Roman Catholic Diocese of Glandèves


Glanate was a Gallo-Roman town on the right bank of the Var, which became the episcopal see of Glandève.

Ancient History

The site was first occupied by Ligurians, probably the Oxybii, in the 6th century BCE; they traded with Massallia and cultivated vines and olives
By the 3rd century BCE, the Celto-Ligurian town had taken shape. Its name, in Gaulish, means "a habitation on the riverbank". In 125 BCE, the Romans under Octavian annexed Provence and the undefended site of Glanate surrendered. In time, Glanate acquired the status of a Roman town.
In 406, the Burgundians pillaged the town.

Feudal and ecclesiastical history

Glanate, known by late Antiquity as Glandèves became a bishopric; the first known bishop was Fraternus in 451, or Claudius, who ascended the episcopal throne in 541, but Glandèves was probably a see as early as 439.
Over the next two centuries, raids by the Burgundians, Francs and Lombards gradually destroyed the town, which was also sacked by the Saracens from 700 until they were driven from Provence by William of Arles in 973.
Despite this destruction, Glandèves continued to be a bishopric until the 17th century. However, the population moved to the nearby and much more defensible site of Entrevaux from the start of the 11th century.
Among its bishops were Symphorien Bullioud, also ambassador from Francis I of France to Pope Julius II and chaplain to Francis I; Francis I Faure, the pulpit orator, later Bishop of Amiens, and Jean-Baptiste de Belloy, who died a centenarian in 1808, as Archbishop of Paris.
By the Concordat of 1801, the diocese of Digne was made to include the two departments of the Hautes and Basses Alpes, in addition to the former diocese of Digne, the Archdiocese of Embrun, the dioceses of Gap, Sisteron and Senez, a very considerable part of the diocese of Glandèves and the diocese of Riez, and fourteen parishes in the Archdiocese of Aix and the Diocese of Apt. In 1822 Gap was made an episcopal see and, thus divested of the department of the Hautes Alpes, the present diocese of Digne covers the territory formerly included in the dioceses of Digne, Senez, Glandèves, Riez, and Sisteron.

Bishops