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

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

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

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.

Bibliography

• 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.

External links

• (in French) French text of the Concordat