Creating Catholics

Karen E. Carter

Description

The religious education of children represents a critical component of the Catholic Reformation that has often been overlooked by historians of early modern Europe. In Creating Catholics: Catechism and Primary Education in Early Modern France, Karen E. Carter examines rural schooling in France in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries—the period when community-supported primary education began—and brings to light a significant element of the early modern period.

Carter scrutinizes Catholic religious education in rural parishes in France through its two leading forms: the explosion of Catholic catechisms for children and their use in village schools. She concentrates on educational opportunities for rural peasants in three French dioceses: Auxerre (in Burgundy) and Chalons-sur-Marne and Reims (in Champagne). Carter argues that the study of catechism in village schools was an integral part of a comprehensive program, implemented by both clerical and lay leaders, for the religious, ethical, and moral education of children. Her research demonstrates that the clergy and a majority of the lay population believed in the efficacy of this program; for this reason, parish priests taught catechism in their parishes on a weekly basis, and small village communities established and paid for a surprisingly large number of local schools so that their sons and daughters could receive an education both in basic literacy skills and, through memorization of catechism, in Catholic faith and practice.

Sujets

• 18th Century
• 17th Century
• Modern
• HISTORY
• Histoire
• Borgoña (desambiguación)
• Burgundy
• Modern history
• Counter-Reformation
• Christianity
• Châlons-en-Champagne
• Reims
• Obermodern-Zutzendorf
• Champagne
• Auxerre
• France
• Europe

Informations

• Publié par: University of Notre Dame Press
• Date de parution: 15 janvier 2011
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780268076900
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

