SEEZ (now SÉES), DIOCESE OF
City and diocese in the Orne department in Normandy (France). It has the same boundaries as the civil department, covering an area of approximately 6,200 km². Its population is 273,181.
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SEEZ - SEFARDITI
At an early period, during the episcopate of Bishop Ivo of Bellême, the present cathedral, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin (Notre-Dame), was built. It is one of the finest examples of Gothic-Norman architecture from the 13th to 16th centuries. It was begun by Bishop Giovanni de Bernières (1278–92), but due to the poor quality of the ground, it has undergone many restorations from the 14th century to the present day. The façade, with its two towers from the 14th century but rebuilt in the 19th, was burdened with buttresses in the 16th century. The central portal depicts episodes from the life of the Blessed Virgin. The interior resembles that of Bayeux Cathedral; the central nave has cylindrical pillars; the choir and transept date from the 14th century; the stained glass windows are from the 14th and 15th centuries. The high altar is adorned with a marble bas-relief representing the discovery of the bodies of Saints Gervasio and Protasio, a work by Dumont (1784). In the ambulatory, the Assumption Chapel houses the much-venerated statue of the Madonna under the title of Notre-Dame-des-Champs. Notable are the tomb monuments of the bishops of Sées, Monsignor Roussellet (1881) and Monsignor Tregato (1895). To the right of the cathedral stands the episcopal palace, a work by Brousseau (1776), which contains in its gallery portraits of former bishops and an artistic chapel.
At the end of the 6th century, Saint Ervoldo of Ouche founded the abbey of Saint-Martin, which was destroyed by the Normans in the 9th century and rebuilt in 1606 by Roger of Montgomery. When Sées was sacked in 1568 during the religious wars by troops led by a Montgomery, the abbey was spared out of respect for his ancestor. Later, the monastery passed to the Congregation of the Maurists in 1635. Of the ancient structure, only a few ruins remain; in the 18th century, the grand seminary was built in its place. The church of Saint-Martin retains its ancient square tower, rebuilt. The church of Saint-Pierre dates from the 16th century.
In Alençon, the birthplace of Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus (v.), the house where she was born has been converted into a chapel. The church of Notre-Dame, built in the 15th century and restored in the 18th, features a fine "flamboyant" porch and 16th-century stained glass windows. Within the diocese lies the great Trappist monastery of Soligny. In 1848, the parish priest of Montligeon founded an association for the abandoned souls of Purgatory, which Leo XIII elevated to the status of a primary archconfraternity.