French Chrurch History

Contrary to common belief French people are not irreligious. While a secular shroud seems to cover the Parisian realm, 63% still identify themselves as Christians. In fact, there is a mini-revival of Catholicism happening in the Frankish land. France has a long and complex history of Christianity. 

 “France received its Christianity directly from Jerusalem in the first century BC. After Christ’s death, Christians were persecuted in Jerusalem and in all cities of Palestine. Joseph of Arimathea, Lazarus (resurrected by Jesus), Mary Magdalene, and several other followers of Jesus were all exiled from Israel, and set afloat by their persecutors in an oar-less boat without sail. The boat miraculously reached an area near Marseilles (called today “Les Saintes Maries de la Mer” or “The Holy Mary(s) from the Sea), where Philip had already settled down and begun to preach the Word.Joseph of Arimathea was the Virgin Mary’s uncle. He was a tin trader who was well known in Marseille, as his ship would stop there on its way to the tin mines in England. Joseph (with some other disciples) then continued northwards through Gaul, passing through Limoges and Roscoff and across the English Channel before finally reaching Cornwall, where he established the first Christian Church in England (see Christian History of Britain).

Philip (one of Jesus’ twelve disciples) had been given the responsibility of spreading Christianity in Gaul (France), and had commissioned Joseph of Arimathea to help him. Joseph and his group had been in Avalon (modern day Glastonbury, in Cornwall, England) for about four years. During that time, Philip’s disciples won people for Christ and started schools and churches. Philip had sent about 160 Christians from Gaul to be trained by Joseph. In return, Joseph sent many of the workers back to Gaul, including most of the original group that had come with him.

The first one he sent was Lazarus, who was sent to Massialia (Marseilles); Maximin who was “the rich young ruler” and one of the seventy sent out by Jesus, went to Aix. Mary Magdalene, Mary Salome (mother of James and John) and Mary, wife of Cleopas, went to Camargue; Eutropius went to Saintes (in Aquitaine) and later to Orange, Arles and Tarascon. Saturninus went to Toulouse; Martial went to Limoges and Parmenas (one of the deacons mentioned in ACTS 6:5) went to Avignon. Restitutus (the blind man healed by Jesus in JOHN chapter 9) also went to Aix; Zaccheus (who accompanied Joseph of Arimathea) settled in Rocamadour and Sergius Paulus, a deputy of Paphos (the ““prudent man”” in ACTS 13:7-12) went to Narbonne. Many others who were sent as missionaries to Gaul/France could be mentioned. It should be noted too that Pilate was banished from Jerusalem to Vienne (South Lyon) in AD 38 and Herod Antipas was banished to Lyon in AD 39.3

In the following centuries, the French Christians suffered greatly from the Roman Catholic persecutions, and the faithful became increasingly isolated. The Roman Catholic religion, a blend of Christianity and heathen festivals and practices, became stronger and stronger over the following centuries throughout the Roman Empire, including Gaul. The true Gospel was lost in most parts of France and Europe, wars raged, and barbaric invasions muddied things further with their heathen religions, superstitions and ignorance. All the Kings, including the most famous ones such as Clovis and Charlemagne, supported the Roman Catholic church fully, which took the true basis of the Gospel and the work of the disciples, and twisted them into a cruel parody of what the Bible commands the church to be like. In order to maintain supremacy throughout Europe, the Roman Catholic church would persecute, imprison, torture and kill all those opposed to their doctrine. Their victims throughout the centuries numbered into the millions. Yet even in this dark time there were still witnesses in France for the Truth.” (CAL.org) 

From the Dark period, France became predominately Catholic and so became involved in the Crusades. The Second Crusade (1147-49 A.D.), in particular marked King Louis VII of France and his spirited wife Eleanor of Aquitaine taking up the cross and going to palestine to purge the Saracens. The Second Crusade was a colossal failure and yet King Philip II of France would join King Richard the Lionheart on the more successful Third Crusade (1189-1192 A.D.). From then on Franks, Franco-Germans, would participate in the holy wars, even claiming two for their own known as the fifth and sixth crusades of St. Louis IX, a devout Catholic King who would build Notre Dame Cathedral to house the relic of The Crown of Thorns that our Lord Jesus Christ wore at His Crucifixion.

The Waldensian Reformers were Franco-Christians who placed their faith in Christ instead of the Roman Catholic Church: “Many people place the Waldenses as having started in the 12th century, but they date their lineage as being much earlier. Their teaching can be traced back to the 4th century. Although many churches along the centuries had already been brought under the power of the Papacy, Bible doctrine was still preached in many of the churches of Lombardy and Piedmont. Images were removed from churches, justification by faith was preached, and purgatory and the use of relics and pilgrimages to attain merit were rejected.

In 1059 the churches in Northern Italy submitted to the pope, and though the plains were conquered, the mountains remained free. Those who did not want to submit fled into the Cottian Alps of North-West Italy. The Bible-believing churches held a strong evangelical testimony and were fiercely persecuted. Some of the Christians crossed the Rhine and preached the Gospel as far as Cologne, where they were branded as Manicheans, and many were burned at the stake.

