Diocese of Luçon
Lucionen(sis)
Suffragan diocese · Latin Church · Luçon, France
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 share
- 79.9%
- Priests
- 188
- Catholics per priest
- 2,869
- Extent
- 7,015 km²
- Catholics per km²
- 77
of the people living within its bounds
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:
- Archdiocese of RennesRennes
- Diocese of AngersAngers
- Diocese of LavalLaval
- Diocese of Le MansLe Mans
- Diocese of NantesNantes
- Diocese of Quimper, CornouailleQuimper
- Diocese of Saint-BrieucSaint-Brieuc
- Diocese of VannesVannes
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.
What is kept by invitation
The record above is published because it is public: what this see is, when it was erected, who holds its chair, and where it stands among its neighbours.
The working record is not. The chancery's address, telephone and email, the clergy of the see, and the hours of Mass, confession and adoration in the parishes within it are kept for members, and a person reads every request.
Sources
The see's own website · Wikipedia
This record is compiled from the published statements of the see and the references of the Holy See, among them the Annuario Pontificio. On the method, see the keeping of the record. Whoever finds an error is asked, in charity, to write: [email protected].