THEOPHILANTROPISM. - I. HISTORY. - A certain Chemin, a Latin professor in Paris, published in 1796 a Manuel des théophilanthropiles, which fell into the hands of the celebrated Haüy (d. 1822), the inventor of raised type for the blind, who became enthusiastic about Chemin's theory. On 5 Nivôse, Year V (25 Dec. 1796), Chemin, Haüy, Moreau, Janes and Mandar gathered in the hospice for the blind, directed by Haüy, and founded a religious society under the name of the Society of Theophilanthropists, with a group of adherents.
In Apr. 1797 they asked to hold their worship meetings in the churches, which they claimed to hold in common with Catholics; they thus occupied 20 churches, including Notre-Dame. They founded schools, printed newspapers, and spread rapidly in the surroundings of Paris, at Montreuil, Choisy-le-Roi, Andrésy, Versailles, Fontainebleau and even farther away, at Chantilly, Soissons, Château-Thierry, Nancy, Rodez, Le Havre, Châlons-sur-Marne, Bourges. At Sens a rite different from that of Paris took shape, in which it was ostentatiously maintained that appeal was being made to the Gospel. Outside France, a certain Siauve, a native of Paris, attempted to spread the new religion in Switzerland in Aug. 1798; in Italy, a certain Gregory had a translation of Chemin's Manuel printed in Turin in 1799; other translations of the same book were made into English and German; it does not appear, however, that the new cult met with success abroad. In France, on the contrary, its diffusion was very rapid among schoolmasters, professors and men of science or letters. Among the adherents are remembered former priests, former Protestant pastors, former members of the Convention. The best-known names of the theophilanthropic group are: Dupont de Nemours, a distinguished economist, Bernardin de St-Pierre, the celebrated author of Paul et Virginie, Laréveillière-Lépeaux, who was a member of the Directory and gave the sect great support precisely by virtue of that office (erroneously, however, he has often been regarded as the inventor of t.). Numerous schisms occurred within the sect at its very beginnings; toward the end of the year 1799 it was in full decline. A decree of the consuls of 12 Vendémiaire, Year X (4 Oct. 1801) denied the theophilanthropists authorization to continue using the national buildings (Catholic churches), and on 11 Ventôse (2 March 1802) a decree of the prefect of police prohibited «the cult of the natural religion, called t.».
II. DOCTRINE
The Theophilanthropic doctrine is nothing but deism, with a certain evangelical tinge, insofar as it summarizes morality in the love of God and neighbor. This doctrine derived from Rousseau's Vicaire Savoyard. For the Theophilanthropists all dogma is summed up in two rational certainties: the existence of God and the immortality of the soul: belief in God rests on the spectacle of the universe, while belief in the future life is founded on the feeling that arises from our faculty of thought, which is a principle foreign to matter and survives the dissolution of the body. "Adore God, love your fellow men, make yourselves useful to the fatherland": this was the obligatory theme of all the speakers at the worship meetings, while the thesis was often repeated that all religions are good, provided that God is served fittingly.
III. CULT
The theophilanthropic temples had a very simple altar, on which flowers or fruit were placed, according to the season. Above the altar stood this inscription: "We believe in the existence of God and in the immortality of the soul." On the walls other inscriptions recalled the principal duties. Opposite the altar stood a pulpit or a tribune for the religious sermon. Worship began with a hymn, and the children presented flowers or fruit. The president of the ceremony, a head of a family, dressed in a sky-blue tunic with a pink sash and a kind of white mantle, directed invocations, hymns and readings; the hymns were extracts from the works of Racine or of J.-B. Rousseau (not to be confused with Jean-Jacques).
Worship at first was held on the last day of the décades, then on Sunday. Selected music was performed. The festivals of the Republic were celebrated, as well as those of famous men: Hoche, Joubert, Socrates, J.-J. Rousseau, Washington and also St. Vincent de Paul. The reader, having ascended the pulpit, read brief extracts from ancient and modern moralists, from the Vedas all the way to J.-J. Rousseau, passing through the Old and New Testaments, Zoroaster, Confucius, Socrates, Aristotle, Cicero, Seneca, Epictetus, the Koran, La Bruyère, William Penn, Voltaire, Franklin. The passages were collected in a handbook prepared beforehand, in which one could read as in a missal. After the reading, a commentary took place, followed by the singing of a hymn, then a song to the fatherland and, finally, a kind of blessing.