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Fransalian International

"Be what you are, Be at its best!"      - St. Francis de Sales

Editorial  SFS  Fr. Mermier  General Curia  SFS Publications      News from the Provinces Brazil   East Africa England Franco-Swiss North-east India Nagpur  Pune   South-west India Visakhapatnam     Hearty Congratulations Fr. D. Kuzhupil  Fr. E. Mayoraz Fr. A. Fernandes Fr. A. Mookenthotam Fr. A. Mangatt  New Priests   Vol. 3  May 2001

Fransalian International

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness; it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity; it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness; it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair."   These are the opening lines of the novel about the French Revolution, "A Tale of Two Cities", by the English writer Charles Dickens. They present very well the atmosphere of the age in which Peter Mermier grew up. Peter was born in Savoy on 28th August 1790, one year after the outbreak of the French Revolution. Savoy was a small independent state on the southeast border of France. When Peter was two years old, the French revolutionary armies invaded Savoy.

At the time of the French Revolution, Louis XVI was King of France. The state had borrowed large sums of money from the public by the sale of bonds. France was burdened by a huge debt due to the extravagance of Louis XIV, the disastrous wars of Louis XV and the financial aid given by Louis XVI to the Americans during their war for independence from England. French society was divided into three classes. The clergy (First Estate) and the nobles (Second Estate) had many privileges. The Third Estate was made up of 98% of the people (peasants, workers, merchants, lawyers). The upper classes lived frivolous and even immoral lives, while the common people were heavily taxed. Many were influenced by the ideas of Rousseau and Voltaire (both died in 1778), which called for social and political reforms. Bad harvests in 1788 left the common people with very little food. The price of bread increased very much.

To deal with the financial crisis, Louis XVI was forced to call the Estates-General, the French Parliament, which had last met in 1614. It was made up of representatives of the clergy (300), the nobles (300) and the common people (600). Some parish priests had been elected as delegates of the common people. Each of the three groups had only a single vote, so the nobles and clergy could outvote the commoners. When the Estates-General met on 5th May 1789, at Versailles, 30 kms from Paris, the commoners demanded voting by head and not by group. This was refused, so they separated and formed the national Assembly (17th June). Locked out of their usual meeting place by the King, they met in a nearby indoor tennis court and took, an oath not to disperse until they had given France a new Constitution (20th June). By the end of June, most of the clergy and many of the nobles joined them.

On 7th July, the gathering called itself the National Constituent Assembly. The King accepted it but began assembling mercenary troops to disperse it. Meanwhile, anti-royalist politicians incited the common people of Paris, pointing out that the troops were being gathered to fight them. On 14th July, a mob seized arms from an arsenal and went on to attack the Bastille, a fortress-prison in Paris, to get ammunition and more weapons. They were convinced that they had to defend themselves against the King's troops. Next morning, King Louis XVI was told that the people had taken the Bastille. He shook his head and asked, "So, it is a revolt?" "No, your Majesty." was the reply, "it is a revolution!" Only seven common prisoners, were found in the Bastille. But it was looked upon as the symbol of royal tyranny. So its capture and destruction is seen as marking the beginning of the French Revolution.

When the French Revolution began in mid-July 1789, there was no intention of attacking the Church. But the grave financial crisis in which France was at the time led to Church property being nationalized (2nd November 1789). Soon, religious who were not engaged in education or the care of the sick were suppressed and their property seized (13th February 1790). About 31% of men religious renounced their vows, but only about 3% of the nuns. Many religious went into exile. On 12th July 1790, a law called the Civil Constitution of the Clergy was passed reducing Bishops and Parish Priests to elected officials of the State. A new law, enacted on 26th December 1790, required that the clergy take an oath to support the Civil Constitution of the Clergy. In January 1791, when most priests refused to take this ambiguous oath, they came to be regarded as enemies of the Revolution. It was only in April 1791 that Pope Pius VI condemned the Civil Constitution of the Clergy. By 1792 more than 30,000 priests found refuge outside France, about 10,000 of these in Protestant England. But several thousands stayed back, at the risk of their lives, and went into hiding in order to continue to minister to their flocks in secret.

