The leaders of the revolution soon drove 30 to 40,000 priests out of their native towns into exile or hiding. And that proved to be only a prelude. The revolution began to take on a religious character all its own. A new calendar removed all traces of Christianity and elevated the cult of “Reason.” Soon parish churches were converted to “Temples of Reason,” and in the cathedral of Notre Dame revolutionaries enthroned an actress on the high altar as the “Goddess of Reason.” This set the pattern for the provinces. Young girls decked out as Reason or Liberty or Nature led processions through
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