Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges (French pronunciation: [sɛ̃ bɛʁtʁɑ̃ də kɔmɛ̃ʒ], literally Saint-Bertrand of Comminges; Gascon: Sent Bertran de Comenge) is a commune (municipality) and former episcopal see in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern France.
[4] It belonged to the Roman province of Novempopulana and had a growing Christian community, which by the late fourth century got its own Diocese of Comminges, which was suffragan of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Eauze.
It is claimed to have been the place of exile from 39 AD of Herod Antipas, with his wife Herodias, under Emperor Caligula's orders, although this is based on an unclear point in Josephus.
The bishopric however persisted under the name of Comminges and was transferred in the ninth century to the ecclesiastical province of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Auch.
The stalls within the choir were commissioned by Jean de Mauléon [fr] but because of the lack of documentation it is impossible to name the artist that made them.
The English composer Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji (1892–1988) wrote a piano piece inspired by James's story entitled St. Bertrand de Comminges: "He was laughing in the tower" (1941).
According to ancient Jewish historian Flavius Josephus (books Antiquities and Wars, combined information), Lugdunum Covenarum – then in the Roman province of Spain – was the place of exile of Herod Antipas, who had been the Tetrarch (ruler) of Galilee in the time of Jesus Christ.
Confusion of this place with present-day Lyon, then also called Lugdunum, is still frequent nowadays, though the Hispanic reference makes this geographically impossible.