[2] Bertarius also reports that he read in a "Life of Saint Servatius the bishop" that Sanctinus, Clavorum episcopus was present at the Council of Cologne (Colonia Agrippinensis[3]), summoned to depose its archbishop.

[9] "Other noteworthy bishops are: Vitonus (Vanne) (502–529); St. Agericus (Airy) (554–591), friend of St. Gregory of Tours and of Fortunatus; Paulus of Verdun (630–648), formerly Abbot of the Benedictine Monastery of Tholey in the Diocese of Trier; and Madalvaeus (Mauve) (753–776).

"[10] In 916 or 917, the 37th year of Bishop Dado, the cathedral suffered a major fire, and nearly all the ancient records of the church were destroyed, according to the chronicler Bertarius of Verdun.

The last dean, Claude-Elizabeth de la Corbière, was arrested in October 1792, taken to Paris, tried by a revolutionary tribunal, and executed on 25 April 1794.

An addition to the provost, there was a dean and a cantor According to local tradition, the church had been founded by Saint Rémi of Reims in the 6th century.

[21] The collegiate church of Sainte-Croix of Verdun was founded by the Princier Amicus at the beginning of the 11th century, with a Chapter composed of twelve canons.

[24] The three bishoprics (Metz, Toul, and Verdun) had been under control of the French since 1552,[25] but the dioceses resisted, and it was not until the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 that their acquisition was formally recognized.

Through royal generosity, Bishop Charles-François D'Hallencourt (1721–1754) was granted the income of the abbey of Saint-Airy fir eight years, and from 1741 to 1749 built a proper seminary and chapel.

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.

[31] A new department was created called "Meuse," which comprised the three bishoprics and the district of Bar-le-Duc (Barrois), and Verdun was fixed as its administrative center.

[35] On 13 January 1791, the municipal officials of Verdun presented Bishop Henri-Louis Rene Desnos a copy of the decree of 27 November 1790, demanding an oath of allegiance to the Civil Constitution of the Clergy.

[36] The episcopal chair of Verdun was declared vacant, and on 21 February 1791, the electors of the department of Meuse met to elect a Constitutional Bishop.

He was consecrated a bishop in Paris at the Oratory church by Jean-Pierre Saurine, assisted by Robert-Thomas Lindet and François-Xavier Laurent, in a ceremony that was both blasphemous and schismatic.

Under the Terror, religion was abolished, the Constitutional Church dispersed, and Aubry returned to his birthplace, Saint-Aubin, where he worked in a mill and was mayor of the commune.

[39] The pope then recreated the French ecclesiastical order, with the bull "Qui Christi Domini," respecting in most ways the changes introduced during the Revolution, including the reduction in the number of archdioceses and dioceses, and the re-drawing of dioceesan boundaries.

[41] In implementation of the concordat of 27 July 1817, between King Louis XVIII and Pope Pius VII, the diocese of Verdun should have been restored by the bull "Commissa divinitus",[42] but the French Parliament refused to ratify the agreement.

It was not until 6 October 1822 that a revised version of the papal bull, "Paternae Charitatis" ,[43] fortified by an ordonnance of Louis XVIII of 13 January 1823, received the acceptance of all parties.

[46] In the 1820s, documents began to circulate in the diocese, and appeared in newspapers, purporting to be "Prophecies of Orval," or "The Previsions of a Solitary," a divine revelation of the first half of the 15th century.

The cause of authenticity was immediately taken up by enthusiasts and monarchists supporting "King Henry V" of France, and a pamphlet war raged for some years.

[47] During World War I, 1n February 1916, the German offensive, directed by General Erich von Falkenhayn, surrounded and occcupied Verdun.

The administration of the parishes was confided to Thomas Louis Heylen, Bishop of Namur, who had been appointed vicar apostolic to French territory under German occupation.

[51] One hundred and fifty-three churches were destroyed and 166 damaged, including the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Verdun, whose towers have never been rebuilt.