Ceremonial Splendor: Performing Priesthood in Early Modern France

Frances early seminaries promoted the emergence and construction of the true churchman as a mode of embodiment and ecclesiastical ideal between 1630 and 1730. Ceremonial Splendor examines the way clergymen learned to conduct liturgical ceremonies, abide by clerical norms, and aspire to perfection through improvisation, role-playing, and the display of skills. Seminaries counteracted the threat of theatricality by ceremonializing the clergymans daily life, rendering his body and gestures contiguous with the mass.

Format: Hardback
Length: 288 pages
Publication date: 05 August 2022
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press

By the end of the long seventeenth century in France, the seminary-trained, reform-minded Catholic priest had evolved into a recognizable type characterized by his attire, gestures, and ceremonial skills. While some critics labeled these priests as hypocrites or mere models for Molière's Tartuffe, seminaries associated the distinctive features of this priestly identity with the concept of the vray ecclésiastique, or true churchman.

Ceremonial Splendor delves into the manner in which early seminaries in France played a crucial role in fostering the emergence and establishment of the true churchman as a mode of embodiment and ecclesiastical ideal between approximately 1630 and 1730. Drawing upon an extensive analysis of various sources that governed priestly training in France, including seminary rules and manuals, liturgical handbooks, ecclesiastical pamphlets, conferences, and episcopal edicts, the book employs performance theories to reconstruct the process by which clergymen acquired the skills necessary to conduct liturgical ceremonies, adhere to clerical norms, and aspire to perfection.

Through her meticulous examination, Joy Palacios demonstrates how the creation of a priestly identity involved a diverse range of performances, encompassing improvisation, role-playing, and the exhibition of skills. It is important to note that when executed in a manner that drew attention to the self, any one of these performance obligations could undermine a clergyman's priestly persona and pose a threat to the broader institution of the priesthood. To counteract the ever-present threat of theatricality, seminaries sought to ceremonialize the clergyman's daily life, making his body and gestures inseparable from the mass.

By focusing on priestly identity, Ceremonial Splendor offers a fresh perspective on the relationship between the Church and theater in early modern France and uncovers ritual strategies that continue to shape religious authority in the present day. This insightful work sheds light on the complex interplay between performance, identity, and religious authority and provides valuable insights into the historical and cultural contexts of early modern France.

Dimension: 6 x 9 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781512822786