Archdiocese of Bordeaux
Catholic archdiocese in France
The Archdiocese of Bordeaux (–Bazas) (Latin: Archidioecesis Burdigalensis (–Bazensis); French: Archidiocèse de Bordeaux (–Bazas); Occitan: Archidiocèsi de Bordèu (–Vasats)) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in France. The episcopal seat is Bordeaux Cathedral, Aquitaine. It was established under the Concordat of 1802 by combining the ancient Diocese of Bordeaux (diminished by the cession of part to the Bishopric of Aire) with the greater part of the suppressed Diocese of Bazas. The Archdiocese of Bordeaux is a metropolitan see, with four suffragan dioceses in its ecclesiastical province: Dioceses of Agen, Aire and Dax, Bayonne, and Périgueux.
History
Constituted by the same Concordat metropolitan to the suffragan Bishoprics of Angoulême, Poitiers and La Rochelle, the see of Bordeaux received in 1822, as additional suffragans, those of Agen, withdrawn from the metropolitan of Toulouse, and the newly re-established Périgueux and Luçon.
In 1850, three (then colonial) Bishoprics of Fort-de-France (Martinique), Guadeloupe and Basse-Terre (Guadeloupe), and Saint-Denis de la Réunion (Réunion), were added.
Since 2002, the province of Bordeaux (corresponding historically with Aquitania Secunda) has been substantially modified following the abolition of the province of Auch and the creation of that of Poitiers.
Early history
According to old Limousin legends which date back to the beginning of the eleventh century, Bordeaux was evangelized in the first century by Saint Martial (Martialis), who replaced a temple to the unknown god, which he destroyed, with one dedicated to Saint Stephen. The same legends represent Martial as having brought to the Soulac coast Saint Veronica, who is still especially venerated in the church of Notre-Dame de Fin des Terres at Soulac; as having cured Sigebert, the paralytic husband of the pious Benedicta, and made him Bishop of Bordeaux, and as having addressed letters in Latin to the people of Bordeaux, where he left the pastoral staff now treasured as a relic by the Chapter of Saint-Seurin.
The first Bishop of Bordeaux known to history, Orientalis, is mentioned at the Council of Arles (314).
The public source identifies “Archdiocese of Bordeaux” as catholic archdiocese in France. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Archdiocese, Bordeaux and Catholic.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1364185. VIAF identifies the subject as 132573016. The Library of Congress control number is n84094507. 3 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1802, 1822, 1850 and 2002.
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This entry incorporates text from “Archdiocese of Bordeaux” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.