THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AND THE CONSTITUTION OF 1791 IN FRANCE

Abstract

The communication is intended to draw attention to one of the reforming trends of the Church during the French Revolution of 1789, specifically the Constitution of 1791 - the linking of clerical to civil authority, which essentially meant the control of the revolutionary authorities over the process of „appointing“ clergy. The establishment of such control flagrantly violated the canons of the Church and accordingly provoked resistance not only among the clergy but also among the population. It is stressed that the initial stage of the revolution saw a process of deliberate undermining of the foundations of the Old Regime, and the adoption of the constitution in 1791 was a kind of epilogue to this process. With its adoption, revolutionary power was legitimised, France became a constitutional monarchy in which the nation was the sovereign power. The aim of transforming the supranational Church into a national one, of controlling it by the State and of taking away the sources of its economic power and autonomy, was realised in stages, but it also provoked strong resistance in the clergy and in French society. It is revealed that in 1791 the „ecclesiastical question“ was not settled: the clash in this direction was about to radicalize, leading to the anti-Christian experiment of the Jacobins, but the Church in France would never regain its former influence on French society.