La nature sous les vitrines catholiques françaises. Cabinets et musées d’histoire naturelle cléricaux (xixe-xxe siècles)

Résumé Fr En

Les cabinets et les musées d’histoire naturelle dans les institutions catholiques françaises masculines sont un miroir du rapport à la nature et à la science dans l’Église de France. Entre les années 1820 et 1860, les premières collections sont constituées dans les établissements scolaires catholiques et les congrégations, avec une visée pédagogique. La fin du xixe siècle correspond à l’âge d’or de ces cabinets et musées et la mise sous vitrine de la nature domestiquée devient un enjeu de communication, en particulier dans le cadre de la concurrence scolaire. À partir de l’entre-deux-guerres, l’attention portée aux cabinets décroît, mais de nouvelles approches contribuent à redonner vie aux collections. Celles-ci peuvent être scientifiques, quand le cabinet devient laboratoire, ou patrimoniales, essentiellement sous l’impulsion des congrégations. À la fin du xxe siècle, ces dernières voient en effet dans les cabinets hérités un moyen de mettre en valeur leur histoire, en soulignant leur rôle dans le développement de l’enseignement ou des sciences. Les cabinets et les musées d’histoire naturelle des institutions catholiques reflètent l’ampleur de la collecte naturaliste effectuée par le clergé séculier et missionnaire et traduisent l’attention portée à l’enseignement scientifique. Leur étude participe ainsi à la réévaluation de la place de l’Église dans l’histoire des sciences, longtemps sous-évaluée.

Natural history cabinets and museums in French Catholic institutions reflect the relationship with nature and with science in the Church in France. Between the 1820s and 1860s, the first collections were built up in Catholic schools and religious congregations for educational purposes, most of the time on the initiative of teachers. Making collections was seen as a way to develop rigour and to get in touch with Creation. As such, they were seen as a means of forming a good Christian. The end of the 19th century was the golden age of these cabinets and museums. Then, the collections grew dramatically, thanks to the clerical networks and the help of the missionaries. The showcasing of domesticated nature became an issue of communication, particularly during the school war, which opposed Catholic establishments and state-run schools. From the interwar period onwards, natural history cabinets suffered from a declining interest. A technical vision of nature was spreading and, in schools, natural history cabinets and museums were no longer used. However, new approaches contributed to reviving the collections after the 1930s. These could be scientific, when the natural history cabinet evolved into a laboratory. And at the end of the 20th century, the development was more from a heritage perspective, under the impetus of congregations. These congregations saw the inherited cabinets as a means of highlighting their own history as well as of contributing to the teaching or development of science. The natural history cabinets and museums of Catholic institutions reflect the extent of the naturalist collections carried out by the secular and missionary clergy and the attention paid to scientific education. Their study thus contributes to the reassessment of the place of the Church in the history of science, which has long been underestimated. It also shows the place of nature in the Catholic Church. The display of nature is not unique to religious institutions, but it is based on specific motivations. In the 19th century, setting up a cabinet was a way of saying something about Creation, either in a scientific way, at a time of debate on evolution, or in a sensitive way, by promoting the beauty of the world as proof of the existence of God.