In the middle of the 19th century, French Catholics were very much concerned about the violation of Sunday rest. The July Monarchy, which went hand in hand with massive industrialization and a liberal government, didn’t have social legislation as a priority. The Second Republic, on the contrary, seemed to open up more propitious times for claims on Sunday rest. However, administrative solutions were preferred to legislative ones. Catholics were therefore obliged to turn to other forms of lobbying. In 1853, the member of Parliament Albert d’Olivier founded, in Paris, the Association for Rest on Sundays and on other Religious Feasts. This institution was quite successful during the Second Empire although it did not reap as many benefits as it was expected. It was born among the charitable aristocracy of the Faubourg Saint Germain and it stands as a good observatory of strict Catholicism, of its apocalyptic views and of its social implications.