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France's different Protestants

The Huguenot tradition, specifically French

Few people realize that overwhelmingly Catholic France has a unique Protestant tradition. The belief that Man is saved by faith, not works, implied that the Church was not needed for salvation. Result: frightful civil wars in the 16th century and exodus in the 17th. Protestants returned officially only toward 1780.

 

Although they represent only 2% of today's population, they are important because: 

 

     • They left a lasting impact on France and on the countries where they took refuge.

   • A French Protestant population organized the sole massive, collective rescue of Jews during World War 2.
     • Lack of a buffer between Man and God left a tradition of rigor and responsability, traits that give today's French Protestants a civic influence that is far greater than their modest numbers might suggest.

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When the Sun King sent dragoons to force conversions (in 1684) many Protestants fled the kingdom in an exodus that accounts for most French names outside the country (including "New Rochelle" in Connecticut, which is named after La Rochelle, a Protestant stronghold).

 

Memory of persecution has lasted. It is the reason for which many French Protestants tend to side with the weak and is the backdrop for the most important Rescue of World War 2.

 

They are France's sole indigenous minority.

 

 

  • People who lived outside the ramparts - walk 

 

Saint-Germain-des-Prés, site of "Little Geneva" and now an area celebrated for its bookstores and art galleries, is where our tour begins. We discover a surprising segment of the 13th-century ramparts and explain how the town walls and Protestants connect - and how that connection is at the heart of Saint-Germain's uniqueness.

 

 

      •Hidden, splendid and serene, the Protestant Library nestles there...

       

      The new religion implied questioning and going directly to the Bible for answers, which meant knowing how to read. Those are reasons why in France many intellectuals adopted Protestantism and it is fitting that its main secular landmark in Paris should be a library.
      "Dragonnade" (the term still means soldiers' officially-sponsored persecution of civilians), by Leloir, well-known illustrator, 1931

      Guide: charismatic pastor

      Host: Président of the Protestant Historical Society

       

      • If received by special permission, we view its works of art and documents that are basic to the History of France

       

       

      War chief
      Library

      In this oasis of tranquility, portrait of the Huguenots' first political

      and military leader (the Admiral de Coligny) rests against books.

       

       

       •We tell a warlord's story

       

       

      Coligny, thrown from a window
      His statue - 19th-century political correctness

      • To evoke the Wars of Religion that devastated France, we visit the church whose tolling bells set off three months of kingdom-wide slaughter (in 1572) and present copies of engravings of massacres and civil wars, from a private collection.

       

       
      Urban massacre (from a series of six works)

       

       

      • Triumphant Catholicism - Parisian churches' works of art or Versailles' Royal Chapel


       

       

      The Court views the King, who views God...

      As well, we enter churches on our walks, to discover religious art - and perceive the fervent counter-attack of a menaced Church.
      who blesses him. (chapel ceiling)

      The Sun King's Chapel is the ideal place to explain the official, and the non-official but plausible, reasons for outlawing Protestantism.

         

         

        • The Return - a walk in Europe's most famous cemetery 

         

         

        Our guide (X) ignores Christ the shepherd, which is a Catholic, rarely a Protestant, symbol.

        An erudite and charismatic pastor takes us through the "Père Lachaise" (named after the Sun King's confessor) in a visit that emphasizes Protestant tombs: Please CLICK.

           

           

          • Protestants during World War 2 - Pilgrimage or talk about the sole massive, collective

              rescue of victims of Nazi persecution

           

           

          Hidden in isolated highlands...

          This photo of a Huguenot church in the rescue region - the Vivarais-Lignon Plateau in the highlands of south-central France - comes from the celebrated documentary, "Weapons of the spirit".

           

          Its tragic yet uplifting tale must be set in the Protestant context. Please CLICK... 


           

          • We can organize a trip around France's Protestant history, including...

           

          • Fortresses of the medieval Albigensians (who can be considered predecessors) in southern France.

           

          • The 17th-century sites of Aigues-Mortes (a tower on the Mediterranean, where Protestant women were imprisoned - men were sent to the galleys) and the stronghold of La Rochelle (a superb port on the Atlantic).

           

          • The mountains of south-central France (the museum of 18th-century Protestant resistance in the Cevennes and the World War 2 rescue site mentioned above).

           

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          • France's two historic minorities, Protestants and Jews, have points in common. They can be a subject for discussion.

           

          Our guide is Catherine Aubin. Her maternal family is French Protestant and includes several pastors.

           

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