The expulsion of religious congregations in 1880 () was a political event in France during the Third Republic, involving the dispersal of unauthorized, primarily male, religious congregations. These expulsions were enacted after the enactment of two on March 29, 1880, by the government of Charles de Freycinet, specifically by Charles Lepère, Minister of the Interior, and Jules Cazot, Minister of Justice. The initial decree mandated the dissolution of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) within French territory. At the same time, the subsequent directive required that all other unrecognized religious groups seek legal recognition, with the implicit threat of facing the same fate as the Jesuits.
These decrees were issued in the context of the establishment of the Republic. This strengthening of the regime was marked by militant anticlericalism from moderate Republicans and and by a desire to remove education from the influence of congregations, which were mocked as a "Roman militia" and accused of being seeds of counter-revolution.
The implementation of the initial decree resulted in the eviction of the Jesuits from all their establishments, commencing on June 30, 1880. In solidarity with the Society of Jesus, other congregations declined to submit authorization requests. Charles de Freycinet, who was not genuinely intent on expelling them, initiated discussions to secure their declared allegiance to the Republic. The revelation of these secret negotiations by the newspaper resulted in Freycinet's resignation and the ascension of Jules Ferry to power. Ferry enforced the second decree with great rigor, leading to the expulsion of numerous other unauthorized male congregations. Many members of these congregations barricaded themselves within their premises, prompting prefects to repeatedly request military intervention. This resulted in occasionally violent scenes, including doors being broken open with axes and locks being destroyed.
The implementation of the decrees encountered considerable opposition. They were contested in civil courts and became the subject of debates and incidents in the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. Groups of devout and Catholic activists attended the expulsions to express support for the religious and deride the police. Furthermore, several hundred magistrates and officials responsible for enforcing the decrees resigned in protest, motivated by their convictions.
The expulsion of the congregations resulted in the dispersal of 6,589 religious members. Some opted to persist in living in small community groups in houses provided by laypeople, while others chose to exile themselves to reconstitute their congregations abroad, with Spain being the principal destination for Congregationalists. The return of the religious to their establishments occurred gradually in the following years as a détente developed between the Holy See and the French government starting in 1885. This eventually led to the Ralliement of 1892. Nevertheless, the Republicans persisted in their efforts to secularize education. The decline of congregational teaching commenced, and the final blow was delivered by the suppression of teaching congregations in 1904, twenty-four years after the expulsion of 1880.
Background
The State of congregations in France
Under the Second Empire The Second Empire, a period of the Second Empire, was a decade of prosperity for religious congregations, whose activities, including education, were encouraged by government policy. Consequently, their numbers increased, and new foundations were established. However, the shift to the resulted in a change of circumstances. While the government maintained its favorable stance towards the Catholic Church, it became increasingly concerned about the power of the congregations and sought to exert greater control over them. This intensified scrutiny, initiated by the Ministers of Public Instruction, resulted in administrative challenges and the suppression of certain congregations. This period began in 1860 with Minister Gustave Rouland, whose Gallicanism was well documented. Rouland justified this shift in policy by asserting that male congregations were subject to Rome's authority and beyond France's control. His 1860 report presented the situation as follows:
Rouland prohibited the establishment of new male congregations and made it challenging to obtain authorization for female congregations. However, he was a staunch proponent of public education, which he viewed as a means of counterbalancing these restrictions. In 1861, the Capuchin and Redemptorist houses were dissolved, and all Belgian Redemptorists were expelled from France. This anti-congregation policy continued under his successor, Victor Duruy. Duruy attempted to remove secondary education for girls from the influence of the congregations, which provoked protests from clerical supporters. These protests ultimately succeeded in derailing the project.
Under the moral order
Following the collapse of the Second Empire, religious congregations experienced a resurgence in strength during the period of the . Notably, Jesuit colleges witnessed a resurgence of prosperity. By 1879, the 29 colleges had an enrollment of 11,144 students, representing over half of the total enrollment in Catholic secondary schools. These institutions were among the most esteemed in France. The flagship of their educational enterprise, the Collège de la Montagne Sainte-Geneviève, located on , prepared its students for the entrance examinations to the École polytechnique and Saint-Cyr. Consequently, these two esteemed institutions had numerous students who had received their education at the Collège de la Montagne Sainte-Geneviève in their classes, a fact that caused concern among the Republicans.
As a result of the regulatory delays of the Second Empire and the dynamism observed under the Moral Order, congregations were subjected to a complex regime distinct from the . While a significant minority had obtained legal authorization, a considerable majority had been established without the government's approval and was, therefore, merely tolerated. Upon their creation, congregations had the option of acquiring a legal existence and benefiting from legal person or remaining a simple aggregation of individuals. Many communities opted for the latter, exhibiting a distrust in state control.
The legal authorization in question, as outlined in Article 4 of the decree-law of 8 Messidor Year XII (June 27, 1804), was initially granted by the government and subsequently by Parliament, beginning in 1825. Congregations lacking authorization were not deemed illegal, as evidenced by the 1817 and 1825 legislative acts, which did not mandate such authorization requests, and the renowned consultation of the jurist Lefebvre de Vatimesnil, which established the prevailing on the matter.
In 1876, the number of male congregations was as follows: The number of religious members in authorized congregations was 22,759, while the number in unauthorized congregations (including Jesuits, Benedictines, Capuchins, Discalced Carmelites, Dominicans, Franciscans, and Assumptionists) was 7,488. This represents a proportion of 25% for the former and 11% for the latter. For female congregations, the proportion was lower: 113,750 authorized nuns versus 14,003 unauthorized nuns, representing 11%.
The anticlerical Republic
In the final years of the Second Empire, France witnessed a notable resurgence of anticlerical sentiment. This trend persisted and intensified during the Paris Commune and subsequently during the struggles of the Republicans to establish the new regime. During the 1870s and 1880s, this animosity toward clericalism was indistinguishable from anti-Catholicism. This sentiment was espoused by the emergent bourgeoisie and the working classes, comprising rural populations from the de-Christianized countryside and "red" workers. Religious congregations perceived as exerting considerable influence were particularly targeted. These were portrayed as a "Roman militia" and perceived as adversaries of individual liberties. This anticlericalism was further fueled by French Freemasonry, which sought to eradicate the regular clergy, viewing their vow of obedience as enslaving their lives to an obscurantist authority, in contradiction to Article 1780 of the Civil Code, which states that "no one can bind their services except for a limited time."
It is incontestable that the Society of Jesus provoked the greatest degree of animosity among all the congregations. The intense propaganda against them drew inspiration from 18th-century polemics, which had been reactivated during the Restoration by the Gallican royalist Reynaud de Montlosier and during the July Monarchy by the lectures at the Collège de France by Michelet and Quinet in 1843. This opinion campaign portrayed the Jesuits as the driving force behind the counter-revolution, with an alleged secret influence over mothers through the confessional and over sons through religious colleges. Their religious teachings were also subjected to criticism, with casuistry being accused of promoting immorality; this was particularly evident in the pamphlet La Morale des Jésuites by Republican Paul Bert, who later became the founder of secular education.
The consolidation of the 1875 regime, as perceived by the Republican faction, necessitated the combating of clericalism and the secularization of educational institutions. From 1877, the year in which the Center-Left assumed power and permanently displaced the monarchists, a purge of the civil service commenced, intending to remove officials affiliated with the . From 1878 to 1880, a series of violent attacks on religious congregations accompanied a press campaign targeting the clergy in the context of the secularization of communal schools by the Paris Municipal Council, which had been authorized by a circular issued in 1878. Removing religious figures from their schools resulted in a legal dispute that was brought before the Council of State. The latter was purged in July 1879 to ensure an anticlerical judgment and, as a result, dismissed the congregations' . Building on this momentum, Jules Ferry had the law of February 27, 1880, passed, which excluded ecclesiastical figures from the . Consequently, the Republicans gradually moved towards revising the Falloux Law, which granted congregations complete freedom in education.
In this context of militant anticlericalism among the founders of the Third Republic, the law of March 18, 1880, was discussed and resulted in the issuance of decrees that expelled the congregations.
March 1880 decrees
Law on the freedom of higher education
On March 15, 1879, the anniversary of the Falloux Law, Jules Ferry, Minister of Public Education in the new , introduced a bill on the freedom of higher education in the Chamber of Deputies. For Ferry, the objective was to remove education from the Church's control and target the Jesuits, whom he suspected of inspiring the counter-revolution. The minister did not disguise the targets of his vendetta, stating, "The Society of Jesus is not only unauthorized but it is prohibited by all our history."
The Chamber enacted the legislation on July 15, 1879. However, the deliberations in the Senate on Article 7 reached an impasse. The article in question stipulated that "no one is allowed to run a public or private educational establishment, of any order, nor to teach there if they belong to an unauthorized congregation." In response, the Center-Left, led by Jules Simon, joined forces with the monarchists of the to oppose the alliance of the Republican Left and the Republican Union. After a series of impassioned debates, the Senate ultimately rejected Article 7 on March 9 and again on March 15, 1880.