Paris Police Reports on the Immorality of the Clergy
Pierre Manuel has left us in his famous work The Parisian Police Exposed (Paris, 1794), a photographically true picture of the moral conditions of Paris before the outbreak of the great Revolution. Adolf Schmidt, one of the best savants of the history of France in the eighteenth century and who, like Manuel, collected similar reports, in his Tableaux of the French Revolution, called Manuel's book one of the most reliable sources for the Eighteenth Century.
Manuel, in his famous work, had a chapter "Police, Priests and Prostitutes." He repeated in bitterly satiric words the vow of chastity of the priests and said: "I will reveal the lascivious actions of these missionaries of heaven, who themselves damn to Hades the passions of noble and sensitive persons. Naming these failings is not doing away with them. For the pure man is he who sleeps with his wife."
The following laconic records refer to the reports of the police inspectors and commissioners, to the confessions of the culprits and their accomplices. We give verbatim same of the striking reports.
Franciscans:
February 12, 1760. Brother François Lortal, House of Toulouse. He reversed the maxim of Virgil in practice: nudus ara, sere nudus! Commissioner Thierion, Inspector Marais.
July 2, 1766. George le Payen, vicar in Cerny, lover on lover in the garden. Commissioner Grimperil, Inspector Marais.
Bernardines:
March 30, 1764. J. Ignace Xavier Dreux, licentiate, Professor of Theology, at Agathe, under the bed. Commissioner Mutel, etc.
Carmelites:
February 8, 1763. Jacques Brebi, from Maubert Place. He was under the name Jacques Mazure with the guards; he thought it was a church. Report of Prior Martin, etc.
Dominicans:
Pierre Simon, 46 years in the cloth. He described his pleasures with trembling hands. Commissioner Mutel, etc.
Capucines:
December 14, 1762. Laurent Dilly, mendicant friar from Rue St. Honoré, at the Boyerie, where he sang: tirez-moi par mon cordon! Report of the Father Guardian Grégoire, etc.
November 9, 1765. Joseph Biache, called Brother Constant, and Joseph Etienne, called Brother Constantine, from the monastery at Crépy; both in the inn, The Mounting Deer, where they asked for a bed for three, although they only had the image of the Virgin Mary with them. Commissioner Mutel, etc.
Recollects (strictest branch of Franciscans):
June 30, 1763. Noel-Clément Berthe, called Brother Paul, whipped at Leblanc. Com. Fontaine, etc.
March 1, 1765. Gabriel Anheisser, called Father Gabriel, in his nightshirt under the bed of Agnes Viard. He lived together with this former sutler for seven or eight years. Com. de Ruisseau, etc.
February 19, 1767. Father Constance between Victoire and Emilie, like the ass of Buridon. Com. cle Ruisseau, etc.
Minima (Paulines):
January 17, 1760. André Carron, while writing on the wall of the room of Zaire: "I am always ready for whipping." Com. Sirebeau, etc.
Feuillantines:
December 30, 1762. Dom Claude Jousse, 63 years old, at Marie la Neuve, where he was not abashed with the maidens. Report of Prior Jean Baptiste of St. Marie-Magdalene. Com. de Ruisseau.
Augustines:
November 5, 1763. Bernard-Nicolas, from Palais-Royal House, in the Avenue de Vincennes, with them Franciscans and Rosalie, who was a match for a dozen of them. Com. Mutel, etc.
October 26, 1765: "I, the undersigned, Honoré Regnard, 53 years old, canon of the holy Augustine order, procurator, House of St. Catherine, confirm that Inspector Marais found me at the St. Louis, rue do Figuier, to which I went yesterday of my own desire, in order to satisfy myself with Félix. I had her undress and caressed her with my hand concealed under the cloak. And today I played with Félix and her friend Julie, who took off my vestment and dressed and painted me as a woman. The inspector surprised me in this condition. I declare that I have had this desire for many years but which I have never been able to satisfy until today. As proof of authenticity I sign the following declaration, which contains the whole truth and nothing but the truth, with my name Honoré Regnard." Com. Mutel, etc.
July 18, 1768. Simon Boucel, with the Prévilles, Louise and Sophy.
Praemonstratenes:
March 17, 1760. François de Maugre, from rue Haute-Feuille, between Desirée and Zaire, all three happy. Com. Sirebeau, etc.
Penitents of Nazareth:
May 2, 1766. Brother Nicephorus, with Laville, who showed him every part of the body, including some internal ones. Com. Mutel, etc.
Celestines:
December 3, 1760. J. D. Tordoir, Prior of Nanites, at Mausy, in the garb of the prophet who awaked the son of the Sunamites.
Brothers of Mercy:
October 19, 1762. Jacques François Boulard, former overseer of novices and priors, at Lagarde, with Victoire and Julie, trying to take in as much as possible. Com. de Ruisseau, etc.
Order of St. Genevieve:
May 8, 1761. Jean Pierre Bedosse with Zephire, per ipsam, cum ipsa et in ipsa. Com. Sirebeau, etc.
