Les ordinations sacerdotales dans le diocèse de Cambrai au XVIIIe siècle (1727-1788)

The Cambrai diocese offered in the xvinth century a rate of recruiting to the ecclesiastical function approaching 3 clergymen for any thousand inhabitants over periods of 25 years, that is largely over the French average (between one and two per thousand). This widespread sacerdotal vocation can be accounted for by, all at once, a strong demographic growth, a high degree of literacy, the system of secondary education, the efficiency of the diocesan seminary, the benefits system and, more largely, the impact of Counter- Reformation in the Netherlands. Moreover, Cambrai did not experience the vocational crisis observed anywhere else after 1760 ; only a slight decline can be noticed here. In the same manner, it does not look as though there had been any real decline among the regular clergy. This inquiry bases itself on the bishops' records of ordinations and ecclesiastical insinuations.