Saint-Papoul Cathedral, Romanesque parish church in Saint-Papoul, France.

Saint-Papoul Cathedral is the former abbey church of the 8th-century Abbey of Saint-Papoul, in the village of Saint-Papoul in Languedoc. Inside, pale pink plaster walls and gray stone arches frame a tall vaulted space: a large pointed archway above a side altar with a framed painting and a gold-colored statue, a faded fresco of a circular sunburst above it, a smaller pointed arch leading into a dark recess, and on the right an ornate gold and marble altarpiece topped by a sculpted crest. A dark wooden pulpit stands near the center-right arch.

The abbey was founded in the 8th century and became a cathedral in 1317 when Pope John XXII established the Diocese of Saint-Papoul. This change marked a turning point in how the place functioned and its importance in the regional church organization.

The village and the church take their name from Saint Papulus, a hermit of the 5th or 6th century martyred at a spot called L'Ermitage; legend says he picked up the top of his own skull. In the 11th century the monk Saint Berenger lived here and his tomb drew pilgrims. In 1790 the cathedral kept a small music body for worship: an organist, a cantor who also played the serpent, and a choirboy.

The former abbey church stands in the village centre of Saint-Papoul, in Languedoc, and is now the parish church, so visits fit around parish services. The abbey buildings survive beside it, and the episcopal palace was rebuilt in the 17th and 18th centuries. Approach on foot through the village lanes.

The abbey church was plundered by the Routiers in 1361 and again by Protestants in 1595, damage that shaped the building's later restorations. In 1790, before the diocese was suppressed, the cathedral still maintained a small musical body for worship: an organist, a cantor who also played the serpent, and a choirboy.