Editing Provinces of France (section)

== Ecclesiastical provinces and dioceses ==
{{See also|:fr:Circonscriptions catholiques françaises en 1748}}
[[File:France Ancien Régime Diocèses 1789.png|thumb|350x350px|Dioceses in the Kingdom of France in 1789.]]
[[Metropolis (religious jurisdiction)|Metropolises]] are territories under the jurisdiction of a [[Metropolitan bishop|metropolitan archbishop]], also known as provinces because they originate from the Roman provinces administered by the first bishops after the fall of the Roman Empire.

They are made up of the [[Diocese|dioceses]] which, by the same process, succeeded the ancient civitas or romanized Gallic cities, and which almost always retained the name of an ancient Gallic people, also given to the diocesan capital. Dioceses were made up of [[Parish|parishes]], groups of inhabitants who could gather in the same church, whose names and boundaries have been preserved in the 36,000 French communes.

Ecclesiastical districts, by virtue of their mainmortal status, are the oldest and most stable territorial circumscriptions, from late antiquity to the general reorganization of 1802. Today, these 130 or so districts are grouped into the 90 départements and their capital cities, although their ethnonyms have been replaced by names related to physical geography: rivers, mountains, coasts.