Catherine Théot

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Illustration théots from the early 19th century

Catherine Théot (born March 5, 1716 in Barenton , Département Manche , † September 1, 1794 in Paris ) was a French mystic and alleged prophetess in the French Revolution .

Life

Catherine Théot was born in the parish of Barenton. She stayed at the Hôtel de Miramion in Paris, a religious educational community founded by Madame de Miramion in the 17th century. In 1779 Théot, possibly confused by her ascetic lifestyle, declared that she was a rebirth of Mary or Eve . She was then imprisoned for a few years, first in the Bastille and then in an institution, but was released again in 1782 and subsequently worked as a paid seer and prophetess.

Her own mystical ideas continued to focus over time and she preached the approaching kingdom of heaven. She was able to convince a community of about 35 people to be the new birth of the Mother of God; This group included Christoph-Antoine Gerle , the Phantast Ouvdemont and several female members of the high nobility who sought religious support. In June 1794 she read to her followers a letter that she claimed to have received through the hand of Mary, in which she announced Robespierre as the Messiah and Son of the Supreme Being. In the previous month he wanted to raise the cult of the highest being to the state religion of France.

Robespierre's opponents like Marc Guillaume Alexis Vadier used Théot's alleged private revelations to portray the entire cult of the Supreme Being as ridiculous. Robespierre's alleged support of Théots was used as a clue to accuse him of plans for dictatorship. Although a direct connection between Robespierre and the enthusiast Théot could not be definitively proven, she was also arrested, sentenced and imprisoned as a result of the 9th Thermidor . She died in prison a few months later.

The vernacular later called it the Chêre Mère de Dieu de la Révolution , the love of Mother of God of the Revolution .

literature

  • Michel Eude: Points de vue sur l'affaire Catherine Théot . In: Annales historiques de la Révolution française 198, 1969, pp. 606-629.
  • G. Lenotre: Robespierre et la "Mère de Dieu": le mysticisme révolutionnaire . Perrin, Paris 1926 ( e-text on Wikisource )
  • Eduard Maria Oettinger (arr.): Jules Michelet : The women of the French Revolution. Leipzig 1854, pp. 281-287 online

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Antonius Lux (ed.): Great women of world history. A thousand biographies in words and pictures . Sebastian Lux Verlag , Munich 1963, p. 463.
  2. ↑ Albert Soboul : The Great French Revolution. An outline of their history (1789–1799) . Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 1983, p. 375.
personal data
SURNAME Théot, Catherine
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Théot, Katherine; Théos, Catherine
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French mystic and preacher
DATE OF BIRTH March 5, 1716
PLACE OF BIRTH Barenton , Manche department
DATE OF DEATH September 1, 1794
Place of death Paris