The Dechristianisation of France during the French Revolution is a conventional description of the results of a number of separate policies, conducted by various governments of France between the start of the French Revolution in 1789 and the Concordat of 1801. The French Revolution (1789–1815) was a period of political and social upheaval in the political history of France and Europe as a whole, during which the French governmental structure, previously an absolute monarchy with feudal privileges for the aristocracy and Catholic clergy, underwent radical change to forms based on... Year 1789 (MDCCLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 11-day slower Julian calendar). ... The Concordat of 1801 reaffirmed the Roman Catholic Church as the major religion of France and restored some of its civil status. ...

Policies

The program of dechristianisation waged against Catholicism, and eventually against all forms of Christianity, included:

• the deportation of clergy and the condemnation of many of them to death,
• the closing of churches,
• the institution of revolutionary and civic cults, including the Cult of Reason and subsequently the Cult of the Supreme Being,
• the large scale destruction of religious monuments,
• the outlawing of public and private worship and religious education,
• forced marriages of the clergy,
• forced abjurement of priesthood, and
• the enactment of a law on October 21, 1793 making all suspected priests and all persons who harbored them liable to death on sight.

^[1] This article was a word for word copy of an entry in the Rotten Library here ... The Cult of the Supreme Being was a religion based on deism created by Maximilien Robespierre, intended to become the state religion after the French Revolution. ...

The climax was reached with the celebration of the Goddess "Reason" in Notre Dame Cathedral on 10 November. Notre Dame de Paris: Western Façade For other uses, see Notre Dame. ...

From a scholarly point of view the dechristianization campaign can be seen as the logical extension of the materialist philosphy of some sectors of the enlightenment, while from a popular point of view it was an opportunity for retaliation for those who had resentments against the post Tridentine clergy. ^[2] The adjective Tridentine refers to any thing or person pertaining to the city of Trent, Italy (Latin: Tridentum). ...

The Church under the Ancien Régime

In 18th century France, ninety-five percent of the population were adherents to the Roman Catholic faith and, under the Ancien Régime, the authority of the Church was institutionalized in its status as the First Estate, foremost among the three estates of the realm. The power of the Roman Catholic Church came from many sources: it was the largest landowner in the country whose properties provided massive revenues from its tenants plus enormous income from the collection of tithes, a Church-levied tax on all crops produced anywhere in the country. The Church in France controlled the registry of births, deaths, and marriages, held a monopoly over primary and secondary education, and ran the hospital service. No citizen in France could live his or her life without the involvement of the Roman Catholic Church. The Roman Catholic Church, most often spoken of simply as the Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with over one billion members. ... Ancien Régime, a French term meaning Former Regime, but rendered in English as Old Rule, Old Order, or simply Old Regime, refers primarily to the aristocratic social and political system established in France under the Valois and Bourbon dynasties. ... In France of the ancien régime and the age of the French Revolution, the term First Estate (Fr. ... Cleric, Knight, and Workman: the three estates in medieval illumination The estates of the realm were the broad divisions of society, usually distinguishing nobility, clergy, and commoners recognised in the Middle Ages, and also later, in Europe. ... A tithe (from Old English teogoþa tenth) is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a (usually) voluntary contribution or as a tax or levy, usually to support a Jewish or Christian religious organization. ... “Taxes” redirects here. ...

The Church's difficulties were greatly added to by a deep dissatisfaction within its own ranks.^{[citation needed]} A wide gap in living standards existed between members of the clergy.^{[citation needed]} Senior positions in the Church were occupied by members of noble families, giving them the benefit of the Church's wealth base and enormous annual revenues.^{[citation needed]} In stark contrast, the majority of priests in small communities lived in perpetual poverty.^{[citation needed]} Nobility is a traditional hereditary status (see hereditary titles) that exists today in many countries (mainly present or former monarchies). ...

The Revolution and the Church

In an attempt to stem the growing unrest, in August of 1789 the State cancelled the taxing power of the Church. The issue of church property became central to the policies of the new revolutionary government. Declaring that all church property in France belonged to the nation, confiscations were ordered and church properties were sold at public auction. In July of 1790, the National Constituent Assembly published the Civil Constitution of the Clergy that stripped clerics of their special rights — the clergy were to be made employees of the state, elected by their parish or bishopric, and the number of bishoprics was to be reduced — and required all priests and bishops to swear an oath of fidelity to the new order or face dismissal, deportation or death. One version of the oath had the clergy swear to "hatred" of the nobility. Year 1790 (MDCCXC) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 11-day slower Julian calendar). ... The National Constituent Assembly (French: Assemblée nationale constituante) was formed from the National Assembly on 9 July 1789, during the first stages of the French Revolution. ... The law of the Civil Constitution of the Clergy (Fr. ...

