Concordat of 1801 in the context of "The Genius of Christianity"

The aim of several policies conducted by various governments of France during the French Revolution ranged from the appropriation by the government of the great landed estates and the large amounts of money held by the Catholic Church to the termination of Christian religious practice and of the religion itself. There has been much scholarly debate over whether the movement was popularly motivated or motivated by a small group of revolutionary radicals. These policies, which ended with the Concordat of 1801, formed the basis of the later and less radical laïcité policies.

The French Revolution initially began with attacks on Church corruption and the wealth of the higher clergy, an action with which even many Christians could identify, since the Gallican Church held a dominant role in pre-revolutionary France. During a one-year period known as the Reign of Terror, the episodes of anti-clericalism became some of the most violent of any in modern European history. The revolutionary authorities suppressed the Church, abolished the Catholic monarchy, nationalized Church property, exiled 30,000 priests, and killed hundreds more. In October 1793, the Christian calendar was replaced with one reckoned from the date of the Revolution, and Festivals of Liberty, Reason, and the Supreme Being were scheduled. New forms of moral religion emerged, including the deistic Cult of the Supreme Being and the atheistic Cult of Reason, with the revolutionary government briefly mandating observance of the former in April 1794.

The Napoleonic era is a period in the history of France and Europe. It is generally classified as including the fourth and final stage of the French Revolution, the first being the National Assembly, the second being the Legislative Assembly, and the third being the French Directory. The Napoleonic era begins roughly with Napoleon Bonaparte's coup d'état on 18 Brumaire, overthrowing the Directory (9 November 1799), establishing the French Consulate, and ends during the Hundred Days and his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo (18 June 1815).

The Congress of Vienna soon set out to restore Europe to pre-French Revolution days. Napoleon brought political stability to a land torn by revolution and war. He made peace with the Catholic Church (Concordat of 1801) and reversed the most radical religious policies of the National Convention. In 1804, Napoleon promulgated the Civil Code, a revised body of civil law, which also helped stabilize French society. The Civil Code affirmed the political and legal equality of all adult men and established a merit-based society in which individuals advanced in education and employment because of talent rather than birth or social standing. The Civil Code confirmed many of the moderate revolutionary policies of the National Assembly but retracted measures passed by the more radical Convention. The Civil Code restored patriarchal authority in the family, for example by making women and children subservient to male heads of households.

The Diocese of Nevers (Latin: Dioecesis Nivernensis; French: Diocèse de Nevers) is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church in France. The diocese comprises the department of Nièvre, in the Region of Bourgogne.

Suppressed by the Concordat of 1801 and united to the See of Autun, it was re-established in 1823 as suffragan of the Archdiocese of Sens and took over a part of the former Diocese of Autun and a part of the ancient Diocese of Auxerre.

The Diocese of Tarbes et Lourdes (Latin: Dioecesis Tarbiensis et Lourdensis; French: Diocèse de Tarbes et Lourdes) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in France. Until 2002 Tarbes was a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Auch. It is now a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Toulouse.

Erected in the 4th century, the diocese of Tarbes is the historical diocese of Bigorre, part of the larger region of Gascony. The diocese were suppressed in 1801 following the concordat, it was restored in 1822 and has since covered the department of Hautes-Pyrénées. The name of the diocese was changed from the Tarbes to the Diocese of Tarbes et Lourdes on 20 April 1912.

Pamiers Cathedral (French: Cathédrale Saint-Antonin de Pamiers) is a Roman Catholic church located in the town of Pamiers, France. The cathedral is a national monument. It is the ecclesiastical seat of the Bishopric of Pamiers, which was established in 1275, abolished by the Concordat of 1801, and re-established in 1822. It is in the Southern French Gothic architectural tradition, and is dedicated to Antoninus of Pamiers.