TheArchdiocese of Paris (Latin:Archidioecesis Parisiensis;French:Archidiocèse de Paris) is aLatin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction orarchdiocese of theCatholic Church in France. It is one oftwenty-three archdioceses in France. Theoriginal diocese is traditionally thought to have been created in the 3rd century bySt. Denis and corresponded with the Civitas Parisiorum; it was elevated to an archdiocese on October 20, 1622. Before that date the bishops weresuffragan to thearchbishops of Sens.
Paris was a Christian centre at an early date, its first apostles beingSt. Denis[1] and his companions, Sts. Rusticus and Eleutherius. Until the Revolution the ancient tradition of the Parisian Church commemorated the seven stations of St. Denis, the stages of his apostolate and martyrdom:
(1) the ancient monastery ofNotre-Dame-des-Champs of which the crypt, it was said, had been dedicated to the Blessed Virgin by St. Denis on his arrival in Paris;
(2) the Church ofSt-Etienne-des-Grès (now disappeared), which stood on the site of an oratory erected by St. Denis to St. Stephen;[2]
(3) the Church of St-Benoît (disappeared), where St. Denis had erected an oratory to the Trinity (Deus Benedictus);
(4) the chapel of St-Denis-du-Pas near Notre-Dame (disappeared), on the site of the tribunal of the prefect Sicinnius, who tried St. Denis;
(5) the Church of St-Denis-de-la-Châtre, the crypt of which was regarded as the saint's cell (now vanished);
(6)Montmartre, where, according to the chronicle written in 836 by Abbot Hilduin, St. Denis was executed;[3]
Clovis founded, in honour of the Apostles Peter and Paul, amonastery to which the tomb of St.Genevieve drew numbers of the faithful, and in which St.Clotilde, who died at Tours, was buried.[2]
To form a conception of Paris in the tenth and eleventh centuries, one must picture a network of churches and monasteries surrounded by cultivated farm-lands on the present site of Paris. From the beginning of the twelfth century, the monastic schools of Paris were already famous. The episcopate of Maurice de Sully (1160-96), the son of a simple serf, was marked by the consecration of the Cathedral of Notre-Dame.[4]
Until the creation of new dioceses in 1966 there were two archdeaconries:Madeleine andSt. Séverin.[6] The reform reduced the diocese's size, losing the dioceses ofChartres,Orléans andBlois.[7]
iii) Chapels for various foreign communities using various languages.
iv) Eastern-Church parishes and communities throughout France dependent on the Archbishop as Ordinary of the Ordinariate of France, Faithful of Eastern Rites.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain.
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