Maximilien de Robespierre - Cult of The Supreme Being

Cult of The Supreme Being

Robespierre's desire for revolutionary change was not limited to the political realm. Having denounced the excesses of dechristianization, he sought to instill a spiritual resurgence in the French nation based on his Deist beliefs. Accordingly, on 7 May 1794, Robespierre had a decree passed by the Convention that established an official religion, known historically as the Cult of the Supreme Being. The notion of the Supreme Being was based on ideas that Jean-Jacques Rousseau had outlined in The Social Contract. A nationwide "Festival of the Supreme Being" was held on 8 June (which was also the Christian holiday of Pentecost). The festivities in Paris were held in the Champ de Mars, which was renamed the Champ de la Réunion ("Field of Reunion") for that day. This was most likely in honor of the Champ de Mars Massacre where the Republicans first rallied against the power of the Crown. Robespierre, who happened to be President of the Convention that week, walked first in the festival procession and delivered a speech in which he emphasised his concept of a Supreme Being:

Is it not He whose immortal hand, engraving on the heart of man the code of justice and equality, has written there the death sentence of tyrants? Is it not He who, from the beginning of time, decreed for all the ages and for all peoples liberty, good faith, and justice? He did not create kings to devour the human race. He did not create priests to harness us, like vile animals, to the chariots of kings and to give to the world examples of baseness, pride, perfidy, avarice, debauchery and falsehood. He created the universe to proclaim His power. He created men to help each other, to love each other mutually, and to attain to happiness by the way of virtue.

Throughout the "Festival of the Supreme Being", Robespierre was beaming with joy; not even the negativity of his colleagues could disrupt his delight. He was able to speak of the things about which he was truly passionate, including Virtue and Nature, typical deist beliefs, and, of course, his disagreements with atheism. Everything was arranged to the exact specifications that had been previously set before the ceremony; the ominous and symbolic guillotine had been moved to the original standing place of the Bastille, all of the people were placed in the appropriate area designated to them, and everyone was dressed accordingly. Not only was everything going smoothly, but the Festival was also Robespierre’s first appearance in the public eye as an actual leader for the people, and also as President of the Convention, to which he had been elected only four days earlier.

While for some it was an excitement to see him at his finest, many other leaders involved in the Festival agreed that Robespierre had taken things a bit too far. Multiple sources state that Robespierre came down the mountain in a way that resembled Moses as the leader of the people, and one of his colleagues, Jacques-Alexis Thuriot, was heard saying, “Look at the bugger; it’s not enough for him to be master, he has to be God.” While these words may have been a simple release of resentment at the time, this same idea would come back in an attempt to remove Robespierre from his lofty position in the very near future.

Marc-Guillaume Alexis Vadier was not one of Robespierre’s devotees, and was actually attempting to find something that Robespierre had done wrong. Vadier was on a mission to attack Robespierre and his faith, and was also trying to bring down Robespierre’s political stature as well. This is when he found Catherine Théot, who was a seventy-eight-year old, self declared “prophetess” who had, at one point, been imprisoned in the Bastille.

By Théot stating that he was the “herald of the Last Days, prophet of the New Dawn,” (because his Festival had fallen on the Pentecost, which she claimed would be the day revealing a “divine manifestation”) Catherine Théot made it seem as though Robespierre had made these claims himself to her. Many of her followers were supporters or friends of Robespierre as well, which made it seem as though he was attempting to create a new religion with himself as its god. While Robespierre had nothing to do with Catherine Théot or her followers, many assumed that he was on his way to dictatorship, and it sent a current of fear throughout the Convention, which contributed to his downfall the following July.