum* of the Romans. The legendary Breton Gradlon, who came from Kerné (Cornwall), is credited with the foundation of the Breton kingdom. In 1060 the kingdom was transformed into a county; Q. was sacked in 1344 by Charles of Blois and conquered in 1367 by John IV of Montfort. Two ancient catalogues of the bishops of Q. exist, one in a cartulary of the Cathedral transcribed from the year 1417, now in the Bibliothèque nationale in Paris (ms. lat. 9891); the other in Quimperlé is a 12th-century manuscript which goes up to Rudolph (d. 1158) to whom the others were added up to Ranoldo (1219-45). The name of the bishop in 1453 is uncertain. At the Council of Vannes c. 465 the bishop is Albinus or Liberalis; Corentin in his later biography is given as the first bishop of the diocese: his feast is celebrated on 12 Dec. Felix was present in 835 at Thionville and c. 848 went to Rome to Leo IV. Anaweten is mentioned in documents of 857 and 859. A second Felix is from the time of the Synod of Soissons (866). More recently are remembered Cardinal Nicola Caetani of Sermoneta (1538-85), Philippe de La Chambre, cardinal of Boulogne (1546-50). The diocese, suppressed by the French Revolution, was re-established by the Concordat of 1802 (Cornouailles and St-Pol de Léon, and a small part of the dioceses of Tréguier and Vannes). From 1802 to 1859 it was a suffragan of Tours and since that year of Rennes.
The Cathedral, dedicated to St Corentin, was built between the years 1230-1515, with a break from 1336 to 1440; it is arranged above the earlier Romanesque building. It displays the characteristic Breton Gothic style, with Norman reminiscences in the choir which shows a deviation to the left. The interior, 92 m. long and 20 m. high, is divided at the entrance by two strong round pillars, elsewhere by bundles of slender columns; the choir has square pillars; the high altar, in gilded bronze and enamels, is modern; in the cathedral the panels depict episodes from the life of St Corentin; the windows have stained glass of the first half of the 15th century, partly restored. In the Cathedral are the tombs of the bishops: Even de la Forêt (1290); G. de Monceaux (1416); B. de Romadec (1445); A. Le Maout (1493); Le Moël (1501), Sergent (1781), Graveran (1854), Nouvelle (1887), Lamarche. The exterior in Gothic style dates to 1425, with a large central portal and two towers 76 m. high; there is an equestrian statue reworked from King Gradlon. The sculptures of the central portal are partly deteriorated; the lion of Montfort supporting the flags of Brittany can be distinguished; better preserved is the right portal called of St Catherine with the *Adoration of the Virgin* and statuettes of the Saint. The episcopal palace, largely erected by Bishop C. de Rohan (1508-40), has been transformed into the Musée départemental breton. In the Hôtel de ville are the Library and the Musée de Beaux-arts. In the suburb of Q. is Locmaria, inhabited in Roman times and mentioned in 11th-century documents as *civitas Aquilonia*. Its church, originally a 'priory', is a Romanesque building of the 11th century with a choir and transept of the 12th. A 14th-century porch was added to the façade and a window opened in the 15th; the square tower is from the 11th century with biforas. The interior has three naves with Romanesque arches; it preserves a 16th-century wooden statue of St Peter. Remains of the 12th-century cloister and priory are to the right of the façade. In Q. were born the Venerable M. La Nobletz, Dominican (1577-1652); Bl. J. Maunoir, S.J. (1603-83); Fr. Hardouin, S.J. (1646-1729); the explorer De Kerguelen (1731-97); the physician Laënnec (1781-1866).
St-Pol. — The Welsh monk Paul Aurelian, coming from the region of Glamorgan, after founding some monasteries on the island of Ouessant settled in the place now bearing his name where he established a monastery in a Roman castrum, which later became the seat of the diocese favoured by the Breton count Withur, of which Paul was the first bishop. His successors were Cetonnerino, Liberalis, Cluvino (851-57), another Liberalis (c. 866) and Hinnoretto. Later are remembered G. de Hersauzon (1327); R. De Neuville (1562-1613); F. Visdelou (1661-71); De La Marche (1776-92) d. in London in 1806. The diocese was suppressed in 1792.
The ancient Cathedral is one of the most notable churches of Brittany, with naves in ogival style of the 12th and 14th centuries, choir and transept rebuilt between 1431-50; double ambulatory of the 16th century. In the transept remains of paintings with figures of angels; in the choir 69 stalls of 1512 with representations of animals, foliage, human figures and Gothic decorations. Noteworthy are the funerary monuments of the bishops of St-Pol: G. de Hersauzon; R. de Neuville; De Rieux-Sourdéac; F. Visdelou; De La Marche. Some stained glass windows are from the 16th century. The western façade is from the 13th century with two square towers at the end of the same century. The south façade has a four-bay portal with ogival vaulting of the 13th century, but with twin doors of the 15th (L. Th. Lecureux, *St.-Pol-de-Léon, La Cathédrale*, Paris n.d.).
Within the diocese of Q., between the two rivers Isole and Elle in the hamlet of Anaurol, St Guntiero, prince of Cambria, founded in the 6th century a hermitage where he was later buried. In 1029 Alberto Cagniart, count of Cornouaille, founded there the Benedictine abbey of the Holy Cross, whose first abbot was St Gurloës (d. 1057); around the monastery a settlement grew up which became Quimperlé. The church of the Holy Cross was built between 1029-83 imitating the arrangement of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. In the central rotunda the high altar is elevated, surrounded by a circular ambulatory with three apses and a porch in the shape of a cross. The columns bear carved capitals with birds and animals. The *jubé* of 1541, although damaged, offers sculptures in white stone from Tallebourg (Saintonges) representing the Madonna, the Evangelists, the busts of eight prophets and eight heads of Fathers of the Church; at the top Christ in glory. The crypt below has three naves and contains the tomb of St Gurloës. The abbey passed in 1665 to the Congregation of the Maurists (Cottineau, II, cols. 2390-91).
Among the saints venerated in the diocese are St Hiltutus (Iltut or Ydeuc) disciple of St Cadoc and founder of the monastery of Lan-Iltut; St Guengalenaos or Guenolé, founder of the abbey of Landevennec, which was destroyed by the French Revolution; only remains survive of an 11th-century chapel, the Romanesque portal, column shafts, the choir enclosure with three chapels and the apse with the tomb of St Guenolé; there was also the tomb of King Grallon; the granite statue of St Corentin was placed there by the last regular abbot Tanguy du Vieux-Chastel (d. 1522).