Ceremonial splendor : performing priesthood in early modern France

__Ceremonial Splendor__ examines the way France’s early seminaries promoted the emergence and construction of the true churchman as a mode of embodiment and ecclesiastical ideal. Joy Palacios reconstructs the ways in which clergymen learned to conduct liturgical ceremonies, abide by clerical norms, and aspire to perfection. By the end of France’s long seventeenth century, the seminary-trained, reform-minded Catholic priest had crystalized into a type recognizable by his clothing, gestures, and ceremonial skill. Although critics denounced these priests as hypocrites or models for Molière’s Tartuffe, seminaries associated the features of this priestly identity with the idea of the __vray ecclésiastique__, or true churchman. __Ceremonial Splendor__ examines the way France’s early seminaries promoted the emergence and construction of the true churchman as a mode of embodiment and ecclesiastical ideal between approximately 1630 and 1730. Based on an analysis of sources that regulated priestly training in France, such as seminary rules and manuals, liturgical handbooks, ecclesiastical pamphlets and conferences, and episcopal edicts, the book uses theories of performance to reconstruct the way clergymen learned to conduct liturgical ceremonies, abide by clerical norms, and aspire to perfection. Joy Palacios shows how the process of crafting a priestly identity involved a wide range of performances, including improvisation, role-playing, and the display of skills. In isolation, any one of these performance obligations, if executed in a way that drew attention to the self, could undermine a clergyman’s priestly persona and threaten the institution of the priesthood more broadly. Seminaries counteracted the ever-present threat of theatricality by ceremonializing the clergyman’s daily life, rendering his body and gestures contiguous with the mass. Through its focus on priestly identity, __Ceremonial Splendor__ reconsiders the relationship between Church and theater in early modern France and uncovers ritual strategies that continue to shape religious authority today.

By the end of France’s long seventeenth century, the seminary-trained, reform-minded Catholic priest had crystalized into a type recognizable by his clothing, gestures, and ceremonial skill. Although critics denounced these priests as hypocrites or models for Molière’s Tartuffe, seminaries associated the features of this priestly identity with the idea of the vray ecclésiastique, or true churchman.

Ceremonial Splendor examines the way France’s early seminaries promoted the emergence and construction of the true churchman as a mode of embodiment and ecclesiastical ideal between approximately 1630 and 1730. Based on an analysis of sources that regulated priestly training in France, such as seminary rules and manuals, liturgical handbooks, ecclesiastical pamphlets and conferences, and episcopal edicts, the book uses theories of performance to reconstruct the way clergymen learned to conduct liturgical ceremonies, abide by clerical norms, and aspire to perfection.

Joy Palacios shows how the process of crafting a priestly identity involved a wide range of performances, including improvisation, role-playing, and the display of skills. In isolation, any one of these performance obligations, if executed in a way that drew attention to the self, could undermine a clergyman’s priestly persona and threaten the institution of the priesthood more broadly. Seminaries counteracted the ever-present threat of theatricality by ceremonializing the clergyman’s daily life, rendering his body and gestures contiguous with the mass. Through its focus on priestly identity, Ceremonial Splendor reconsiders the relationship between Church and theater in early modern France and uncovers ritual strategies that continue to shape religious authority today.

By the end of France's long seventeenth century, theseminary-trained, reform-minded Catholic priest had crystalizedinto a type recognizable by his clothing, gestures, and ceremonialskill. Although critics denounced these priests as hypocrites ormodels for Molière's Tartuffe, seminaries associated the featuresof this priestly identity with the idea of the vrayecclésiastique, or true churchman. CeremonialSplendor examines the way France's early seminaries promotedthe emergence and construction of the true churchman as a mode ofembodiment and ecclesiastical ideal between approximately 1630 and1730. Based on an analysis of sources that regulated priestlytraining in France, such as seminary rules and manuals, liturgicalhandbooks, ecclesiastical pamphlets and conferences, and episcopaledicts, the book uses theories of performance to reconstruct theway clergymen learned to conduct liturgical ceremonies, abide byclerical norms, and aspire to perfection. Joy Palacios shows howthe process of crafting a priestly identity involved a wide rangeof performances, including improvisation, role-playing, and thedisplay of skills. In isolation, any one of these performanceobligations, if executed in a way that drew attention to the self,could undermine a clergyman's priestly persona and threaten theinstitution of the priesthood more broadly. Seminaries counteractedthe ever-present threat of theatricality by ceremonializing theclergyman's daily life, rendering his body and gestures contiguouswith the mass. Through its focus on priestly identity,Ceremonial Splendor reconsiders the relationship betweenChurch and theater in early modern France and uncovers ritualstrategies that continue to shape religious authority today.

"This book uses theories of performance and performativity to examine the emergence in Counter-Reformation France of a variation of priestly identity organized around the idea of the vray ecclésiastique and elaborated by France's early seminaries between approximately 1630 and 1730"-- Provided by publisher Contents Note on Translations Introduction: Priestly Performance, 1630–1730 Chapter 1. Clothing Chapter 2. Gestures Chapter 3. Ceremonies Chapter 4. Publics Chapter 5. Rivals Conclusion: Ceremonial Specialization and the Divergence of Performance Repertoires Notes Bibliography Index Acknowledgments