The+Catholic+Church



Question: How was the Catholic Church affected by the French Revolution?

The Catholic Church, before the French Revolution, was incredibly wealthy and exercised immense political power as well. It was closely intertwined with the government, and the revolutionaries saw it as an extension of the oppressive and corrupt hierarchy they aimed to reform. Voltaire, an Enlightenment thinker who contributed to the commencement of the revolution, said, “Crush the infamous thing.” when asked what to do with the Church. At the end of the revolution, the Church would have changed drastically, not just in France, but across the whole Europe.
 * Introduction**

The clergy of the French Catholic Church was composed of the First Estate. Its job was to provide education and relief services for the poor. It owned ten percent of the nation’s land, yet contributed around two percent of their income to the government. It also enjoyed other privileges such as being exempt from taxation, running their own courts, and holding a monopoly on education. In addition, the Church also had full control over all official records. High positions were occupied exclusively by the nobility and high class. In 1789, only one out of the 135 bishops was not related to nobles; the rest had ties to powerful noble families, especially old aristocratic ones.
 * In the Old Regime**

After the Estates General was disbanded, the National Assembly immediately began to impose reforms, particularly focused on the church-state relationship. The assembly confiscated the Church’s land, and began to sell portions of it to pay off the national debt. The assembly also took on the Church’s responsibility of paying church officials, and caring for the disadvantaged. Monasteries not involved in the public good were disbanded, freeing nuns and monks from their religious duties. //Clergy members celebrating their liberty after the reformation of the Church.// //Cartoon representation of the confiscation of the Church's land.//
 * Process**

On July 12, 1790, the National Assembly passed the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, declaring that clerics were to be elected and paid as state officials. This was met by objections from many Catholics due to the challenge to the Pope’s authority. Eventually, the National Assembly required an oath of loyalty to the Civil Constitution, which divided the members of the clergy. The Reign of Terror began in 1793, a period of Robespierre’s dictatorship and dechristianization. During that time, radical movements like imprisoning and execution of priests and destruction of religious monuments occurred. The anti-Christian spirit reached its peak when the Cult of Reason, an aesthetic belief system, was established, later followed by a less radical but similar Cult of the Supreme Being. The period ended after Napoleon Bonaparte signed a Concordat with the Church in 1801.

The Church lost most of its power due to the French Revolution, and never regained it. The National Assembly subordinated and separated the church and the state, by confiscating Church property and limiting its authority with the Civili Constitution of the Clergy. Citizens of France were able to declare themselves non-Christian, and it marked the beginning of atheism in France.
 * Post-revolution Effects**

Beck, Roger, Linda Black, Larry Krieger, et al. Modern World History. Online Edition. Evanston: McDougal Littell, a division of Houghton Mifflin Company, 2009. Web.
 * Works Cited**

cartoon representation of the confiscation of church lands. N.d. Graphic. HistoryWiz French RevolutionWeb. 30 Nov 2011. .

Decret de l'assemblee national qui supprime les ordres religieux et religieuses. 2008. Graphic. Revolutionary Church ReformsWeb. 30 Nov 2011. .

Kreis, Steven. "Lecture 12 The French Revolution: The Moderate Stage, 1789-1792." The History Guide: Lectures on Modern European Intellectual History. 2001 Steven Kreis, 13 May 2004. Web. 30 Nov 2011. .

LaRue, Patti. "How the French Revolution Affected the Catholic Church." Yahoo! Voices. 2011 Yahoo! Inc, 24 Sep. 2009. Web. 30 Nov 2011. .

Streich, Michael. "The French Revolution and the Catholic Church: Abolishing the Feudal Rights of the First Estate." West European History. Suite 101, 31 Jan. 2009. Web. 30 Nov 2011. .

"The Civil Constitution of the Clergy." History Department, Hanover College. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov 2011. .