Civil Constitution of the Clergy
Encyclopedia
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
, that subordinated the Roman Catholic Church in France to the French government.
It is often stated this law confiscated the Church's French land holdings or banned monastic vows: that had already been accomplished by earlier legislation. It did, however, complete the destruction of the monastic orders, legislating out of existence "all regular and secular chapters for either sex, abbacies and priorships, both regular and in commendam
In Commendam
In canon law, commendam was a form of transferring an ecclesiastical benefice in trust to the custody of a patron...
, for either sex", etc.
Some of the support from this came from figures within the Church, such as the priest and parliamentarian Pierre Claude François Daunou
Pierre Claude François Daunou
Pierre Claude François Daunou was a French statesman and historian of the French Revolution and Empire.- Early career :...
, and, above all, the revolutionary priest Henri Grégoire
Henri Grégoire
Henri Grégoire , often referred to as Abbé Grégoire, was a French Roman Catholic priest, constitutional bishop of Blois and a revolutionary leader...
.
The measure was opposed, but ultimately acquiesced to, by King Louis XVI
Louis XVI of France
Louis XVI was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre until 1791, and then as King of the French from 1791 to 1792, before being executed in 1793....
.
Status of the Church in France before the Civil Constitution
Even before the Revolution Laine and the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, the Catholic Church in France (the Gallican ChurchGallican Church
The Gallican Church was the Catholic Church in France from the time of the Declaration of the Clergy of France to that of the Civil Constitution of the Clergy during the French Revolution....
) had a status that tended to subordinate the Church to the State. Under the Declaration of the Clergy of France
Declaration of the Clergy of France
Under the Declaration of the Clergy of France of 1682, the following privileges were claimed by France in relation to the Holy See. They are the framework of Gallicanism, and have never been accepted by the Pope....
(1682) privileges of the French monarch included the right to assemble church councils in their dominions and to make laws and regulations touching ecclesiastical matters;Gallican Church or to have recourse to the "appeal as from an abuse" ("appel comme d'abus") against acts of the ecclesiastical power.
Even prior to the Civil Constitution of the Clergy:
- On 11 August 1789 titheTitheA tithe is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a contribution to a religious organization or compulsory tax to government. Today, tithes are normally voluntary and paid in cash, cheques, or stocks, whereas historically tithes were required and paid in kind, such as agricultural products...
s were abolished. - On 2 November 1789, Catholic Church property that was held for purposes of church revenue was nationalized, and was used as the backing for the assignatAssignatAssignat was the type of a monetary instrument used during the time of the French Revolution, and the French Revolutionary Wars.- France :...
s. - On 13 February 1790 (some sources give the date as 11 February for example, http://www.dabar.org/Religion/RED/R-Words/Redrevolution.htm), monastic vows were forbidden and all ecclesiastical orders and congregations were dissolved, excepting those devoted to teaching children and nursing the sick.
- On 19 April 1790, administration of all remaining church property was transferred to the State.
Motivation of the Civil Constitution
The following interlinked factors appear to have been the causes of agitation for the confiscation of church lands and for the adoption of the Civil Constitution of the Clergy:- The French government in 1790 was nearly bankrupt; this fiscal crisis had been the original reason for the king's calling the Estates-GeneralEstates-General of 1789The Estates-General of 1789 was the first meeting since 1614 of the French Estates-General, a general assembly representing the French estates of the realm: the nobility, the Church, and the common people...
in 1789. - Church lands represented 20–25% of the land in France. In addition the Church collected tithes.
- Owing, in part, to abuses of this system (especially for patronage), there was enormous resentment of the Church, taking the various forms of atheismAtheismAtheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities...
, anticlericalism, and anti-CatholicismAnti-CatholicismAnti-Catholicism is a generic term for discrimination, hostility or prejudice directed against Catholicism, and especially against the Catholic Church, its clergy or its adherents...
. - Many of the revolutionaries viewed the Catholic Church as a retrograde force.
- At the same time, there was enough support for a basically Catholic form of Christianity that some means had to be found to fund the Church in France.
- Presumably, another factor, at least indirectly was JansenistJansenismJansenism was a Christian theological movement, primarily in France, that emphasized original sin, human depravity, the necessity of divine grace, and predestination. The movement originated from the posthumously published work of the Dutch theologian Cornelius Otto Jansen, who died in 1638...
rejection of the cult of kingship and absolutism.
Debate over the Civil Constitution
On 6 February 1790 one week before banning monastic vows, the National Constituent AssemblyNational Constituent Assembly
The National Constituent Assembly was formed from the National Assembly on 9 July 1789, during the first stages of the French Revolution. It dissolved on 30 September 1791 and was succeeded by the Legislative Assembly.-Background:...
asked its ecclesiastical committee (which was promptly expanded from 15 to 30 members) to prepare the reorganization of the clergy. No doubt, those who hoped to reach a solution amenable to the papacy were discouraged by the consistorial address of 22 March in which Pius VI spoke out against measures already passed by the Assembly; also, the election of the Protestant Jean-Paul Rabaut Saint-Étienne
Jean-Paul Rabaut Saint-Etienne
Jean-Paul Rabaut Saint-Étienne was a French revolutionary.-Biography:Rabaut de Saint-Étienne was born at Nîmes, Gard, the son of Paul Rabaut, the additional surname of Saint-Étienne taken from a small property near Nîmes....
to the presidency of the Assembly brought about "commotions" at Toulouse
Toulouse
Toulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...
and Nîmes
Nîmes
Nîmes is the capital of the Gard department in the Languedoc-Roussillon region in southern France. Nîmes has a rich history, dating back to the Roman Empire, and is a popular tourist destination.-History:...
