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APPENDIX
POSTSCRIPT .
On the use of the term
" Emigré."
The Decree of the Legislative Assembly of August 26, 1792, determined the position of the whole of the Clergy in France who had remained faithful to the Holy See. Under the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, which came into force on January 1 , 1791 , every bishop, parish priest and curate retained in office was obliged to take an oath of fidelity to the Constitution under penalty of being deprived of his benefice. By subsequent decrees promulgated in March and April 1791 this proviso was extended to preachers , professors, and hospital and prison chaplains. The avowed object of the Decree of August 26, 1792, was to rid the country of the nonjuring clergy. From the date of its proclamation in a district or municipality every ecclesiastic resident within who had not taken the oath, or who having taken it had retracted and persisted in his contumacy, was obliged to apply at once to the local authority for a passport, specifying the country to which he wished to go and the route by which he intended to travel , and within eight days of the proclamation he was to clear out of the district and within fifteen days out of the country, under penalty of transportation to French Guiana .
it
It is safe to say that practically the whole of the clergy charged with the cure of souls remained at their posts until driven into exile by the Decree of August 26, 1792. Previous to that date, however, a few ecclesiastics who had lost their occupation such as dignitaries, preachers , professors or chaplains sought a refuge abroad from the evils they shrewdly foresaw . Only to these can the term émigré justly apply, emigration implying volition; but to apply it indiscriminately to all the clergy who found an asylum in this country would appear to cast a reflection on the great body of parish priests and curates who loyally stuck to their posts to the very last in the hour of persecution . For this reason the term refugee has been uniformly used throughout this paper, quoted matter excepted .
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