Civil Constitution of the Clergy
The law of 12 July 1790 by which the French National Assembly redrew dioceses to match the departments, made bishops and parish priests elective, put the clergy on state salaries and forbade new bishops to seek confirmation from the pope.
Read the text at archive.org ↗The same translation, selected articles (Hanover Historical Texts) ↗
The law has four titles: on church offices, on appointment to them, on salaries, and on the residence of the clergy. It treats the church as a public service of the nation and regulates it without reference to Rome, while declaring that unity of faith and communion with the pope as visible head of the universal Church are maintained. The oath that made it a test of loyalty was imposed by a separate decree of 27 November 1790.
It is a statute, and is cited in the French Revolution and the Church for its provisions. The pope’s judgment on it is in Charitas.
Cited in
- 1790 to 1801, firm date