, suggesting that at least some Catholics would accept nothing less than a return to the ancien régime practice under which only Catholics could hold office.
The Civil Constitution of the Clergy came before the Assembly 29 May 1790. François de Bonal
François de Bonal
François de Bonal was Bishop of Clermont.He had been Vicar-General of the diocese of Agen and Director of the Carmelite Nuns in France when he was made Bishop of Clermont, in 1776...
, Bishop of Clermont, and some members of the Right requested that the project should be submitted to a national council or to the pope, but did not carry the day. Joining them in their opposition to the legislation was Abbé Sieyès
Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès
Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès , commonly known as Abbé Sieyès, was a French Roman Catholic abbé and clergyman, one of the chief theorists of the French Revolution, French Consulate, and First French Empire...
, the firebrand of 1789, author of "What is the Third Estate?
What is the Third Estate?
What Is the Third Estate? is a pamphlet written by French thinker and clergyman Abbé Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès in January 1789, shortly before the outbreak of the French Revolution...
".
Conversely, the Jansenist theologian Camus argued that the plan was in perfect harmony with the New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
and the councils of the fourth century.
The Assembly passed the Civil Constitution on 12 July 1790, two days before the anniversary of the storming of the Bastille
Storming of the Bastille
The storming of the Bastille occurred in Paris on the morning of 14 July 1789. The medieval fortress and prison in Paris known as the Bastille represented royal authority in the centre of Paris. While the prison only contained seven inmates at the time of its storming, its fall was the flashpoint...
. On that anniversary, Talleyrand and three hundred priests officiated at the "altar of the nation" erected on the Champ de Mars
Champ de Mars
The Champ de Mars is a large public greenspace in Paris, France, located in the seventh arrondissement, between the Eiffel Tower to the northwest and the École Militaire to the southeast. The park is named after the Campus Martius in Rome, a tribute to the Roman god of war...
, wearing tricolor waistbands over their priestly vestments and calling down God's blessing upon the Revolution.
Legal status of the Church in France under the Civil Constitution
As noted above, even prior to the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, church property was nationalized and monastic vows were forbidden. Under the Civil Constitution of the Clergy:- There were 83 bishops, one for each Department, rather than the previous 135. [Kagan et al. 2001, 643]
- Bishops (known as constitutional bishopConstitutional bishopDuring the French Revolution, a constitutional bishop was a Roman Catholic bishop elected from among the clergy who had sworn to uphold the Civil Constitution of the Clergy between 1791 and 1801. Constitutional bishops were often priests with less or more moderate Gallican and partisan ideas, of a...
s) and priests were elected locally; electors had to sign a loyalty oath to the constitution. There was no requirement that the electors be Catholics, creating the ironic situation that Protestants and even Jews could elect the nominally Catholic priests and bishops. - Authority of the pope over the appointment of clergy was reduced to the right to be informed of election results.
The tone of the Civil Constitution can be gleaned from Title II, Article XXI:
- Before the ceremony of consecration begins, the bishop elect shall take a solemn oath, in the presence of the municipal officers, of the people, and of the clergy, to guard with care the faithful of his diocese who are confided to him, to be loyal to the nation, the law, and the king, and to support with all his power the constitution decreed by the National Assembly and accepted by the king.
In short, new bishops were required to swear loyalty to the State in far stronger terms than to any religious doctrine. Note also that, even in this revolutionary legislation, there are strong remnants of Gallican royalism.
The law also included some genuine reforms supported even by many within the Church. For example, Title IV, Article I states, "The law requiring the residence of ecclesiastics in the districts under their charge shall be strictly observed. All vested with an ecclesiastical office or function shall be subject to this, without distinction or exception.". In effect, this banned the practice by which younger sons of noble families would be appointed to a bishopric or other high church position and live off of its revenues without even moving to the region in question and taking up the duties of the office.
Delay in implementation
For some time, Louis XVI delayed signing the Civil Constitution, saying that he needed "official word from Rome" before doing so. Pope Pius VI broke the logjam on 9 July 1790, writing a letter to Louis rejecting the arrangement. On 28 July, 6 September, and 16 December 1790, Louis XVI wrote letters to Pius VI, complaining that the National Assembly was forcing him to publicly accept the Civil Constitution, and suggesting that Pius VI appease them by accepting a few selected articles too. On 10 July, Pius VI wrote to Louis XVI, indicating to the king that the Church could not accept any of the provisions of the Constitution. The Constitution attempted to change the internal government of the Church, and no political regime had the right to unilaterally change the internal structure of the Church. On 17 August, Pius VI wrote to Louis XVI of his intent to consult with the cardinals about this, but on 10 October Cardinal Rochefoucauld, the Archbishop of Aix, and 30 of France's 131 bishops sent their negative evaluation of the main points of the Civil Constitution to the pope. Only four bishops actively dissented. On 30 October, the same 30 bishops restated their view to the public, signing a document known as the Exposition of Principles ("Exposition des principes sur la constitution civile du clergé"), written by Jean de Dieu-Raymond de Cucé de BoisgelinJean de Dieu-Raymond de Cucé de Boisgelin
Jean de Dieu-Raymond de Cucé de Boisgelin was a French prelate, statesman and cardinal.-Life:...
