UNIT XII – THE ENLIGHTENMENT & AGE OF REVOLUTIONS:
The Roots of Modernity (17th-18th Centuries)
TERMS TO KNOW
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ENLIGHTENMENT – 17th & 18th Century intellectual movement which focused on human reason to
understand the world, make life better for all, and solve all our problems
GALLICANISM – heretical belief that the king of France had complete control over the Catholic
Church in France
DEISM – Enlightenment philosophy which replaces Divine revelation and supernatural religion with
human reason
FREEMASONS – a fraternal organization based on Enlightenment principles which historically
worked to destroy the Catholic Church
FRENCH REVOLUTION – violent political movement from 1789-1799 which sought to overthrow
the monarchy and the Catholic Church in France
LIBERALISM – political system established on the “general will” of the people
IMPORTANT PERSONS
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THOMAS HOBBES – philosopher who held that man is a selfish beast which could only be restrained
by absolute political authority
BISHOP CORNELIUS JANSEN – 17th Century French bishop who held the Protestant idea of
predestination and encouraged a rigid, heretical practice of the Catholic Faith
ST. MARGARET MARY ALACOQUE – Visitation nun (d. 1690) to whom our Lord revealed His
Sacred Heart
RENE DESCARTES – philosopher and mathematician who dismissed all knowledge not gained by
scientific data, thus dividing faith and reason
JEAN- JACQUES ROUSSEAU – philosopher who laid the groundwork for many revolutions in the
18th, 19th, and 20th Centuries
NAPOLEON BONAPARTE – French ruler who sought to control all of Europe as well as the Catholic
Church
IMPORTANT DATES
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1773 – Jesuit Order is suppressed
1789-1799 – French Revolution (Reign of Terror – 1793-1794)
I. AGE OF THE ENLIGHTENMENT
17th & 18th Century _____________________ movement
Focus on ____________ to understand the world, make life better for all, and solve all our problems
Sound familiar? _____________________________________________________________
Flowed out of the _______________________ and _____________________
Rulers, scientists, and philosophers began to challenge:
_________________ authority, traditional _______________, and the authority of __________
Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679)
Wrote The Leviathan: man is a __________________
Left to himself, he would live a life as “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short”
Why would he say this? _______________________________________________________
Only ______________________ authority could solve this problem.
These ideas became very influential among leaders in Europe, especially in ________________
A. Trouble in the Church in France
Louis XIV of France (1638-1715)
Embodied _________________ authority; all _______________________ flowed from him
Where did he get this idea from? ______________________________
Dismissed all the powerful nobles, and turned affairs of government over to lesser nobles
He practiced his Catholic faith, but saw himself as ______________ of the ____________ in France
Who else recently had done this??? ______________________________________
But he did not totally reject the Catholic Church because he _____________________________
Gallicanism
Goes back to the time of _____________________________________ (d.1314)
Who did he oppose? ________________________________________________
He sought ________________ of the French (Gallican) Church from _________________
King Louis XIV docile to _______________________ in _______________________ but…
He had an ____________________________________________________ draft a declaration
Asserts the authority of the _____________________
Louis ordered that these “Four Gallican Articles” be taught in all _________________
Pope Alexander VIII condemned these principles
The 4 Gallican Articles
1. St. Peter and the popes, his successors, and the Church itself have dominion from God only
over things spiritual and not over things temporal and civil. Therefore kings and sovereigns
are not beholden to the church in deciding temporal things. They cannot be deposed by the
church and their subjects cannot be absolved by the church from their oaths of allegiance.
2. The authority in things spiritual belongs to the Holy See and the successors of St. Peter, and does
not affect the decrees of the Council of Constance contained in the fourth and fifth sessions of
that council, which is observed by the Gallican Church. The Gallicans do not approve of
casting slurs on those decrees.
3. The exercise of this Apostolic authority (puissance) must be regulated in accordance with canons
(rules) established by the Holy Spirit through the centuries of Church history.
4. Although the pope has the chief part in questions of faith, and his decrees apply to all the
Churches, and to each Church in particular, yet his judgment is not irreformable, at least
pending the consent of the Church.
Jansenism
Cornelius Jansen (1585-1638) – French ______________
Developed a new “understanding” of ____________________________
God only granted salvific grace to _____________ of people; the rest predestined to __________
Sound familiar??? _______________________________________________
A very _______________ theology grew out of these teachings (surprised?)
