Concordat of 11 June 1817

The Concordat of 11 June 1817 was a concordat between the kingdom of France and the Holy See, signed on 11 June 1817. Not having been validated, it never came into force in France and so the country remained under the regime outlined in the Concordat of 1801 until the 1905 law on the Separation of the Churches and the State.

Representatives

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Representing Pope Pius VII was Cardinal Ercole Consalvi, the papal Secretary of State. He had already negotiated the 1801 Concordat, and was designated the plenipotentiary for the 1817 negotiations. King Louis XVIII of France chose his favorite, the Ambassador to Rome, the Comte de Blacas, who had previously served as the Prime Minister of France, to negotiate the Concordat of 1817.

Text

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The Concordat's introduction (1st article) was a repetition of that of the Concordat of Bologna, but the other articles laid down restrictions on this "re-establishment" of the Concordat of Bologna.

A revised ecclesiastical geography

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One of the accord's objectives was to increase the number of dioceses in France. Another important article (article 4) stipulated that the dioceses in the kingdom of France suppressed by the bull of the Holy See of 29 November 1801 were to be re-established in such a number as both sides would agree on as the most advantageous for the good of religion.

Organisation of dioceses envisaged by the French Concordat of 1817
Ecclesiastical provinces (*) Dioceses (**) Territory
Aix, with the title of Embrun Aix-en-Provence Bouches-du-Rhône (Arrondissement of Aix-en-Provence)
Digne Basses-Alpes
Fréjus Var
Gap Hautes-Alpes
Albi Albi Tarn (arrondissements of Albi and of Gaillac)
Cahors Lot
Castres Tarn (arrondissements of Castres and of Lavaur)
Mende Lozère
Rodez Aveyron
Arles Ajaccio Corsica
Arles Bouches-du-Rhône (arrondissement of Arles)
Marseille Bouches-du-Rhône (arrondissement of Marseille)
Auch Aire Landes
Auch Gers
Bayonne Basses-Pyrénées
Tarbes Hautes-Pyrénées
Avignon Avignon Vaucluse (arrondissements of Apt and of Avignon)
Orange Vaucluse (arrondissements of Carpentras and of Orange)
Besançon Belley Ain
Besançon Doubs, Haute-Saône
Metz Moselle
Nancy Meurthe
Saint-Dié Vosges
Strasbourg Bas-Rhin, Haut-Rhin
Verdun Meuse
Bordeaux Agen Lot-et-Garonne
Angoulême Charente
Bordeaux Gironde
La Rochelle Charente-Inférieure
Luçon Vendée
Périgueux Dordogne
Poitiers Vienne and Deux-Sèvres
Bourges Bourges Cher and Indre
Clermont Puy-de-Dôme
Le Puy Haute-Loire
Limoges Creuse and Haute-Vienne
Saint-Flour Cantal
Tulle Corrèze
Cambrai Arras Pas-de-Calais (arrondissements of Arras, of Béthune and of Saint-Pol)
Boulogne Pas-de-Calais (arrondissements of Boulogne, of Montreuil and of Saint-Omer)
Cambrai Nord
Lyon Autun Saône-et-Loire (arrondissements of Autun and of Charolles)
Chalon-sur-Saône Saône-et-Loire (arrondissements of Chalon, of Louhans and of Mâcon)
Dijon Côte-d'Or
Langres Haute-Marne
Lyon Rhône and Loire
Saint-Claude Jura
Narbonne Béziers Hérault (arrondissements of Béziers and of Saint-Pons)
Carcassonne Aude (arrondissement of Castelnaudary and, in the arrondissement of Carcassonne, the cantons of Alzonne, of Capendu, of Carcassonne 1 & 2, of Conques, of the Mas-Cabardès, of Peyriac and of Saissac)
Montpellier Hérault (arrondissements of Lodève and of Montpellier)
Narbonne Auof (arrondissements of Limoux and of Narbonne and, in the arrondissement of Carcassonne, the cantons of Lagrasse, Mouthoumet and of Tuchan)
Nîmes Gard
Perpignan Pyrénées-Orientales
Paris Blois Loir-et-Cher
Chartres Eure-et-Loir
Meaux Seine-et-Marne
Orléans Loiret
Paris Seine
Versailles Seine-et-Oise
Reims Amiens Somme
Beauvais Oise (arrondissements of Beauvais and of Senlis)
Châlons-sur-Marne Marne (arrondissements of Châlons-sur-Marne, of Épernay, of Sainte-Menehould and of Vitry)
Laon Aisne (arrondissements of Laon, of Saint-Quentin and of Vervins)
Noyon Oise (arrondissements of Clermont and of Compiègne)
Reims Ardennes and Marne (Arrondissement of Reims)
Soissons Aisne (arrondissements of Château-Thierry and of Soissons)
Rouen Bayeux Calvados
Coutances Manche
Évreux Eure
Rouen Seine-Inférieure
Sées Orne
Sens Auxerre Yonne (arrondissements of Auxerre, of Avallon and of Tonnerre)
Moulins Allier
Nevers Nièvre
Sens Yonne (arrondissements of Joigny and of Sens)
Troyes Aube
Toulouse Montauban Tarn-et-Garonne
Pamiers Ariège
Toulouse Haute-Garonne
Tours Angers Maine-et-Loire
Le Mans Mayenne, Sarthe
Nantes Loire-Inférieure
Quimper Finistère
Rennes Ille-et-Vilaine (arrondissements of Montfort, of Redon, of Rennes and of Vitré)
Saint-Brieuc Côtes-du-Nord
Saint-Malo Ille-et-Vilaine (arrondissements of Fougères and of Saint-Malo)
Vannes Morbihan
Tours Indre-et-Loire
Vienne Grenoble Isère (arrondissements of Grenoble and of Saint-Marcelin)
Valence Drôme
Vienne Isère (arrondissements of La Tour-du-Pin and of Vienne)
Viviers Ardèche

(*)In italics, dioceses elevated to the rank of archdioceses.
(**)In bold, dioceses and archdioceses that were foreseen to be created or re-established. Not all of them were.

References

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Bibliography

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  • Convention du 11 juin 1817, entre Sa Majesté Très-Chrétienne et Sa Sainteté Pie VII, dévelopée, ou Introduction à l'histoire projettée de l'Eglise concordataire continuée: avec des notices sur les nouveaux amalgamés (in French). London: Schultz & Dean. 1817.
  • de Pradt, Dominique Georges Frédéric de R. (1818). Les quatre concordats: suivis de considérations sur le gouvernement de l'église en général et sur l'église de France en particulier depuis 1515 (in French). Vol. III. Paris: Béchet.
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