Secularism and The French Ministry of Worship

Abbé Bérenger Saunière was a Traditionalist French Roman Catholic Priest opposed to the secularism of the French Republic. Abbé Saunière urged his parishioners to vote against the Republic during the local elections but this was taken as negative by the Préfet de l'Aude who considered it an “abuse of trust” by a priest in Public Office.

Nevertheless it was not tantamount to “treason against the state” because voting against the French Republic was legal and Abbé Saunière was only one of several priests sanctioned in the local area for conducting this activity.

Laïcité in France

His brother, Abbé Alfred Saunière held similar anti-Republican sympathies. Quote: “26 January 1901 – information from the Préfet of the Lot = This ecclesiastic dealt with, from the pulpit, the following subject = Instruction & education of the children of the people = The speech given by this priest, which was just one long diatribe against secular education, can be summarized in the following phrase, which he himself uttered: ‘Schooling without God will never manage to produce the great and strong men who have brought honour to France and upon whom France prides herself. It can only produce cowards.’ (Report filed with the Premier Bureau).”