University of Kentucky UKnowledge Theses and Dissertations--History History 2020 Breaking Habits: Identity and the Dissolution of Convents in France, 1789-1808 Corinne Gressang Right click to open a feedback form in a new tab to let us know how this document benefits ou.y STUDENT AGREEMENT: I represent that my thesis or dissertation and abstract are my original work. Proper attribution has been given to all outside sources. I understand that I am solely responsible for obtaining any needed copyright permissions. I have obtained needed written permission statement(s) from the owner(s) of each third-party copyrighted matter to be included in my work, allowing electronic distribution (if such use is not permitted by the fair use doctrine) which will be submitted to UKnowledge as Additional File. 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Corinne Gressang, Student Dr. Jeremy D. Popkin, Major Professor Dr. David Hamilton, Director of Graduate Studies BREAKING HABITS: IDENTITY AND THE DISSOLUTION OF CONVENTS IN FRANCE 1789-1808 ________________________________________ DISSERTATION ________________________________________ A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Kentucky By Corinne Alyssa Gressang Lexington, Kentucky Director: Dr. Jeremy D. Popkin, Professor of History Lexington, Kentucky 2020 Copyright © Corinne Alyssa Gressang https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0211-6472 ABSTRACT OF DISSERTATION BREAKING HABITS: IDENTITY AND THE DISSOLUTION OF CONVENTS IN FRANCE, 1789-1808 This dissertation uses the concept of identity to investigate the ways religious women navigated the French Revolution. Even as their religious identities were thrown into question, these women’s religious commitments remained important to them. As the French revolutionaries began to reform aspects of the ancien régime, the Catholic Church came under attack. The fate of priests, monks, and nuns came into question. Traditionally, religious women cared for orphans, the sick, and the poor, educated young girls, housed widows, rehabilitated prostitutes, and provided a respectable alternative community for aristocratic women. Despite every effort by the revolutionaries to dissolve their patterns of living, certain nuns adjusted themselves to the changing political climate, and their practice of faith survived the religious legislation that suppressed their convents and congregations. Adapting to new circumstances after the dissolution of their religious houses was complicated for women who could not own property because of the vow of poverty, could not marry because of their vow of celibacy, and could not swear the required oaths to liberty and equality because of the vows of obedience to the Catholic Church. Nearly every nun broke at least one of these vows. The nuns were able to navigate the uncertainty of the Revolution by relying on their religious identity as devotees of an unchanging deity. Anchoring their identity in religion did not preclude changes to their sense of self and their relationship with the secular world, but it allowed them to retain some sense of stability in the face of challenges. As unlikely harbingers of revolutionary changes, female members of monastic institutions took an active role in shaping the practice of Catholicism and crystalizing the changes wrought by the Revolution. By adapting the performance of their identity to survive severe religious persecution, the nuns redefined what it meant to be a woman, a Catholic, and a member of French society. Religious belief helped some Catholics to answer the essential question of self, morality, and community when fundamental bases of identity were in flux. Religious women solidified the revolutionary changes, wittingly or unwittingly, through the daily practice of new responsibilities, by engaging in the world outside the cloister, and by making, breaking, and leveraging different aspects of their identities. Former nuns were expected to become laywomen in a short period of time, and the special status of religious women disappeared. New rights to own property or to live wherever they chose, however, conflicted with the rules of the convent and their permanent vows. Historians must reconsider what liberty, fraternity, and equality meant to members of religious communities. Nuns found freedom in obedience. They found death, at least the symbolic death to the world that accompanied taking religious vows, was a path to eternal life. And they found security in their identities as nuns even at a time when expressing that identity could result in imprisonment. Some women did not embrace the freedom offered by the Revolution and preferred the spiritual freedom offered in the convent. While the revolutionaries espoused a fraternity between all Frenchmen, the women in the convent already had a sisterhood and a spiritual family with which they identified. Mother superiors and individual nuns often advocated for themselves in letters to the National Assembly, both to dissolve and preserve these convents. Furthermore, between 1802 and 1808, the Catholic Church sent a papal legate to adjudicate letters, known as the Caprara letters, written by men and women who hoped to rejoin the church. These letters help explain their actions in the church’s absence. Other primary sources used in this study include diaries, letters, and printed memoirs from nuns during the French Revolution. Perhaps more than any other group in revolutionary France, nuns had to react to changes that affected the aspects of their daily life that defined their identity. They dressed the same, patterned their lives after a highly regimented ritual of prayer and singing, and occupied themselves in a shared mission within their communities. Nuns’ intersectional social, political, religious, and gender identities help us to understand how the Revolution affected individuals. Drawing on concepts from the work of identity theorists, this dissertation makes three arguments. First, nuns’ religious identities were a source of stability in the face of the uncertainty created by the Revolution. Secondly, female religious women had a great deal of agency in choosing which identities to adopt during the Revolution. Lastly, nuns played a role in shaping the return of convents and congregations, and their experiences during the Revolution changed both secular and religious ideas about convents. In the daily practice of new responsibilities, engaging in the world, and taking on new identities, they crystalized the revolutionary changes. My research tells the story of women who lived complicated lives and do not fit into the neat categories we have created for them. In understanding how these women made sense of the Revolution and their place in it, we can better understand how to deal with conflicts between personal religious beliefs and the public performance of various identities. KEYWORDS: Nuns, Identity, Convents, Religion, Catholicism, French Revolution Corinne Alyssa Gressang (Name of Student) 04/30/2020 Date BREAKING HABITS: IDENTITY AND THE DISSOLUTION OF CONVENTS IN FRANCE, 1789-1808 By Corinne Alyssa Gressang Jeremy D. Popkin Director of Dissertation David Hamilton Director of Graduate Studies 04/30/2020 Date DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to A.J., my nephew. Although he is not yet in this world, I already love him with my whole heart. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This project would have been impossible without the contributions of my wonderful committee, my friends, numerous funding opportunities, and the support of my family. As I neared the end of this dissertation, I could not help but be overcome with gratitude. Despite the disruptions caused by Covid-19 in the Spring of 2020, I was thankful to have a flexible committee, a paycheck, and a fascinating project to occupy my attention. First, I want to thank the Massena Society, the Koch Foundation, the American Historical Association, and the American Catholic Historical Association who provided funding for research and travel. The University of Kentucky awarded me various funding opportunities including the Albisetti Summer Research Fellowship, the University of Kentucky Spring Dissertation Fellowship, the Bryan Fellowship, the Gilbert-Crowe Fund for Graduate Student Development, the George Herring Graduate Fellowship, the Dissertation Enhancement Award, and the First-Year Fellowship. Through the generosity of these organizations, I spent two summers in France and traveled to numerous conferences which allowed me to get valuable feedback