This book describes the important contribution of teaching congregations and the Catholic Church to popular education in the 10th century. The example of the Lyon diocese shows that the increasing schooling of both boys and girls is a process that largely depends on the energy of the Catholic Church and the ongoing work for the reconstruction of parishes after the Revolution. Between 1801 and 1880, the Lyon congregations multiply their schools and develop a school model acceptable to local communities. After 1880, when the laws of Jules Ferry secular public schools, these congregations mobilise the public and their own resources to keep private schools, even when congregations are banned from teaching after 1904. Even on the defensive side, teacher congregations have resisted the marginalisation of their role in the creation of the universal school system. Drawn from the archives of the congregations themselves, which have so far been little accessible, this book calls into question the French school myths that have lasted more than a century.