This book explores the responses of the Roman Catholic Church to the French Revolution beginning in 1789, to the liberal revolution in 1830, and particularly the democratic revolution of 1848 in France, and asks how these events were perceived and explained. Informed by the collective memory of the first revolution, how did the Church react to renewed ‘catastrophe’? How did it seek to influence political choice? Why did authoritarian government prove to be so attractive? This is a study of the impact of religion on political behaviour, as well as of the politicisation of religion. Roger Price employs the methodology of the social and cultural historian to explain the development and interaction of two key institutions, Church and State, during a period of political and social upheaval. Drawing on a wide range of archival and printed primary sources, as well as secondary literature, this book analyses the diverse perceptions of people with power and the impact of their decisions, and the responses, of a wide range of individuals and communities.

This book provides a study of the manner in which the Roman Catholic Church in France responded to successive revolutions between 1789 and 1870 as well as to the cultural upheaval associated with accelerating socio-economic change. It focuses on the Church as an institution engaged in a dynamic process of (re)Christianization and determined, as the only repository of the true faith of Jesus Christ, to fortify belief , and to combat the ‘Satanic’ forces of moral corruption and revolutionary chaos and create a ‘counter society’, the société parfaite. Discussion of the Church as an institution in crisis, of the recruitment, instruction and mind-sets of its bishops, parish clergy, and the members of religious orders, of its hierarchical structures and internal discipline, and of the need to compensate for the losses suffered during a period of revolutionary upheaval, provides the basis for an exploration of its evolving doctrine(s) and sense of purpose; for an assessment of the pastoral care provided to parish communities; and of the leadership and moral qualities of the clergy; before final consideration of the reception of the religious message(s).

The problem of Church/State relations in France fills 600 pages of Antinon Debidour's tour de force historical survey. This first of three volumes ending with the ultimate and definitive separation of Chruch and State in 1906 shows how France set an example of how a modern European and Christian nation state managed the secularization of society. Debidour was head of the history department at the University of Nancy, and was given unique access to the archives of the Ministry of Worship. His approach was in favor of the Republic, and was happily free from Royalist, Legitimist, or Ultramontane sentiments. Debidour's work has not been surpassed. Major developments in this first volume include Church and State under the Ancien Régime; Secularization of the State under the Revoultion of 1789; Civil Constitution of the Clergy and confiscation of Church property; the Constitutional Church; the Refractories, Civil War in the West, and the Terror; Separation of Church and State; religion of the Supreme Being; Politics and Religion under the Directory; Bonaparte and the Concordat of 1801; Napoléon and resistance of Pius VII; Concordat of 1814; Restoration and the Concordat of 1817; Priest Party and Liberal Party; from Lamennais to Montalembert; Church and University; Rome expedition and the Falloux law; Pius IX to Cavour; Napoléon III, the Roman question and the Syllabus; Battle of Mentana and Vatican Council; Consequences of Sedan (1870). Previous Frank H. Wallis translations: Blanche of Castile, Queen and Regent of France, 1188-1252 (2015). From Élie Berger, Histoire de Blanche de Castille, Reine de France (Paris, 1895). Charles VII. 6 vols. (2020-21). From Gaston Du Fresne de Beaucourt, Charles VII (Paris, 1881-1891). Queen Margot and the end of the Valois, 1553-1615 (2021). From Charles Merki, La Reine Margot et la fin des Valois (1553-1615) (Paris, 1905).

This book has been carefully planned to give a coherent account of the impact of religion in France over the last two hundred years. Most books in English dealing with the subject are now dated, and in any case concentrate on institutional questions of church-state relations rather than on the wider influence of religion throughout France. These essays summarise recent French research and provide a concise up-to-date introduction to the history of modern French Catholicism.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1869.