The Holy Father has appointed the Reverend Jean-Marc Micas, P.S.S., until now provincial superior of France of the Society of Priests of Saint-Sulpice, as bishop of Tarbes et Lourdes, France.
Msgr. Jean-Marc Micas was born on June 17, 1963 in Montélimar, Drôme. In 1993 he obtained a diploma in civil and climate engineering at the University of Toulouse. From 1985 to 1990 he attended the Saint-Cyprien Seminary in Toulouse, where he was awarded a licentiate in theology.
He was ordained a priest on March 10, 1991, for the archdiocese of Toulouse and has been a priest of the Society of Saint-Sulpice since June 6, 1999.
He has held the following positions: vicar of the parish of Saint-Gaudens (1991-1995); diocesan chaplain of the Eucharistic Youth Movement (1993-1998); parish priest of Labège et Escalquens (1995); head of the diocesan Service for Vocations (1997-2000); formator in the Saint-Cyprien Regional Seminary of Toulouse (1999-2010); member of the College of Consultors and the Presbyteral Council (1999-2013); head of the Regional Service for Vocations (2000-2013); member of the diocesan Service for the Formation of Priests (2006-2013); superior of the Saint-Cyprien Regional Seminary (2007-2013); and member of the National Council of Major Seminaries (2011-2013).
Since 2013, he has been the Provincial Superior of France of the Society of Priests of Saint-Sulpice.
The origins of the diocese of Tarbes are unknown. The first known bishop, Aper (he bore the title of bishop of Bigorre), delegated the priest Ingenuus to the Council of Agde held in 506. He felt too old to go there himself. The country was very tested by the barbarian invasions, by the wars of the Middle Ages, and especially by the wars of religion in the years 1567 and following. The diocese of Tarbes, before the Revolution, corresponded to the province of Bigorre. It included, more than today, the Montanérez and, less, the Pays des Quatre Vallées: Aure, Neste, Barousse, Magnoac. The Revolution formed the current department of Hautes-Pyrénées. The bishop, Mgr de Gain-Montaignac, went into exile in 1791. During the Concordat of 1801, the diocese of Tarbes was not maintained, but united with those of Bayonne and Aire. It was rebuilt by the Restoration, but within the current departmental limits. The new bishop, Mgr de Neirac, appointed in 1817, did not take possession until 1823. In 1912, Saint Pius X added to the bishops of Tarbes, the title of Bishop of Lourdes. Mgr Schoepfer was the first to bear the title of Bishop of Tarbes and Lourdes (1912).
