What a village cemetery says about Catholicism in France

A cemetery in northern France tells us something about Catholicism in this country. I’ve been here many times over the last 15 years…a tiny slice of this village’s lifetime, stretching to the 12th century. In 2013, broken crucifixes and stones littered the grounds of St. Martin church. Flowers and vegetation reclaimed many plots, and at least to me the site felt forgotten. But something changed, bringing some well-needed love and attention to St. Martin...at a time when there are some glimpses of hope for the faith in France. Pope Leo XIV has called for a missionary renewal in France, and baptisms are on the rise. Faith Full is a Catholic podcast hosted by Tony Ganzer.

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In society in general, coming to a cemetery like this is a sacred place. This is a place where people should show reverence. It’s only natural that this is where loved ones and all of us can remember people we may have known, or at least acknowledge that fellow brothers and sisters in Christ existed. But over time some cemeteries face neglect. And in France especially, with a complicated history with its religion, we can ask why did it fall in disrepair? Was it part of a general turning away from the church, or from religion, that these places fell into disrepair? Or that people forgot, and didn’t pay attention to cemeteries like this one at St. Martin, in the village of Mauregny-en-Haye.

This village has only about 400 residents, and it’s lost many of the staples of village life. Decades ago it had things you might expect in a village including two butchers, a market, and even a traveling clothing seller named “the carrier pigeon” would show up. But no longer..no bakery, no traditional grocery store, but farmers do sell fresh produce. And St. Martin itself isn’t the hub it surely used to be. A pamphlet with some local history says big changes to St. Martin’s operations began in the 1960s. At that time, falling parishioner numbers limited the number of priests regularly coming to the area, and thus reduced the number of church services, which thus reduced the number of Catholics, which reduced the number of services, etc. Even though the Catholic faith in France has changed a lot over time, and my most recent trip to France has proved that there’s a general curiosity about religion. What happened? Why did Catholicism fall off so abruptly? As we learned in our episode about the nuns of Compiegne, it’s a complicated history, often related to the revolution, but even before. The complicated relationship between the church and the monarchy, the rise of laicite within France. The changing of just how France operates through multiple world wars. What role does the church play amid such devastation?

It’s hard, it’s a hard question to answer. But to pay respect in a cemetery like this just seems natural, it’s what should be done. And there are people who have taken care of St. Martin. There was an effort to raise money for this place to restore headstones and dress it up a bit. But it doesn’t change the larger trend against the church, against maintenance of places like this as a church as opposed to part of the patrimoine, collective heritage of France. And that’s something that the faithful have to wrestle with, and people who are not particularly religious have to wrestle with. The French subscribe to a kind of hyper secularism as a social “religion” called laicite, extreme separation of church and state. And interesting enough, a desire to preserve civic history may have helped save St. Martin.

Residents and officials worked to secure about 350-thousand-euros to repair the church roof, doors and other improvements in the name of preserving heritage, as opposed to preserving a House of God because it’s a house of God. Some naysayers may not much care about this. “It is just a building,” one might say, or “why should religious groups spend money on property when they can feed the poor?” The physical church building can serve as a hub for feeding the poor, and act as a space for people to contemplate themselves, and God. It also serves as a cultural marker, and an historical marker. In May 2025 Pope Leo said France’s “Christian heritage” … “still profoundly permeates [French] culture and remains alive in many hearts.” This came on the heels of a report that France’s Catholic Church planned to welcome more than 10,300 adult catechumens at Easter, marking a 45% increase from 2024 figures. This is incredible news.

Put simply I think it’s a good thing to maintain churches and cemeteries. Yes for the religious part of it, and I happen to be Catholic so it’s a holy place to me, but also as part of the fabric that holds the community together.