Map (in French) of the percentage of jurors among French priests.

French priests had to receive Papal approval to sign such an oath, and Pius VI spent almost eight months deliberating on the issue. On April 13, 1791, the Pope denounced the Constitution resulting in a split in the French Catholic church. Those who accepted were known as the constitutional clergy, and those who obeyed the Pope, the refractory priests or "non-jurors". Image File history File links Carte_des_prêtres_assermentés_en_France_en_1791. ... Image File history File links Carte_des_prêtres_assermentés_en_France_en_1791. ... For other uses, see Pope (disambiguation). ... Pius VI, born as Giovanni Angelo Braschi, (December 27, 1717 - August 29, 1799), pope from 1775 to 1799, was born at Cesena. ... is the 103rd day of the year (104th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1791 (MDCCXCI) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 11-day-slower Julian calendar). ...

In September of 1792, the National Assembly legalized divorce, contrary to Catholic doctrine. At the same time, the State took control of the birth, death, and marriage registers away from the Church. An ever increasing view that the Church was a counter-revolutionary force exacerbated the social and economic grievances and violence erupted in towns and cities across France. In Paris, over a forty-eight hour period beginning on September 2, 1792, as the Legislative Assembly (successor to the National Constituent Assembly) dissolved into chaos, three Church bishops and more than two hundred priests were massacred by angry mobs; this constituted part of what would become known as the September Massacres. Priests were among those drowned in the Noyades for treason under the direction of Jean-Baptiste Carrier; priests and nuns were among the mass executions at Lyon, for separatism, on the orders of Joseph Fouché and Collot d'Herbois. Hundreds more priests were imprisoned and made to suffer in abominable conditions in the port of Rochefort. 1792 was a leap year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... Divorce or dissolution of marriage is the ending of a marriage before the death of either spouse. ... This article is about the capital of France. ... is the 245th day of the year (246th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... During the French Revolution, the Legislative Assembly was the legislature of France from October 1, 1791 to September 1792. ... The September Massacres were a wave of violence which overtook Paris in late summer 1792, during the French Revolution. ... Noyades were drownages superintended during the Reign of Terror at Nantes by the attorney Carrier, and effected by cramming some 90 priests in a flat-bottomed craft under hatches, and drowning them in mid-stream after scuttling the boat at a signal given, followed by another in which some 138... For other uses, see Treason (disambiguation) or Traitor (disambiguation). ... Jean-Baptiste Carrier (1756 - November 16, 1794) was a French Revolutionary. ... This article is about the French city. ... “Separatists” redirects here. ... Joseph Fouché Joseph Fouché, duc dOtrante (Duke of Otranto) (May 21, 1763 – December 25, 1820) was a French statesman and Minister of Police under Napoleon Bonaparte. ... Jean Marie Collot dHerbois Jean Marie Collot dHerbois (1749 - 1796) was an actor and French revolutionist. ... Rochefort is the name of several communes in France, of a municipality in Belgium and a commune in Switzerland: Rochefort in the Charente-Maritime département of France Rochefort in the Côte-dOr département of France Rochefort in the Savoie département of France Rochefort, Belgium Rochefort...

Disaffectation of a church, Swebach-Desfontaines, 1794

Festival of the Supreme Being, 8 June 1794.

Notre Dame of Strasbourg turned into a Temple of Reason.

On Clermont-Ferrand Cathedral, "The French people recognizes the Supreme Being and the immortality of the soul".

