The former French diocese of Saintes existed from the 6th century to the French Revolution. Its bishops had their see in the cathedral of Saintes in western France, in the modern department of Charente-Maritime. After the Concordat of 1801, the diocese was abolished and its territory passed mainly to the Diocese of La Rochelle, the name of which was changed in 1862 to the present Diocese of La Rochelle and Saintes.