“Paris is worth a mass” was the realistic response of Protestant Henry IV, who changed his faith to secure the throne of France, to the central importance of the French Catholic Church. Principle and pragmatism have since been, in alteration, the two prime constituents of French Catholicism. In his book The Catholic Church and the French Nation 1589–1989 (originally published in 1990), Norman Ravitch interprets the interaction of the Roman Catholic Church with the national life of France over a period of 400 years. This process, Ravitch argues, has left French Catholicism redundant: more an historical monument than a living institution. This book will be of interest to students and researchers of French history.
