The city of Antibes was a colony of the Greek city of Massilia (Marseille). The Romans included it in the
Alpes Maritimae. In church organization, Antibes belonged to the Province of Alpes Maritimae, whose metropolitan was the archbishop of Aix. Its metropolitan later, before 1056, became the
archbishop of Embrun. The first known bishop of Antibes is Armentarius who attended the
Council of Vaison in 442.
Louis Duchesne considered it possible that the Remigius, who signed at the
Council of Nîmes in 396 and in 417 received a letter from
Pope Zosimus, may have been bishop of Antibes before Armentarius. Ralph Matheson, however, believes that this Remigius was Remigius of Aix. On 19 July 1244,
Pope Innocent IV transferred the seat of the diocese from the port city of Antibes to the interior city of Grasse, due to a depopulation of Antibes and the repeated attacks of pirates,
propter insalubritatem aeris et incursus piratorum. In 1181, King
Alfonso II of Aragon granted Bishop Fulco of Antibes the seigneurial rights over the city of Antibes. The cathedral of Grasse was dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and was supervised by a chapter composed of (originally) five dignities (provost, sacristan, archdeacon, 'capiscolo' [scholasticus] and archpriest) and four canons (one of whom was designated the Theologus). The office of provost, however, was abolished on 30 July 1692. The office of archdeacon of Grasse was established by Bishop Bernardo de Castronovo on 16 May 1421. The diocese of Grasse was suppressed by decree of the
Legislative Assembly of France on 22 November 1790. The arrondissement of Grasse was separated from the
diocese of Fréjus in 1886, and given to the
bishopric of Nice which since unites the three former dioceses of Nice, Grasse and
Vence. ==Bishops of Antibes==