When Auguste Comte Invented a Religion

In Division 17 of Père-Lachaise, the tomb of Auguste Comte is crowned by a bronze statue over two metres tall, representing Humanity. Brazilian sculptor Henrique Batista da Silva Oliveira made the statue, installed in 1985. Fresh flowers lie before the tomb, along with a Brazilian flag and messages in Portuguese. Auguste Comte was not only the founder of positivism and the inventor of the word “sociology”: in 1851 the philosopher founded a religion — the Religion of Humanity — with its own liturgy, its own sacraments, its own calendar and its own clergy. That religion still exists today, chiefly in Brazil, where positivist temples welcome worshippers.

The Religion of Humanity replaces God with a concept: the Great Being, defined as the sum of all human beings, past, present and future, who have contributed to the progress of humanity. In the Positivist Catechism, published in 1852, Comte formalised his religion, setting out nine sacraments to accompany the believer's life — from the presentation of the newborn to incorporation into the Great Being after death. The philosopher devised a positivist calendar of thirteen months of 28 days, each dedicated to a great man: Moses, Homer, Aristotle, Caesar, Charlemagne, Dante, Gutenberg, Shakespeare, Descartes, Frederick the Great, Bichat. Comte drew up plans for a Temple of Humanity and held a weekly service in his flat at 10 rue Monsieur-le-Prince in Paris.

The Religion of Humanity had its own calendar — thirteen months of twenty-eight days, each dedicated to a great figure from history. Moses, Homer, Aristotle, Caesar, Charlemagne, Dante, Shakespeare and Descartes all featured.

Auguste Comte died on 5 September 1857 and was buried at Père-Lachaise in Division 17. The positivist funeral liturgy accompanied the ceremony — the philosopher's followers paid their respects before the coffin according to the rite he had himself codified. The Religion of Humanity found its greatest success in Brazil, where positivist engineers and military officers played a decisive role in the proclamation of the Republic in 1889. Brazil carries Auguste Comte's motto — “Order and Progress” — on its national flag. A positivist church was built in Rio de Janeiro. In Paris, the Chapel of Humanity still stands at 5 rue Payenne in the Marais — a small temple where positivist worshippers used to gather to celebrate the cult of the Great Being.

A visitor who stops before Auguste Comte's tomb in Division 17 of Père-Lachaise sees more than just a philosopher's grave. The Brazilian statue of Humanity, the fresh flowers, the messages in Portuguese are a reminder that Auguste Comte founded a religion that spans two centuries and an ocean. In Brazil, millions of people carry Comte's motto on their flag every day — without always knowing it comes from a French philosopher buried in a Paris cemetery. The Religion of Humanity never won over France, but Comte's tomb at Père-Lachaise remains a place of pilgrimage for Brazilian positivists who make the journey to Paris.