For a very long time, France was ruled by kings, and the kings were Catholics. We had a protestant king between 1589 and 1610, and he was a terrific ruler who brought peace and prosperity to the country after 50 years of religion wars, but even he had to convert to catholicism in order to be crowned and rule.
The last king of France, Louis XVI, was beheaded during the French Revolution, on January the 21st of 1793. There were a few more kings after him, but royalty eventually ended during the 19th century.
The king was appointed by God. He was crowned in Reims, when he came of age, at the age of 13, and remained king until he died, usually of old age. Murdering the king was a crime of “régicide”, and it was punished with the death penalty and horrible tortures.
During the French Revolution, the revolutionaries got rid of the king, and of all the symbols of royalty as well. This means they got rid of the whole catholic church, who were extremely wealthy, and the clergymen and the nuns. Lots of them were murdered after phony trials. The churches were confiscated and turned into public places.
We’ve been king-free and religion-free for over 200 years, but there still are traces of the past. For example, Paris has its own saints. The most famous is Saint Genoveve.
She was a Christian young girl born near Paris, and the tale about her is she protected Paris from the Huns of Attila in 451 (she was 28 at that time). Of course, it’s a fairy tale. But nowadays she’s a saint, a Catholic saint, and she’s the “patronne”, a dedicated saint, of Paris.
She has statues of her self all over Paris, and several churches named after her. She’s also the “patronne” of the police.
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