In Beneath the Cross, Barbara Diefendorf explores religion in sixteenth-century Paris. More closely, Diefendorf looks at Catholic ritual as a way of bringing the church's, the monarchy's, and the state's values together in Paris during the early modern era (Diefendorf, 29). To support her claim, Diefendorf shows three specific elements of the church. The first element is Mass (particularly eucharistic devotion) as the most important rite of faith to all Catholics. Secondly, she examines confraternities and parochial worship to illustrate how involved the church is in peoples" lives; the confraternity is a way for people to socialize and do good deeds in the name of the church. Finally, she uses multiple examples of processions to show the coming together of the church and state as one. These types of evidence are the link between the Catholic Church and civic identity in Paris. .
Diefendorf uses the Mass (the Eucharist) to explain Catholic and state unity. She discusses multiple scholars" writings about the Eucharist. She then states their arguments, and defends them with evidence to support her claims about the importance of Mass to the Catholic population. The Mass meant different things to the clergy and to the general population. The general population did not understand the true meaning of transubstantiation; many would argue that this was not true Catholicism. However, Diefendorf argues that regardless if the general population knew the meaning of transubstantiation, they were still going through the motions of the Catholic faith. The important thing to get out of the ritual was the proper way Christians were to behave, and not the theology behind it (31). To the general public, a gathering of the faithful was important to God, it was uniting of the faithful that was important. Parisians came together under their faith and even had their own rituals of passing out holy bread as a way to show their unity under God.
