French School Wars

The government, feeling the pressure from the Ligue de l'enseignement, introduced a bill to exempt schoolteachers from civil courts and fine families who declined to teach their children secular ethics.

The Catholic Church swiftly reacted; in its September 1908 declaration, the French episcopate challenged the new legislation and reaffirmed families' right to regulate the education provided in public schools.

In the months that followed, the French cardinals, led by the intransigent Rafael Merry del Val, worked to redefine the educational doctrine of the Church in France.

This calm was short-livedː the school question, which was not at the forefront of the troubles that shook France, found fertile ground in the post-Separation situation to unleash French passions.

[2] The Pope and his advisor Mgr Rafael Merry del Val strongly denounced the unilateral termination of the Concordat regime [fr] due to the radicals' previous hostility towards the papacy.

In August 1906, Pius X opposed religious associations managing Church property, and the January 2, 1907 law expelled bishops, parish priests, and seminarians[2] from episcopal palaces, presbyteries, and seminaries.

[8] Morizot reportedly made unpatriotic and anti-religious comments in front of the mixed class he was overseeing, specifically referring to French soldiers as "thugs and cowards."

[8] The decision prompted a response from Arthur Dessoye, deputy for Haute-Marne and secretary general of the Ligue de l'enseignement, who questioned the procedure and objected to it being perceived as an attack on non-religious schools.

[11] The court acknowledged that a public schoolteacher who makes comments in the classroom that seriously violate the school's religious neutrality is guilty of a personal fault and is financially responsible to the families of students affected.

[10] In response to the pressure of secular education and radical influences, Gaston Doumergue, Minister of Public Instruction and a Freemason, reintroduced the government's anti-religious policy through tabling three distinct bills on June 23 and 30, 1908.

[14] As for the renowned polemicist Édouard Drumont, he unreservedly labeled Doumergue as "an escapee from the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre"[nb 1] in La Libre Parole on June 26, 1908.

[6]In the Déclaration, the French Catholic hierarchy explicitly references Gaston Doumergue's proposed legislation and elaborates on its approach regarding families' authority over their children's education.

[6] The signatories express disappointment in the State's failure to fulfill its promises and its objective to eliminate family control over school neutrality in a stern toneː[17] "That numerous hindrances have been placed, in recent years, on the exercise of your rights in matters of teaching and education, you know only too well, and we do not think, at this hour, to take up this painful subject again.

In the same place, the principle is asserted, without any hesitation whatsoever, that "guarantees must be granted to fathers to enable them to obtain reparation for faults committed by members of the public education system in the performance of their duties".

[...] Fathers of families, read the provisions of these precautions [...], and you will see that any of you whose conscience has been wounded by the text of a textbook imposed on your child can lodge a complaint with the "competent authorities", and even refer the matter to the Minister of Public Instruction.

[17] Despite its clear condemnation of the proposed legislation, it demonstrated some restraint by maintaining a preference for republican schools and emphasizing their neutrality, which it intended to uphold at all costs, while urging families to monitor them.

In the context of the battle over schools, he will once again display his unwavering strength and firmly assert his authority over the French bishops who sought to promote the neutrality tinged with hostility of secular institutions.

[19] On October 14, 1908, Merry del Val wrote to the authors of the Déclaration, stating that the Pope would be pleased if they confer with the three metropolitan bishops of France (North, South-East and South-West) to study the measures to be taken regarding the school question and refer them to the Holy See.

Upon consolidation of the responses from different French bishoprics, it was concluded that they advocate for free schools,[21] stating that these have significantly contributed to the proliferation of Christian households in France.

Despite the bishops' firm position, Cardinal Merry del Val was dissatisfied with the findings of the consultation since it did not condemn secular education, and in some instances, it was even deemed "good".

Cardinal Coullié informed Merry del Val on December 21, 1908, that it was best to gain the French bishops' complete assent to adequately prepare for the attack against secular schools, cautioning against a one-sided directive from Rome.

"[34] For example, in Côtes-d'Armor, the prefect complained about Mgr Jules-Laurent-Benjamin Morelle [fr]'s actionsː[35]"I must draw your attention, in a special way, to the ardent campaign waged against secular schools in my department by the Bishop of Saint-Brieuc and his clergy.

[...] Isolated, timid, resigned to suffering in silence the affront he didn't dare raise, or ill-informed of the lessons of the school, or imprisoned by his duties in a State which, all too often, in exchange for the bread it gives, demands the gift of conscience, the father of the family hesitated to assert his right.

"On the other hand, conservative members of the SGEE believed that mobilization ought to be overseen by the episcopate, the sole authority entrusted with assessing the alignment of instruction with Church doctrines.

[46] On October 19, 1909, French Prime Minister Aristide Briand, who held the Interior portfolio, requested situation reports from all prefects in response to widespread unrest.

For instance, the report released on October 28 by the prefect of the Manche region elaborates on the religious beliefs of the Normandy population as follows:[48] "The Normand is traditionally Catholic, not clerical, not convinced, but nevertheless attached to the secular forms of a religion without the gestures and rites of which he considers life incomplete.

[55] In order to demonstrate the autonomy of schoolteachers and their lack of need for State defense, the Amicales resorted to "direct action" and sought assistance from legal experts at the Human Rights League.

Between January and February 1914, Gaston Doumergue, who succeeded Barthou as president of the council, urged for a revision of his 1908 "secular defense" bill to be put to a vote in the Chamber.

[59] The debate on religious education was reignited in 1924 by the militant secularism of the Cartel des gauches, prompting opposition from French Catholics and demonstrations by the Fédération nationale catholique [fr].

This resurgence of the religious question led to a resounding reaffirmation of French prelates' condemnation of secular schools in the Déclaration sur les lois dites de laïcité in 1925.