July 12: Louis XVI accepts and inaugurated the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, subordinating the Church to the civil government, which was never taken by Pope Pius VIPope Pius VI was head of the Roman Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States in France. and other numerous individuals of the French clergy.
This created a split between those clergy who swore the required pledge and acknowledged the new arrangement between. The resulting years saw violent oppression of the Church, including the imprisonment and killing of priests all through France.