According to late traditions, Clair (Latin: Clarus) was the first bishop of Nantes, France in the late 3rd century. [1] [2] He is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church.
According to late traditions, Clair (Latin: Clarus) was the first bishop of Nantes, France in the late 3rd century. [1] [2] He is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church.
According to the traditional account, Clair was sent to Nantes by Pope Linus, the successor of Peter, seventy years after the birth of Christ. [3] He arrived from Rome, with a nail in his possession from the cross that bore the martyrdom of Peter. Then he built an oratory dedicated to the apostle, which would later become Nantes Cathedral. [4] He died in Kerbellec, village commune Réguiny (Morbihan), and his tomb (emptied since the Norman invasions in late 9th century) lies in a chapel adjoining the church of Réguiny. A votive fountain is also located on the territory of the Breton town.
He is sometimes confused with the fifth-century Clair de Albi. [ citation needed ]
However, Breton historian Arthur Le Moyne de La Borderie makes the following points:
According to French historian Georges Goyau, the earliest list of the bishops of Nantes (made, according to historian Louis Duchesne, at the beginning of the tenth century) does not favour the thesis of a bishop of Nantes prior to Constantine. The dates regarding Clarus are uncertain. [6]
During the mid-seventeenth century, the Estates of Brittany were in frequent conflict with the court in Paris over what they considered infringements on Breton autonomy. In 1636, Dominican Albert Le Grand published Le vies des saints de la Bretagne Armorique. While not necessarily a strong Breton patriot, the Estates saw things otherwise, as, to them, Le Grand's book reinforced the ancient prerogatives of Brittany. However, Le Grand drew a distinction between the seven dioceses founded by British Saints and the more eastern dioceses of Rennes and Nantes, founded by Gallo-Frankish saints. [3]
One year later, Pierre Biré published Concernant l'Origine, Antiquité, Noblesse, & Saincteté de la Bretagne Armorique, & particulerement de ville de Nantes & Renne. In this, Biré said that Clair's mission as the first bishop of Nantes and all of Brittany preceded that of St. Denis to France; and it was from Nantes that St. Clair evangelized all of Brittany. [3]
Brittany is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period of Roman occupation. It became an independent kingdom and then a duchy before being united with the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province governed as a separate nation under the crown.
Rennes is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France at the confluence of the rivers Ille and Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine department. In 2017, the urban area had a population of 357,327 inhabitants, and the larger metropolitan area had 739,974 inhabitants. The inhabitants of Rennes are called Rennais (masculine) or Rennaises (feminine) in French.
Brittany is the westernmost region of Metropolitan France. It covers about four fifths of the territory of the historic province of Brittany. It is one of two regions in Metropolitan France that do not contain any landlocked departments, the other being Corsica.
Vannes is a commune in the Morbihan department in Brittany in north-western France. It was founded over 2,000 years ago.
Dol-de-Bretagne, cited in most historical records under its Breton name of Dol, is a commune in the Ille-et-Vilaine département in Brittany in northwestern France.
Quimper Cathedral, formally the Cathedral of Saint Corentin, is a Roman Catholic cathedral and national monument of Brittany in France. It is located in the town of Quimper and is the seat of the Diocese of Quimper and Léon. Saint Corentin was its first bishop.
Saint-Brieuc Cathedral is a Roman Catholic church located in the town of Saint-Brieuc, Brittany, France, and dedicated to Saint Stephen.
Nantes Cathedral, or the Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul of Nantes, is a Roman Catholic Gothic cathedral located in Nantes, Pays de la Loire, France. Construction began in 1434, on the site of a Romanesque cathedral, and took 457 years to finish in 1891. It has been listed since 1862 as a monument historique by the French Ministry of Culture.
Langon is a commune in the Ille-et-Vilaine department in Brittany in northwestern France.
