Život francouzských navrátilců ke kalvinismu v 18. století
The Life of French Returnees to Calvinism in the Eighteenth Century

Conversion in the Context of Forced Re-education of Huguenots in Lay Congregations

Summary/Abstract: The author examines the conversion of the descendants of Huguenots in this article, which was linked with their placement and education in Catholic institutions over the course of the eighteenth century. The internment of children of other faiths in these institutions reflected efforts of the Catholic Church and the state to prevent the potential growth in the influence of Huguenots in French society at the time. This was often also the only solution to the precarious material situation in Reform families. The stable number of housed wards in these Catholic dormitories and lay congregations up to the 1780s was also closely linked with the growth in secret Protestant marriages at this time. The author relies on an analysis of cases, in particular from Languedoc, as well from other French provinces. The range of interpretations of conversions within the frame of these boarding houses is demonstrated using the more detailed example of one female from the year 1754. The indecisive apostasy of the Huguenot Grácie Goutard of Castres was not only linked with the girl’s consciousness of approaching death, but was also influenced by a number of factors, which provide the scholar in case of a informative source with a wide spectrum of analytical questions indicating the complexity of the internal and external motives of religious conscience.

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