Page 165 - Upland Families, Elites and Communities

Catholic Confraternities, Kinship and Social Discipline

of Valais, such sexual offences were not confined to a marginal sub-society,
as suggested by studies conducted in the 1980s (Laslett 1980), but were
widespread across every class of the population. The phenomenon marked
a detachment of a section of the elites from the Church and its moral con-
ceptions. A certain demand for autonomy in relation to religion was emerg-
ing in several sectors of social life, including sexual morality. This demand
was showcased in a number of ways, including in a certain tolerance to-
wards the growing number of couples conceiving their first child before
marriage.
In Liddes there were already significant transformations underway even
before the community entered into the conflict with Murith. The clergy-
men deplored the conspicuous increase in carnal relations out of wedlock,
but they could perhaps console themselves with the fact that the confra-
ternities still represented a solid stronghold against ‘debauchery.’ This was
probably a pious delusion. Apparently, the female members of local confra-
ternities did not behave in a clearly different way from other young wom-
en of their region. We can quantify this pattern, analysing all the couples
who married in Liddes between 1750 and 1760 and then between 1840 and
1850. On the list of marrying women and men we can distinguish members
of confraternities and others, comparing their reported sexual behaviour:
whether they had a prenuptial conception, a child born before marriage
or an illegitimate child, according to the parish registers, or whether no
sexual irregularity was signalled by the parson.
The analysis of the dataset shows that members of the confraternities
were less likely to have illicit sexual relations than their fellow parish-
ioners, but the difference was not very significant. In fact, after 1775 a
growing number of women conceiving a child before marriage, and even
single mothers, were confraternity members – who, according to the
statutes of the society, should have been especially modest and chaste.
Comparing the names of the male and female members recorded in the
confraternity registers with the names and genealogical data presented
in the rhpv database, which contains information both on illegitimate
births and, indirectly, on premarital conceptions, many examples could be
mentioned. In 1777, Marie Petronille Gambonod Gallien gave birth to an il-
legitimate child fathered by Pierre Vorache. She had been a member of the
Confraternity of the Rosary since 1767. The following year, Marie Ursule
Darbellayhadachild before sheandthefatherhadreceivedthe priest’s
blessing. She had also been a member of the Confraternity of the Rosary
since 1767. It appears that, despite the fact that their sexual behaviour was

163