August 2, 1752. Father Bernard, famous preacher. He chose two or three prostitutes at Lasolle. This cost him the wealth of a duchess. He gave six and a half Louisdors. And the surgeon, as a result, charged him forty Thalers and three Livres. for the visit.
Eremites:
August 5, 1773. Brother Camille, from the monastery at Hayet, at Therese's where he described himself as “The Porter of Chartreux.” Com. Mutel, etc.
Christian School:
September 14, 1763. Brother Firmin at Royer’s, who compared him with those bad readers who begin a book and don’t finish it. Com. Mutel, etc.
Order of St. Antoine:
September 28, 1765. François Vanova, at Lamourette’s, in flagrante delicto by Commissioner Mutel and Inspector Marais.
Jesuits:
November 5, 1764. François Terrasse-Desbillon, 52 years old, at Mouton's, where he was enjoying himself in reversed rôles. Com. Mutel, etc.
Deans, Dignitaries and Canons:
April 3, 1764. Blaise Messier, Canon of Beauvais, at Blampié’s. He appeared to have the same views as Rubens, liking his beauties around the 200 pound class. Com. Rochebrune, etc.
August 14, 1761. Marc-Antoine Manuel, of the holy church, at Provençale's, working away. Com. de Ruisseau, etc.
July 8, 1760. Marie Mocet, Bishop of Tours, 60 years old. Gasping away. His hands doing the work of four men.
June 20, 1765. Jean Pierre Pelletier, curé, at Lambert’s, devouring the work of God. Com. Mutel, etc.
August 22, 1760. Pierre Louis Thorin. Zaire in a three-quarter turn. Com. Sirebeau,, etc.
Abbés:
October 27, 1763. Charles Marie Thibault was sent to St. Lazarre, having been found at Aurora's for the third time. A poem was found in his pocket praising what Hebe showed the goddesses.
Doctors of the Sorbonne:
May 9, 1765. J. Baptiste R. who lay inert with his useless firepiece at Guerin’s.
May 23, 1763. Fel. Auguste Tomalle turning over the pages at Denoyer's. His third thesis.
Teachers:
February 24, 1761. P., Teacher of the children of Marquis de P. at Pearl’s. Looking for gems at the altar of Venus. Corn. Sirebeau, etc.
These are some out of a long, long list. A commentary would be superfluous. Facta loquuntur. These facts from authentic documents afford a satisfying proof and justification for the description in de Sade's novels of the orgies of the clergy; and also for the hatred which the priests were looked on not alone by de Sade. Manuel remarked at the end of his tale that no Bishop was named therein. He explained it from the fact that one may not even speak of the illnesses of a Bishop, let alone his sexual adventures.
Besides these reports of Manuel there exists a very great work on the immorality of the French clergy. After the storming of the Bastille in 1789 there were found in that prison two volumes on The Chastity of the Clergy Exposed. Louis XV had the reports of the visits of the clergy in bordellos sent to him every morning. These bulletins were called the Paris Nights. The two volumes contained 189 reports from April 10, 1755 to June 7, 1766. They appeared more to have served "the revival of the dead libido of the king" than the interests of morals and the honor of the king.
In the same category was the affair of the Vicar of Bagnolet with Mademoiselle Mimi. In the autograph collection of Lucas Montigny there is a letter from the Archbishop of Paris to Police Superintendent Le Noir: "I have been informed that the Vicar of Bagnolet when in Paris visits a prostitute, Mimi, who lives in the me Pierre Poissons. If you can verify this, I would be extremely grateful, for I am very interested in discovering the truth."
The letter had the following notation by Le Noir: "Get Quidor to verify the fact immediately and send me his report."
Further interesting details on the conduct of the Parisian clergy are found in the Confessions of a Young Girl. We are introduced to the bordello of Madame Richard. Sapho, (for so the young girl is called), looks through the peephole at the tête-à-tête of the madame with a priest. The madame takes out a cuirass of doubled horse-hair, bordered by a mass of blunted iron nails, enfolds the breast and back of the priest with it, ties him tightly on all sides with heavy cord, fastens an iron chain around his belly, which supports some kind of suspensory around his groin. This suspensory is also braided with strong coarse hair, in a way not preventing the use of the hands on the sources of pleasure. Similar "bracelets" are placed on the wrists. Tumescence then follows. Now the madame begins the flagellation and the other incitations of love.
Sapho tells further how she becomes the mistress of a bishop, whose vicarage follows him in his mode of life and presents a lively picture of the immoral conduct of the clergy in this diocese. She has an adventure with four priests, one of whom is a pederast, having a motto: tout est connus dans une femme.
The sexual dissoluteness of the clergy is also found in poems and pictures. The following verse is to the point:
One has chosen five bishops,
All marked by syphilis,
To reform the gay monks.
Can one whiten ebony with black ink?
This poem refers to a Board of Morals composed of the Archbishops of Rheims, Arles, Narbonne, Bourges and Toulouse. This Board of Censorship was indeed a mark of the age! But how they were judged by public opinion these verses best show.