Piety And Agency: The Filles du Saint-Esprit and Political Activism in Nineteenth Century Brittany

During the nineteenth century in France, record numbers of women became members of female religious congregations. Congregational women integrated into French society through their work as teachers and nurses. As the struggle between Church and state intensified these women became important players in the Catholic Church’s fight to maintain the primacy of Catholicism in France. This thesis focuses on the work of the Filles du Saint-Esprit. This thesis examines the manner in which congregational women participated in French political life. As a result, this thesis also considers how these women challenged contemporary understandings of feminine piety, passivity and political action.