Luxury, Debauchery, and Lavish Expenditures

Luxury, Debauchery, and Lavish Expenditures (II, 105)

Author Bio: “Marquis de Ferrieres was a conservative noble, yet still a severe critic of the monarchy , the nobility, and revolutionaries.

Date/Context: This piece is in reference to the clergy of the time.

Summary:

De Ferrieres begins the document by mentioning that there were dioceses of all sizes, some quite large, and some with only fifteen families. He complains some priests that did their jobs properly received very little pay, and those who didn’t do much were overpaid. The king was responsible for choosing the bishops, and they didn’t appoint bishops with the most credentials, but the ones of families with a greater influence. He describes his distaste for this idea by saying “What evils have not resulted from this!” He mentioned that the bishops incapable of doing their job somehow managed to stay in these positions and abused their powers. De Ferrieres ends the document with the statement that “the dioceses remained in the hands of obscure secretaries.”

Key Quotation: “...ecclesiastics who performed no function in the cult and who, residing elsewhere, carried away the revenue of these benefices, dissipating it in luxury, debauchery, and lavish expenditure.”