Abstract: On the basis of textual and historical material, this paper explores the religious sources of secularization as well as its impact on the monastic orders in France –the milieu where the term has first been coined. The paper exposes the textual sources and the interpretations of the secular, as it is opposed to the regular, and attempts to unveil the complex meanings, processes, conditions and sectors affected by a secularization of the monastic order, in the context of France, in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. During this period, the meaning of the term “secularization” has been extended from the monastic sphere to the political one, before being prolonged to public thought. In return, the notion has escaped the repertoire of monasticism and taken an intellectual road by which it was finally led to depict a reality beyond the religious world.