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CREATING
CatholicsCarter-00FM_Layout 1 9/16/10 3:55 PM Page iiCarter-00FM_Layout 1 9/16/10 3:55 PM Page iii
CREATING
Catholics
Catechism and Primary Education
in Early Modern France i
KAREN E. CARTER
University of Notre Dame Press
Notre Dame, IndianaCarter-00FM_Layout 1 9/16/10 3:55 PM Page iv
Copyright © 2011 by the University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, Indiana 46556
www.undpress.nd.edu
All Rights Reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Carter, Karen E., 1951–
Creating Catholics : catechism and primary education in early modern France /
Karen E. Carter.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-268-02304-1 (pbk. : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-268-02304-2 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Catholic Church—Education—France—History—17th century.
2. Catholic Church—n—France—History—18th century.
3. Education, Primary—France—History—17th century. 4. Education,
Primary—France—History—18th century. 5. Baltimore catechism— Study
and teaching (Primary)—France. 6. Counter-Reformation—France. I. Title.
LC506.F7b C25 2010
268'.8244—dc22
2010037735
∞ The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of
the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on
Library Resources.Carter-00FM_Layout 1 9/16/10 3:55 PM Page v
For my parentsCarter-00FM_Layout 1 9/16/10 3:55 PM Page viCarter-00FM_Layout 1 9/16/10 3:55 PM Page vii
Contents
List of Tables ix
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction 1
PA RT O N E
Diocesan Catechisms in Seventeenth-
and Eighteenth-Century France
 The Science of Salvation:
Catechisms and Catholic Reform 23
 The Catechetical Method: Theory and Practice 58
PA RT T WO
Primary Education in Auxerre,
Châlons-sur-Marne, and Reims
 The Curé and the Catechism:
The Birth of a Childhood Ritual 101Carter-00FM_Layout 1 9/16/10 3:55 PM Page viii
viii Contents
 The Village Schoolmaster:
Another Agent of the Catholic Reformation 136
 Boys and Girls at School:
The Growth of the Petites Écoles 172
 Learning to Read, Write, and Recite:
The Petites Écoles and the Catholic Reformation 198
Conclusion 227
Notes 233
Bibliography 271
Index 309Carter-00FM_Layout 1 9/16/10 3:55 PM Page ix
Tables
3.1 Social Origins of the Parish Clergy in Reims, 1774 107
3.2 Curés with a University Education in Reims, 1774 111
4.1 Length of Service for Schoolmasters in the Deaneries of
Cernay-en-Dormois and Vesle 164
5.1 Number of Parishes in Châlons-sur-Marne and Reims with
Schools, Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries 177
5.2 Number of Parishes in Auxerre with Schools, Eighteenth
Century 181
5.3 Number of Parishes with Sex-Segregated Schools,
Eighteenth Century 186
5.4 School Attendance in the Deanery of Bétheniville,
1773– 1774 192
5.5 School Attendance in Reims by Deanery,
1773– 1774 193
6.1 Percentage of Men Able to Sign an acte de mariage 203
6.2 Percentage of Women Able to Sign an acte de mariage 204
6.3 Comparison of Male and Female Signature Rates
(by Percentage) 207
6.4 Male and Female Students Attending Schools in Reims,
1774 208
ixCarter-00FM_Layout 1 9/16/10 3:55 PM Page xCarter-00FM_Layout 1 9/16/10 3:55 PM Page xi
Acknowledgments
Financial support for my research was provided by thei
Cultural Services Division of the French Embassy in
Washington, D.C., in the form of a Chateaubriand
fellowship for the 2003– 2004 academic year. I owe a great
debt to the staff of the departmental archives in Auxerre,
Reims, and Châlons-en-Champagne, for their patience with
a green American researcher. I may have gotten a lot of
inquisitive looks, but my questions were always answered
with professionalism and kindness. I must also thank the
Georgetown University Department of History for a Davis
fellowship in 2005– 2006, which gave me a free semester to
write, and the College of Family, Home and Social Sciences
at Brigham Young University for a research grant that
xiCarter-00FM_Layout 1 9/16/10 3:55 PM Page xii
xii Acknowledgments
allowed one last trip to the archives. Previous versions of some
portions of the book have appeared in French Historical Studies (published by
Duke University Press) and the Catholic Historical Review (published by
the Catholic University of America Press); I thank those institutions for
granting me permission to draw upon this material again here. I am
also grateful to the two anonymous readers who read the manuscript
and provided many useful suggestions, as well as to the editorial staff at
the University of Notre Dame Press for indispensable help in putting
the final version of the book together.
I began working on the topic of catechisms and education twelve
years ago, so my debts are many. At Georgetown, special thanks must
go to my mentor, Jim Collins. He may have been baffled by my lack of
interest in French wines—perhaps an unforgivable failing for a French
historian—but his support for my work never suffered for it. Amy
Leon ard’s considerable efforts on my behalf are also much appreciated.
Other friends, colleagues, and faculty members who lent support during
my Georgetown years include Roxie France-Nuriddin, Alison Games,
Doris Goldstein, Harriet Gray, Deborah Hirschi, John McNeill, Jo Ann
Moran Cruz, Anita Nolen, Felicia Ros ¸u, and Richard Stites. I also thank
Keith Luria, of North Carolina State, for his insightful comments and
suggestions during the dissertation phase of this project.
My colleagues at Brigham Young have become tremendous friends,
and I cannot thank them enough for their personal and academic
support. My greatest debt is to Craig Harline, who suggested that I study
catechisms in the first place; without his support over the last twelve
years, this project would never have reached completion. Lunches with
Craig, Kendall Brown, Eric Dursteler, Don Harreld, Chris Hodson,
Shawn Miller, Susan Rugh, and other “lunch van” regulars sustained
me through the writing process and provided much-needed diversions.
Rebecca de Schweinitz, Amy Harris, Aaron Skabelund, and I all arrived
in the department together as junior faculty and created an instant
support group for each other— thanks go to each of them for all of the
conversations and gripe sessions in the hallways and over meals.
Members of history department and campus-wide writing groups read
several portions of the manuscript and gave me useful insights about my
research and writing. Carter-00FM_Layout 1 9/16/10 3:55 PM Page xiii
Acknowledgments xiii
Last but not least—my family. I don’t think any of my siblings ever
really wanted to know much about catechisms, but they have listened
to me anyway, and some of them even read chapters. I am grateful to
them for putting up with me year after year. My nieces and nephews
are too young to understand anything about what I do, but I have their
pictures surrounding me whenever I sit down to write, and their little
faces have made me smile and urged me forward on many an occasion.
My parents, Mary and Steven Carter, deserve much, much more than
a simple thank you, even if it is in print. This book is as much yours as
it is mine. Merci infiniment.Carter-00FM_Layout 1 9/16/10 3:55 PM Page xivCarter-00intro_Layout 1 9/16/10 3:52 PM Page 1
Introduction
i One of the most interesting questions in the study of
religion centers around belief: why do adherents of a
particular religious confession believe what they believe?
For the early modern period in France, this question has
often led historians to matters of religious conversion.
The Protestant Reformation in France was primarily an
urban event, and by the time the religious wars began most
towns and cities counted at least a few Huguenots among
their numbers. Because the inhabitants of so many of
France’s urban areas experienced violent conflicts over
religious issues during the second half of the sixteenth
century, a number of historians have attempted to uncover
the reasons for this division by examining whether factors
1Carter-00intro_Layout 1 9/16/10 3:52 PM Page 2
2 C R E A T I N G C A T H O L I C S
like gender, profession, location, and class might account for
confes1sional preference. These historians ultimately discovered that the
reasons behind religious conversion defy simple explanations, but in their
attempts to understand religious motivations and sensibilities they
uncovered the fulcrum upon which the whole Reformation hinged: the
ordinary lives and religious beliefs of France’s urban artisans, printers,
and magistrates.
On the other hand, the focus on urban Protestantism leaves out the
masses of French peasants who remained Catholic through the
upheavals of the religious wars and beyond. While that crucial moment of
decision for a Huguenot or a member of the Catholic League makes for
a dramatic symbol of the changes that the Reformation brought about
in the second half of the sixteenth century, the long-term commitment
of the French countryside to Catholicism stands out as an even more
tantalizing—and axiomatic— characteristic of the early modern period.
My initial question about the nature of religious belief, when placed in a
rural context, leads to many additional questions that encompass not
only belief itself but also the dissemination of religious knowledge and
practices over time and space. Why did the peasant farmer attend Mass
every Sunday and take communion at least once a year? Why did he
insist on baptizing his children, and why did he and his wife dedicate even
a small portion of their scant resources to the Catholic Church? Why
did they believe in Catholicism, and why did their children and their
children’s children continue to believe?
There are, I believe, two elements of early modern Catholicism
that can significantly advance the historian’s understanding of these
particular questions: catechism and rural primary schools ( petites écoles).
Although no historical document can full