Martial, this saint, deputed by St. Peter, came to Cahors in the first century and there dedicated a church to St. Stephen, while his disciple, St. Amadour (Amator), the Zaccheus of the Gospel and husband of St. Veronica, evangelized the diocese.

The Diocese of Cahors counted among its bishops Hugues Géraud (1312–16), who was implicated in the conspiracy against John XXII and sentenced to be burned alive; and Alain de Solminihac (1636–59), a reformer of the clergy.

The Bishop was considered a member of the Chapter, as were the Archdeacons of Cahors and Tournus; in addition there was a Precentor and a Treasurer, as well as nine other Canons.

d'Arpajon decided to suppress superfluous offices and reduced the number of archdeacons to two: Cahors and Tournès; these two continued to exist down to the Revolution.

The city of Cahors was visited by Pope Callistus II (1119–24) in 1119, where, on 26 August 1119 he dedicated the high altar of the Cathedral.

He provided a charter for a university there, dated 7 June 1331,[8] its law faculty being so celebrated as to boast at times of 1200 pupils[disputed – discuss].

[13] The Cathedral of Saint-Étienne, built at the end of the eleventh and restored in the fourteenth century, has a beautiful Gothic cloister.

Recent archival and archaeological discoveries have demonstrated, however, that the westwork of the cathedral, once thought to be of the 14th century, was actually completed by 1288.

In 1285 Bishop Raimond persuaded the Chapter to join with him in a commitment to donate half of the first year of income of every newly granted benefice in the diocese to the building fund.

[15] When, in the Middle Ages, the bishops officiated in this church they had the privilege, as barons and counts of Cahors, of depositing their sword and armour on the altar.

[18] The legitimate Bishop Louis Maria de Nicolai died in 1791, leaving the diocese vacant.

In accordance with the Concordat, the Pope revived the Diocese of Cahors and placed it in the hands of Guillaume-Balthasar Cousin de Grainville of Montpellier.