Eventually he denied the _______________________________________________
Only the “just” (those who had practiced _________________), could receive Communion
Is this a problem? ________________________________________________________
God’s Response: St. Margaret Mary and the Sacred Heart
St. Margaret Mary (1647-1690) – ______________ Nun; Paray-le-Monial, ____________
Jesus ____________________________________ during prayer
“Behold ______________ that hath so much loved ____________ men!”
Perhaps a coincidence…BUT I DOUBT IT!
To ___________ people’s ________________ of God’s desire to save all men
B. A Radical Shift in Ideas
Scientific discoveries lead some to believe ____________________ could help
correct all the problems of ______________, including poverty, disease and war.
Brought a new __________________________
______________ took precedence over _________________ (Is there a conflict between them? ___)
Made possible by the Renaissance and Reformation
The _________________ challenged traditional religious authority and gave priority to the
individual’s subjective interpretation (ex. interpretation of ___________________)
Humanism (from ___________________) had focused man on his ________________________
Rene Descartes (1596-1650)
A _______________________, strong in his faith
One problem: Theology NOT related to _____________________
Brilliant mathematician and (______________________) philosopher – too influenced by humanism
Wanted to develop a system of _______________; starts by focusing on ______________________
How do I know? How do I know what I know?
How do I know that I exist? (most basic question)
Human knowledge, he claims, is the only thing that _____________________________________
Senses not _________________________; what if there’s an evil genius _________________?
THEREFORE: “I think therefore, I am” (NOT: Duh, of course I exist!)
Denied man’s ability to know reality ___________________________________
Relying too much on _________________________;
St. Thomas would have turned to ______________ for truth, trusting ________________
By dismissing anything not based on __________________, Descartes put a huge wedge between
________________________ (Modern philosophy has never recovered from this)
Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)
Galileo’s discoveries came as ____________ was growing more wary of __________________
During the Protestant Reformation, the Church was attacked for advocating _________________
and Scholastic education to the neglect of ___________________________
The Church was now trying to emphasize Scripture to explain ___________________
Some of Galileo’s observations _________________ prevalent interpretations of Scripture
Attempting to demonstrate faithful adherence to ___________, ecclesiastical authorities condemned
the ________________________
The Church asked him to present his ideas as _______________ rather than a _____________
Galileo _________________, and he was ____________________
Deism
Enlightenment philosophies rejected _____________________ and supernatural ______________
Proved to be the Church’s ____________________________________________
All knowledge ought to be based on demonstration by the light of _____________________
In keeping with this position, philosophers came up with a notion of God called ________________
5 Principles of Deism
1. God exists
2. It is necessary that we honor God
3. We have the duty of living virtuous and pious lives
4. We should avoid sin and have the will to improve ourselves
5. All religions believe in a reward and punishment here and
hereafter
God is like a watchmaker: _________________________________________
Total rejection of God’s ____________________________
Therefore, God could not demand ___________ nor require ______________
Only _____________ is necessary to guide an individual through life
Not the ______________________ or Providence
Freemasons
By 1717, many __________ formed a secret fraternal organization known as the ________________
God seen as the ________________ of the universe
Masons base practices, rules & organization on __________________ philosophy and reason
Especially in the past, they have secretly worked to destroy ____________________ and undermine
her influence
Ex. Masons ______________ their dead as a way of denigrating the Christian concept of the
______________________________, daring God to put back together what they have destroyed
They have been condemned by at least __________________________
(Also condemned by Bishop Bruskewitz)
Francois-Marie Voltaire (1694-1778)
A genius for expressing _______________ sentiments in his writings to spread Enlightenment ideas
Hated the ___________________
Attacked Catholic dogma, the priesthood, Sacred Scripture, and even Christ himself
Belief in God and deciding between ______________________ arose from ____________________
So long as a government was “enlightened”, it could have absolute power
Enlightened ________________________
In the end, he’s said to have ___________________, and requested a _________________________
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)
He believed ____________ created rules to take away individual ______________
Man is naturally __________, but _____________ forces him to violence and falsehood
Solution: ______________ and ______________
Individuals should not be subject to anyone; is this a problem? __________________________
For the sake of protection, free individuals living in a society could create a “_________________”
Establish an authority to rule and legislate
Interpretations of his writings lead to ______________ movements and totalitarian regimes of 18th,
19th and 20th centuries
Laid the ___________________________ groundwork for the French Revolution, the Bolshevik
