La Messe de l'athée (English "The Atheist's Mass") is a short story by Honoré de Balzac, published in 1836. It is one of the Scènes de la vie privée in La Comédie humaine. The main character, Desplein, is a successful surgeon. One day, Doctor Horace Bianchon, his former assistant and friend, sees Desplein, an atheist, going into the Saint-Sulpice church, and, knowing Desplein and his strong atheistic beliefs, decides to follow him. He sees Desplein alone attending a mass. After Desplein departs, Bianchon questions the priest from whom he learns that Desplein attends a mass at the church four times a year (at the beginning of each season) which he himself pays for. (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0)