From Annecy to Paris
Probably Father Clet saw himself spending the rest of his life in the eastern part of France: a change to another seminary perhaps, or to another work of the his community, hut otherwise his life was set. He had never travelled outside his home provinces. For him Paris was a world apart In 1788. however, the superior general of the Vincentians died in Paris. A successor to St Vincent de Paul had to be elected and the machinery for doing so was implemented. Each house sent its representatives to a provincial assembly. which in turn sent its delegates to Paris. Father Clet. not surprisingly, found himself a delegate to the provincial assembly at Lyons and, rather more surprisingly, a delegate to the general assembly in Paris. He was forty years old, the youngest delegate to the assembly and notable in that he did not hold the office of superior.
The details of that assembly need not delay us. Clet, as youngest, would have acted as one of the tellers when votes were taken. His seriousness, his reputation for learning, his piety. his observance of rule, his orthodoxy of clothing. the repute he obviously had among the members of the Lyons Province. brought him to the attention of the new superior general. Father Cayla de la Garde. The director of the central seminary at the mother house of Saint Lazare had been elected to the office of assistant to the superior general. An immediate successor was called for. Who better than this man from Annecy. so obviously well qualified and whose appointment would not involve finding someone else to fill a superiorship''
The world of the seminary had been the background of Father Clefs life for the previous twenty years. Uniformity of practice had always been the aim in Vincentian seminaries so that the practices of the Lyon seminary or that of Annecy would have been no different to that of Saint Lazare, apart from the variation in scale. Saint Lazare was a large and magnificent establishment, based on a monastery acquired by Vincent de Paul in the previous century as the home of his new congregation, but considerably rebuilt and on a grand scale by his successors. Within it the seminary or noviciate functioned, theology students had their quarters. together with the superior general's administration, the infirmary for sickmembers of the community, missioners resting between missions. In an amalgamation of activities unusual today there was also a small prison. and an asylum for the mentally ill. Several hundred people in all. It was a traditional centre for clergy retreats. There was a library of which the community were rightly proud.
The Sack of Saint Lazare
What Father Clet, as he settled into his new work, did not realise was that the foundations of this grand establishment were shaky. Living within it. proud of the tradition that these buildings stood for, he was blinkered to the shift of attitude in the population outside the walls. A century before. Saint Lazare stood outside Paris. Now the population had spread and in the area outside the walls were housed large numbers of poor people badly housed, their situation contrasting with the orderly and grand life of Saint Lazare, well administered and stocked both from the home farm and from properties elsewhere. There was a financial'crisis in the country from which largely people like him were cushioned. Food was scarce and expensive. The tax gatherers had cordoned off the outskirts of Paris to protect their taxes on incoming grain. To enforce this soldiers were stationed in barracks on the properly of Saint Lazare. Such a place was seen as "Establishment" by the poor. The fact that the house provided many meals daily for the poor simply meant that there were large stocks of grain within the walls. Not for nothing were the priests referred !o as the Gentlemen of Saint Lazare.
The decision of the king. faced with national bankruptcy. to summon the Estates General of the Kingdom. the first in nearly two hundred years. had let loose a wave of complaints throughout the country. In the seminary in Annecy. which was outside France. Father Clet might not have felt the mounting excitement. Still, news of disturbances must have come to him from his home in Grenoble. His sister. Marie Therese. still lived in the family home. That summer of 1788 there had been riots in Grenoble and the government had been forced to concede new privileges to its provincial assembly. But no such awareness could have prepared Father Clet and the inhabitants of Saint Lazare for what was to happen in July 1789.
The Estates General met in Versailles on 5th May. For a year before regional meetings had gathered lists of petition and complaint, giving risethroughout the country to a range of expectations which in the ordinary course of things could not be met. Now the representatives of nobility and the clergy threw in their lot with the elected representatives of the people, the so-called Third Estate, to form a national assembly. The presence of a respected first minister in the person of Jacques Necker gave some hope that financial recovery was possible. Then the king, poorly advised, dismissed him. It was 11 Ith July. Rumour had it that the king also planned to call in the army and dismiss the Assembly. The first stage of the popular reaction was an attack on Saint Lazare, an expression of a hungry mob with a hatred for the tax walls that surrounded Paris. Perhaps there were political organisers in the background. In an orgy of destruction they ransacked the buildings. Father Clet and his students had to make their escape, losing everything.
The decision of the king. faced with national bankruptcy. to summon the Estates General of the Kingdom. the first in nearly two hundred years. had let loose a wave of complaints throughout the country. In the seminary in Annecy. which was outside France. Father Clet might not have felt the mounting excitement. Still, news of disturbances must have come to him from his home in Grenoble. His sister. Marie Therese. still lived in the family home. That summer of 1788 there had been riots in Grenoble and the government had been forced to concede new privileges to its provincial assembly. But no such awareness could have prepared Father Clet and the inhabitants of Saint Lazare for what was to happen in July 1789.
The Estates General met in Versailles on 5th May. For a year before regional meetings had gathered lists of petition and complaint, giving risethroughout the country to a range of expectations which in the ordinary course of things could not be met. Now the representatives of nobility and the clergy threw in their lot with the elected representatives of the people, the so-called Third Estate, to form a national assembly. The presence of a respected first minister in the person of Jacques Necker gave some hope that financial recovery was possible. Then the king, poorly advised, dismissed him. It was 11 Ith July. Rumour had it that the king also planned to call in the army and dismiss the Assembly. The first stage of the popular reaction was an attack on Saint Lazare, an expression of a hungry mob with a hatred for the tax walls that surrounded Paris. Perhaps there were political organisers in the background. In an orgy of destruction they ransacked the buildings. Father Clet and his students had to make their escape, losing everything.
Life under Revolution
Historians smoothly explain the sack of Saint Lazare, containing it within a pattern of events that now moved with an impetus of their own and for which we have the word 'Revolution'. For Father Clet and the community of the house it was a personal and psychological disaster for which they had no preparation. In their world this was unthinkable. The discovery that the home of'Saint Vincent de Paul was not something that was loved and revered by the poor of Paris was a shock. To realise that civic authority had taken little trouble to protect them undermined their sense of security. To see the traditional clerical order undermined in the National Assembly, as it was in subsequent months, left them gasping.
The director of the seminary and his seminarists returned to the devastated buildings to attempt to re-establish their way of life. Like it or not they wore the revolutionary cockade in their hats. The destruction and waste was enormous but the buildings were intact and life could go on. But not with the same confidence as before. Within the next few months they would see all church property in France nationalised and their continued occupancy put in jeopardy. Soon a national church would be decreed and links with the papacy destroyed. Then, early in 1791, there would be a demand of an oath to the constitution from clergy, giving approval to a state of things that Father Clet could never accept. Some of the students who had been directed by him would lodge complaints with the civil authority and discard their soutanes for the uniforms and weapons of the civil guard.
The director of the seminary and his seminarists returned to the devastated buildings to attempt to re-establish their way of life. Like it or not they wore the revolutionary cockade in their hats. The destruction and waste was enormous but the buildings were intact and life could go on. But not with the same confidence as before. Within the next few months they would see all church property in France nationalised and their continued occupancy put in jeopardy. Soon a national church would be decreed and links with the papacy destroyed. Then, early in 1791, there would be a demand of an oath to the constitution from clergy, giving approval to a state of things that Father Clet could never accept. Some of the students who had been directed by him would lodge complaints with the civil authority and discard their soutanes for the uniforms and weapons of the civil guard.
