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The invention of Saint Napoléon in 1806 was an act of state. It was a highly political act, sanctioned post factum explicitly by a dignitary of the Catholic Church and implicitly, after mature consideration, by the Curia. This initiative by Portalis and Cardinal Caprara, comprising on the one hand a liturgical service celebrated by the clergy and faithful and, on the other, a public fête designed to involve the ensemble of the citizenry, was studied in Rome from a historical and political standpoint, and the conclusion appears to have been decisive in the later development of Church State relations. Systematic study of the many representations of this new saint, created in honour of the Emperor, makes it possible to draw conclusions concerning his popularity and broad appeal: the two bodies of the people, the ecclesial and the civic, were not combined. Veneration of Saint Napoléon was also offered to the minority denominations, notably Protestants, Jews and even Free Masons, and it became emblematic of jingoistic patriotism, hence its continued appearance even after 1814. In this way, the saint which the Church (when requested by the State) reluctantly allowed the faithful to venerate, mutated into a mythical largely secular figure, destined to act as national cement.