In the eighteenth century, when a cur? was obliged to report to the
"intendant " the number of inhabitants of his parish, he had only to
count his communicants at the Easter service; their number was about
that of the adult and valid population, say one half or two fifths of
the sum total.[55] Now, at Paris, out of two millions of Catholics
who are of age, about one hundred thousand perform this strict duty,
aware of its being strict and the imperative prescription of which is
stamped in their memory by a rhyme which they have learned in their
infancy;[56] out of one hundred persons, this is equal to five
communicants, of which four are women and one is a man, in other
words, about one woman out of twelve or thirteen and one man out of
fifty. In the provinces,[57] and especially in the country, there is
good reason for doubling and even tripling these figures; in the
latter case, the most favorable one and, without any doubt, the
rarest, the proportion of professed Christians is that of one to four
among women and one man out of twelve. Evidently, with the others who
make not attend Church regularly, with the three women and the eleven
other men, their faith is only verbal; if they are still Catholics, it
is on the outside and not within.
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