One of the most momentous events in European history, the French Revolution, ushers in the “modern world” of Europe and the particular problems that world raises for the State and society, Catholic life and cultural life, indeed the individual’s whole existence.

1. Causes and occasion. General trends in thought, society, and politics combined with special conditions within France paved the way for revolutionary change which would spread from France all over Europe. When the wars of religion came to an end, the philosophers of the Enlighte…