The Archdiocese of Saint-Pierre and Fort-de-France (; French: ''Archidiocèse de Saint-Pierre et Fort-de-France''), more simply known as the Archdiocese of Fort-de-France, is a

Latin Church The Latin Church () is the largest autonomous () particular church within the Catholic Church, whose members constitute the vast majority of the 1.3 billion Catholics. The Latin Church is one of 24 Catholic particular churches and liturgical ...

ecclesiastical territory or

archdiocese 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 associated ...

of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

in the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

. The archdiocese comprises the entirety of the French

overseas department The overseas departments and regions of France (, ; DROM) are the five departments and regions of the French Republic which are located outside European France (also known as " metropolitan France"). These overseas entities have exactly the s ...

Martinique Martinique ( ; or ; Kalinago language, Kalinago: or ) is an island in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the eastern Caribbean Sea. It was previously known as Iguanacaera which translates to iguana island in Carib language, Kariʼn ...

. A

metropolitan Metropolitan may refer to: Areas and governance (secular and ecclesiastical) * Metropolitan archdiocese, the jurisdiction of a metropolitan archbishop ** Metropolitan bishop or archbishop, leader of an ecclesiastical "mother see" * Metropolitan ar ...

archdiocese, its

ecclesiastical province An ecclesiastical province is one of the basic forms of jurisdiction in Christian churches, including those of both Western Christianity and Eastern Christianity, that have traditional hierarchical structures. An ecclesiastical province consist ...

includes the

suffragan diocese A suffragan diocese is one of the dioceses other than the metropolitan archdiocese that constitute an ecclesiastical province. It exists in some Christian denominations, in particular the Catholic Church, the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandr ...

s of

Cayenne Cayenne (; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and capital city of French Guiana, an overseas region and Overseas department, department of France located in South America. The city stands on a former island at the mouth of the Caye ...

and

Basse-Terre Basse-Terre (, ; ; ) is a communes of the Guadeloupe department, commune in the France, French overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department of Guadeloupe, in the Lesser Antilles. It is also the ''prefectures in France, pref ...

, and all are members of the

Antilles Episcopal Conference The Antilles Episcopal Conference (AEC) is a Roman Catholic episcopal conference. Its members are bishops and archbishops from current and former British, Dutch, and French colonies and dependencies in the Caribbean (excluding Haiti), Central Am ...

. Archbishop Gilbert Marie Michel Méranville's retirement for age reasons was accepted by

Pope Francis Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the fi ...

on Saturday, 7 March 2015; he is succeeded by Msg. David Macaire, O.P., a Dominican priest who until then had been serving as prior of the convent La Sainte-Baume, in

Toulon, France Toulon (, , ; , , ) is a city in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southeastern France. Located on the French Riviera and the historical Provence, it is the prefecture of the Var department. The Commune of Toulon has a population o ...

and as of now, the incumbent prelate. , the diocese contained 47 parishes, 35 active diocesan priests, 23 religious priests and 310,000 Catholics. It also has 171 Women Religious and 33 Religious Brothers.

History

The diocese received its present status on 27 September 1850, when the

Apostolic Prefecture of Îles de la Terre Ferme Apostolic may refer to: The Apostles An Apostle meaning one sent on a mission: *The Twelve Apostles of Jesus, or something related to them, such as the Church of the Holy Apostles *Apostolic succession, the doctrine connecting the Christian Churc ...

(which had lost French Guiana in 1731) was promoted from the missionary status of

Apostolic Prefecture An apostolic prefect or prefect apostolic is a priest who heads what is known as an apostolic prefecture, a 'pre-diocesan' missionary jurisdiction where the Catholic Church is not yet sufficiently developed to have it made a diocese. Although it ...

to Diocese of Martinique (

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

: ''Dioecesis Martinicensis''; French: ''Diocèse de la Martinique''), but also lost territory to establish the Diocese of Guadeloupe et Basse-Terre. 1853.09.12, it was renamed as Diocese of Saint-Pierre, 1902.05.08 again as Diocese of Fort-de-France–Saint-Pierre. It was elevated to an archdiocese on 26 September 1967.

Bishops

Episcopal incumbents

David Macaire par Claude Truong-Ngoc juillet 2015

;Bishops of Saint-Pierre * Etienne Jean François Le Herpeur (1850–1858; ''till 1853 as Bishop of Martinique'') * Louis-Martin Porchez (1858–1860) * Amand-Joseph Fava (1871–1875) * Julien-François-Pierre Carmené (1875–1897) * Étienne-Joseph-Frédéric Tanoux (1898–1899) * Maurice-Charles-Alfred de Cormont (1899–1902 ''see below'') ;Bishops of Fort-de-France–Saint-Pierre * Maurice-Charles-Alfred de Cormont (''see above'' 1902–1911) * Joseph Félix François Malleret C.S.Sp. (1912–1914) * Paul-Louis-Joseph Lequien (1915–1941) * Henri-Marie-François Varin de la Brunelière C.S.Sp. (1941–1967 ''see below'') ;Metropolitan Archbishops of Fort-de-France–Saint-Pierre * Henri-Marie-François Varin de la Brunelière C.S.Sp. (''see above'' 1967–1972) * Maurice Rigobert Marie-Sainte (1972–2004) * Gilbert Marie Michel Méranville (2004–2015) * David Macaire, O.P. (7 March 2015–present)

Auxiliary bishop

* Maurice Rigobert Marie-Sainte (1968–1972), appointed Archbishop here

Churches

* Our Lady of the Assumption Church at Sainte-Marie,

Notes

References

GigaCatholic, with episcopal incumbent biographies
*

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fort-De-France Religion in Martinique Roman Catholic dioceses in the Caribbean

Diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, 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 Roman province, prov ...

Religious organizations established in 1850 1850 establishments in France A