The term "Red Priests" (French: curés rouges) is a modern historiographical term that refers to Catholic priests who, to varying degrees, supported the French Revolution (1789-1799). The term "Red Priests" was coined in 1901 by Gilbert Brégail and later adopted by Edmond Campagnac. However, it is anachronistic because the color red, associated with socialist movements since 1848, did not signify supporters of the French Revolution, who were referred to as "Blues" during the civil wars of 1793–1799, in contrast to the royalist "Whites". Hence, a recent historian suggested using the term "Philosopher Priests" to describe this group, a term used at the time to refer to these priests.
Among the prominent members of this group were Abbé Sieyès, Abbé Grégoire, and Jacques Roux (1752-1794), who committed suicide in prison after being incarcerated on the orders of the Committee of Public Safety led by Robespierre. However, the group included many more members, especially all the priests who took the constitutional oath from 1791 onward, known as "sworn priests" in contrast to "refractory priests". The priests who were deputies to the National Convention and who voted in favour of the death of Louis XVI are also considered as part of this group. A number of priests from this group were extremists during the Reign of Terror.
Often from the lower clergy (parish priests and vicars), they constituted a significant faction within the Catholic Church in France at the beginning of the Revolution. They supported Gallicanism, advocating for the autonomy or even independence of the Catholic Church in France from the Pope. They opposed the privileges of the higher clergy and the nobility, clerical celibacy, and religious intolerance. While some of them left the clergy, often in connection with the criticism of clerical celibacy, a small minority engaged in actions of dechristianization.
Terminology The term "Red Priests" was first coined by Gilbert Brégail in 1901 and later adopted by Edmond Campagnac in 1913. It has been utilized by academic historians such as Albert Mathiez, Albert Soboul (Marxist historian), and Father Bernard Plongeron from the Catholic Institute of Paris, specialist about the Constitutional Church.
Acknowledging that the term "Red Priests" is an anachronism, some historians, including Annie Geffroy, James C. Scott, and Serge Bianchi, have criticized it. However, these critics do not dispute the existence of this group of clergy in question. Serge Bianchi suggested using the term "Philosopher Priests," which is contemporary and avoids the historical issue associated with the term "Red Priests."
History
The Catholic Church in France prior to the crisis of 1788
Catholicism was the state religion. The Catholic Church in France was deeply divided into various factions on the eve of the French Revolution. In general, bishops and abbots constituted a significant social group, wealthy and closely connected to the ruling elites, enjoying fiscal, economic, judicial, and property privileges. On the other hand, priests, especially those in rural areas or small to medium-sized towns, were generally much more integrated into the living conditions of their parishioners, the Third Estate. They formed a large group within the Catholic Church in France, and a substantial number of these priests were intellectually educated, having access to Enlightenment writings, the Encyclopédie, and, for the most part, the works of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Many of these priests, monks, and religious leaders were highly critical of various aspects, such as clerical celibacy, leading some to leave the priesthood by getting married. They were also critical of the fact that the Catholic Church was subject to the Pope, perceived as an ally of the counter-revolutionaries. Consequently, they generally supported Gallicanism. Jean-Jacques Rousseau played a particularly significant role in shaping the views of these priests. He advocated for a Christian church free from the "soldiers of the Pontiff," a return to the apostolic prohibition of holy war, expressing it as follows:Properly understood, this falls under paganism; as the Gospel does not establish a national religion, any sacred war is impossible among Christians. [...] Thus remains the religion of man or Christianity, not the one of today, but that of the Gospel, which is entirely different. Through this holy, sublime, true religion, men, children of the same God, recognized each other as brothers, and the society that united them did not dissolve even in death.
From the Estates-General to the Early Days of the Constituent National Assembly (January–July 1789)
Convocation of the Estates-General In 1788, after several attempts to address the financial crisis of the kingdom, Louis XVI decided to convene the Estates-General, a gathering that had not taken place since 1614. The convocation was announced in December 1788.
The Estates-General was an exceptional assembly bringing together representatives from the three orders of the kingdom: the clergy, the nobility, and the Third Estate. Members of the clergy and nobility were to assemble at the bailiwick capital to elect one deputy each. For the Third Estate, each parish was to elect a delegate, and these delegates, gathered at the bailiwick capital, were to elect two deputies (the principle of the "doubling of the Third Estate", an innovation of 1789). Elections were to be accompanied, in each parish and at the bailiwick capital, by the drafting of lists of grievances (cahiers de doléances) that the deputies were to bring to Versailles".
Drafting of Grievance Lists (Cahiers de doléances) Priests played a central role in drafting cahiers de doléances in their parishes because they were often the only ones who could read and write well, and they managed parish registers (baptisms, marriages, burials).
