The diocese was constituted as a
suffragan see of the new
metropolitan see of Cambrai by the papal bull of 12 May 1559 establishing the new bishoprics in the Low Countries. Its territory had previously belonged to the Diocese of Liège. After suppression in the
French period the diocese was re-established by the
Concordat of 1801, its extent matching that of the
Department of Sambre-et-Meuse, and as suffragan of the
Archdiocese of Mechelen. On 14 September 1823, the territory of the diocese was extended to include Luxembourg, which had previously been part of the
Diocese of Metz. After the
Belgian Revolution of 1830, a vicar apostolic was appointed for those parts of Luxembourg under Dutch control. As a result of the
Treaty of London (1839) formalising the partition of Luxembourg between the
Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and the Belgian
Province of Luxembourg, in 1840 ecclesiastical jurisdiction over the whole territory of the grand duchy was given to the
vicar apostolic of Luxembourg, its loss to the Diocese of Namur being formalised on 7 October 1842. In 1907, the Diocese of Namur numbered 583,722 inhabitants, 36 deaneries, 37 parishes, 677 succursals, 96 auxiliary chapels, 111 curacies paid by the State. Within the diocese, religious congregations administered 2 orphanages for boys, 7 for girls, 1 mixed, 18 hospitals or infirmaries, 4 clinics, 194 infant schools, 1 house of rescue, 6 houses for the care of the sick in their homes, 1 asylum for deaf mutes, 2 houses of retreat, 1 insane asylum. ==See==