August 24, 1572

Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre, 1572

This sordid piece of French history is one that her freethinking population makes sure nobody forgets: centuries later it remains a useful argument against theocracies. Estimates of the dead range from 2-5000 in Paris, and up to 30,000 in France as a whole as Catholics (roughly 95% of the population at the time) went hog wild after being given carte blanche to butcher every Protestant they could lay their hands on. Here's how the Catholic Church begins its side of the story:

This massacre of which Protestants were the victims occurred in Paris on 24 August, 1572 (the feast of St. Bartholomew), and in the provinces of France during the ensuing weeks, and it has been the subject of knotty historical disputes.

The first point argued was whether or not the massacre had been premeditated by the French Court — Sismondi, Sir James Mackintosh, and Henri Bordier maintaining that it had, and Ranke, Henri Martin, Henry White, Loiseleur, H. de la Ferrière, and the Abbé Vacandard, that it had not. The second question debated was the extent to which the court of Rome was responsible for this outrage. At present only a few over-zealous Protestant historians claim that the Holy See was the accomplice of the French Court: this view implies their belief in the premeditation of the massacre, which is now denied by the majority of historians. For the satisfactory solution of the question it is necessary to distinguish carefully between the attempted murder of Coligny on 22 August and his assassination on the night of 23-24 August, and the general massacre of Protestants.

Of course, what they forget to mention is that the pope had a medal struck commorating the occasion, said a thanksgiving mass and had a painting commissioned, in the Vatican, to trumpet the saving of the Holy See from Protestant heretics. Try Wikipedia's version too.