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Catholic Reformation in France
Following the end of the Wars of Religion, the Catholic Church in France was in a state
of disarray. In addition to having to tolerate the Huguenot faith, Catholics also found that their
church buildings were destroyed, the clergy was absent, revenues were uncollected, and church
property had been seized for use other than religious purposes. Despite the lack of order, efforts
to reform the French Catholic Church could now proceed with the return of peace to the country.
In contrast with other Catholic states, the primary vehicle for reform of the Church in
France was not through the decrees of the Council of Trent but rather through the efforts of
reformed religious orders and the dévots, a group of clerics and laypeople seeking to bring about
religious renewal. As this study shows, both the dévots and the reformed religious orders would
contribute greatly to Maria de’ Medici and Louis XIII’s decisions to act as patrons of churches.
After a brief review of the Catholic Reformation and current trends in scholarship for the
movement in France, this section will consider the Gallic response to the movement during the
Wars of Religion and again during the reign of Henri IV. I will then examine the manner in
which reform was brought to France, specifically through the dévots and the reformed religious
orders. Br presenting the main characteristics of each group, I will set the stage for considering
how they influenced the two seventeenth-century monarchs.
The Catholic Reformation was the Church’s response to the transforming religious world
of the sixteenth century. These changes most frequently refer to the Protestant Reformation,
which challenged the most closely held doctrines of Catholicism, but they also include the search
by laypeople for spirituality and order. 47 One of the most important achievements for the
Catholic Church during the sixteenth century was the Council of Trent, an assembly of high-
ranking clergy that met in three distinct periods from 1545 to 1563 to define policies of faith and
to address issues of reform. 48 To clarify Catholic doctrines of faith challenged by Protestant
beliefs, the council took up a range of topics including guidelines for scripture, justification,
original sin, and the seven sacraments. It also sought to bring about increased order and
spirituality in the Church by tackling matters of reform, such as the elimination of abuses and the
importance of the bishop and the parish priest in the ministry of the Church. As Robert Birely
notes an important consequence of the council was the increasing power and prestige of the
papacy. 49 In addition to the pope controlling the interpretation of the council, as bishop of the
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