Many of the acts of dechristianization in 1793 were nothing other than a money-grab, motivated by the seizure of church gold and silver to finance the war effort. ^[3] Anti-church laws were passed by the Legislative Assembly and its successor, the National Convention, and by département councils throughout the country such as in Indre-et-Loire, where in November of 1793 the very word dimanche ("Sunday") was abolished. The Gregorian calendar, an instrument decreed by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582, was replaced by the French Republican Calendar which abolished the sabbath, Saints' days and any references to the Church. Anti-clerical parades were held, and the Archbishop of Paris was forced to resign his duties and made to replace his mitre with the red "Cap of Liberty." Street and place names with any sort of religious connotation were changed, such as the town of St. Tropez which became Héraclée. Religious holidays were banned and replaced with holidays to celebrate the harvest and other non-religious symbols. Robespierre and his colleagues decided to supplant both Catholicism and the rival, atheistic Cult of Reason with the Cult of the Supreme Being. Just six weeks before his arrest, on June 8, 1794 the still-powerful Robespierre personally led a vast procession through Paris to the Tuileries garden in a ceremony to inaugurate the new faith. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... The term disaffectation was coined by noted French psychoanalyst Joyce McDougall as a strictly psychoanalytic term for alexithymia. ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 477 pixelsFull resolution‎ (1,400 × 834 pixels, file size: 179 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Author: Pierre-Antoine Demachy Title: Fête de l’Etre suprême au Champ de Mars (20 prairial an II - 8 juin 1794). ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 477 pixelsFull resolution‎ (1,400 × 834 pixels, file size: 179 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Author: Pierre-Antoine Demachy Title: Fête de l’Etre suprême au Champ de Mars (20 prairial an II - 8 juin 1794). ... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 358 × 600 pixelsFull resolution‎ (756 × 1,266 pixels, file size: 365 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Our Ladys Cathedral in Strasbourg - Temple of Reason / Straßburger Münster - Tempel der Vernunft / Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Strasbourg - Temple de la... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 358 × 600 pixelsFull resolution‎ (756 × 1,266 pixels, file size: 365 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Our Ladys Cathedral in Strasbourg - Temple of Reason / Straßburger Münster - Tempel der Vernunft / Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Strasbourg - Temple de la... For other uses, see Strasburg. ... Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 748 × 600 pixelsFull resolution‎ (1,762 × 1,413 pixels, file size: 905 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Cathédrale de Clermont-Ferrand : déclaration pour le culte de lÉtre suprème. ... Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 748 × 600 pixelsFull resolution‎ (1,762 × 1,413 pixels, file size: 905 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Cathédrale de Clermont-Ferrand : déclaration pour le culte de lÉtre suprème. ... Clermont-Ferrand Cathedral Clermont-Ferrand Cathedral (Cathédrale Notre-Dame-de-lAssomption de Clermont-Ferrand) is a Gothic cathedral, and French national monument, located in the town of Clermont-Ferrand in the Auvergne. ... During the French Revolution, the Legislative Assembly was the legislature of France from October 1, 1791 to September 1792. ... This article is about the legislative body and constitutional convention during the French Revolution. ... The départements (or departments) are administrative units of France, roughly analogous to British counties. ... Indre-et-Loire is a département in west-central France named after the Indre and the Loire rivers. ... Year 1793 (MDCCXCIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the 11-day slower Julian calendar). ... For the calendar of religious holidays and periods, see liturgical year. ... Pope Gregory XIII (January 7, 1502 – April 10, 1585), born Ugo Boncompagni, was Pope from 1572 to 1585. ... Gregorian Calendar switch: Year 1582 involved conversion to the Gregorian calendar. ... A French Revolutionary Calendar in the Historical Museum of Lausanne. ... For other uses, see Sabbath. ... The calendar of saints is a traditional Christian method of organising a liturgical year on the level of days by associating each day with one or more saints, and referring to the day as that saints day. ... Anti-clericalism is a historical movement that opposes religious (generally Catholic) institutional power and influence, real or imagined[1], in all aspects of public and political life, and the involvement of religion in the everyday life of the citizen. ... The archbishop of Paris is one of twenty-three archbishops in France. ... This article is about the ceremonial head-dress; see also mitre (disambiguation). ... Saint-Tropez is a commune of the Var département in southern France, located on the French Riviera. ... Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre, (May 6, 1758–July 28, 1794), known also to his contemporaries as the Incorruptible, is one of the best known of the leaders of the French Revolution. ... “Atheist” redirects here. ... This article was a word for word copy of an entry in the Rotten Library here ... The Cult of the Supreme Being was a religion based on deism created by Maximilien Robespierre, intended to become the state religion after the French Revolution. ... is the 159th day of the year (160th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1794 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Up to 1871 the Tuileries Palace was a palace in Paris, France, on the right bank of the River Seine. ...

The dechristianisation of France reached its zenith around the middle of 1794 with the fall of Robespierre. By early 1795 a return to some form of religion-based faith was beginning to take shape and a law passed on February 21, 1795 legalized public worship, albeit with strict limitations. The ringing of church bells, religious processions and displays of the Christian cross were still forbidden. As late as 1799, priests were still being imprisoned or deported to penal colonies and persecution only worsened after the French army led by General Louis Alexandre Berthier captured Rome and imprisoned Pope Pius VI, who would die in captivity in Valence, France in August of 1799. Ultimately, with Napoleon now in ascendancy in France, year-long negotiations between government officials and the new Pope, Pius VII, led to the Concordat of 1801, formally ending the dechristianisation period and establishing the rules for a relationship between the Roman Church and the French State. 1795 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... is the 52nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... A reliquary in the form of an ornate Christian Cross Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations · Other religions Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Luther Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Archbishop of Canterbury · Catholic Pope... 1799 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... Louis Alexandre Berthier, Marshal of France Louis Alexandre Berthier, prince de Neuchâtel (February 20, 1753 – June 1, 1815), marshal of France, Vice-Constable of France beginning in 1808, and chief of staff under Napoleon, was born at Versailles. ... For other uses, see Rome (disambiguation). ... Pius VI, born Giovanni Angelo Braschi (December 27, 1717 – August 29, 1799), Pope from 1775 to 1799, was born at Cesena. ... Valence is a commune in south-eastern France, the capital of the département of Drôme, situated on the left bank of the Rhône, 65 miles south of Lyon on the railway to Marseille. ... Napoléon I, Emperor of the French (born Napoleone di Buonaparte, changed his name to Napoléon Bonaparte)[1] (15 August 1769; Ajaccio, Corsica – 5 May 1821; Saint Helena) was a general during the French Revolution, the ruler of France as First Consul (Premier Consul) of the French Republic from... Pope Pius VII, OSB (August 14, 1740—August 20, 1823), born Barnaba Niccolò Maria Luigi Chiaramonti, was Bishop of Rome and Pope of the Catholic Church from March 14, 1800 to August 20, 1823. ... The Concordat of 1801 reaffirmed the Roman Catholic Church as the major religion of France and restored some of its civil status. ...

