SAINT-OMER. — An ancient diocese and a city serving as the seat of a subprefecture of the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France, situated on the Aa River, where it joins the Neuflusse Canal.
Its origin and name are due to the monk Audomaro or Otmaro, who came there from Luxeuil around the middle of the 7th century to evangelize the region and later became bishop of Térouanne. He obtained from Adroaldo, a local lord, the land in a place called Sithiu and founded a monastery there, to which his fellow monks Momelino, Bertino, and Ebertramo came. The first founded the monastery that took its name from him (St-Momelin), and later became bishop of Noyon; the second founded the monastery that likewise bore his name (St-Bertin); the monastery was later dedicated to St. Otmaro (St-O.), who was buried in the chapel dedicated to the Blessed Virgin. Around this monastery the city gradually took shape, assuming the name St-O.; it first belonged to the counts of Flanders, then to the counts of Artois, and thereafter to the dukes of Burgundy. The kings of France occupied it in 1677, and the Treaty of Nijmegen confirmed their possession the following year. The diocese was created after the destruction of Térouanne (1553) and was suppressed by the Revolution. It was suffragan to Cambrai; after the Revolution, its territory passed to the diocese of Arras, and the bishop retains its title.
The former Cathedral (Notre-Dame) dates almost entirely from the 13th century. It is of imposing dimensions (100 × 53 m, and 22 m high), with three vaulted aisles divided by pillars and a transept; it ends in an apse with an ambulatory. The tomb of St. Omer has a 13th-century cenotaph; nearby is the tomb of Eustachius de Croy, provost of St-O. and later bishop of Arras (d. 1538). After the destruction of Térouanne, Charles V in 1553 gave the Cathedral the 13th-century group that adorned the portal of that city, representing the Redeemer between the Blessed Virgin and St. John the Baptist. In the transept is the chapel of Notre-Dame-des-Miracles, with the venerated wooden statue of the Madonna dating from the 13th century, crowned on 15 July 1875. Also venerated is the tomb of St. Ekembado (an 8th-century monument). The exterior is surmounted by a tall square tower (50 m), completed in 1499. The four portals (13th–14th centuries) bear decorations depicting the Blessed Virgin and the Judgment. Notable are the remains of the church of St-Bertin, adjoining the abbey (1326–1520); the surviving tower, 58 m high (1431–1520), collapsed on 22 July 1947. The College of St-O. was founded in 1592–93 in the abbey of St-Bertin by Fr. R. Person, S.J., and endowed by Philip II for the education of young men. When the Jesuits were expelled from France in 1773, the students took refuge in Bruges, then in Liège, and finally at Stonyhurst in England. The College continued under the clergy of the College of Douai until 1793, when all were imprisoned; released in 1795, the students returned to England, to Old Hall (College of St. Edmund).
The city possesses a rich Library: 400,000 volumes, 1,680 manuscripts, and 212 incunabula. Among the notable items are a 13th-century illuminated Bible and the illuminated Missal known as that of St-O. (14th century); the Vita di s. Omer (8th century); Gutenberg’s Bible; and the charter of enfranchisement granted in 1127 by Guglielmo Cliton, count of Flanders, to the city. The Fine Arts Museum is rich in ceramics and paintings; the Henri Dupuis Museum contains the donor’s collections and natural-history specimens.