The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-12-23
III.

iii.
In the first period Of the Revolution, in
deed, the alteration of the existing system
aimed at a gentle transition to q new ar
rangeInent of ecclesiastical affairs. Church
property was coniscated, but the State
took over the duty OF maintaining divine
service, OF providing for the support Of
the clergy and OF relieving the poor. The
decree of the National Assembly. made on
November ?, 1850, and cited by DR.. Nielsen,
expressly declares that all ecclesiastical
property In placed at the disposition OF
the nation, on condition of providing in q
suitable manner for the cost of worship,
for the support of it's ministers and for
works of charity. There is, indeed. no
doubt that the budget OF public worship,
which In our days has been so violently
attacked by French Radicals, and finally
has been suppressed, Is really a creation Of
the Revolution. Al the same time, when
Church property was sequestrated the
owen and the religious orders were
dissolved. 1t was decreed that no one
should be molested for his opinions-cer-
tainly not on the ground oil his religious
opinions-so long as he committed no
breach of the public order established by
law in the course of propagating them.
Freedom of worship was allowed; civil
marriage was introduced; and at one time
there was talk in the National Assembly
Of a separation Of Church and State. II
this were to be carried out, however, it was
perceived that the State must either take
the Church property without pledging
itself to pay the clergy, or it must allow
the Church a kind OF freedom of action.
The first Of these alternatives would, at that
stage of the Revolution, have been stamped
as sacrilege; the other was rejected because
It might give the Church a dangerous in
dependence and make IL a State within the
State.
IL was deemed necessary TO attach the
clergy to the Revolution, and this was the
purpose OF the so-called Civil Constitu-
tom BY this organic law the French
bishoprics were to be altered and their
number cut down, so that each OF the new
departments should form a diocese. Prel-
ates INC ~clergymen were 20 have a smaller,
but a fixed, stipend. and were to be chosen
by the laity; the Bishops by those who had
a right to vote for members Of the depart
mental councils; the priests by those who
had q right to vote for the governing boards
OF the respective districts WdssembIee dd-
mintstrdtire du district. Jews and Protes-
tants had the rights OF electors no less than
Roman Catholics. This radical alteration
Of the ecclesiastical system, in which the
faithful adherents Of the Roman Church
not unreasonably saw s~onsething more than
a harmless civil scheme for the clergy"
met with a strong opposition from most Of
the ministers Of the Church; and even
Talleyrand was inclined St a later time TO
call the Civil Constitution the greatest
political mistake Of the National Assembly.
Il certainly annulled at a stroke the Con-
oordat Of 1919, and excluded at once King
and Pope from the selection Of Bishops and
priests. The wrath of the French priest
hood, however, soon took a lower key
when Mirabeau declared that If the priests
made opposition the nation might question
whether they could ever prove useful citi-
zens. The people. he said, would never
allow the care Of their souls 20 be intrusted
70 men who were enemies OF the peoples
welfare.