There are a number of churches in France which preserve inscriptions or other physical traces from the period of dechristianisation in late 1793 and early 1794. A few from the early months but the vast majority are from after the decree of 18 floréal an II (7th May 1794), which promoted worship of the Supreme Being as the state-sponsored cult. As part of the drive towards uniformity, on 23 floréal the Committee of Public Safety ordered that, where the inscription "Temple of Reason" had been added to former churches, it should be replaced by the formula of Article 1 of the Decree of 18 floréal : "The French people recognise the Supreme Being and the immortality of the soul". The decree was to be read publicly each décadi for a month, in these buildings.(Aulard, p.280-1; 134). However, although the new orthodoxy was mainly positively received by agents of government in the provinces, discontinuity with previous dechristianisation initiatives was not always perceived. On some churches the inscription "Temple de la Raison" was left and the designation continued to be used in the orders and proclamations of the local authorities. In some places the cult of the Supreme Being even retained the name cult of Reason. (Aulard, p. 347) The Revolutionary cults mostly survived the fall of Robespierre and churches retained their Revolutionary designations into the late 1790s.
Wednesday, 10 July 2019
Remains of the Revolutionary cults
There are a number of churches in France which preserve inscriptions or other physical traces from the period of dechristianisation in late 1793 and early 1794. A few from the early months but the vast majority are from after the decree of 18 floréal an II (7th May 1794), which promoted worship of the Supreme Being as the state-sponsored cult. As part of the drive towards uniformity, on 23 floréal the Committee of Public Safety ordered that, where the inscription "Temple of Reason" had been added to former churches, it should be replaced by the formula of Article 1 of the Decree of 18 floréal : "The French people recognise the Supreme Being and the immortality of the soul". The decree was to be read publicly each décadi for a month, in these buildings.(Aulard, p.280-1; 134). However, although the new orthodoxy was mainly positively received by agents of government in the provinces, discontinuity with previous dechristianisation initiatives was not always perceived. On some churches the inscription "Temple de la Raison" was left and the designation continued to be used in the orders and proclamations of the local authorities. In some places the cult of the Supreme Being even retained the name cult of Reason. (Aulard, p. 347) The Revolutionary cults mostly survived the fall of Robespierre and churches retained their Revolutionary designations into the late 1790s.
Saturday, 6 July 2019
A Revolutionary Prayer
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| Anonymous engraving, produced chez Basset, Paris, 1794. |
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| Sérane's Catéchisme du citoyen - copy offered for sale on ebay https://www.ebay.fr/itm/163570285078 |
Republican prayer
For the use of my pupils and already adopted by several educational establishments
I believe in an all-powerful Being, eternal, infinite in perfections, self-knowing and self-loving.
I believe that the stars, the earth with its planets and its animals, the elements of life and all that exists, are the work of a benevolent Creator. I adore Him in my mind and in truth, and I offer to Him all my thoughts, words and deeds.
To obtain His all-powerful protection, I desire always to walk in his presence, to fulfil with worth the duties of my position; to employ for the service of the society, into which and for which I was born, all the strength of my body, all the light of my intelligence and all the virtues of my heart.
I promise to never do wrong to anyone, but to treat others as I would wish to be treated. Thus I might make myself worthy of the bounty of He who every day overflows the universe with his gifts and makes the sun shine on the good and bad alike.
I wish to live and die a good republican, convinced that this form of government is the only one admitted by nature, since it is the only one conformable to the Rights of Man.
Receive, O My God, this saintly resolution, and give me the strength to fulfil it.
[At this point private prayers can now be added.]
