The
reorganization of the Church which followed upon the confiscation of
its vast possessions is an excellent illustration of the spirit of the
National Assembly The demand for complete uniformity and simplification
is especially pronounced in the reform of this most venerable institution
of France, the anomalies and intricacies of which were hallowed not
only by age but by religious reverence. The chief articles are given
below, and indicate how completely the Assembly desired to bring the
Church under rules similar to those which they were drawing up for the
state.
The National Assembly, after having heard the report of the ecclesiastical
committee, has decreed and do decree the following as constitutional
articles:
Title I
ARTICLE I. Each department shall form a single diocese, and each diocese
shall have the same extent and the same limits as the department.
II. The
seat of the bishoprics of the eighty-three departments of the kingdom
shall be established as follows: that of the department of the Lower
Seine at Rouen; that of the department of Calvados at Bayeux.
All other
bishoprics in the eighty-three departments of the kingdom, which are
not included by name in the present article, are, and forever shall
be, abolished.
The kingdom
shall be divided into ten metropolitan districts of which the sees shall
be situated at Rouen, Rheims, Besancon, Rennes, Paris, Bourges, Bordeaux,
Toulouse, Aix, and Lyons. These archbishoprics shall have the following
denominations : that of Rouen shall be called the Archbishopric of the
Coast of the Channel.
IV. No
church or parish of France nor any French citizen may acknowledge upon
any occasion, or upon any pretext whatsoever, the authority of an ordinary
bishop or of an archbishop whose see shall be under the supremacy of
a foreign power, nor that of his representatives residing in France
or elsewhere; without prejudice, however, to the unity of the faith
and the intercourse which shall be maintained with the visible head
of the universal Church, as hereafter provided.
VI. A new
arrangement and division of all the parishes of the kingdom shall be
undertaken immediately in concert with the bishop and the district administration.
XX. All
titles and offices other than those mentioned in the present constitution,
dignities, canonries, prebends, half prebends, chapels, chaplainships,
both in cathedral and col legiate churches, all regular and secular
chapters for either sex, abbacies and priorships, both regular and in
commendam, for either sex, as well as all other benefices and prestimonies
in general, of whatever kind or denomination, are from the day of this
decree extinguished and abolished and shall never be reestablished in
any form.
Title II
ARTICLE I. Beginning with the day of publication of the present decree,
there shall be but one mode of choosing bishops and parish priests,
namely that of election.
II. All
elections shall be by ballot and shall be decided by the absolute majority
of the votes.
III. The
election of bishops shall take place according to the forms and by the
electoral body designated in the decree of December 22, 1789, for the
election of members of the departmental assembly.
VI. The
election of a bishop can only take place or be undertaken upon Sunday,
in the principal church of the chief town of the department, at the
close of the parish mass, at which all the electors are required to
be present.
VII. In
order to be eligible to a bishopric, one must have fulfilled for fifteen
years at least the duties of the church ministry in the diocese, as
a parish priest, officiating minister, or curate, or as superior, or
as directing vicar of the seminary.
XIX. The
new bishop may not apply to the pope for any form of confirmation, but
shall write to him, as to the visible head of the universal Church,
as a testimony to the unity of faith and communion maintained with him.
XXI. Before
the ceremony of consecration begins, the bishop elect shall take a solemn
oath, in the presence of the municipal officers, of the people, and
of the clergy, to guard with care the faithful of his diocese who are
confided to him, to be loyal to the nation, the law, and the king, and
to support with all his power the constitution decreed by the National
Assembly and accepted by the king.
XXV. The
election of the parish priests shall take place according to the forms
and by the electors designated in the decree of December 22, 1789, for
the election of members of the administrative assembly of the district.
XI. Bishoprics
and cures shall be looked upon as vacant until those elected to fill
them shall have taken the oath above mentioned.
Title III
I
ARTICLE I. The ministers of religion, performing as they do the first
and most important functions of society and forced to live continuously
in the place where they discharge the offices to which they have been
called by the confidence of the people, shall be supported by the nation.
II. Every
bishop, priest, and officiating clergyman in a chapel of ease shall
be furnished with a suitable dwelling, on condition, however, that the
occupant shall make all the necessary current repairs. This shall not
affect at present, in any way, those parishes where the priest now receives
a money equivalent instead of his dwelling. The departments shall, moreover,
have cognizance of suits arising in this connection, brought by the
parishes and by the priests. Salaries shall be assigned to each, as
indicated below.
III. The
bishop of Paris shall receive fifty thousand livres; the bishops of
the cities having a population of fifty thousand (p. 426) or more, twenty
thousand livres ; other bishops, twelve thousand livres.
V. The
salaries of the parish priests shall be as follows : in Paris, six thousand
livres; in cities having a population of fifty thousand or over, four
thousand livres; in those having a population of less than fifty thousand
and more than ten thousand, three thousand livres; in cities and towns
of which the population is below ten thousand and more than three thousand,
twenty-four hundred livres.
In all
other cities, towns, and villages where the parish shall have a population
between three thousand and twenty-five hundred, two thousand livres;
in those between twenty-five hundred and two thousand, eighteen hundred
livres; in those having a population of less than two thousand, and
more than one thousand, the salary shall be fifteen hundred livres;
in those having one thousand inhabitants and under, twelve hundred livres.
VII. The
salaries in money of the ministers of religion shall be paid every three
months, in advance, by the treasurer of the district.
XII. In
view of the salary which is assured to them by the present constitution,
the bishops, parish priests, and curates shall perform the episcopal
and priestly functions gratis.
Title IV
ARTICLE I. The law requiring the residence of ecclesiastics in the districts
under their charge shall be strictly observed. All vested with an ecclesiastical
office or function shall be subject to this, without distinction or
exception.
II. No
bishop shall absent himself from his diocese more than two weeks consecutively
during the year, except in case of real necessity and with the consent
of the directory of the department in which his see is situated.
III. In
the same manner, the parish priests and the curates may not absent themselves
from the place of their duties beyond the term fixed above, except for
weighty reasons, and even in such cases the priests must obtain the
permission both of their bishop and of the directory of their district,
and the curates that of the parish priest.
VI. Bishops,
parish priests, and curates may, as active citizens, be present at the
primary and electoral assemblies; they may be chosen electors, or as
deputies to the legislative body, or as members of the general council
of the communes or of the administrative councils of their districts
or departments.