Dol-de-Bretagne Cathedral is a Roman Catholic church located in Dol-de-Bretagne. The cathedral is dedicated to Saint Samson, one of the founding saints of Brittany. It was formerly the seat of the Archbishop of Dol, one of the nine ancient bishoprics of Brittany. The cathedral suffered badly from the excesses of the French Revolution, becoming successively a "Temple de la Raison", then a stable, then a warehouse. Revolutionaries caused considerable damage and many treasures were lost. When it eventually returned to being a house of worship, its role as a bishopric was abolished by the Concordat of 1801 when the Dol diocese was merged into the Dioceses of Rennes and Saint-Malo. The Concordat of 1801 was an agreement between Napoleon and Pope Pius VII, signed on 15 July 1801 in Paris, which sought national reconciliation between revolutionaries and Catholics. The Concordat was abrogated by the law of 1905 on the separation of church and state.
Tréguier Cathedral is a Roman Catholic church and former cathedral in Tréguier, Côtes-d'Armor, France. It is dedicated to Saint Tudwal. The church was formerly the seat of the Bishopric of Tréguier, abolished under the Concordat of 1801, when its territories were divided between the Diocese of Quimper and the Diocese of Saint-Brieuc, known since 1852 as Saint-Brieuc-Tréguier.
Saint-Malo Cathedral is a Catholic Cathedral located in Saint-Malo, Brittany, France. The church was founded in dedication to Saint Vincent of Saragossa and is a national monument of France. It was built in a mix of Romanesque and Gothic styles during the episcopacy of Jean de Châtillon (1146-1163) on the site of an ancient church founded in the 7th century. The cathedral suffered damage during World War II when the steeple toppled onto the Sacred Heart Chapel. An organ which had been built in 1893 by Louis Debierre was destroyed. On 21 May 1972, after 28 years of work, a ceremony was held to celebrate the completion of the restoration. It is a stop on the Tro Breizh, a Catholic pilgrimage that links the towns of the seven founding saints of Brittany.
The Diocese of Nantes is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church in Nantes, France. The diocese consists of the department of Loire-Atlantique. It has existed since the 4th century. It is now suffragan of the Archdiocese of Rennes, Dol, and Saint-Malo, having previously been suffragan to the Archdiocese of Tours. Its see is Nantes Cathedral in the city of Nantes.
Arthur Le Moyne de La Borderie, was a Breton historian, regarded as a father of Brittany's historiography.
The Battle of Trans-la-Fôret was fought on 1 August 939 between the occupying Vikings and the Bretons, led by a joint army of Alan II, Hugh II of Maine, and Judicael Berengar.
Pierre Le Baud or Lebaud was a French clergyman and historian known for his writings on the history of Brittany.
Jean-Marie Valentin, was born at Bourg-des-Comptes in Ille-et-Vilaine on 17 October 1823 and died in Paris on 8 August 1896. He was an architect and a sculptor specialising in religious furnishings such as pulpits, altars and statues. His father Antoine Louis Valentin was a master carpenter working mostly in ebony. He was born in 1784. Jean-Marie first worked at his father's workshop.
Saint Goulven de Léon was a saint in Brittany in the 6th-7th century. Any knowledge of his life is derived from his vita, of which only a copy of a transcription of the original remains and whose historical accuracy is in question. According to that vita, he was the bishop of Saint-Pol-de-Léon in the seventh century, after having acquired a reputation as an ascetic and anchorite whose prayer and presence cured people and had helped fight off a Viking invasion. When he was elected as bishop, he tried to avoid that responsibility by going to Rome; after intervention by Pope Gregory I he returned and served for over a decade. He died in Rennes, where he was buried in the cathedral. He continued to be venerated in various parts of Brittany, most notably in the small commune of Goulven and other communes nearby in the Pays de Léon, the very western part of Finistère.
Albert Le Grand was a Breton hagiographer and a Dominican brother.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain . This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Nantes". Catholic Encyclopedia . New York: Robert Appleton Company.
