7

Assistance for the disadvantaged underwent a period of liberal regulation in early nineteenthcentury France, when the State held back and left it to municipalities, civic organizations, and religious congregations to manage such help locally. This article demonstrates how Catholics invested in the traditional field of charity with renewed philanthropic inspiration, in female congregations and in massive organizations especially well developed in Paris, that were all but delegated with assuring public services in charity offices, schools, and hospitals. The demon stration is based on a neighborhood- and street-level analysis of the Parisian space, making it possible to test the hypothesis of an amorphous charitable/philanthropic/reformist network at a time when a variety of social and religious worlds were actively seeking solutions to social problems.