Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 11.djvu/534

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PARIS


484


PARIS


went into exile during tlic Revolution, jiikI at the Concordat resigned his see at the pope's request.

Paris Dirink the Revolution. — Within the present boundaries of the arehiliocese the number of priests forming the aetive clergy at the time of the Revolution was about lOOO, ot whom tiOO were in Parisian parishes, l.')(l in those of the suburbs, and 250 were chaplains. There were 921 religious, belonging to 21 religious families divided among liS convents. Immediately after the adoption of the Civil Constitu- tion of the clergy 8 new parishes were created in Paris and 27 were suppressed. Out of 50 Parisian pastors 26 refused to take the oath; out of 69 first or second curates .36 refused; of the 399 other priests hav- ing spiritual powers, 216 refused. On the other hand among the priests who, not exercising parochial duties, were not called upon to swear, 196 declared that they would take the oath and 14 refused. On 13 IMarch, 1791, Gobel (b. 1727), Bishop of Lydda, Coadjutor Bishop of Basle, and a member of the Constitutional Assembly, was elected bishop by 500 votes. Lom(5nie de Brienne, Archbishop of Sens, and Jarente, Bishop of Orleans, though both had accepted the civil con- stitution of the clergy, refused to give Gobel canoni- cal institution, and he received it from the famous Talleyrand, Bishop of Autun. Gobel surrounded himself with married clerics, such as Louis de Saint Martin, Colombart, and Aubert, and through the Marquis of Spinola, Minister of the Republic of Genoa, endeavoured to obtain from the Holy See a sum of money in exchange for his submission. At the beginning of 1793 he was at the head of about 600 "sworn" priests, about 500 of whom were employed in parishes. On 7 November, 1793, he solemnly declared before the Convention that his subordinates and he renounced the duties of ministers of Catho- lic worship, whereupon the Convention congratulated him on having "sacrificed the grotesque baubles of superstition". On the same day Notre-Dame was dedicated to the worship of Reason, Citizeness Au- brj', a comedienne, impersonating that goddess and Gobel presiding at the ceremony. Finally, the Com- mune of Paris decided that all churches should be closed, and that whosoever requested that they be reopened should be regarded as a suspect. In March, 1794, Gobel was condemned to death as an atheist by the followers of Robespierre, and was executed after lengthy spiritual interviews with the Sulpician Emery and after he had addressed to Abbe Lothringer a letter in which he declared his repentance. In the absence of Juign^, the legitimate bishop, the Catholic faithful continued to obey a council formed of the Abb(^'s de Malaret, Emery, and Espinasse, under the leadership of the former vicar-general, Charles Henri du Valk de Dampierre, who was in hiding. Public worship was restored by the Law of Ventose, Year III, and by the law of 2 Prairial, Year III (.30 March, 1795), fifteen churches were reopened. As early as 1796 about fifty places of worship had been reopened in Paris; sixteen or seventeen, of which eleven were parochial churches, were administered by priests who had accepted the Constitution. More than thirty others, of which three were parochial churches, were administered by priests who were in secret obedience to the legitimate archbishop, and the number of Con- stitutional priests had fallen from 600 to 150.

Paris in the Nineteenth Century. — The Arch- diocese of Paris became more and more important in France during the nineteenth century. Jean Baptiste de Belloy, former Bishop of Marseilles, who was appointed archbishop in 1802, was then ninety- three yeai-s old. On 18 April, 1802, he presided at Notre-Dame over the ceremony at which the Con- cordat was solemnly published. Despite his great age he reorganized worship in Paris, and re-established religious life in its forty-two parishes. In a concilia- tory spirit he appointed to about twelve of these


parishes priests who had taken the oaUi during the Revolution. He became cardinal in isoii mid died in 180S. The conflict between Napoli'on and Pius VII was then at its height. Napoleon attempted to make Fesch accept the See of Paris, while the latter wished to retain that of Lyons. Cardinal Maury (174t)-1817), formerly a royalist deputy to the Consti- tutional Assembly, also ambassador to the Holy See from the Count of Provence, but who went over to the Empire in 1806 and in 1810 became chaplain to King Jerome, was named Archbishop of Paris by Napoleon on 14 Oct., 1810. The chapter at once conferred on him the powers of vicar-capitular, until he should be preconized by the pope, but, when it became known that Pius VII, by a Brief of 5 November, 1810, re- fused to recognize the nomination, Maury was actively opposetl by a section of the chapter and the clergy. The emperor took his revenge by striking at the vicar- capitular, Astros (q. v.). At the fall of Napoleon, despite his zeal in persuading it to adhere to the de- position of the emperor, Maury was deprived of his faculties by the chapter. In agreement with Rome, Louis XVIII named as Archbishop of Paris (1 Aug., 1817) .Alexandre Ang^lique de Talleyrand-P^rigord (1736-1821), who, despite the Concordat, chose to re- tain his title of Archbishop of Reims until 1816 and who was created cardinal on 28 July, 1817. Talley- rand-Perigord did not take possession of his see until Oct., 1819. He divided the diocese into three arch- deaneries, which division is still in force.

On the death of Talleyrand-Pdrigord in 1821, his coadjutor Hyacinthe Louis de Quijlen (1778-1840), court chaplain, succeeded him. A member of the Chamber of Peers under the Restoration, Qu^len, as president of the commission for the investigation of the school situation, vainly endeavoured to prevent the promulgation of the Martignac ordinances against the Jesuits in June, 1828. His friendly relations with Louis XVIII and Charles X drew upon him in 1830 the hostility of the populace; his palace was twice sacked, and the Monarchy of July regarded him with sus- picion, but the devotion he showed during a terrible cholera epidemic won many hearts to him. Assisted by Dupanloup he converted the famous Talleyrand, nephew of his predecessor, on his death-bed in 1838. Qu<51en died 8 Jan., 1840, and was succeeded by Denis- Auguste Affre, (q. v., 1793-1848), who was slain at the barricades in 1848. Marie-Dominique-Auguste Sibour (1792-1862), formerly Bishop of Digne, suc- ceeded Affre; among the prelates consulted by Pius IX with regard to the opportuneness of defining the Immaculate Conception, he was one of the few who opposed it. He was killed in the church of St- Etienne-du-Mont on 3 Jan., 1857, by a suspended priest. After the short episcopate of Cardinal Morlot (1857-62) the see was occupied from 1862 to 1872 by Georges Darboy (q. v.), who was slain during the Commune. Joseph-Hippolyte Guibert (1802-86), previously Bishop of Viviers and Archbishop of Tours, became Archbishop of Paris on 27 Oct., 1871. His episcopate was made notable by the erection of the basilica of Montmartre (see below), and the creation of the Catholic LIniversity, at the head of which he placed Mgr d'Hulst. His successor was FranQois- Marie-Benjamin Richard (1819-1907), former Bishop of Belley, who had been coadjutor of Paris since July, 1875, became cardinal 24 May, 1889, and was active in the defence of the religious congregations. Mgr 'LO.on Amette (b. at Douvillc, in the Dioee.se of Evreux, 1850), coadjutor to Cardinal Richard since February, 190(), succeeded him in the See of Paris, on 28 Jan., 1908.

Notre-Dame-db-Pari8. — On the site now occupied by the courtyards of Notre-Dame de Paris there was as early as the sixth century a church of Notre-Dame, which had as patrons the Blessed Virgin, St. Stephen, and St. Germain. It was built by Childebert about