The Ancien Regime and The Gallican Church

      The Ancien Regime refers to the reign of Louis XIV, King of France.  The phrase translates to “the old way.” In France, this meant the king was in charge and the Church was his subject.[1]

Louis XIV died in 1715, after a reign of fifty years.

      The ideology of the Gallican Church was one where the church and state were united, in such as the state had unilateral control over the church and the church became independent of Rome.[2] The beliefs of Gallicanism had been around for centuries.  For centuries, kings had wielded much control over their kingdoms and all its parts, even the church.  Gallicanism was very reminiscent of the English Reformation, where the king was made head of the Church of England and the church was severed from the jurisdiction of Rome.

      In France, the church was immensely present in all ways of life from births and coronations to education, marriage and deaths.  In eighteenth century France, it was a period of independence, equality and tolerance.  Protestants were free to worship, but not by law until 1787.[3]

      Prior to the French Revolution, the state of the Catholic Church was quite strong, as the English Catholic Church was prior to the Reformation.  The following statistics refer to the involvement of the Church in France:

-          130,000 priests, divided between secular and religious

-          35,000 nuns

-          2,200 hospitals, with 14,000 nuns serving as nurses

-          600 colleges, 75,000 students

-          2/3 of the educators were secular priests, the other 1/3 were Jesuits

-          37,000 parishes, with 25,000 having attached schools[4]

      As stated earlier, the Gallican Church, or Gallicanism, was an establishment long before the time of Louis XIV and the impending French Revolution.  The government of France over the years had felt that the pope interfered too much in temporal matters in France.  In 1438, the Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges, considered the “great bulwark of the Gallican Church against Rome,” was ratified by the French parliament.  It focused on two principles:

-          the pope had no authority in the kingdom in France over any temporal issue.

-          Though the pope is acknowledged as sovereign lord in spiritual matters, his power is restricted by the ancient councils existing in the kingdom.[5]

      With Gallicanism came four specific canons:

-           the king of France was independent of the Church of Rome in matters temporal, but also in some religious matters: papal documents could not be published without the king’s permission and the king could bishops and abbots.

-          General councils had superiority of the pope.

-          the rights and customs of the French Church were indisputable.

-          the consent of the universal church with regards to papal decrees related to faith and morals.[6]

      Gallicanism was very important to the French Revolution, as the Revolution attempted to take control of the church.

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[1] Vidmar, OP, John, The Catholic Church Through the Ages, (New Jersey: Paulist Press, 2014) 272.

[2] Vidmar, The Catholic Church Through the Ages, 272.

[3] Vidmar, The Catholic Church Through the Ages, 273.

[4] Vidmar, The Catholic Church Through the Ages, 273.

[5] www.biblicalcyclopedia.com, Gallican Church.

[6] Vidmar, The Catholic Church Through the Ages, 274-275.