The decline of religious holidays in old regime France (1642-1789)

Under the ancien régime individual bishops decided which official religious holidays, or fêtes chômées, were observed in their dioceses. In the early seventeenth century there were on average 33 weekdays per year devoted to these holidays, but their number and choice varied widely across the country. From the mid-seventeenth century onwards French bishops began to eliminate many of these holidays, which were associated with drinking and idleness rather than with pious behaviour. These reforms initially encountered opposition from powerful interests in society, which limited their impact, but subsequently, and particularly after the mid-eighteenth century, the bishops' efforts were much more successful. By the end of the Old Regime the number of weekdays devoted to fêtes chômées had declined to fewer than 20 in most of France. The process of reform also standardized religious practice as the same days were observed throughout the kingdom. Despite the royal government's lack of interest in the matter, a more uniform set of liturgical holidays replaced the regional diversity that had previously existed. The reformed ecclesiastical calendars were more closely geared to the seasonal pattern of agricultural labour and also reflected the Christocentrism of Tridentine Catholicism.