Robespierre and the Festival of the Supreme Being: The search for a republican morality

by Jonathan Smyth

This study examines an important event in the French Revolution and a defining moment in the career of its principal actor, Maximilien Robespierre: the Festival of the Supreme Being. This day of national celebration was held to inaugurate the new state religion, the Cult of the Supreme Being, and while traditionally it has been dismissed as a compulsory political event, this book redefines its importance as a hugely popular national event. Hitherto unused or disregarded source material offers new perspectives on the national reaction to Robespierre's creation of the Festival and of his search for a new republican morality. This is the first ever detailed study in English of this area of French Revolutionary history, and the first in any language since 1988 It will be welcomed by scholars and students of the period.

Genres: History, France, Nonfiction

200 pages, Hardcover

Published August 23, 2016

Reviews

[Hagar · Rating 3 out of 5]

An extensive historical account of "The Festival of the Supreme Being," which was held on 20 Prairie Year II in the Revolutionary calendar that the Jacobins used, which translates to June 8, 1794. This was an attempt by Robespierre to unite the French Republic’s patriotic citizenry and a Rousseauian notion of civic virtue under a deistic civil religion. 

Smyth delineates what happened at the main festival in Paris and its short-lived existence as a phenomenon with spin-offs all over France. A fascinating (and failed) experiment in establishing a secular religion. Specifically, in contrast to the Cult of Reason, which was also a short-lived state-promoted atheistic religion. Napoleon banned both when he came into power. I'd recommend this book to anyone interested in this period or case in history.