DiotimosReading Desk

Religion

Regular clergy and laypeople

régulier; clerc régulier; laïque

Régulier identifies a member of a religious order living under its rule, not someone merely ordinary, orderly or regularly employed.

From the book

The Gods Are Athirst

Anatole France · Diotimos Editions · 2026

Browse this book’s lexicon →

Meaning

Related words and phrases.

Régulier identifies a member of a religious order living under its rule, not someone merely ordinary, orderly or regularly employed. Longuemare calls himself a Barnabite clerc régulier and rejects the crowd’s Capuchin label. Laïques are laypeople: he assigns lay politicians less responsibility than religious men, and his intended defence calls the dispersed regulars Christ’s militia. These are distinctions within his religious understanding of identity and obligation, not proof that the revolutionary judges share his classifications.

Places to read

  1. Chapter VI, paragraph 35FrenchJe suis un régulier: I belong to a religious order. Longuemare first accepts the general category.
  2. Chapter VI, paragraph 35Frenchclerc régulier: Clerk regular. He then gives his specific religious status.
  3. Chapter XIV, paragraph 24Frenchce sont des laïques: they are laymen. Longuemare argues that lay politicians do not bear the same responsibility as religious men.
  4. Chapter XIX, paragraph 10Frenchles réguliers, véritable milice du Christ: regular clergy, Christ’s true militia. The phrase belongs to his intended defence of the Church.