Clotilde de Vaux, born Clotilde Marie (April 3, 1815 in Paris – April 5, 1846 in Paris), was a French intellectual known to have inspired the French philosopher
Auguste Comte's
Religion of Humanity
Religion of Humanity (from French ''Religion de l'Humanité'' or '' église positiviste'') is a secular religion created by Auguste Comte (1798–1857), the founder of positivist philosophy. Adherents of this religion have built chapels of Huma ...
.
Biography
Charlotte Clotilde Josephine Marie was born in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
on April 3, 1815. She was the daughter of Simon Marie (1775-1855) an infantry captain in
Napoleon's Grande Armée from a modest background, and Henriette Josephine de Ficquelmont (1780-1843), poor, but from the nobility of Lorraine.
The financial situation of her father, retired Captain Marie, was dire for a household with a wife and three children: Clotilde (born in 1815), Maximilian (born in 1819) and Leon (born in 1820) therefore, her father was given the office of tax collector in
Méru near Paris to help him.
[Charles de Rouvre, ''L'amoureuse histoire d'Auguste comte et de Clotilde de Vaux'', Calmann-Lévy, 1920.](_blank)
/ref>
Clotilde spent her childhood in Méru with her two younger brothers Maximilien and Leon.
Clotilde de Vaux was educated at the ''Maison d'éducation de la Légion d'honneur
The maisons d'éducation de la Légion d'honneur were the French secondary schools set up by Napoleon and originally meant for the education of girls whose father, grandfather or great-grandfather had been awarded the Légion d'honneur. Access is s ...
''. In 1835 she had a marriage of convenience with an Amédée de Vaux, who helped her father at his office of tax collector in Méru, but her husband turned out to be nothing but a rogue. After incurring enormous gambling debts, he eventually left his wife and fled to Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
.
According to the Code Civil of the time, women were unable to remarry without previously being divorced and, since no divorce had been issued, Clotilde was forbidden to do so. Consequently, she returned to Paris, first living with her parents before moving to her own place in Marais
Marais (, meaning "marsh") may refer to:
People
* Marais (given name)
* Marais (surname)
Other uses
* Le Marais, historic district of Paris
* Théâtre du Marais, the name of several theatres and theatrical troupes in Paris, France
* Marais (c ...
' rue Payenne. One of her uncles Karl Ludwig von Ficquelmont
Karl Ludwig, Count of Ficquelmont (; french: Charles-Louis comte de Ficquelmont; 23 March 1777 – 7 April 1857) was an Austrian aristocrat, statesman and Field marshal of the Austrian Imperial army of French noble origin.
Biography
French n ...
, Minister-president
A minister-president or minister president is the head of government in a number of European countries or subnational governments with a parliamentary or semi-presidential system of government where they preside over the council of ministers. I ...
of the Austrian Empire
The Austrian Empire (german: link=no, Kaiserthum Oesterreich, modern spelling , ) was a Central-Eastern European multinational great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the realms of the Habsburgs. During its existence ...
, granted her a housing allowance.
Clotilde decided to begin a writer's career and wrote short stories
A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest t ...
for literary magazines
A literary magazine is a periodical devoted to literature in a broad sense. Literary magazines usually publish short stories, poetry, and essays, along with literary criticism, book reviews, biographical profiles of authors, interviews and letter ...
.
In October 1844, when visiting her brother, Clotilde met one of his Polytechnique's Professors, philosopher Auguste Comte. The first known letter from Comte to Clotilde is dated April 30, 1845 and from that day on it was very clear that he was in love with her, a love which Clotilde, a fervent Catholic, firmly rejected. Nonetheless she agreed to follow up with their correspondence and Comte's passionate love kept growing until Clotilde suddenly died of tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, i ...
a year later.
Comte, recognizing her as his muse
In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Muses ( grc, Μοῦσαι, Moûsai, el, Μούσες, Múses) are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the ...
