Ancient Diocese of Apt

[3] In 1790 the National Constituent Assembly conceived a plan to destroy the influence of the Estates throughout France and bring the whole country under central administration.

At the same time the Church was to be brought into subordination by abolishing the old ecclesiastical diocesan system and creating new dioceses which would have the same boundaries as the departments.

The abolition of Catholic dioceses was a violation of Canon Law, and the requirement that the clergy were to be obliged to take an oath to the Constitution in order to hold their jobs and collect their state-supplied salaries brought about a schism.

In 1801 First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte was preparing to end the religious confusion in France by entering into a Concordat with the Vatican.

On November 29, 1801, by the bull Qui Christi Domini, Pope Pius VII suppressed all of the Roman Catholic dioceses in France, and immediately reinstituted them under papal authority.