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The Way of Compromise
- Duquesne University Press
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The History of the Church 214 The Way of Compromise In the France of the Restoration, there was a complete divide between the partisans of the Catholic and monarchist counterrevolution, and a coalition of old republicans, new liberals, and those nostalgic for the empire. An odd movement then emerged, at once papist and democratic, fundamentalist and libertarian, which advocated an absolute separation between church and state and also demanded the freedom to establish schools independently of the government’s system. (The government forbade teaching by nonapproved religious congregations, such as the Jesuits.) The movement was headed by an improbable trio: Father Félicité de Lammenais; Henri Lacordaire, a Dominican; and the very noble Count Charles de Montalembert. Together, they founded the newspaper L’Avenir, which enjoyed a large readership. Upon the restitution of the monarchy in July 1830, they attempted a type of intellectual coup—the establishment of a “free school.” A legal process ensued. The 21-year-old Montalembert, as a member of the French Chamber of Peers, could only be judged by this body. When he presented himself before the Chamber, he cited “schoolmaster” as his profession, both a challenge and statement. Not until 1850 would freedom of education be secured, under the Second Republic, a regime that Montalembert and his allies supported . However, this paradoxical position gained them enemies in both camps. Soon, the Vatican condemned what it perceived to be their “unbridled ardor of an audacious independent spirit.” Lamennais refused to concede. Lacordaire and Montalembert submitted to Rome’s judgment and continued to fight from within the bosom of the church. To them can be traced the compromise that is still operative in France, as well as the movement that calls for a Christian democracy. Théodore Chassériau (1819–1856) Father Dominique Lacordaire Musée du Louvre, Paris ...