Conflict with the Catholic Church Flashcards
When did the Assembly vote to pass the Decree Confiscating Church Property? What was the vote?
2 November 1789. 568-346
When did the state assume responsibility for paying clerical salaries?
19 April 1790
When were monastic vows forbidden and all religious orders and congregations dissolved?
13 February 1790
When was the Civil Constitution of the Clergy passed in the Assembly?
29 May 1790
What was in the Civil Constitution of the Clergy?
Districts of the church changed to match the state; reduction of number of bishops. All titles other than bishop and vicar are abolished. Clause 4; Pope’s right to appoint clergy was removed and replaced by popular election; all active citizens. His role as head of church was replaced by state control.
‘By applying the practice of active citizenship to the choice of clergy…
‘,the Assembly excluded women and the poor from the community of the faithful, and theoretically included Protestants, Jews, and non-believers who were wealth enough to vote.’ Peter McPhee
What were the experiences of two social groups in the CCoC?
High ranking officials lost their jobs. God fearing Catholic turn away from the revolution.
What was passed on 27 November 1790?
Clerical Oath
What did the Clerical Oath entail?
All clerics must take an oath to be faithful to the nation and constitution. If he did not swear this he would be punished, deprived of his salary, his French citizenship.
What did Abbe Baude say of the Clerical Oath?
“I declare that my religion does not allow me to take such an oath.”
What happened on 13 April 1791?
Pope issues Papal Bull Charitas, urging French catholic to not condone the Clerical Oath.
How many bishops and priests within the Assembly took the oath?
Only two bishops and 109 priests (one third of clerical deputies) took the oath.
Where did riots break out following the Clerical Oath?
Western France
‘It is clear that refusal to take the oath was…
‘the first sign of popular resistance to the revolution…The religious element was immediately transformed into a political issue because both the monarchy and the Revolution had turned the Catholic Church into an auxiliary of the state.’ Furet
‘The anti-clericalism of Voltaire and the philosophes had bitten so deeply into the minds
of those who represented the Third Estate…that the extent of opposition that their reorganisation of the Church was to provoke was hidden from them.’ Cobban
