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The Second Republic (1849-1852)

Protestants reacted in various ways to the Revolution of February 1848. Aware of the dire poverty of the people, many welcomed it. Others remained wary of the danger of socialist ideas.
Baron Georges Haussmann (1809-1891)

The Second Empire

The Protestant attitude towards Louis-Napoléon and the Second Empire was ambiguous. Generally speaking, the regime seemed too authoritarian and clerical, at least in its early years. Nevertheless it relaxed the...
Eugène Réveillaud (1851-1935)

The Third Republic (1871-1940)

Most Protestants were favourable to the Third Republic and strongly influenced its beginnings. Several intellectuals were attracted by Protestantism and for some, the “protestantisation” of France was, they felt, the...
Jean-Frédéric Oberlin (1740-1826)

Protestants and Public Education

During the XIXth century, the July Monarchy and the Third Republic were the two significant periods of intense Protestant participation in the development of the public education system that had initially...
Dreyfus est dégradé dans la cour de l'École Militaire

The Protestants and the Dreyfus Case

Many Protestants took sides in favour of Captain Dreyfus. Some will even take an active part in the movement that will allow the re-examination of the process, such as Scheurer-Kestner,...
Le Péril protestant d'Ernest Renauld

Anti-Protestantism

The end of the XIXth century was marked by an anti-Protestantism accentuated by the Dreyfus case and opposing Catholics and Protestants, while the right wing anti-republicans denounced a « Judaeo-Protestant alliance ».
Croix huguenote

The Huguenot cross

A sign of recognition among the Reformed, the Huguenot cross appeared only one century after the Reformation was established in France.
Pierres tombales alignées

Les tombes protestantes

La Réforme a introduit l’idée que le lieu d’ensevelissement est indifférent. Elle répudie tout culte rendu aux morts. Aucune cérémonie funèbre n’est prévue, le pasteur n’assiste pas à l’ensevelissement. Les...
Asile John Bost à La Force (Dordogne) au XIX<sup>e</sup>

Service organisations

As they came to be recognized once more as having their place in society, the Protestants strove to actively consolidate such recognition with concrete commitments.
Société Biblique Protestante (couverture du Rapport annuel

Bible Societies

The Reformation required that every believer should be capable of reading the Bible. One of the main concerns of the leaders of re-established the Protestant Church was to make this...
Presbytère de Mooréa

Missionary Societies

Missionary work started by the French Protestants in the nineteenth century was divided into two categories : the one targeting non-Christian people and thus more or less related to French colonial...
Paris, Faculté de Théologie protestante

Service organisations for the aid of pastors

Once the official recognition of the Protestant Church acquired, practical means had to be provided for. No wonder the issue of pastors’ living conditions arose soon after.
John Bost (1817-1881) (2)

Charity organisations

Many Protestant service organisations were created in the nineteenth century, and this for a variety of reasons. First and foremost, a very active compassion of all who were rejected by...
Pasteur Eugène Bersier (1831-1889)

Service organisations in favour of the younger generations

At the beginning of the Third Republic, Protestant youth work expanded rapidly. It was meant to give underprivileged young men and women, constantly at the mercy of the numerous transformations...
Intérieur de la Salle Bonne-Nouvelle, Paris

Social aid services

After the 1848, Revolution and above all after the Commune, the Protestant community which included rich industrialists and bankers, turned their attention to the working class and the younger generations....
Pasteur Antoine Vermeil

The concern for youth

After1848, student life became more specifically organized. Associations were created to protect the young.
Paris, salle de lecture de la bibliothèque de la SHPF

Societies for the promotion of education

As it received full recognition, the Protestant community had to provide itself with the tools that would make it part of history and guarantee its future.
Henri Pyt (1796-1835)

Protestant evangelization

For French Protestants, the nineteenth century represented the period of “reintegration” or “rebirth”. After more than a century-long ban, everything or nearly everything had to be rebuilt. The Concordat rule...
Montauban, l'ancienne faculté de théologie (2)

The Montauban Faculty of Theology in the 19th century

The faculty was founded in 1808-1810 and trained the majority of the Reformed Church pastors. After a somewhat tentative beginning, studies were reorganized by a decree initiated by Baron Cuvier...
Bâtiment principal de le l'Institut Protestant de Théologie

The Faculty of Protestant theology in Paris

Protestant theology had never been taught in Paris, not even at the time of the Edict of Nantes. The transfer of the Strasburg universities to Paris, in the years that...