Local tradition maintains that , the martyr, with whose memory is associated a miraculous fountain, was the first bishop of Bayonne; but Leo was a priest of the third quarter of the ninth century, and his hagiographies insist that he had been Archbishop of Rouen before being sent to Bayonne by Pope Gregory (IV) or a Pope Stephen to evangelize the territory. As Honoré Fisquet puts it succinctly, these lives have nothing really authentic in them. No bishop is historically known prior to the eleventh century. Some scholars think, however, that the fact that the town of Lapurdum (which later came to be called Bayonne), was designated as
civitas (Roman municipality) in the
Treaty of Andelot (587), indicates that the
civitas must have had a bishop at that time. That is just a conjecture. Others associate the foundation of the See of Bayonne with the establishment of the
Kingdom of Aquitaine (778). That too is a conjecture. Louis Duchesne concludes that, in the present (1910) state of the documentary evidence, no solution presents itself. Bishop Raymond III de Martres (1122–1125) was given half of the city of Bayonne by
William IX, Duke of Aquitaine. From 1152 to 1451 Bayonne was ruled by Eleanor of Aquitaine and her descendants, the kings of England. The royal coat of arms is to be found on one of the bosses in the vaulting of the choir of the Cathedral. In 1177,
Richard, the son of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine, made war in Gascony, besieged Dax and its Count, Pierre de Bigorre, and then besieged Bayonne and its Vicomte Arnaud for ten days, and then marched south as far as Port du Cize (Port d'Espagne). In April 1344, Bishop Pierre de Saint-Johan, O.P. was appointed by King
Edward III of England to head an embassy to arrange a peace between subjects of the King and men under the control of King
Alfonso XI of Castile and the Count of Biscay. On 2 January 1345 he was appointed to head the commission which was to engage in the late-state negotiations for the treaty of marriage of the King's son John with a daughter of King Alfonso. On 14 February 1348 Bishop de Saint-Johan was named one of the arbitrators on claims and complaints between English and Castilian subjects. Also given powers as arbitrators were the sacristan, the major chaplain, and another of the canons of the cathedral, and others.
Cathedral and Chapter The replacement for the old Romanesque cathedral, whose history is lost, was begun under Arnaud Loup de Bessabat, ca. 1140-1141. In 1199 and again in 1224, fires damaged the fabric, and in 1258 another fire destroyed half of the city of Bayonne and much of the choir of the Cathedral. Reconstruction began almost immediately in the Gothic style. In 1310 yet another fire destroyed most of what still remained of the Romanesque building; the more recent Gothic work remained untouched. The original main altar of the Gothic cathedral had on its sides the arms of Cardinal Guillaume Pierre Godin, who died in 1335. The new altar, sanctuary and choir were the work of Bishop René-François de Beauvau du Rivau (1701–1707). The canons of the cathedral chapter of Bayonne are attested as early as the 12th century, living perhaps under the rule of the canons of Saint Augustine. During the Great Schism (1378–1416), the number of canons increased to a total of eighteen: eight of them supporting one side resided in Bayonne, eight others who supported the other pope resided in Basse-Navarre at St-Jean-Pied-de-Porte. The Council of Constance took cognizance of the situation in its 31st Session, and ordered that the number be reduced to the traditional twelve. In the 17th and 18th centuries there were only the twelve canons. The Chapter of Bayonne had a set of statutes as early as 1322, which are known to have regulated the distributions which came to the canons by virtue of their office. In 1533 Bishop
Étienne de Poncher (1532–1551) published Statutes of the Synod, which included legislation on the practices of the choir, which the canons discussed and accepted, but which had become a dead letter by 1570, due no doubt to the protestantization of the Gascon part of the diocese, and the partition ordered by Pope Pius V in 1566. On 15 August 1676, Bishop Jean d'Olce issued new Statutes for the cathedral chapter on the recommendation of the promoter of the diocese, in order to address various abuses in the carrying out of sacred ceremonies. This enactment lasted well into the 18th century. The cathedral chapter was dissolved in 1790, along with all the other chapters in France. By the 12th or 13th century, the diocese north of the Pyrenees had three archdeacons: Labourde, Cize, and Arberoue. South of the Pyrenees was the Archdeaconry of Baztan. All seem to have disappeared by the beginning of the 16th century. The diocese also contained two monasteries, both of
Premonstratensians: Leuntium (La Honce), a few miles east of Bayonne; and Urdacium (Ourdace), in Navarre. Both were dissolved by the
National Assembly in 1790, and their property sold for the benefit of the people. At the beginning of the 18th century there were seven houses of religious in Bayonne, the Dominicans, the Franciscans, the Carmelites, the Augustinians, the Capuchins, the Clarisses, and the Recollects. In 1745 there were also five houses of religious men.
Revolution and Concordat During the
French Revolution the diocese of Bayonne was suppressed by the
Legislative Assembly, under the
Civil Constitution of the Clergy (1790). Its territory was subsumed into the new diocese, called 'Basses-Pyrenees', which was coterminous with the new civil department of the same name. The dioceses of Oloron and Lescar were also suppressed and their bishops dismissed, and their territories were joined to the former diocese of Oleron, with the seat of the Constitutional Diocese at Oloron. Basses-Pyrenees was made part of the Metropolitanate called the 'Métropole du Sud'. A
constitutional bishop was elected,
Barthélémy-Jean-Baptiste Sanadon. Sanadon was principal of the Collège de Pau, when he was called on to take the oath to the Civil Constitution. On 1 March 1791 he was elected Constitutional Bishop of Hautes-Pyrenées by a vote of 174 to 96. He was consecrated a bishop in Paris on 26 April by Constitutional Bishop Jean-Baptiste Gobel. The consecration was valid but illicit and uncanonical. Sanadon and Gobel and all the other constitutional bishops were schismatic. On Sanadon's return to Pau, the vicar general of the legitimate bishop of Oloron excommunicated him. He was a member of the convention which voted on the execution of King Louis XVI, which he opposed. His opposition brought him under suspicion of the Jacobins, and he was arrested and imprisoned in Bayonne. He was released, but died on 9 January 1796. The cathedral chapter and the archdeaconries were reestablished by a decree of Bishop Paul d'Astros on 18 September 1821, though only two archdeaconries were created, Bayonne and Pau, and the two archdeacons also bore the title of vicar general. The decree also reorganized the diocese into five districts, each headed by an archpriest, who supervised 40 deans and 440 parishes. In World War I, 560 priests and seminarians were mobilized from the diocese of Bayonne, 50 of whom died. In 1921 there were 40 deaneries and 507 parishes. In 2009 Bishop Marc Aillet reestablished the Major Seminary for the diocese of Bayonne. A new seminary building, Le Séminaire des Saints Cœurs de Jésus et de Marie et de la propédeutique Sainte-Croix, opened on 1 October 2016. There is also the Grand Séminaire Saint-Joseph in Bordeaux. In 2017 there were 234 priests incardinated (licensed by the bishop to function) in the Diocese of Bayonne, of whom 168 were on active service. ==Bishops==