This new episode of the Index of Forbidden Books focuses on one of the most important works of French literature, Victor Hugo's Les Miserables, a scandalous novel that uncovered the problems of 19th-century society.
The novel may seem to have fallen under Vatican prohibition by misunderstanding, since one of its central themes is Christian mercy. Many modern religious scholars still analyze the novel as a work sympathetic to Catholicism!
And yet Les Miserables was banned by the church for almost a century, from 1864 until 1959.
Watch our new video on how Hugo's work first angered society and later became one of the catalysts for the liberalization of the church.
"The Index of Forbidden Books" is a list of publications forbidden for reading by the Roman Catholic Church. It includes about 4,000 texts. Until 1966, people were threatened with excommunication for reading publications on this list.
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00:00 Index of Banned Books
00:24 The plot of Les Miserables
01:40 What was going on with the French Catholic Church and the Vatican?
03:07 Who advocated for liberalization of the church?
03:52 Hugo on religion
05:13 Hugo the politician - speeches in Parliament
06:44 Reasons for banning the book "Les Miserables". Opinion of Catholics and writers
07:36 Liberalization of the Church. Abolition of the index of banned books