VERDUN, DIOCESE OF. – Diocese and chief town of the department of the Meuse in France. It covers an area of 6,240 km² and has a population of 188,780, of whom 180,000 are Catholics distributed across 551 parishes served by 339 diocesan priests and 12 regular clergy; it has a major and minor seminary, 3 male religious communities and 56 female ones (Ann. Pont. 1953, p. 445). It is a suffragan of Besançon. Its patroness is the Blessed Virgin Mary, assumed into heaven.
The episcopal list was compiled by Bishop Dadone in 893, who limited himself to his two predecessors, Attone and Berenardo. Bertario, a canon of St-Vanne, made use of a catalogue that had escaped the fire, adding details of the bishops’ burials, most of which were in the church of St-Vanne. His catalogue was continued in the 11th century up to 1047, and later by the monk Lorenzo of the same abbey up to 1144; others extended it to the mid-13th century. Another list in a manuscript from Amiens goes as far as Bishop Richerio (1089–10). The first bishop, Santino, is thought to have lived around the mid-4th century, followed by Mauro, Salvino, Aratore, Policronio, Possessore, and Firmino, whose tomb is found at St-Vanne and who is believed to have lived in the time of Clovis. Then came Vito; Desiderato, who suffered at the hands of King Theuderic I (511–34) and attended the Councils of Clermont in 535 and Orléans in 549; Agerico, mentioned by Gregory of Tours (Hist. Franc., III, 34, 39) from 584 to 588; Arimero, who attended the Council of Paris in 614; Ermenfrido, also called Godo, who attended the Council of Clichy in 627; Paolo (619–36), deposed at Saint-Saturnin; his biography dates from the 10th century. He was followed by Giscalo (648–75); Armonio; Peppone in the time of Charles Martel; Madelveo, who visited the Holy Places (762–75); Pietro, of Italian origin, sent to Rome by Charlemagne in 781 and died in 806. Anstramn and Frlando are buried at St-Vanne; Ildino attended the Council of Mantua in 839 and died in 847. Attone (847–70) received from Lothar II the abbey of Echternach, which he retained until 864; in 859 he attended the Council of Savonnières, in 860 that of Koblenz, in 862 that of Ottigny, in 870 and 871 that of Douzy, in 873 the dedication of Cologne Cathedral, and in 876 the Council of Ponthion. Daolo was bishop from 880.
The cathedral of Notre-Dame dates from the 11th century but has been repeatedly altered, especially after the First World War; during restoration work the remains of earlier structures, repeatedly devastated by fire, were identified. The Romanesque building, begun in 1048, was continued until 1083 under the initiative of Ticolario the Great, who drew inspiration from Rhenish Romanesque buildings (especially Mainz, Speyer and Worms) with double apses and towers. After a pause caused by the depredations suffered by the region, the building was continued under Bishop Alberone of Cluny (1132–52), through the work of the architect Garino, to whom the crypt is also attributed; the basilica was consecrated by Pope Eugenius III on 11 November 1147 in the presence of St Bernard. In 1250 the eastern apse and the room known as “the sacristy” were added. The vault of the central nave dates from 1378, when the eastern apse was raised. Between 1390 and 1530 the side chapels were added. Between 1509 and 1515 the Gothic cloister was built. After damage caused by lightning in 1755, many alterations were made. Bishop Agerico not only restored the ancient churches but, according to Fortunatus, also built new ones.
Blessed Pius X in 1906 granted the bishops of Verdun the privilege of the sacred pallium. Pius XII, in an apostolic letter of 8 September 1947, raised the cathedral to the dignity of a minor basilica (AAS, 41 [1949], pp. 490–92).