SAINT-FLOUR, DIOCESE OF
SAINT-FLOUR, DIOCESE OF - Town and diocese, sub-prefecture of the department of Cantal in France. The diocese has the same boundaries as the department, with an area of 5,741 sq. km. and a population of 190,888 inhabitants, all Catholic; distributed in 317 parishes, served by 332 diocesan and 60 regular priests; it has a major and minor seminary, 7 male and 78 female religious communities (Ann. Pont. 1952).
SAINT-FLOUR, DIOCESE OF - Exterior of the Cathedral (14th-15th cent.). St-Flour.
p. 345). The diocese is a suffragan of Bourges; its patron is St. Florus.
The French Revolution attempted to change the name of St-F. first to Fort-Cantal, then to Fort-Libre. The town of St-F. grew up on Mont Indiciat, around the tomb of St. Florus, traditionally considered the evangelizer of the region; around the year 1002 a Benedictine abbey dependent on Cluny was founded there. The diocese was created by Pope John XXII on 20 Feb. 1317 by separating Upper Auvergne from the diocese of Clermont; at that time the city received its walls; it obtained a municipal charter in 1372; in 1578 it resisted the Protestants thanks to the heroism of Jean Brisson. Notable bishops include Pierre D'Estaing (1361-67), later archbishop of Bourges and cardinal; P. de Ribeyre (1742-1776), very munificent; L.-S.-J. de Salomon (1820-29).
The cathedral of St-F. was built between 1396 and 1466 on the site of a previous building dedicated to St. Odilo, which had been consecrated by Pope Urban II in 1095; it is a Gothic structure with a façade of three portals and five full naves without a transept. Notable is a large wooden Christ of the 15th century called the "Bon Dieu noir de St-F." A marble inscription lists the bishops buried in the cathedral; there is also the marble monument of Monsignor de Parnpinac (1877) depicted kneeling. Next to the cathedral is the episcopal palace (18th cent.), now the town hall. The church of St. Vincent, with a single nave, dates from the 14th century; the ancient collegiate church of the Chapter of Notre-Dame is now occupied by the "halle au blé." The church of St. Christina is modern. The diocese is very rich in Marian shrines, much venerated; among the most important are Notre-Dame de Claviers at Moussages with an ancient statue of the Madonna, N.-D.-des-Miracles at Mauriac, N.-D.-de-Quézac and N.-D.-de-la-Font-Sainte at St-Hippolyte.
At Mauriac was born the Servant of God Catherine Jarrige (1754-1836) of the Third Order of St. Dominic, commonly called "Catinon Menette," noted for the heroic zeal with which during the French Revolution she protected persecuted priests from the Jacobins, hiding and saving them in a thousand ways; after the Revolution, she devoted herself to the poor, the sick and the imprisoned. The cause of beatification was introduced on 12 June 1929 (cf. [A. P. Frutaz], *Inquisitio super fontes historicos ad causam pertinentes circa vitam servae Dei* auctore sac. F. B. Serres [S. R. C. sect. hist., 68], Vatican City 1947).
Aurillac, the ancient "Aurelicum," is the seat of the prefecture of the department of Cantal; situated on the right bank of the Jordanne, it had a castle (St. Stephen, now a normal school) in which St. Gerald was born, founder in 856 of an abbey that took his name and from which came Gerbert, later Sylvester II (v.), born in 940 at Belliac. The abbey church was consecrated in 1095 by Urban II; it was visited by Callistus II. The city was sacked by the Huguenots. The ancient abbey church was rebuilt in 1643 in Gothic style; it has a portico and bell tower erected in 1868. Inside, noteworthy are only the chapel of the Blessed Virgin, some Romanesque sculptures, three wooden statues of the 16th century, the painting attributed to Zubarán with the Death of St. Francis Xavier, the monument of Monsignor Bonange, bishop of Langres, born at Aurillac; in the sacristy is the chest with the relics of St. Gerald. In the church of Notre-Dame aux-Neiges, or des Cordeliers, in southern Gothic style of the late 16th century, is the 16th-century statue called the "Vierge noire," much venerated. On the spot where the nobleman Guy de Veyre fell in 1581, fighting against the Huguenots, at the end of the same century the artistic chapel of Aurinques was erected. In the square that bears his name is the statue of Gerbert, a work by D. Angers, with bas-reliefs illustrating the life of Sylvester II. In the former Jesuit College (1638) are now the Museum of Painting and Sculpture, the School of Drawing and the Library.