, was highly impressed by her high morals which gave him the key to understand the religious dimension of the human condition. But if Clotilde was a fervent Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
, Comte only considered Catholicism to be a step[He considered Catholicism to be his second stage: the '']metaphysical
Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of conscio ...
stage'' towards the ''positive stage''. Nonetheless, Clotilde's faith persuaded him to create a religion for positivist societies in order to fulfill the cohesive function once held by traditional worship.
Birth of the Religion of Humanity
In mourning
Mourning is the expression of an experience that is the consequence of an event in life involving loss, causing grief, occurring as a result of someone's death, specifically someone who was loved although loss from death is not exclusively ...
after Clotilde's death, Comte dedicated himself to reorganise his previous philosophical system into a new positivist secular religion: the ''Positivist Church'' or ''Religion of Humanity
Religion of Humanity (from French ''Religion de l'Humanité'' or '' église positiviste'') is a secular religion created by Auguste Comte (1798–1857), the founder of positivist philosophy. Adherents of this religion have built chapels of Huma ...
''.
Comte's secular religion is no vague effusion of humanistic piety, but a complete system of belief and ritual, with a calendar reform
Calendar reform or calendrical reform is any significant revision of a calendar system. The term sometimes is used instead for a proposal to switch to a different calendar design.
Principles
The prime objective of a calendar is to unambiguo ...
called the 'positivist calendar The positivist calendar was a calendar reform proposal by Auguste Comte (1798–1857) in 1849. Revising the earlier work of Marco Mastrofini, or an even earlier proposal by "Hirossa Ap-Iccim" ( Hugh Jones), Comte developed a solar calendar with 1 ...
' (with Sainte Clotilde's day each April 6 and a ''Day of Holy Women''), liturgy and sacraments, priesthood and pontiff, all organized around the public veneration of Humanity, the ''Nouveau Grand-Être Suprême'' (New Supreme Great Being) made after Clotilde de Vaux.
*In ''Système de politique positive'' (1851–1854), Auguste Comte expressed his idea of a " religion of Humanity ", whose pillars are:
**altruism, leading to generosity and selfless dedication to others.
**order : Comte thought that after the French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...
, society needed restoration of order.
**progress : the consequences of industrial and technical breakthroughs for human societies.
*In ''Catéchisme positiviste'' (1851), Comte defined the Church of Humanity's sacraments :
**the Introduction (nomination and sponsoring)
**the Admission (end of education)
**the Destination (choice of a career)
**the Marriage,
**the Retirement (age 63),
**the Séparation, social extreme unction,
**the Incorporation, 3 years after death.
Comte's "Religion of Humanity
Religion of Humanity (from French ''Religion de l'Humanité'' or '' église positiviste'') is a secular religion created by Auguste Comte (1798–1857), the founder of positivist philosophy. Adherents of this religion have built chapels of Huma ...
" was rather unsuccessful in France but has been very influential in Latin America, especially in Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
(see above) and has inspired the rise of the "Church of Humanity
Church of Humanity was a positivist church in England influenced and inspired by Auguste Comte's Religion of Humanity in France. It also had a branch or variant in New York City, Brazil and other locations. Richard Congreve founded the firs ...
" in England and its variant in New York City, both being extremely small today.
Clotilde de Vaux's writings
*''Pensées d'une fleur'', poems
*''Lucie'', series of short stories published in ''Le National''
*''Willelmine'', short story
*Citations :
** " ''There is no higher pleasure than the one of dedication''. »
** " ''Mankind, more than other species, needs to tie down to duties to ensure true feelings''. »
** (On Society) " ''Its institutions deserve respect as the toil of times...'' »
** " ''It's unworthy of noble hearts to spread the confusion they feel''. »
References
Bibliography
Charles de Rouvre, ''L'amoureuse histoire d'Auguste comte et de Clotilde de Vaux'', Calmann-Lévy, 1920.
* André Thérive, ''Clotilde de Vaux ou La déesse morte'', Albin Michel, 1957
* Henri Gouhier, ''La vie d'Auguste Comte'' (1931, rééd. 1997), libr. phil. Vrin, Coll. ''bibl. des textes Phil''.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vaux, Clotilde de
1815 births
1846 deaths
Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery
19th-century French women writers
19th-century French writers