Ancient Diocese of Alais

But in the war between King Guntram and King Sigibert, Monderic had given gifts and furnished supplies for Sigibert, and so he was sent into exile super ripam Rhodani in turri quadam arcta atque detecta, ('by the bank of the Rhone in a certain small tower that had lost its roof') in which he was held for two years cum grandi cruciatu ('with great discomfort').

Unable to get his original place restored, Monderic fled to King Sigibert, who assigned him the fifteen parishes and the village of Arisitum, which had once belonged to the Goths but at the time was in the diocese Bishop Dalmatius of Rodez.

When Bishop Tetricus of Langres died, Gregory of Tours' kinsman Silvester was chosen to succeed him, and he proceeded to Lyon for consecration.

At the request of Louis XIV, a see was created at Alais by Pope Innocent XII, on 16 May 1694, in a bull entitled Animarum Zelus.

The King had nominated François de Saulx as the first bishop of Alais as early as August 1687,[16] but the diplomatic rupture between the Papacy and France, due to the Gallican Articles of 1682 and the seizure of Avignon on 29 September 1688,[17] made it impossible for French nominees to obtain their bulls from Rome as long as Pope Innocent XI lived.

Innocent's successor, Pope Alexander VIII (1689–1691) followed the same policy as far as bishops who had cooperated with the creation of the Gallican Articles was concerned.

In June 1694 he gave his formal consent to the creation of the diocese of Alais, and ordered the Parliament of Toulouse to register his decree.

There was a foundation of Benedictine monks at Nôtre-Dame de Sendras (Cendras), and another at Saint-Pierre de-Salve (Sauve).

A convent of Cistercian nuns was established at the monastery of Nôtre-Dame de Font-aux-Nonnains, north of Alais in the village of Saint-Julien-les-Valgagues.

Bishop Charles de Bannes d'Avéjan, who happened to be in Paris, procured aid from the King and took measures in the town against disease.

In 1727 Bishop d'Avéjan established a 'refuge' for retired prostitutes in Alais, directed by the religious of the Order of Notre-Dame du Refuge.

The dioceses of the Roman Catholic Church were to be reduced in number, to coincide as much as possible with the new departments.

[28] After the signing of the Concordat of 1801 with First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte, the diocese of Alais was not revived, but abolished by Pope Pius VII in his bull Qui Christi Domini of 29 November 1801.