Yet it would be difficult to perceive how they could have
been less radical than they were. The Church appeared to be
indissolubly linked with the fortunes of old absolutist France; the
clergy comprised a particularly privileged class; and the leaders and
great majority of the Assembly were filled with the skeptical, Deistic,
and anti-Christian philosophy of the time. In November, 1789, the
church property was confiscated. In February, 1790, the monasteries and
other religious houses were suppressed. In April, absolute religious
toleration was proclaimed. In August, 1790, the "Civil Constitution of
the Clergy" was promulgated, by which the bishops and priests, reduced
in numbers, were made a civil body: they were to be elected by the
people, paid by the state, and separated from the sovereign control of
the pope. In December, the Assembly forced the reluctant king to sign a
decree compelling all the clergy to take a solemn oath of allegiance to
the "Civil Constitution."
[Sidenote: Catholic Opposition to the Revolution]
The pope, who had already protested against the seizure of church
property and the expulsion of the monks, now condemned the "Civil
Constitution" and forbade Catholics to take the oath of allegiance.
Pages:
1009
1010
1011
1012
1013
1014
1015
1016
1017
1018
1019
1020
1021
1022
1023
1024
1025
1026
1027
1028
1029
1030
1031
1032
1033