Catéchisme du Citoyen à l'usage des jeunes Républicains français Paris 1793, p.63-64
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=bZ4eWRnn3X4C&pg=PA63#v=onepage&q=tout-puissant&f=false
see Aulard, Le culte de la raison et le culte de l'Être Suprême (1892), p.337-8
https://archive.org/details/lecultedelaraiso00aulauoft/page/33
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| Jean-Jacques de Boissieu, Le grand Maître d'école, engraving of 1770 https://www.reseau-canope.fr/musee/collections/fr/museum/mne/le-grand-maitre-d-ecole/3cae40bb-ff91-4758-96e5-eb3d8ece6b56 |
The author
Philippe Sérane, before the Revolution the abbé Sérane, was a tutor and "former teacher ("professeur") of history and eloquence" in Paris. His birth and death dates are not known, but he was not a young man at the start of the Revolution: according to the Mercure, he had 34 years teaching experience in 1787. He was author of numerous textbooks of history and geography, the earliest of which date from late 1760s. They include an appreciative dialogue on the "Newtonism" of Voltaire published in 1779.
In 1770 Sérane was one of the founders of an Institution de la jeunesse, a secular elementary school, in Angers. Details are given in his Tableau du globe (1770): An association of gens de lettres in Paris, all well qualified as schoolteachers and instituteurs, decided to set up the school to offer a"physical, moral and Christian" education based on the best modern practice. They enjoyed the approval of Sartine, but, for reasons of economy, had decided to found their establishment in the provinces. The school opened in La Flèche in September 1768. The large number of pupils then obliged a move to Angers, where they currently occupied prestigious premises in the Hôtel d'Anjou (Hôtel des ducs d'Anjou), rue du Figuier, in the centre of town. Pupils were taken up to the age of 14 and charged 600 livres per annum. As pensionnaires they could either attend the local college or elect to be taught entirely within the school. These were very much young gentlemen - the school even provided them with daily visits from a perruquier and a laundress. Religion was a central focus - there was confession every month, and fête days were devoted to religious study. Sérane is identified as a "correspondent"; quite probably he acted as the school's agent - his name is given as contact in the prospectus which appeared in the Mercure in 1772.
It is not clear what eventually became of the school, but by 1787 Sérane was once again in Paris, writing on his own account and offering to take in private pupils. In 1793 he is described as an "instituteur national" and his address is given as No 45 or 46, quai de Chaillot. He was active into the 19th century - the last of his books is recorded as published in 1800.
In 1774, with a reissue in 1787, Sérane, published a work of education theory based (fairly loosely) on "the principles of Rousseau" and accompanied by a set of essays written by one of his nine-year old pupils.
He was from the first an enthusiastic supporter of the Revolution. His L’Heureux naufrage of 1789, uses an imaginery utopia to present the world's deliverance from tyranny by "an astonishing and happy revolution"; he is confident that penal laws will soon be promulgated which will ensure the tranquillity and happiness of all. He later pestered the National Convention with various projects, including the design for a stamp to be used on currency and official documents: In 1793, as well as producing his "catechism", he took the opportunity to reissue his theory of education.- copies of which still languishing in the bookshop due to the death of the editor. He did not trouble to make amendments, but merely added a list of errata to make the text more appropriate to Revolutionary times: for example:
For Plan of a civil and Christian education, read Plan of a reasonable and Republican education;
For Young gentlemen, read Young people;
For Our august religion, read The religion of Nature etc.
And, most interestingly, for the historian of Revolutionary deism:
For The mysteries of our august religion, and the reading of holy books; read The actions of the Son of Man, and the sublime doctrine show in his parables and modelled in his life.
Philippe Sérane, L’Heureux naufrage où l’on trouve une idée de législation conforme à l'humanité, à la nature et au bien public, Paris, Impr. de Demonville, 1789
https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k84442m
_____, Théorie d'une éducation républicaine : suivant les principes de J. J. Rousseau : présentée à la Convention, par le Citoyen Serane, instituteur national, quai de Chaillot, no.46.
https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k85451t/f2.image
Prospectus for the 1787 version, Journal Encyclopédique, vol. iii (1787) p.156-159
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=iKyYViJQ9zAC&pg=PA156#v=onepage&q&f=false
The School in Angers:
_____, "Institution de la jeunesse, par une société de gens de lettres, à l'hôtel d'Anjou, à Angers", in Tableau du globe ou nouveau cours de geographie (1770), p.369-382.
https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k9785829h/f391.image.texteImage
Prospectus: Mercure, May 1772, p.198-201.
