Before the Notre Dame Fire, There Was the Cult of Reason

Photo source.

Along with everyone else, I was saddened by news of a fire engulfing the Notre-Dame de Paris today. My immediate reaction, like most lovers of history, was to look to the past to gain perspective on the modern event. Surely the fire couldn’t be the first disaster suffered by the structure, I reasoned. The building's been around since the 12th century and has survived multiple tumultuous periods of European history (including the reign of Napoleon Bonaparte). A single fire couldn’t be the worst it’s endured. I hoped so, anyway.

My hunch was partially true (though I can’t really be certain of this until the fire’s full damage is quantified). The cathedral has, in fact, seen long periods of disrepair. Its stained glass have been shot out. Its walls have been weathered by air pollution. Its been robbed and ignored.

Of all the stories of Notre Dame’s past, though, one stands out particularly prominently, not merely for the damage associated with it, but also for its pure strangeness. The story I’m referring to involved the damage wrought upon Notre Dame cathedral and its contents in 1793 by the Cult of Reason, a group I’d never previously heard of and one I instantly felt compelled to dig into and write about.

As of this writing, the Notre Dame cathedral has been saved from total ruin, but we likely…