Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Albi

Archdiocese of Albi-Castres-Lavaur Archidioecesis Albiensis
Albi Cathedral
Location
Ecclesiastical province	Toulouse
Metropolitan	Archdiocese of Toulouse
Statistics
Area	5,780 km2 (2,230 sq mi)
Population - Total - Catholics	(as of 2018) 396,341 289,700 (guess)
Parishes	507
Information
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Sui iuris church	Latin Church
Rite	Roman Rite
Established	c. 5th Century 3 October 1678 (Archdiocese of Albi) 17 February 1922 (Archdiocese of Albi-Castres-Lavaur)
Cathedral	Cathedral Basilica of St. Cecilia in Albi
Patron saint	Saint Cecilia
Secular priests	105 (diocesan) 31 (Religious Orders) 21 Permanent Deacons
Current leadership
Pope	Francis
Archbishop	Jean-Louis Balsa
Metropolitan Archbishop	Guy de Kerimel
Bishops emeritus	Jean Legrez
Website
Website of the Archdiocese

The Archdiocese of Albi(Latin: Archidioecesis Albiensis–Castrensis–Vauriensis); (French: Archidiocèse d'Albi–Castres–Lavaur) is a Latin archdiocese of the Catholic Church in France.^[a] It is suffragan to the Archdiocese of Toulouse, and it comprises the department of Tarn.

In the 12th century, the spread of alternative beliefs in the region led to the arrival of church authorities to refute and try the "heretics". Among them were the Good Men, from whom the Cathars became known as Albigensians. The latter held their own council in 1167, and their bishopric was defined. In 1179, Pope Alexander III summoned the Third Lateran Council, where he condemned them. In the early 1200s, a religious and military crusade was waged against the movement and they were largely destroyed.

The Diocese of Albi was established in the 5th century and was under the Archdiocese of Bourges for centuries. On 3 October 1678, Pope Innocent XI made it an archdiocese. With the arrival of the French Revolution, it was suppressed in favor of Tarn. With the Concordat of 1801, it was integrated into the See of Montpellier. Finally, with the Concordat of 11 June 1817, the Archdiocese of Albi was restored.

In May 2018, Legrez restructured the diocese to reflect the reality of the church in the region. The totality of parishes, which had been around since the Middle Ages, were reduced from 503 to 21.
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