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on Gallican liberties. 56 If the decrees had become law, legal issues traditionally adjudicated by
French courts would have been controlled by Catholic clerics and the pope’s newly acquired
power over all of Christianity would have infringed on the French king’s autonomous right to
rule both the Church and state.
Despite the fact that the decrees of the Council were not made law in France, Catholic
reform still came to the Gallic kingdom. Elements of reform sanctioned at Trent were being
used by some of the French clergy as early as 1564. The Cardinal of Lorraine and the other
bishops attending the council professed the faith of the Tridentine canons and shared it with
provincial councils wanting to participate in reform. 57 One of the bishops, Nicolas Psaume from
Verdun, even published the decrees for his diocese upon his return from Trent. 58 By 1590 nearly
all of the ecclesiastics had adopted the Roman breviary and the missal of Pius V.
When Henri III’s death in 1589 made a Protestant king a reality in France, an intense
spirituality developed among many of the militant Catholics living in Paris. Known as the
dévots, this group of Parisian clerics and laypeople tried to impose its own moral code and model
of Christianity on others. 59 Emerging from League circles associated with the Wars of Religion,
the members retained many of the conservative religious beliefs, specifically no toleration for the
Protestant faith and a desire to form alliances with other Catholic states. Just as important, the
dévots worked to implement the decrees of the Council of Trent. Thus it was through the efforts
of this spiritually-inclined group that many of the reform efforts of the Catholic Reformation
were transmitted to the capital city.
One of the central figures of the dévots was Madame Barbe Acarie. Married to Pierre
Acarie, a Parisian magistrate and member of the League who was exiled when Henri IV rose to
power, Madame Acarie remained in the city with family and began holding meetings with others
who shared her spiritual interests. 60 Included in her circle were prominent nobles and clerical
leaders, such as Michel de Marillac, her cousin Pierre de Bérulle, and the Capuchin father
Benedict of Canfield. The financial and political support of groups such as the one around
Madame Acarie fostered the establishment of numerous new and reformed religious orders in
Paris. 61 Madame Acarie herself even helped to bring a group of Spanish Discalced Carmelite
nuns to the capital.
Reformed religious orders such as the Discalced Carmelites were the second major
vehicle through which Church reform came to France. Frequently coming from established
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