On 27 November 1790, still lacking the king's signature on the law of the Civil Constitution, the National Assembly voted to require the clergy to sign an oath of loyalty to the Constitution. During the debate on that matter, on 25 November, Cardinal de Lomenie
Étienne Charles de Loménie de Brienne
Étienne Charles de Loménie de Brienne was a French churchman, politician and finance minister of Louis XVI.-Life:...
wrote a letter claiming that the clergy could be excused from taking the Oath if they lacked mental assent; that stance was to be rejected by the pope 23 February 1791. On 26 December 1790, Louis XVI finally granted his public assent to the Civil Constitution, allowing the process of administering the oaths to proceed in January and February 1791.
Pope Pius VI's 23 February rejection of Cardinal de Lomenie's position of withholding "mental assent" guaranteed that this would become a schism
Schism (religion)
A schism , from Greek σχίσμα, skhísma , is a division between people, usually belonging to an organization or movement religious denomination. The word is most frequently applied to a break of communion between two sections of Christianity that were previously a single body, or to a division within...
. The pope's subsequent condemnation of the revolutionary regime and repudiation of all clergy who had complied with the oath completed the schism.
Jurors and non-jurors
Louis-Alexandre Expilly de la Poipe
Louis-Alexandre Expilly de la Poipe was rector of Saint-Martin-des-Champs near Morlaix in Léon, North Finistère...
. In May 1791, France recalled its ambassador to the Vatican and the Papal Nuncio was recalled from Paris. On 9 June, the Assembly forbade the publication of Papal Bulls or Decrees, unless they had been approved by the Assembly as well.
The Constituent Assembly went back and forth on the exact status of non-juring priests. On 5 February 1791, non-juring priests were banned from preaching in public. However, they continued to perform masses and attract crowds; meanwhile; the more extreme anti-clerical elements responded with violence against those who attended these masses and against nuns who would not renounce their vocation. While the replacement, juror priests often faced a hostile and violent reception in their old parishes On 7 May 1791, the Assembly reversed itself, deciding that the non-juring priests, referred to as prêtres habitués ("habitual priests") could say Mass and conduct services in other churches on condition that they would respect the laws and not stir up revolt against the Civil Constitution. However, violence on all sides continued, and on 29 November 1791, the Legislative Assembly, which had replaced the National Constituent Assembly, decreed that refractory priests could only exacerbate factionalism and aggravate extremists in the constituent assembly. The 29 November decree stipulated that no refractory priest could invoke the rights in the Constitution of the Clergy and that all such priests were suspect and so to be arrested. Louis XVI vetoed this decree (as he also did with another text concerning the creation of an army of 20,000 men on the orders of the Assembly, precipitating the monarchy's fall), which was toughened and re-issued a year later. Anti-Catholic persecution by the State would intensify into de-Christianization
Dechristianisation of France during the French Revolution
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, forming the basis of the later and...
and propagation of the Cult of Reason
Cult of Reason
The Cult of Reason was an atheistic belief system established in France and intended as a replacement for Christianity during the French Revolution.-Origins:...
and the Cult of the Supreme Being
Cult of the Supreme Being
The Cult of the Supreme Being was a form of deism established in France by Maximilien Robespierre during the French Revolution. It was intended to become the state religion of the new French Republic.- Origins :...
in 1793–1794. During this time umpteen non-juring priests were interned in chains on prison-ships in French harbors where most died within a few months from the appalling conditions. This might be seen as an example of an 18th century "concentration camp."
Repeal of the Civil Constitution
After the Thermidorian ReactionThermidorian Reaction
The Thermidorian Reaction was a revolt in the French Revolution against the excesses of the Reign of Terror. It was triggered by a vote of the Committee of Public Safety to execute Maximilien Robespierre, Antoine Louis Léon de Saint-Just de Richebourg and several other leading members of the Terror...
, the Convention
National Convention
During the French Revolution, the National Convention or Convention, in France, comprised the constitutional and legislative assembly which sat from 20 September 1792 to 26 October 1795 . It held executive power in France during the first years of the French First Republic...
restored freedom of religion on 21 February 1795; however, the schism between the civilly constituted the French Church and the Papacy was only resolved in 1801, when the Concordat
Concordat of 1801
The Concordat of 1801 was an agreement between Napoleon and Pope Pius VII, signed on 15 July 1801. It solidified the Roman Catholic Church as the majority church of France and brought back most of its civil status....
was signed. In the interval, the French army would invade Rome and end the temporal sovereignty of the Pope.