In 1173, Peter Waldo, a wealthy merchant from Lyon, France, was converted. Some say that he received his surname through his association with the Waldenses, who most certainly had an evangelical testimony before the time of Waldo. While a majority of historians name Peter Waldo as the originator of the Waldenses, the Waldensian ‘Noble Lesson’ dates from at least the year 1100, long before Waldo was born. Waldo was excommunicated in 1183, after being denied the right to preach. His followers were dispersed, and a number of them fled to the Waldensian Valleys. The great Dominican persecution of the Albigenses began in the 13th century. Many of these Christians also fled to Waldensian safety.

The importance of the Waldenses as a cause of the Reformation is often overlooked. They were evangelistic as well as being evangelical. They travelled throughout southern and central Europe, often disguised as peddlers, until they brought forth from their hearts treasures greater than the gems and silks they sold. They penetrated into Spain, and went as far east as Germany, Bohemia and Poland. Their footsteps can be traced not only by the evangelical churches that were founded, but by the stakes upon which many were martyred. The seed of the Gospel was often watered by the blood of those who had sowed it.” (CAL.org)

France would have a national hero during The Hundred Year’s War kown as Jeanne D’Arc (Joan of Arc), who would  rally the forces of Dauphine, and take back the territories of the Rhineland from Orleans and beyond. This sixteen year old French peasent girl would be martyred, sentenced to the flames by and her legacy is that France exists today instead of Indo-England or Franco Britannia. Joan is said to have confessed reformed beliefs, “She was no friend of the church militant on earth (which perceived itself as in spiritual combat with the forces of evil), and she threatened its hierarchy through her claim that she communicated directly with God by means of visions or voices. thereby identifying herself with the novel and suspect cult of the Name of Jesus; professed to be assured of Salvation. Perhaps the most serious charge was of preferring what she believed to be the direct commands of God to those of the church.” (Joan of Arc, Encylipedia Britannica)

France was torn asunder by a civil war between Catholics and Huguenots. Huguenots were Protestants and they operates in the 1 Corinthian 12:4-11 spiritual gifts of “tongues, healing, words of knowledge, and discerning if spirits.” The Roman Catholics would massacre Huguenots in a famously brutal trap called The St. Bartholomew Day Massacre: “The second was by a marriage between the Prince of Navarre (who was Huguenot) and the king’s Roman Catholic sister, Queen Margot, to which were to be invited all the principal protestants of France. Even the Prince’s mother, the famous Jeanne d’Albret came to Paris. She fell sick shortly after her arrival and died within five days, not without suspicion of poison (the Roman Catholic king’s mother, Catherine de Medicis was an expert on that matter). Notwithstanding, the marriage still proceeded. All the protestant chiefs were invited by letter from the Roman Catholic king, which guaranteed safe passage to and safety within Paris. The trap was now set and the marriage took place on the 19th of August, 1572. Four days after this, the Admiral de Coligny, returning from the council table, was shot at with a pistol charged with three bullets, and wounded in both arms.Soldiers had been appointed to different parts of Paris, to be ready at the command of the king. Upon the watchword being given, they burst forth, slaughtering all the Protestants, beginning with the leaders and the Admiral himself, who was cast out of the window into the street, where his head was struck off, embalmed and sent to the pope. His martyrdom had no sooner taken place, than the troops, with rage and violence, ran about slaying all the Protestants they knew or could find within the city gates. This continued many days, but the greatest slaughter was in the first three days in which more than 10,000 men and women, young and old were murdered.

This massacre extended to other cities like Lyon, Orleans, Toulouse and Rouen, where the cruelties were, if possible, even greater than in the capital. In one month, 30,000 Huguenots were slain.4 When he was crowned king, Henri IV denied the Protestant faith and made compromises with the Roman Catholic Church. He brought peace back to the land in 1598 with the Edict of Nantes that granted religious freedom to the Protestants.” (CAL.org). This conflict between Catholic and Protestant became known as the Thirty Year’s War. Make no mistake the Catholics were militant offenders, “"If French Protestants were militant so were Catholics crowds and they were generally more murderous: where Protestants smashed images, Catholics butchered people." (The Reformation, Diamand McCulloch, pg 308). 

Upon close examination of France’s Church History we can see a theme of persecution of Protestant and Reformed faith from the early 600’s to burning Joan of Arc for her reformed faith and then the Huguenot slaughter.  France has resisted a pure devotion to Christ and the authentic gospel (John 3:16, 1 John 4:15, Romans 10:9-10, Acts 15:1-15, John 17:3, Philippians 3:8-9, Ephesians 2:4-9) and preserved the Popish idolatries. Those who hold to the true faith that salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ and His salvic act on the cross alone remain the minority. The Lily Land remains a Pqpql fortress, much like the fabled Chateau D’if. Recently the Nortre Dame Cathedral was burned to the ground, and as mourners gathered, a solitary brass altar cross remained. Major donations have been raised to rebuild the Cathedral. Perhaps, rather than a bad omen, this catastrophe means France shall have the facade of idols, stones, saint statues, and more removed and they will finally join us Reformed believers in a “simple and pure devotion to Christ.” (2 Corinthians 11:3). May the Lord strip the veil of Cathedral stone from the French eyes and may they see the cross and know God’s love, and know Jesus in a personal relationship (John 17:3). Amen.