Since the period of dechristianization of the Revolution, the army and the people have turned away from religious practices, despite the signing of the Concordat on July 15, 1801. Generally speaking, the religious aspect remains superficial among soldiers. In the armies, if some remain marked by religion, others are completely detached from it and even are fiercely opposed to it, starting with Marshal Augereau or General Delmas who speak of "capuchinades" when they mention religion.
There were still chaplains in the French regiments in 1791, before the great period of dechristianization led by the Convention. The decree of January 1, 1791, recognized one chaplain per regiment; he attached him to the staff, without however including him in the number of officers. The decree of April 1, 1791, does not provide for the light infantry, or the national guard battalions. In the cavalry, there is notably a chaplain in the rifle regiments according to the regulation of September 20, 1791.
Military chaplains
We find a chaplain, paid by religion, in the infantry regiments created, from the paid national guard, by the law of August 28, 1791 (regulation of November 20, 1791). From 1792, no composition regulations mention chaplains; those still found in the bodies, in 1794, were removed. The decree relating to the organization of the Swiss troops of 30 Germinal Year xi (April 20, 1803) provides that the chaplain of the 3rd battalion of the 3rd demi-brigade will be attached in this capacity to this unit; he will then move to the 2nd demi-brigade. The dechristianization that began in the fall of year II dealt a fatal blow to the already moribund chaplaincy. However, the Annals of Religion, an organ of the “Gregorian” Church, as well as the acts of the Council of 1797, make some mention of “ci-devants” military chaplains. The arrival of Bonaparte to power did not restore the troops to their chaplains. In 1804, Bugeaud was in the Boulogne camp and wrote to his family: “I go to mass every Sunday morning. I say my prayer sometimes; I have never been the butt of any jokes from my comrades. Our leaders all have bad morals; they believe that after death everything is over, that they are animals like the others; they believe in a Supreme Being, but they suppose it to be neutral. »
The disappearance of military chaplains was often felt under the Empire as a loss that some, on their initiative and within their means, attempted to make up for. If there is indeed an imperial chaplaincy, it too often gives the impression of having been motivated mainly by a dual policy of emergency and ostentation. From the Consulate, then under the Empire, a few chaplains were found in schools, prisons, ports, and mainly in Invalides. Napoleon reestablished the office of grand chaplain for the benefit of his uncle Cardinal Fesch, primate of Gaul. The label of the imperial palace of 1806 listing the functions and attributions of the grand chaplain states that he “[…] appoints the chaplains of the army of land and sea, of the Invalides and any other military house and regulates all that which concerns services and worship in these establishments and the armies.” However, the personal reluctance of the Emperor, probably maintained by his military entourage, provides the essential reasons for the absence of a chaplain in the French regiments of the Grande Armée.
In application of the imperial decree of March 7, 1806, ecclesiastics engaged in orders are not subject to military conscription or service in the national guard. The instruction of the director general of conscription, dated February 11, 1808, includes in this exemption the ministers of the Protestant religion (1).
Military chaplains are found in schools, ports of war, and military prisons. There is also a chaplain at Les Invalides. During the campaign of 1807, Napoleon decided that in each hospital there would be a head nurse supervised by a Catholic priest, but let us not forget that we are in Poland, a very pious country par excellence. This priest, at the same time as he exercises the spiritual ministry, must also exercise a sort of paternal vigilance, reporting to the Emperor and reporting the slightest negligence towards the sick. Thiers, in his History of the Consulate and the Empire, adds that "Napoleon had wanted this priest to have treatment, and that each hospital became in a way a traveling cure following the army" (2). In his work on Killed and Wounded Officers, Martinien indicates a chaplain named Saint-Laurent, in the 14th Tirailleurs of the Young Guard, who went missing at the Battle of Paris on March 30, 1814. The question seems to have been definitively resolved by Napoleon who gave an unfavorable opinion in 1809 to the Minister of Religious Affairs who requested a chaplain for the island of Sainte-Marguerite, where the inhabitants are almost all soldiers: "This has nothing to do with the War, moreover I have the principle that it should not I don't need a chaplain in my regiments. » (3) At the Special Imperial Military School of Saint-Cyr, Alexandre de Patris recounts: "On Sundays, we get up late, we dine, we go to the inspection, we go to corps mass, the chaplain gives an instruction, we hear mass and we return in order. »
In foreign troops
According to Rösselet, there was a chaplain in the 1st Swiss infantry regiment; in the 2nd, it is Abbot Suard of Fribourg, in the 3rd Abbot Charpentier of Estavayer (canton of Fribourg), in the 4th Abbot Kunz of Solothurn and the “minister” Nabholz of Zurich. Rösselet remembers that in Rome, in September 1806, “the priests sought to convert our people by offering ten crowns to each of them. Our old mustaches, mocking them, took the ten crowns, promising them to abjure up to three times and thus received thirty crowns. » In 1807, the Spanish contingents met every evening to pray. It is the same in the troops of the Duchy of Warsaw, a country of strong Catholic faith and very practicing; in 1811 the Polish cavalry and infantry regiments included a chaplain each, who was part of the general staff (4). Polish chaplains wear a dark blue cloth tailcoat with purple cloth collar and facings; dark cloth pants, ordinary boots, a bicorn hat, sword with a black belt. On November 28, 1811, Davout wrote to Friant, regarding the Spanish Joseph-Napoléon regiment: “There is with these two battalions a chaplain who seems to be animated by a good spirit. Treat it well and maintain it by good practices in these arrangements. It is through him that you can be informed of the intrigues that would be involved in the case of a few foreigners to seduce Spaniards. Make sure he has good accommodation with someone safe. » We find in the Memoirs of Suckow an indication of chaplains in the Württemberg army, which made the Russian campaign, and which lost three in 1812. The Restoration reestablished the military chaplaincy, by appointing one chaplain per corps, with rank and salary of captain, and retirement after twenty years of service.
The order of October 1, 1814, attached a chaplain to each military hospital; that of July 24, 1816, to all the corps of the army which bears the name of regiment or legion. The overall number is difficult to estimate but, in 1815, chaplains were on half pay, classified with health officers, and received an allowance of 900 F per year, that is to say, the captain's pay.
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