Dissidents in the abbey's Chapter disputed the right of the legate to change the rules of their order and statutes adopted by them of long standing character.

[1] Cardinal d'Estrées spent 16 days assessing the state of the abbey and its occupants, and on 28 September issued 13 provisional regulations.

[2] When he arrived in Rome, d'Estrées continued working on the problems of Saint-Claude, consulted with cardinals in the Roman Curia, and, on 20 September 1700, issued an additional set of statutes, in five chapters with 127 articles.

[4] The cardinal's statutes were approved by King Louis XIV in letters patent in May 1701, and registered by the Parlement of Besançon on 13 July 1701.

[5] On 28 July 1701, the opponents of reform formally requested the Parlemenbt of Besançon to allow them to appeal against the statutes, alleging that they contained 21 abuses.

Cardinal d'Estrées appealed to the Sorbonne, in what he termed a matter of conscience, and obtained a judgment stating that, in issuing his statutes there was no defect in person: he had the authorization of the Papacy, letters patent from the king, and the force of canon law.

[6] In 1709, the two Benedictine scholars, Edmond Martène and Ursin Durand, were on an expedition to collect unpublished documents and manuscripts from monastic libraries.

[10] One obstacle to the plan was removed by the death of Cardinal César d'Estrées, the former abbot commendatory of Saint-Claude, on 14 December 1714.

On 13 February 1790. it issued a decree which stated that the government would no longer recognize solemn religious vows taken by either men or women.

Members of either sex were free to leave their monasteries or convents if they wished, and could claim an appropriate pension by applying to the local municipal authority.

[21] The National Constituent Assembly then, on 6 February 1790, instructed its ecclesiastical committee to prepare a plan for the reorganization of the clergy.

Bishop Jean-Baptiste Chabot (1785–1801) refused to take the obligatory oath to the Civil Constitution, and therefore his position was declared vacant by the French government.

To advance his aggressive military foreign policy, he decided to make peace with the Catholic Church and the Papacy.

In implementation of the concordat of 27 July 1817, between King Louis XVIII and Pope Pius VII, the diocese of Saint-Claude should have been restored by the bull "Commissa divinitus",[33] but the French Parliament refused to ratify the agreement.

It was not until 6 October 1822 that a revised version of the papal bull, now called "Paternae Charitatis" ,[34] fortified by an ordonnance of Louis XVIII of 13 January 1823, received the acceptance of all parties.