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=F040AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA198
See Jurgen Oelkers, Jean-Jacques Rousseau (2014), p.191
In this book on Rousseau's education theory, Sérane is given as a typical example of a schoolmaster who refers to the authority of Rousseau in a general way without really implementing his ideas.
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=PkC_BAAAQBAJ&pg=PA191
Monday, 1 July 2019
The bonnet rouge of Strasbourg Cathedral
With its single spire towering to 142 metres, the Cathedral in Strasbourg was the tallest building in the world until as late as 1874. During a recent visit, I heard for the first time how, the spire was saved during the Revolution by the addition of a giant metal bonnet rouge. The tale seemed unlikely but further investigation confirms that it is perfectly true.
In late 1793 the depredations of dechristianisation and Revolutionary iconoclasm began to make themselves felt in Strasbourg. On 25 brumaire an II (15th October) the Muncipal Commission under Mayor Pierre-François Monet – at 24 the enfant terrible of the Revolution in Strasbourg - closed several churches closed and made them into stores for fodder. Two days later Monet announced that the cathedral would be dedicated to the national cult and bear the name "Temple of Reason": for fifteen centuries it had stood as a theatre of imposture; in a mere three day it had been purified from “all the ridiculous ornaments of fanaticism".
At first no move was made against the cathedral’s fabric itself, apart the removal of the iron grilles between the choir and the nave, which were sacrificed to the war effort. However, on 4 frimaire (24th November), the representatives Saint-Just and Lebas, ordered that the statues of Kings were to be toppled from the new Temple of Reason and a tricolour flag flown from the tower. Their demands met with consternation at the Hôtel de Ville, where the influence of Monet was not yet preponderant. The Revolutionaries found themselves caught between fear of being compromised and their love for the building which had long been a source of local pride. Orders were given on the same day to proceed with the removal the great bronze doors which were erroneously thought to be solid metal. A small number of the most politically compromising statues were also taken down, but the municipality courageously insisted that the cathedral was a “national monument” and opposed the destruction of stonework integral to the structure. In the end, however, it proved impossible to resist Monet and on 17 frimaire (7th December 1793) the work of destruction began in earnest. In the end more than 200 statues were destroyed. A gigantic tricolour flag was placed over the West door, and a sign hung on the facade which proclaimed, "Light after darkness". The cathedral’s other doors were also surmounted with wooden panels bearing revolutionary inscriptions. Inside the famous 15th-century pulpit (happily safely dismantled), was replaced by a Revolutionary tribune.  |
| The cathedral in 1809 |
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| Cathedral of Our Lady in Strasbourg, turned into a Temple of Reason Illustration from : J. Ch. Dieterich: Revolutions-Almanach von 1795. Göttingen 1794 https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8b/Temple_of_Reason_Strasbourg_1793-1794.jpg |
It seemed increasingly unlikely the spire would escape. In the Jacobins on 24 November 1793 the local terrorist, Antoine Tétérel proposed that it should be demolished to the base of the tower. He was seconded by the municipal Bierlyn who complained that the citizens of Strasbourg “regard with pride this pyramid, raised up by the superstition of the people and standing as a reminder of former errors”. Tétérel subsequently became a member of the municipality and renewed his proposition, claiming that the spire was offensive to the spirit of equality. His colleagues temporised and complained that the cost of demolition was prohibitive.