Victims of the Reign of Terror totaled approximately 40,000. Among people who were condemned by the revolutionary tribunals, about 8 percent were aristocrats, 6 percent clergy, 14 percent middle class, and 70 percent were workers or peasants accused of hoarding, evading the draft, desertion, rebellion, and other purported crimes. ^[4] Of these social groupings, the clergy of the Roman Catholic church suffered proportionately the greatest loss.

While persecution of certain Roman Catholic clerics and monastic orders occurred during the Third Republic, the Concordat of 1801 endured for more than a century until it was abrogated by the government of the Third Republic, which established a policy of laïcité on December 11, 1905. The French Third Republic, (in French, La Troisième République, sometimes written as La IIIe République) (1870/75-10 July 1940) was the governing body of France between the Second French Empire and the Vichy Regime. ... The Concordat of 1801 reaffirmed the Roman Catholic Church as the major religion of France and restored some of its civil status. ... Motto of the French republic on the tympanum of a church, in Aups (Var département) which was installed after the 1905 law on the Separation of the State and the Church. ... is the 345th day of the year (346th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For other uses, see 1905 (disambiguation). ...

Toll on the Church

By the end of the decade, approximately 30,000 priests were forced to leave France, and thousands who did not leave were executed. ^[5] Despite the fact that at the outset of the revolution many devout Catholics, such as those of the Vendée^[6], initially supported the revolution, the campaign created a cleft between those who supported the Church and those who supported the Revolution which lasted as late as the First World War. ^[7] Flag of the so-called Armée Royale et Catholique (Royal and Catholic Army) from Vendée Insigna of the royalist insurgents During the French Revolution, the 1793-1796 uprising in the Vendée, variously known as the Uprising, Insurrection, Revolt, Vendéan Rebellion, or Wars in the Vendée...

Notes

1. ^ Latreille, A. FRENCH REVOLUTION, New Catholic Encyclopedia v. 5, pp. 972-973 (Second Ed. 2002 Thompson/Gale) ISBN 0-7876-4004-2
2. ^ Lewis, Gwynne The French Revolution: Rethinking the Debate p.96 1993 Routledge, ISBN 0415054664
3. ^ Lewis, Gwynne The French Revolution: Rethinking the Debate p.45 1993 Routledge, ISBN 0415054664
4. ^ Harvey, Donald Joseph FRENCH REVOLUTION, History.com 2006 (Accessed April 27,2007)
5. ^ Lewis, Gwynne The French Revolution: Rethinking the Debate p.96 1993 Routledge, ISBN 0415054664
6. ^ Masson, Sophie [Rembering the vendee (Godspy 2004. First published in "Quadrant" magazine Australia, 1996)
7. ^ Lewis, Gwynne The French Revolution: Rethinking the Debate p.96 1993 Routledge, ISBN 0415054664

References

• J. McManners, The French Revolution and the Church (1969)
• Gwynne Lewis, Life in Revolutionary France (1972)

See also

• Persecution of Christians

• People engaged in the campaign: Jacques Hébert, Pierre Gaspard Chaumette, Joseph Fouché

Spanish Leftists during the Red Terror Shoot at a statue of Christ The persecution of Christians is religious persecution that Christians sometimes undergo as a consequence of professing their faith, both historically and in the current era. ... Jacques René Hébert Jacques René Hébert (November 15, 1757 - March 24, 1794) was editor of the extreme radical newspaper Le Père Duchesne during the French Revolution. ... Pierre Gaspard Chaumette Pierre Gaspard Chamette (1763 - April 13, 1794) was a French revolutionary. ... Joseph Fouché Joseph Fouché, duc dOtrante (Duke of Otranto) (May 21, 1763 – December 25, 1820) was a French statesman and Minister of Police under Napoleon Bonaparte. ...

External links

• Chief clauses of the Civil Constitution of the Clergy