The history of baptism has long been confined to the realm of religious studies, leaving aside its broader social significance, until a recent wave of studies began exploring the topic with fresh approaches and methodologies. Vincent Gourdon and Guido Alfani were co-founders, in 2006, of the research network Patrinus, focused on baptism and godparenthood, that has since thrived and produced high-quality works. This important book from Gourdon is the result of more than 20 years of efforts to bring baptismal practices to the forefront and reveal the interpretative power of a social history of sacraments. The author’s impressive command of the scholarly literature and research materials over a period spanning five centuries makes this a truly remarkable achievement. However, future readers should be aware that the real subject of this book is Catholic baptism in continental France; while Protestant baptismal practices and civic baptisms are treated as comparisons and alternatives, the small space given to colonies is a reflection of the current state of research on the topic. Nevertheless, I have no doubt that this book will become essential reading for anyone interested in religious rituals, family dynamics and social behaviour.

The book is divided into seven chapters that cover the evolution of baptism from the late Middle Ages to our times. Chapter 1 is a quick overview of the impact of religious reforms on the universal practice of baptism in France. Doctrinal differences between Catholics and Calvinists, on what remained a sacrament in both confessions, were not deemed so crucial that they prevented acceptance of the validity of the original ritual in cases of conversion. The Council of Trent (1545–1563) brought order to Catholic baptism by insisting on the spiritual aspects of the ritual and by limiting the familial and social festivities, perceived as perverting the meaning of the religious ceremony. This attitude from the Catholic Church had long-term consequences as it favoured the role of spiritual kinship over the active participation of natural parents and downplayed the social need to use the occasion to reinforce family ties with the community, setting the terms of a battle between Church and family over the next five centuries. Chapter 2 traces the contours of an Old Regime model of baptism, characterized by its universality and insistence on baptizing early, justified by the urgent need to save the souls of fragile newborns before a premature death condemned them to spiritual limbo. The French State went even further than the Church, in 1698, imposing by royal declaration a requirement to baptize within 24 hours of birth; this also tasked midwives with keeping parish priests informed of any new delivery. These converging measures contributed to limit the choice of godparents and keep the festivities to a bare minimum by leaving no time for lengthy preparations. Medical considerations are injected into the analysis from this point on in the book, first addressing concerns raised by physicians, starting in the late seventeenth century, pointing to the dangerous impact of early baptism on the health of infants, thereby challenging the position of Church and State on the matter. Unsurprisingly, Gourdon identifies the French Revolution as a major turning point in the long history of baptism in France in Chapter 3. Since the sixteenth century, baptism was the ceremony during which the infant became a religious community member as well as a crown subject by virtue of the registration powers given to the Church. This legal obligation was permanently severed during the revolutionary period, the civic status (état civil) of individuals now resting solely in the hands of secular officials. Moreover, the revolutionaries provided an alternative to religious baptism by promoting civic baptisms, thus giving lay people new agency at a time when the influence of the Church was weakened.

Chapters 4 and 5 address major evolutions in baptismal practices in the nineteenth century by taking different methodological approaches. Chapter 4 relies heavily on statistical analyses in the tradition of historical demography and family history. The author uses his expertise in that domain and mobilizes a great amount of data-driven research to show not only that early baptism was being challenged by economic, social and religious transformations but also that families influenced changes in the calendar of baptismal ceremonies, targeting particular days in the week and specific seasons. Chapter 5 proceeds to explain some of these findings by turning to religious studies and historical sociology, underlining the influence of hygienists and family-centred social pressure in pushing the Church towards more flexibility. What puzzled me was the choice to divide the analysis that way, when one of the aims of this study, expressed in the introduction, was the willingness to close the gap between all the different approaches in the historiography of baptism to produce a more global, integrated interpretation. The demonstration would have been stronger with summarized statistical results, enhanced by the multilayered interpretation developed in Chapter 5. Chapter 6 turns its attention to godparenthood and the trend towards choosing godparents from within the family rather than seeking the protection of social superiors, a transition that Gourdon situates in the eighteenth century instead of earlier, as traditional interpretations claim. Finally, Chapter 7 explores the decline of Catholic baptism in France starting in the middle of the twentieth century, from the reforms attempted by ecclesiastics to a steep decrease in the late 1960s. Gourdon refuses to stop at obvious factors such as the secularization of French society (which he readily admits) or Muslim immigration (which he dismisses), preferring instead to offer multiple avenues of explanation, in a brief but stimulating discussion of recent trends such as adult baptism, the LGBTQ community parental recognition needs, and the growth of civic baptisms following the French Revolution bicentenary, leaving the reader with much to think about when closing the book. Using the lens of baptism to map out major transitions in French society over the last five centuries, the author convincingly demonstrates the potential of a renewed study of religious rituals, which will most certainly generate comparative research endeavours.