The Concordat of 11 June 1817 was a

concordat A concordat is a convention between the Holy See and a sovereign state that defines the relationship between the Catholic Church and the state in matters that concern both,René Metz, ''What is Canon Law?'' (New York: Hawthorn Books, 1960 st Ed ...

between the

kingdom of France The Kingdom of France ( fro, Reaume de France; frm, Royaulme de France; french: link=yes, Royaume de France) is the historiographical name or umbrella term given to various political entities of France in the medieval and early modern period. ...

and the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of Rome ...

, signed on 11 June 1817. Not having been validated, it never came into force in France and so the country remained under the regime outlined in the

Concordat of 1801 The Concordat of 1801 was an agreement between Napoleon Bonaparte and Pope Pius VII, signed on 15 July 1801 in Paris. It remained in effect until 1905, except in Alsace-Lorraine, where it remains in force. It sought national reconciliation b ...

until the 1905 law on the Separation of the Churches and the State.

Representatives

Representing

Pope Pius VII Pope Pius VII ( it, Pio VII; born Barnaba Niccolò Maria Luigi Chiaramonti; 14 August 1742 – 20 August 1823), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 14 March 1800 to his death in August 1823. Chiaramonti was also a m ...

was Cardinal

Ercole Consalvi Ercole Consalvi (8 June 1757 – 24 January 1824) was a deacon and cardinal of the Catholic Church, who served twice as Cardinal Secretary of State for the Papal States and who played a crucial role in the post-Napoleonic reassertion of the le ...

, the papal Secretary of State. He had already negotiated the 1801 Concordat, and was designated the

plenipotentiary A ''plenipotentiary'' (from the Latin ''plenus'' "full" and ''potens'' "powerful") is a diplomat who has full powers—authorization to sign a treaty or convention on behalf of his or her sovereign. When used as a noun more generally, the word ...

for the 1817 negotiations. King

Louis XVIII of France Louis XVIII (Louis Stanislas Xavier; 17 November 1755 – 16 September 1824), known as the Desired (), was King of France from 1814 to 1824, except for a brief interruption during the Hundred Days in 1815. He spent twenty-three years in e ...

chose his favorite, the Ambassador to Rome, the Comte de Blacas, who had previously served as the

Prime Minister of France The prime minister of France (french: link=no, Premier ministre français), officially the prime minister of the French Republic, is the head of government of the French Republic and the leader of the Council of Ministers. The prime minister ...

, to negotiate the Concordat of 1817.

Text

The Concordat's introduction (1st article) was a repetition of that of the

Concordat of Bologna The Concordat of Bologna (1516) was an agreement between King Francis I of France and Pope Leo X that Francis negotiated in the wake of his victory at Marignano in September 1515. The groundwork was laid in a series of personal meetings of king an ...

, but the other articles laid down restrictions on this "re-establishment" of the Concordat of Bologna.

A revised ecclesiastical geography

One of the accord's objectives was to increase the number of

dioceses In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associat ...

in France. Another important article (article 4) stipulated that ''the dioceses in the

suppressed by the bull of the Holy See of 29 November 1801 were to be re-established in such a number as both sides would agree on as the most advantageous for the good of religion''. (*)''In italics, dioceses elevated to the rank of archdioceses.''
(**)In bold, dioceses and archdioceses that were foreseen to be created or re-established. Not all of them were.

References

Bibliography

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External links

French text of the Concordat
{{DEFAULTSORT:Concordat Of 11 June 1817 1817 1817 Bourbon Restoration 1817 in France 1817 treaties Unratified treaties France–Holy See relations 1817 in the Papal States