Modern French Philosophy: a Study of the Development Since ComteGunn, John Alexander
Philosophy
Modern French Philosophy: a Study of the Development Since Comte
Gunn, John Alexander
Philosophy, French; Philosophy, Modern
The adoration of Jeanne d’Arc was approved as early as 1894, but when
the Church found itself in a worse plight with its relation to the
State, it made preparations in 1903 for her enrolment among the
saints.[7] She was honoured the following year with the title of
“Venerable,” but in 1908, after the break of Church and State, she was
accorded the full status of a saint, and her statue, symbolic of
patriotism militant, stands in most French churches as conspicuous
often as that of the Virgin, who, in curious contrast, fondles the
young child, and expresses the supreme loveliness of motherhood.[8] The
cult of Jeanne d’Arc flourished particularly in 1914 on the sentiments
of patriotism, militarism and religiosity then current. This was
natural because it is for these very sentiments that she stands as a
symbol. She is evidently a worthy goddess whose worship is worth while,
for we are assured that it was through _her_ beneficent efforts that
the German Army retired from Paris in 1914 and again in 1918. The
saintly maid of Orleans reappeared and beat them back! Such is the
power of the “culte” which the Church eagerly fosters. The Sacré Coeur
also has its patriotic and military uses, figuring as it did as an
emblem on some regimental flags on the battlefield. Meanwhile, the
celebrations of Napoleon’s centenary (1921) give rise to the conjecture
that he, too, will in time rank with Joan of Arc as a saint. His
canonisation would achieve absolutely that union of patriotic and
religious sentimentality to which the Church in France directs its
activities.
[7] t is interesting to observe the literature on Jeanne d’Arc
published at this time: Anatole France, _Vie de Jeanne d’Arc_ (2
vols., 1908); Durand, _Jeanne d’Arc et l’Eglise_ (1908). These are
noteworthy, also Andrew Lang’s work, _The Maid of Orleans_ (also
1908).
[8] Herein, undoubtedly, lies the strong appeal of the Church to
women.
The vast majority of the 39,000,000 French people are at least
nominally Catholic, even if only from courtesy or from a utilitarian
point of view. Only about one in sixty of the population are
Protestant. Although among cultured conservatives there is a real
devotion to the Church, the creed of France is in general something far
more broad and human than Catholicism, in spite of the tremendously
human qualities which that Church possesses. The creed of France is
summed up better in art, nature, beauty, music, science, _la patrie_,
humanity, in the worship of life itself.[9]
[9] Those who desire to study the religious psychology of France
during our period cannot find a better revelation than that given in
the wonderful novel by Roger Martin du Card, entitled Jean Barois.
I
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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