Parochial patronage
Parochial patronage refers to several Catholic and Protestant organizations initially dedicated to the popular education of underprivileged young people.
In France, patronages were founded at the beginning of the 19th[1] century in Marseille by Father Jean-Joseph Allemand, who defined them as "places where people play and pray".
[5] Traditional running, stilt-walking, and ball games made up the bulk of these activities at first, but with Timon David,[6] gymnastics, developed under the Restoration by Colonel Don Francisco Amoros,[7] took pride of place.
[11][12] The motto of the International Olympic Committee[13][14] [15](IOC): Citius, Altius, Fortius, first uttered on March 7, 1891,[16] was borrowed from one of these institutions, the Albert-le-Grand school in Arcueil, run by Father Henri Didon, a member of the first board of directors of the Union of French athletic sports societies(USFSA).
Three years later, on January 1, 1891, this commission published its bulletin Le Patronage [21] In addition to the charity conferences and study circles that promoted social Catholicism, physical activities took on such importance that they became a major driving force, both through their civic and school organizations, in the growth of gymnastics and the birth of sport in France.
Paul Michaux, born in Lorraine but adopted in Paris, was not the only one to take up the cause: At the end of 1902, the organization named the Elsaessicher Turnerbund (ETB) which then took the name - Avant-garde du Rhin (AGR) - finally received the recognition from the German authorities that it had been seeking for several years,[24] and the Lyon region, with some thirty patronages at the turn of the century, declared its own Federation of Catholic Gymnastics Societies of the Rhône and South-East at the beginning of 1903, which joined the FGSPF in 1908.
The hostility of the public authorities and these federations towards those who responded to the Pope's invitation and took part in the gymnastics competition, in 1906, in Rome, brought them under the Catholic umbrella of the FGSPF,[26] which began organizing its championships.
But their role did not stop there, they also made a major contribution to the development of music through their cliques and brass bands, theater,[32][33] popular[34][35] cinema, and summer camps.
For a long time, these activities were managed by specific organizations, such as the Theatrical Association of catholic works for popular education (ATOCEP) and the Federation of Cinematographic Leisure and Culture (FLECC), and it was not until the 1960s that the FSCF took them over.
In Paris, they offered their services and unmobilized personnel to the Ministry of War, helped care for the wounded at Gare de l'Est and assisted in agricultural[39] work.
[41] Although gymnastics remained the main activity, other sports also developed, particularly basketball, which was structured in 1920 within the FFA, born from the dissolution of the USFSA at the end of the war.
During the Occupation, the activity of patronages slowed considerably, with many preferring to remain dormant rather than risk the merger with foreign, or even hostile associations imposed by the Sports Charter.
The merger of the men's and women's patronages, imposed by the Vichy regime, was not called into question after the Liberation;[49] their revival contributed locally to the national recovery, and they soon returned to their pre-war level of development.
[56] Some of the clergy had always expressed reservations about their pastoral value, and even at times strongly criticized the use of this "sport with a taste for war";[57] in 1988, the title of Professor Gérard Cholvy's book, Le Patronage, ghetto ou Vivier, clearly set out the terms of this debate.
[58] In 1968, to control their flight, the FSF decided to broaden its scope to include the historical cultural activities of the patronages and changed its acronym accordingly.
[60] As with all associations, the activities of the FSCF-affiliated patronages include sports training and cultural workshops (visual arts,[61] theater,[62] choir,[63] dance,[64] twirling[65]) during the week and competitions or meetings on weekends.
The new organization, which takes the form of an open-air center, is reminiscent of the "patronages" that used to welcome children on Thursday afternoons when school was not in session.
The first is football, with the Star of Two Lakes, where two of the founders of the FFF, Charles Simon and Henri Delaunay, cut their teeth, followed by Auxerre Youth Association of Father Deschamps and its historic coach Guy Roux.
