Prior to the Associations Law of 1901, the Diocese of Orléans counted Franciscans, Benedictines, Missionary Priests of the Society of Mary, Lazarists, Missionaries of the Sacred Heart and several orders of teaching Brothers.
Twentieth-century bishops of Orleans included Guy Riobé, whose opposition to nuclear weapons led to an altercation with a member of Georges Pompidou's government, and his successor, Jean-Marie Lustiger, who was appointed in 1979 after a long interregnum and shortly afterwards translated to Paris.