Out of the 310 parishes in the diocese of Quimper and Léon, 94% were in rural areas and majority or exclusively Breton speaking. The remaining 6% in urban areas were French speaking. The latter numbered roughly 20 and made up 24% of the department’s population out of a total of 772,000 inhabitants. 76% of people in Finistère lived in a Breton-speaking parish.
However, the estimated numbers provided by the Brest assistant state representative did not match with those of the clergy. According to him, almost everyone understood French in Brest. In 69 districts, less than 50% of the adult population understood French, whilst the same percentage was equal to or higher than 50% in 12 others. In other words, he confirmed that in 55 of the districts the adult population “understand French a little and show a very marked preference for Breton.”
Translated by Tilly O'Neill