They also contributed to the drafting of cahiers de doléances for the clergy, their own order, where they were in the majority. Thus, one can find demands similar to those of the Third Estate in their cahiers de doléances, as in the case of Forcalquier:Cahier des doléances du clergé séculier et régulier de la sénéchaussée de Forcalquier, http://www.archives04.fr/depot_ad04v3/articles/351/cahiers-de-doleances_doc.pdf Consideration should be given in the distribution of benefits and other ecclesiastical graces, based on service and merit rather than birth. [...] We will seek the easing of taxes weighing on the poor people, such as those on leather, unheard-of and ruinous domain rights, and controls. [...] One of the most pressing needs of the Kingdom is the reform of justice, both civil and criminal. [...] Priests, pastors, are the fathers of the poor. Their sad condition deserves a place in the grievance list. The hardworking day laborer, for whom work is not sufficient, and the poor widow burdened with children have no resources other than the charity of their pastors. Our deputies will be our spokespeople and will obtain, for the unfortunate, relief from all burdens. [...] To abolish the use of lettres de cachet and to lift those that have been issued in the past.
Election of Clergy Deputies Priests and vicars (the lower clergy) were favored by the election process. The clergy was given to elect 296 deputies.
At the end of the electoral process, 47 bishops out of 130 were elected, but priests and vicars were much more numerous, with 208 elected (70% of the 296). Most of them were priests critical of the privileges of the clergy.
There were also priests elected as deputies of the Third Estate, notably Abbé Sieyès, the author of "What is the Third Estate?" and "Essay on Privileges," one of the central figures in the early stages of the French Revolution, directly elected by the Third Estate.
The Conflict between the Estates-General and the King (May 5 - July 9, 1789)
The clergy deputies convened at the Estates-General, with 114 out of 133 advocating for voting by head and the clergy's alignment with the Third Estate, as proposed by Abbé Sieyès, representing slightly less than half. Since the motion was initially rejected, 19 of them joined the Third Estate starting from June 13.
Father René Lecesve of Saint Triaire, Father David Pierre Ballard de Poiré, and Father Jacques Jallet de Chérigné, three priests from Poitou, were the first to align themselves with the Third Estate,Chroniques d'archives dans la Vienne, LNR, 20/06/21 https://www.lanouvellerepublique.fr/poitiers/chroniques-d-archives-le-jeu-de-paume-en-valait-la-chandelle declaring that they came "preceded by the torch of reason, guided by the love of the public good, and the cry of our consciences, placing ourselves with our fellow citizens and brothers." Abbé Grégoire quickly followed suit. On June 19, the clergy reintroduced the motion, which was accepted by 149 votes out of 296, giving the majority to the dissenting deputies and allowing them to proclaim themselves the National Assembly. On June 20, many priests participated in the Oath of the Tennis Court.
Beginnings of the Constituent National Assembly (July 1789) On July 9, Louis XVI acknowledged the National Assembly proclaimed by the deputies of the Third Estate as the Constituent National Assembly, tasked with drafting a constitution for France.
On July 14, 1789, the storming of the Bastille took place by the Parisian people, partly inspired by Claude Fauchet, an openly revolutionary clergyman.
The same day, Abbé Grégoire presided over the Constituent National Assembly for a session lasting sixty-two hours. He delivered a speech against the enemies of the Nation.
In the days that followed, he proposed the abolition of primogeniture, then suggested the abolition of all privileges and the abandonment of the censitary suffrage in favor of universal manhood suffrage; on this last point, he was supported only by Maximilien de Robespierre, and his motion was rejected.Jean Tild, L'Abbé Grégoire : « l'ami des hommes de toutes les couleurs », Nouvelles Éditions Latines, 1956, p. 19.
Constitutional Monarchy In Paris itself, the revolutionary clergy wielded influence, particularly within religious orders such as the Augustinians, Carthusians, Dominicans, or Carmelites. For example, Father François-Valentin Mulot, an Augustinian, served in the Paris Commune (1789). The Carthusians and Carmelites blessed tricolor flags, and the Dominicans participated in the establishment of revolutionary clubs like the Jacobin Club and the Breton Club. In the vicinity of Paris, as in Melun, other priests acted in support of the French Revolution, like Father Romain Pichonnier d'Andrezel, who founded a branch of the Society of Friends of the Constitution (the official name of the Jacobin Club) there. In a speech in Caen in 1791, he expressed himself as follows:Receive the homage of a heart that shares with you the glory of having seen the scepter of tyrants broken and the happiness of now living under laws dictated by reason and enshrined in evangelical morality.