On 20th September 1792, the National Convention replaced the National Assembly. It abolished the monarchy. King Louis XVI was guillotined on 21st January 1793. During 1793, the extremist group, who were members of a political club called the Jacobians, gained power in the National Convention. They got the backing of mobs of Paris workers. The Committee of Public Safety was set up, dominated by Maximilien Robespierre whose motto was "terror and virtue". He was convinced that "terror without virtue is deadly, but virtue without terror is powerless". Any person suspected of opposing the revolution was guillotined. The "Reign of Terror" began. In about 15 months more than 3,000 persons (nobles, priests, nuns and common people) were killed in Paris alone, and more than 40,000 elsewhere in France. It must be remembered that from March 1793 large groups of peasants in Western France fought, in the name of the Catholic Faith and the King, against the armies of the Revolution till 1799.

The Church in France had to suffer a merciless persecution from 1793, lasting about seven years. A law was passed on 17th September 1793 making all suspected priests, and all persons who gave them shelter, liable to death on sight. At Lyons, 135 priests were shot dead. Elsewhere, 16 Carmelite nuns and 32 Ursuline nuns, who had continued to live secretly as religious, were executed. Civil marriage was enforced and divorce allowed by mutual consent. Laws were passed to encourage priests to marry and about 2,000 of them got married. It is remarkable that two Congregations of nuns in lay dress, and one of men religious, were founded in France at the time of the Revolution.

On 5th October 1793, the Christian Calendar was replaced by the Republican Calendar. Each month was divided into three decades. Sunday was abolished and a day of rest every ten days took its place. The names of the Saints attached to each day were replaced by names of trees, flowers, fruits, domestic animals and tools. In November 1793, the convention officially "wiped out eighteen centuries of error" and instituted the cult of Reason and Nature. The Cathedral of Paris, as well as other churches in Paris and in the districts, were desecrated by scandalous rites during which a young woman symbolising the Goddess Reason was festively enthroned on the main altar. Religious worship and religious teaching were forbidden. Many churches were closed or began to be used as meeting places, storehouses and even stables. Bell towers and wayside crosses were pulled down. Gold, silver and bronze articles were taken away from the churches for national defence. The ridiculousness of the worship of Reason was soon recognised. At Robespierre's suggestion the National convention agreed to permit the cult of the Supreme Being (7lh May 1794).

After Robespierre was himself guillotined on 28th July 1794, the "Reign of Terror" became less savage. Though the anti-Catholic laws were not repealed, their application became less strict. But under the Directory, a governing body of five members (1795-1799), there was a fresh outbreak of violent persecution. The laws against priests not taking the oath were reactivated and they were hunted down all over France. In 1797, hundreds of priests who were captured (nearly 1,500) were put aboard ships and deported to the penal colony of French Guiana in South America. Most of them died there or during the journey.

Savoy had been invaded on 22nd September 1792 and made part of revolutionary France. From February 1793, the "Reign of Terror" burst over Savoy. Churches and parish schools were closed. Public worship was forbidden. Most of the 750 priests in Savoy were forced to leave the country. Only about 60 remained in hiding, risking their lives to celebrate Holy Mass and administer the sacraments to the people. Peter Mermier's parents, who lived on a large farm close to the forest, risked their lives and property by welcoming and sheltering the "underground" priests. Little Peter, from the age of 4 till he was 10, assisted at Holy Mass celebrated secretly for a few people in a small room in the house. The only Primary school Peter attended was the one conducted in the house by his mother, for her own children and those of the neighbourhood.

The faith and courage of the "underground" priests, and especially of his own mother, greatly influenced young Peter Mermier and gave him a desire to be a priest. Religious peace returned to Savoy under Napoleon, who took over power in France from 9th November 1799. The extremists of the Revolution did not succeed in destroying the faith of the majority of the Catholics. For his own advantage, Napoleon signed a Concordat with the Pope on 15th July 1801 and restored the Catholic Church in France, and later the Christian Calendar as well. Peter Mermier was 11. Soon it became possible for him to take up his Secondary School studies and to begin his preparation for the priesthood.

"God works in everything for the good of those who love Him." (Romans 8:28). In the midst of the anguish and the suffering of the "Reign of Terror", God raised up men and women of outstanding heroism and extraordinary love and sacrifice. It was at a time of persecution that the call of Christ, to become His priest, came to young Peter Mermier. The "worst of times" in which he grew up was also the "best of times".

Fr. Armind Nazareth msfs