Civil Constitution of the Clergy
The law of the Civil Constitution of the Clergy (Fr. "Constitution Civile du Clerge"), passed July 12, 1790 during the French Revolution, confiscated the Roman Catholic Church's France land holdings and made it a governmental department rather than an independent organ.
Perhaps surprisingly, some of the support from this came from figures within the Church, such as the priest and parliamentarian Pierre Claude François Daunou, and, above all, the revolutionary priest Henri Grégoire. The measure was opposed, but ultimately acquiesced to, by King Louis XVI.
Status of the Church in France before the Civil Constitution
Even before the Revolution and the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, the Catholic Church in France (the Gallican Church) had a status that tended to subordinate the Church to the State. Under the Declaration of the Clergy of France (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; furthermore, papal authority within France was severely limited by requirements of royal consent, and it was lawful to appeal from the Pope to a future council of the Gallican Church or to have recourse to the "appeal as from an abuse" ("appel comme d'abus") against acts of the ecclesiastical power.
Thus, the changes brought about in the Civil Constitution of the Clergy were as much at the expense of the monarchy as that of the papacy.
Even prior to the Civil Constitution of the Clergy:
- On November 2, 1789, Catholic Church property was nationalized, and was used as the backing for the assignats.
- On February 13, 1790, monastic vows were forbidden.
Motivation of the Civil Constitution
The following interlinked factors appear to have been the causes of agitation for 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-General in 1789.
- Church lands represented 10-15% 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 atheism, anticlericalism, and anti-Catholicism.
- Many of the revolutionaries viewed the Catholic Church as a retrograde force.
Debate over the Civil Constitution
Opposed by Abbé Sieyès.
This section is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by fixing it.
Legal status of the Church in France under the Civil Constitution
This section is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by fixing it.
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.
- Bishops and priests were elected locally; electors had to sign a loyalty oath to the constitution.
- Authority of Pope Pius VI over the appointment of clergy reduced to the right to be informed of election results.
This section is still something of a stub. You can help Wikipedia by fixing it.
Jurors and non-jurors
This section is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by fixing it.
November 27,1790, the government required all clergy to swear an oath of loyalty to the Civil Constitution of the Clergy. Only seven bishops and about half the clergy agreed: the rest, mainly in western France, refused; these became known as "non-jurors".
Repeal of the Civil Constitution
This section is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by fixing it.
External links
An English-language translation of excerpts from the text of the Civil Constitution of the Clergy