("The Furrow", or "The Path") was a French political and religious movement founded by

Marc Sangnier Marc Sangnier (; 3 April 1873, Paris – 28 May 1950, Paris) was a French Roman Catholic thinker and politician, who in 1894 founded ''Le Sillon'' ("The Furrow"), a social Catholic movement. Work Sangnier aimed to bring the Catholic Church in ...

(1873 - 1950) which existed from 1894 to 1910. It aimed to bring Catholicism into a greater conformity with French Republican and socialist ideals, in order to provide an alternative to Marxism and other anticlerical

labour movement The labour movement or labor movement consists of two main wings: the trade union movement (British English) or labor union movement (American English) on the one hand, and the political labour movement on the other. * The trade union movement ...

History

In 1891,

Pope Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII ( it, Leone XIII; born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2 March 1810 – 20 July 1903) was the head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 to his death in July 1903. Living until the age of 93, he was the second-old ...

called for the Church to adopt a more open involvement in social issues in his encyclical ''

Rerum novarum ''Rerum novarum'' (from its incipit, with the direct translation of the Latin meaning "of revolutionary change"), or ''Rights and Duties of Capital and Labor'', is an encyclical issued by Pope Leo XIII on 15 May 1891. It is an open letter, pass ...

''. The opportunity created by this policy led liberals within the church in France to hope for an improved relationship between the Church and the Republic. As a result, Le Sillon was founded in 1894, and began publication of their journal of the same name, edited by Sangnier. Le Sillon called for a large-scale project to reconcile the labour movement with Christianity. Sangnier wrote "Le Sillon is designed to make France a democratic republic. This is not a Catholic movement, in that its purpose is not to make work available to the bishops and priests to help them in their own ministry. is a secular movement, which does not affect the fact that it is also a deeply religious movement." In 1905 Sangnier set up a confederation of groups intended as "circles of Catholic education", where young priests could discuss religion and society. The intention was to create a less hierarchical atmosphere in the church, in which ideas emerged from ordinary priests and laity. The organisation met with considerable popular enthusiasm with up to 500 000 members in France. At this time enjoyed the support of

Pope Pius X Pope Pius X ( it, Pio X; born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto; 2 June 1835 – 20 August 1914) was head of the Catholic Church from 4 August 1903 to his death in August 1914. Pius X is known for vigorously opposing modernist interpretations of C ...

and the French episcopate.

Dissolution

However, Church support was short lived. The group was perceived as becoming too

modernist Modernism is both a philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new forms of art, philosophy, an ...

and Republican. After the 1905 law of separation of church and state, the movement was increasingly criticized, particularly because it emphasised the authority of ordinary Christians within the Church to the exclusion of the Pope and the hierarchy. Le Sillon was finally condemned by the papal letter of 25 August 1910 (''Our Apostolic Mandate'').Our Apostolic Mandate
/ref> As a result, the organisation dissolved. In 1912 Sangnier founded a replacement group, the '' Young Republic League'' () to promote his vision of social Catholicism.

References

External links

CivitasMarc Sangnier website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sillon, Le History of Catholicism in France Religious organizations established in 1894 1894 establishments in France