Revolution and the emergence of fascism
These always bring a ___________________________________________________
C. Suppression of the Jesuits
The only ORDER equipped to address the ________________ of the _______________________
Because of their influence, intellectual ability, and loyalty to the Pope, they were hated by
__________________________________ Enlightenment principles
In ____________________, Freemasons, intellectuals, Jansenists, etc. are all against the Jesuits
Jesuits banished from Portugal, France, Spain and Naples
Jesuits accused of a number of political & economic failures by various ___________________
___________________ defends the Jesuits while many kings were suppressing them
When Clement XIV begins his papacy, threatened w/_________________ by Church in France,
Spain, and Portugal
Why do you think he wanted to avoid schism? _____________________________________
1773 – Pope Clement XIV, pressured by several kings, ___________________ the Jesuit Order
Poor pope! What could he do in the circumstances in which he was placed, with all the
Sovereigns conspiring to demand this Suppression? As for ourselves, we must keep silence,
respect the secret judgment of God, and hold ourselves in peace. – St. Alphonsus di Ligouri
They would be restored by Pope Pius VII in 1814
II. THE AGE OF REVOLUTION AND NATIONALISM
The French Revolution (1789-1799): Liberty, equality, fraternity
Destroyed the ____________ in France
Church property was confiscated, and many priests and religious were _____________
Ex. many ________________ – Carmelite martyrs of Compeigne (canonized), river at Lyon
Cathedral of ______________ (Notre Dame) became a temple to the Goddess of ______________
Christian calendar was replaced by a ___________________
A state-sponsored Deistic religion was set up
All talk, practice, and promotion of _________________ was strictly and brutally repressed
The Reign of _____________
One regime after another tried to take control, each one worse than the previous
___________ was partially correct: man can be a savage beast
Liberty, equality, and fraternity only for __________________________…none for those on the outside
Robespierre had a “Committee of Public Safety” responsible for ______________________
Rousseau, are we really naturally good?
Is the Catholic Church really that bad?
Robespierre, with his cruel moral relativism, embodied
the cardinal sin of all revolution, the hearlessness of ideas
Paul Johnson, “The Spectator”
Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821)
Initially friendly toward the _____________
Eventually turned against the Church and began to ________________________________
_______________ priestly celibacy, suppressed religious orders, and invaded the Papal States
and imprisoned the Pope for _______ years
After a failed campaign in Russia, the other powers of Europe invaded France and forced Napoleon
to __________________________
"If there had been no Rousseau, there would have been no Revolution,
and without the Revolution, I should have been impossible." – Napoleon
Liberalism
From the Latin word for freedom “liberalis”
Glorified absolute individual ______________ and supported the overthrow of any ____________
or institution that limited that _____________
Freedom of religion, conscience, speech and press was seen as incompatible with Catholic
teaching since the Church was associated with __________________
The Church was seen as hindrance to ________________________________________________
Many liberals of the 19th century sought to destroy ___________________________________
Sound familiar???
Liberalism bases society and its rules on the “_________________________” of the people
Many of its principles regarding human rights do reflect _______________________
Among the first proponents were ______________________ who believed that monarchies were
out-of-date and unjust
Man, when perfected, is the best of animals, but, when separated
from law and justice, he is the worst of all. – Aristotle
After __________________ defeat, the powers of Europe met to divide power
Austria, Prussia and Russia were all wary of _________________ and attempted to suppress liberal
governments
The Church in Prussia
After 1815, Prussia sought to impose _______________ over the other German states
Introduced policies designed to undermine _________________________ in Germany
In 1825 a new law was passed requiring ________________ to be raised in the father’s religion
Prussian executives (___________________) were then sent into Catholic German states with the
purpose of marrying young Catholic girls
They hoped to establish a Protestant _______________ in these __________________________
Pope Pius VII responded to this by ____________________________ who married outside the Faith
to instruct their children in the _______________ Faith
The Church in the United States
Immigrants from Ireland and _________________ began to flood the United States in 1820
By __________ immigrants from Germany, Italy and Eastern Europe made Catholicism one of the
____________ Christian denominations in the country
This influx frightened the __________________ public and led to a fierce anti-Catholic backlash
Books and pamphlets were distributed that attacked the ___________ of priests and nuns
Churches were _________________ and some Catholics were __________________
Political parties such as the _________________ Party became popular on nativist, anti-Catholic
and anti-immigrant platforms
To protect each other, Catholics developed a support network based on ___________________
Established ____________________, orphanages, _______________, and nursing homes as a way
of preserving their ____________________________