This study focuses on religious confessions in the strict sense. It has shown that although the Catholic Reform has changed the phenomenon of confraternel, in particular by developing a more individual piety, many confreeries retain intercession practices. The eighteenth century was characterised, especially after 1750, by a decline in practice, but it was not possible to speak of a collapse. PhD in philosophy and letters (history) (HIST 3) --UCL, 2005