"Although the Prime Minister Mazarin was no friend of the Huguenots, yet his moderation kept the hatred of Louis IV against them in check, so that his death in 1661 may be regarded as a misfortune to the cause of the Reformation.

The general course of events from this time on was more and more disastrous to the Huguenots; the Jesuits were everywhere and all the time busy, and with tireless energy worked for the complete eradication of the "Pretended Reformed Religion." Many places of worship were now interdicted, charitable institutions were confiscated and churches destroyed under the frivolous pretexts and the sufferers were denied all legal remedies against their oppressors and despoilers. Thus was the way gradually paved for the final revocation. Infractions of the edicts were made under the guise of ordinances which invaded the most sacred rights of the Protestants--even the privacy of the home was no longer respected.

In May, 1665, was passed the ordinance authorizing the priests, in company with an officer, to appear before the sick and induce them to abjure heresy and die in the faith of the church. In October of the same year a decree was issued that male children at the age of fourteen and females at the age of twelve were capable of embracing Catholicism.

The force of this decree may well be imagined when the susceptibility of youth is considered and the nature of the inducements that were held out for their abjuration. Protestant burials were made permissible only at daybreak, and funeral corteges exceeding ten persons were prohibited except in a few cities. They were not allowed to marry except at set times and nuptial assemblies were limited to twelve persons. Poor churches were prohibited from receiving aid. Ministers were prohibited from receiving titles, etc. In 1666 a new set of regulations comprising fifty-nine articles was issued, the provisions of which so invaded all the rights of humanity that they evoked a remonstrance from several Protestant Sovereigns in whose continued friendship Louis XIV was interested. This had some effect, and in 1669 several of the most inhuman articles were revoked and others were modified.

The Regulations of 1666 was the occasion of the first emigration of the Huguenots, and in a short time thousands of the better class had sought refuge in foreign lands. In 1669 Marshal Turenne, one of the former military leaders of the Huguenots, abjured the Reformed faith and became a confidential agent of the King to bring the Protestants back into the Catholic fold, promising that the gross abuses of the church should be corrected. Many of the Protestant nobles yielded, but the clergy, whose piety and devotion to principles was of a higher type and uninfluenced by political motives, remained firm.

Louis XIV, whose immoralities had greatly scandalized his court, professed in 1676 to have reformed, and in order to signalize his devotion to the church undertook anew the complete extirpation of heresy in his Kingdom. This was the beginning of the end of the horrible tragedy under the guise of the Christian religion. A well regulated system of "Conversion" was established under Pellison, who had formerly been a Huguenot but was now a most bigoted Catholic. This system provided for bribing the consciences of the Protestants with money and other rewards; the procurers were also rewarded according to the rank and importance of the converts. Records were kept of the so-called "converts." As may be supposed, thousands of the weak and ignorant gave way to this new crusade. In this diabolical business great frauds were perpetrated against the government by the procurers, causing the most outrageous scandals.

If you attempt to look up THEVELIN or TEVELEIN in the Dictionaire Entmologique des Noms de Famile et Prenoms de France the nearest you will find is:

THÉROUANNE  (de localité d'origine Calais (Pas-de-Calais)

See    Cathedral       The town

Two churches founded by monks
The town of Saint-Omer stands on hillside on the edge of the river Aa marshes. In the 7th century Benedictine monks came here to convert the local people to Christianity. Bishop Omer's cathedral was in Thérouanne. He could not speak Flemish so he brought two monks with him, Bertin and Mommolin. They founded a monastery near the river, called "Saint Bertin's Abbey"

Omer later built a chapel and college for monks about 1km further up the gentle slope up from the marshes. This was rebuilt on a grand scale starting in the 13th century as one of the most beautiful Gothic churches in northern France. When completed in 1561, it was made a cathedral to replace the one Charles Quint destroyed in Thérouanne.