A Constitutional Convent: Religious Women and the Early Revolution

Women seeking to live a monastic life in France on the eve of the Revolution were primarily confined to cloistered communities— with limited exceptions made for nursing and teaching orders that took simple, non-permanent vows. Therefore, the pressure to publicly declare an oath of support for— and commitment to— the Revolution fell more heavily on men who were the traditional leaders and the public face of the church. In fact, women were not even mentioned in the original decree in November of 1790 requiring all bishops, archbishops, priests, and clergy to take an oath of loyalty to the French. Yet, ex-nuns, who left their convents, and some active religious orders did express their support of the new regime in 1790 and 1791 in their letters to the National Assembly. Both groups welcomed changes to the administration of the church and saw their vocation as complementing the goals of the Revolution. Their advocacy for the twin goals of the church and state are often overshadowed by the Dechristianization of the Year II. In its early stages, the option for a reformed Catholicism as an important part of the new France was not only possible but probable. Few representatives of the National Assembly could imagine a France divorced from Catholicism. Although not all female religious communities agreed, some welcomed the changes to their institutions brought by the Revolution.