 | You can helpexpand this article with text translated fromthe corresponding article in French. (March 2023)Click [show] for important translation instructions.
|
Clerico-Nationalism was aright-wingideology current inQuebec from the years afterWorld War I until the end of the 1950s, from the premiership ofMaurice Duplessis until theQuiet Revolution. Clerico-nationalism was a traditionalist, religious form ofFrench Canadiannationalism focused on theRoman Catholic Church. InFrance, a similar ideology was referred to asNational Catholicism.
The term clerico-nationalism was coined byPaul-André Linteau.Henri Bourassa publicized clerico-nationalist views, as did the editors of his newspaperLe Devoir, and the League des droits du français (League of French Rights). Clerico-nationalist thinking was most thoroughly developed and spread byLionel Groulx and the Ligue d'Action française (French Action League), which he led.
Clerico-nationalism was focused on the past. Clerico-nationalists pushed a conservative line in politics and defended the interests of what they called theFrench Canadian race. Advocates of clerico-nationalism were strictlyCatholic and mostly members of theclergy. They defended traditional family values, respect for hierarchy, submission of the wife to the authority of her husband, andnatalism. They also defendedagriculture and therural way of life. They were on guard against what they saw as the dangers of the city and praised popularreligious education.[1]
Clerico-nationalists also took stands on language and culture. They were purists about theFrench language, preferring theFrench spoken in France as the standard form of the language. In terms of culture and literature, Groulx and his fellows were traditionalists and opposed to modernist French and European. They promoted rural, conservative, and nationalist literature which opposed exoticism, art in the Parisian style, orParnassianism, which was characterized by the study of 'art for art's sake'.[citation needed]
 | This sectiondoes notcite anysources. Please helpimprove this section byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged andremoved.(February 2025) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Starting in the 1930s, other more radical nationalist ideas (secularist andseparatist) began to coalesce. These reduced the influence of Clerico-nationalism. These more radical ideas took hold in the movements inspired byPaul Bouchard andAdrien Arcand, and the groupJeune-Canada (Young Canada).
In the 1940s, opposition to the ideology of Groulx's generation became more vigorous. The young artists ofRefus global, centered aroundPaul-Émile Borduas, strongly rejected clerico-nationalism, which they believed was reactionary. They were modern, anti-clerical, and revolutionary. This opposition had little effect at the time, but the generation of the Quiet Revolution would later rediscover it, opening the door toMarxism and the far left.
After the premiership of Duplessis Clerico-nationalism, often associated with his government, progressively gave way to the liberalism represented byJean Lesage. However, the ideology represented by Groulx and his successors during close to a quarter century was a major influence on Quebec history in the 20th century. Clerico-nationalism brought together a number of intellectuals and figures from different nationalist milieus in defense of French Canadian tradition against rising liberalism, secularism, urbanization, and capitalism in the.[clarification needed] The often passionate debates that Clerico-nationalism stirred up focused discussion on modernity, the influence of Catholicism on political life, and the idea of progress in Quebec during a turning point in its history.
