France Religion

During the tumultuous Hundred Years War between England and France, a young peasant girl nicknamed "The Maid" (La Pucelle) followed her heart and came to the aid of her nation. Facing unimaginable odds, Joan's belief in her mission from God continued to propel her forward. Within months, she was directing soldiers and bravely fighting for her nation.

In 1632, an entire convent in the small French village of Loudun was apparently possessed by the devil. After a sensational and celebrated trial, the convent's charismatic priest Urban Grandier - accused of spiritually and sexually seducing the nuns in his charge - was convicted of being in league with Satan. Then he was burned at the stake for witchcraft. A remarkable true story of religious and sexual obsession, The Devils of Loudun is considered by many to be Brave New World author Aldous Huxley's nonfiction masterpiece.

They say that judgment does not exist in Lourdes. Once one sets foot on this hallowed soil, all barriers of race, social status, background, and religious differences cease to exist. One is no more than a humble soul in search of a renewal of one's connection to God. With promises of inner peace and spiritual awakenings, it comes as no surprise that this once unassuming town has now become the second most popular tourist destination in France, but how exactly did they achieve such a designation?

Over 40,000 Frenchmen were executed for holding fast to the Catholic Faith and objecting to the worst excesses of the Committee of Public Safety. The bloodlust of the time staggers the imagination, and the campaign against the Church was as diabolical as it was cruel. Carroll captures the brutality of the period, but also the action of grace in the heroism of the Church, the saintliness of her martyrs and the dramatic conversion of Danton—an erstwhile leader of the uprising who landed in a death-battle with the forces he helped put in motion.

At the eve of the Second World War, an estimated 1.6 million Jewish children lived in Nazi-occupied Europe. While 10,000 of them escaped to Britain in the Kindertransport, only some 500 found a new home in France. Here they attempted to begin again—but their refuge would all too soon become a trap. For the first time, Laura Hobson Faure brings to life the experiences of these children, and the Jewish and non-Jewish organizations who helped them. Drawing on survivors' testimonies as well as children's diaries, letters, drawings, songs, and poems, Who Will Rescue Us? recreates their journeys.

Anatole France (1844-1924) was a French poet, journalist, and novelist who wrote several best sellers. The Revolt of the Angels is a mischievous take on the theology of modern society; it chronicles the thoughts of Arcade, a lowly guardian angel, as he discovers the ugly truths of his divine master in the library of his human charge As Maurice, the young man abandoned by Arcade, struggles to get his guardian back, one gets a view of a wide variety of the author’s artistic personalities, most of whom are fallen angels.

Something unimaginable occurred from 1764 to 1767 in the remote highlands of south-central France. For three years, a real-life monster, or monsters, ravaged the region, slaughtering by some accounts more than 100 people, mostly women and children, and inflicting severe injuries upon many others.

On January 5, 1895, Captain Alfred Dreyfus's cries of innocence were drowned out by a mob shouting "Death to Judas!" In this book, Maurice Samuels gives listeners new insight into Dreyfus himself—the man at the center of the affair. He tells the story of Dreyfus's early life in Paris, his promising career as a French officer, the false accusation leading to his imprisonment on Devil's Island, the fight to prove his innocence that divided the French nation, and his life of quiet obscurity after World War I.

Laïcité: The History and Future of Secularism in France by Julien Peltier Laïcité — the French principle of secularism — is more than a law. It is a national philosophy, a cultural identity, and a source of both unity and division. From its revolutionary origins in the 18th century to its codification in the 1905 Separation Law, laïcité has shaped French politics, education, and public life for over a century. This book traces the journey of secularism through Catholic resistance, colonial expansion, immigration, the headscarf debates, terrorism, and the search for social cohesion...

The Albigensian Crusade: The History and Legacy of the Catholic Campaign Against the Cathars in France examines the origins of Catharism, the conflicts with Catholicism, and the fighting that led to Cathars being stamped out across France.

The profound emotion felt around the world upon seeing images of Notre-Dame in flames opens up a series of questions: Why was everyone so deeply moved? Why does Notre-Dame so clearly crystallise what our civilisation is about? What makes ‘Our Lady of Paris’ the soul of a nation and a symbol of human achievement? What is it that speaks so directly to us today?

In the wake of the French Revolution, Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of France, and Pope Pius VII shared a common goal: to reconcile the church with the state. But while they were able to work together initially, formalizing an agreement in 1801, relations between them rapidly deteriorated. In 1809, Napoleon ordered the Pope's arrest. Ambrogio Caiani provides a pioneering account of the tempestuous relationship between the emperor and his most unyielding opponent.

Most days you wouldn't trade what you have for the world. You love your husband and your kids, and you are grateful to God for your life. But there are days when you feel as though life is rolling over you in waves, and you are just going through the motions. You find yourself aching for something more, something that is calling to depths of who you are, maybe for something you can't even name.

The superb historian and biographer Antonia Fraser, author of Marie Antoinette, casts new light on the splendor and the scandals of the reign of Louis XIV in this dramatic, illuminating look at the women in his life.

In this audiobook, read by Paul Spera, each historical event is replaced into context and presented in clear and easy-to-read snippets, so that younger and older readers can deepen their understanding of how modern France came to be and broaden their culture.

In 1770, the priest Nicolas Vernier was accused of neglecting church services, inappropriate behaviour in the confessional, financial improprieties, and affairs with the village schoolmistresses. In a contentious church court case, parishioners described all of their priest's wrongdoings, and in turn, he detailed many of theirs. Ultimately, Vernier finished his career as a cathedral canon in another diocese.

Aunque es una admirable obra de arte creada por la acción de las aguas del otrora turquesa río Gave de Pau, la modesta gruta a sus orillas, escondida en el desfiladero al norte de la Massabielle (“Vieja Misa”) en la pintoresca ciudad de Lourdes difícilmente sea la más majestuosa en la colección de la Madre Naturaleza. De hecho, la estrecha cueva era tan poco excepcional que permaneció, en buena parte, sin ser perturbada hasta mediados del siglo XVII, a excepción de alguno que otro pescador o arriero que se refugiara allí durante una tempestad inesperada.

"La République est une et indivisible." Pourtant, en 1793, à Paris, sous la Terreur, elle n'a jamais été aussi divisée. Dans la tourmente, tout se réinvente, religion, enseignement, émancipation des femmes, fin de l'esclavage, démocratie, économie et industrie. Au cœur du pouvoir, "L'indivisible" nous entraîne dans un Paris dangereux et romantique, sur les traces d'Antoine Longhi, jeune diplomate ambitieux travaillant pour le Comité de salut public, et Diane d'Ükalen, duchesse suédoise traquée par le gouvernement révolutionnaire.

Joan of Arc: The Story of the Defender and Patron Saint of France is more than just a history book—it's a journey of discovery. It is a bridge that connects us to the past, allowing us to walk through history, understanding the socio-political dynamics of Joan's time, and how they reverberate even today. It's a mirror that reflects our present, making us ponder upon the role of women, faith, and nationalism in society.

You may have heard of Lourdes, a town in France where millions of people go every year, either as a tourist to take pictures or see what the hype is all about, or real believers who think that the town has a sanctity to it and can somehow cure them, help them, or inspire them through divine means. Whatever the reason for the many visitors is, it is undeniably an interesting historical heritage, something worth exploring. To be precise, Lourdes is a small market town nestled in the Pyrenees' foothills.