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Diocese of Luçon

Lucionen(sis)

The Diocese of Lucon is a Latin rite diocese covering the Vendee department in western France, erected on 16 August 1317 from the Diocese of Poitiers. It is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Rennes, Dol and Saint-Malo. Its seat is the Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Lucon, once the see of Cardinal Richelieu. Bishop Renauld de Dinechin was appointed on 16 September 2025 and installed in December 2025.

The see

Rank
Suffragan diocese
Tradition
Latin Church
Erected
16 August 1317
Latin
Lucionen(sis)
Patron
Assumption of Mary
Annuario code
001002062

The see in figures

Catholics
539,299
Population
675,247
Catholic shareof the people living within its bounds
79.9%
Priests
188
Catholics per priest
2,869
Extent
7,015 km²
Catholics per km²
77

Figures as recorded in the register, from the Annuario Pontificio and the see's own published statements. Shares and ratios are computed from the two figures shown beside them.

The bishop

Bishop
Renauld de Dinechin
Born
25 March 1958
Birthplace
Lille

A see whose chair stands empty is recorded as vacant rather than filled with a guess. On what a bishop is, see the bishop.

The cathedral

Cathedral of Notre-Dame, Lucon stands in Luçon, the church that holds the cathedra from which this see takes its name.

On what a cathedral is, see the cathedral; every see church on earth is gathered at the cathedrals.

The province of Rennes

A suffragan of Archdiocese of Rennes, Dol and Saint-Malo.

The sees of this province:

On how the Church is ordered into provinces, see the diocese.

History

Carved out of the diocese of Poitiers in 1317, the Diocese of Luçon (Latin: Dioecesis Lucionensis; French: Diocèse de Luçon) covers the department of Vendée, with its seat at the cathedral of Nôtre-Dame in the commune of Luçon. The French Revolution interrupted the existence of this Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church in France, and only in 1821, after the Bourbon restoration and a new concordat with the Holy See, was it restored.

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Sources

The see's own website · Wikipedia

Compiled from the published statements of the see and the references of the Holy See, among them the Annuario Pontificio. Corrections: hello@catholicintelligence.com.