A Chronicle and a Defense

A decade prior to the Franco-Prussian War, the Italians fought a war to unify the Italian kingdoms into one state. They declared Rome the capital of the newly unified country. However, the Pope refused to cede the Papal States. Emperor Napoleon III supported the Pope by stationing a French garrison in Rome to defend him.  This led French Republicans, who were opposed to the Imperial government, to accuse Catholics of being more loyal to the Pope than to France. 

In the early years of the Third Republic, which came to power on September 19, 1870 upon the defeat of Napoleon III, there was increasing anticlerical sentiments in France.  As a result, Catholic groups, such as the Christian Brothers, promoted the heroic deeds of their members during the Franco-Prussian war.  It was important for the Christian Brothers that the public understood that they supported the French people and soldiers, including the Republican soldiers, during the war.

This book by J. D'Arsac, which supplies many of the images in this exhibition, was written right after the war.  It offers a passionate defense of the loyalty of the Brothers by relating anecdotes of the Brothers' self-sacrifice and charitable activities during the war.