Dol Cathedral

About

St. Samson Cathedral in Dol-de-Bretagne is a Roman Catholic cocathedral in Gothic style. It is located in Dol-de-Bretagne, in the French department of Ille-et-Vilaine, and is listed as a historical monument in 1840.

It is one of the seven cathedral stages of the Tro Breiz. It has been the seat of the bishopric of Dol-de-Bretagne since the year 555, one of the nine former bishoprics of Brittany. In 848 Nominoë had Dol erected as an archdiocese, a status that lasted until 1199.

Nominoë asks the pope the Pallium for the representative of the Breton Church sitting in Dol: this allows the Breton bishops to escape the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan of Tours (archdiocese of Tours). At the Revolution, the cathedral successively became Temple of Reason, stable and warehouse. When the religious office was restored, Dol did not recover his bishopric title.

It was indeed abolished by the concordat of 1801, and its territory divided among the dioceses of Rennes, Saint-Brieuc, Quimper and Évreux. It is under Napoleon III that Brittany will regain its status as archdiocese, with Rennes as its seat. François Duine wrote: