French State and Catholic Church, III: Ralliement to Separation, 1889-1906

This final volume of Antinon Debidour's tour de force historical survey of Church/State relations in France fills 462 pages. The 3 volume project explores the problem of separation of Chruch and State in 1906 and shows how France set an example of how a modern European and Christian nation state managed the secularization of society. Debidour was head of the history department at the University of Nancy, and was given unique access to the archives of the Ministry of Worship. His approach was in favor of the Republic, and was happily free from Royalist, Legitimist, or Ultramontane sentiments. The final divorce of Catholic Church and French State was due to Vatican and clerical intransigence. After resisting the solution for decades, those in power saw that only separation was the way forward. Debidour's work has not been surpassed.

Major developments in this third volume include Ralliement and Social Catholicism; ideas of Leo XIII, Pope of Workers; Open Door (1892-94); Esprit nouveau; Anti-Semitism and the Dreyfus Affair; Christian Democracy in 1896; Revision and honor of the army; Republican Defense (1899-1900); Waldeck-Rousseau Ministry; War of the Monks (1900-1902); Combes, Leo XIII, and Pius X (1902-1904); suppression of Congregational teaching; Commission of 33 and the Briand project; law of separation 9 December 1905; some follow-up Government decrees.

Previous Frank H. Wallis translations:

Blanche of Castile, Queen and Regent of France, 1188-1252 (2015). From Élie Berger, Histoire de Blanche de Castille, Reine de France (Paris, 1895).

Charles VII. 6 vols. (2020-21). From Gaston Du Fresne de Beaucourt, Charles VII (Paris, 1881-1891).

Queen Margot and the end of the Valois, 1553-1615 (2021). From Charles Merki, La Reine Margot et la fin des Valois (1553-1615) (Paris, 1905).