It was the locksmith and ferronnier Jean-Michel Sultzer, himself a member of the municipality, who is traditionally credited with resolving the dilemma by proposing that the cross on the top of the lantern should be capped with a Phrygian bonnet to symbolise the liberation from slavery of the people of the Rhine: "Foreigners will see it from the opposite bank of the river and it will stand for us, like the Jewish brazen serpent, against the suffering of slavery" . The idea was not entirely novel: a district circular had previously instructed that symbols of superstition were to be replaced "by bonnets of liberty, visible from afar, so that foreigners can see these signs of our independence and so that they can gladden the hearts of true Republicans" (quoted Reuss (1922) p.294) The enormous bonnet was made out of sheet metal painted bright red. (une immense coiffure phrygienne en tôle, badigeonnée d'un rouge vif,) According to the municipal records work was carried out on the between 23 floréal and 5 prairial (12 May and 13 June 1794); other sources have 4th May for the date when the bonnet was hoisted up - at the expense of some damage - to the top of the tower. The arms of the cross were hidden with oak garlands, also in metal, painted green. Nicknamed the "Kaffeewärmer" by locals, the bonnet remained proudly in place until 27 germinal an X (17th Apil 1807). Jean-Jérémie Oberlin, the town librarian, then had it placed with assorted curios in the municipal library in the former church of the Dominicans. It was finally destroyed by fire during the German bombardment of Strasbourg in 1870.There is a certain amount of scepticism that this feat of engineering was really possible with the technology available in the late 18th-century: see for example, the discussion on the Forum Napoleon:
https://forum.napoleon1er.net/viewtopic.php?t=58547
A lot depends on how big the bonnet really was. According to some websites it was 10 metres tall, which is truly enormous and, apart from anything else, far too large to fit into an upstairs room of the municipal library, where the Strasbourg historian Rodolphe Reuss reported that he had seen it several times. However, it need not have been quite so huge in order to cover the apex of the cross at the very top of the spire. This picture from the 1920s gives some idea of scale: it suggests the bonnet need only have been two metres or so high, which seems more realistic.
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| Postcard on "Geneanet" dating from about 1920. https://www.geneanet.org/cartes-postales/view/6514454#0 |
There is a bit more information to be had about Sultzer:
Sultzer himself was a committed Revolutionary. Several websites mention him as a friend of Euloge Schneider, the notorious Public Prosecutor of the Revolutionary tribunal in Strasbourg. An compilation of "Hommes de la Revolution" in the Revue d'Alsace for 1882 has the following summary of his career:
Sultzer (Jean-Michel)
Born in Strasbourg in 1740, Master Locksmith in the Place de la cathédrale before 1789.
Member of the Society of Jacobins (24 May 1792)
Notable of the commune (18 January 1793)
Member of the Committee of Surveillance of the Jacobins (10 October 1793)
Municipal officer (30 January 1794)
Appealed to his fellow citizens for shoes and equipment for the Army of the Rhine (7th April)
Reelected as Municipal officer (23rd April)
Approved the arrest of a hundred suspects (26th and 30th May)
Supported measures of general security proposed by Bierlyn (13th June)
Supported proposal for the construction of a warship against England (24th July)
Congratulated the National Convention for the measures against Robespierre and others (2nd August)
Confirmed as Municipal officer under the new Mayor André (5th September)
Present in the Jacobins (25th October)
Sultzer died in 1799.
https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k97796469/f539.item.r=Sultzer
References
Hervé Schuler, Un bonnet phrygien pour la cathédrale Almanach Sainte-Odile, Diocese of Strasbourg. 2010
https://www.calameo.com/read/000098136098640afd5e2
Rodolphe Reuss, La cathédrale de Strasbourg pendant la Révolution,1789-1802, (1888)
https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k755647/f496
_____, La Constitution civile du clergé et la crise religieuse en Alsace 1790-1795 (1922)
https://archive.org/details/laconstitutionci02reus
Archi-Wiki, Strasbourg: Entry for 24 Place de la Cathédrale.
"Rencontre avec les Bastian, antiquaires de père en fils" Amazing Strasbourg [blog]. 12 January 2016.
https://amazingstrasbourgdotcom.wordpress.com/2016/01/12/rencontre-avec-les-bastian-antiquaires-de-pere-en-fils/