The French Revolution and secularization

Abstract

When I first thought about the theme for this dissertation the title "The French Revolution and the Beginning of Secularization" came to my mind. It was not long before I had to change it to the present title for secularization had already been existent in some form during the Reformation thanks to the principle then adopted of "cujus regio, ejus religio". Some form of secularization can be found inside the Gallican Church itself, Moreover one can trace the early beginnings of secularization before the Reformation itself. The Middle Ages themselves provide certain authors who actually expounded the earliest concepts of secularization. Secularization according to the NEW CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA is a "social and cultural process by which non-religious beliefs, practices and institutions replace religious ones in certain spheres of life." As in the case of Gallicanism secularization was very limited. What makes the French Revolution an unique event up to the eighteenth century is that it did no accept any limit to its secularization. This unlimited secularization gradually led to secularism and irreligion. I intend to account and explain the secularization suffered by the Catholic Church in France during the French Revolution up to the secularism of the Herbertists in 1793. The first two chapters of this work are devoted to the state of the French Church and to the Enlightenment for these explain why and how the "Eldest Daughter of Rome" gradually and steadily was secularized into annihilation. An attempt was made to eliminate every trace of Christianity and spiritually from French society and civilization. In the conclusion I tried to describe very briefly the steps that led to secularism and could not help mentioning two important men in French history, Robespierre and Napoleon. The former brought some aspects of spirituality into the religion of the revolution after 1793 while the latter helped to restoee, even though for political reasons, the Catholic Church in France through the Concordat with Rome. The French Revolution had failed to destroy Catholicism [...].