Old Catholics
Old Catholics
A denomination resulting from the refusal of certain Catholics to accept the decree of papal infallibility as set forth by the Vatican Council in 1870. Their use of the term “old” Catholic indicates their contention that they are standing for the ancient faith, while the Council had added something thereto. Their principal strength has always been in Germany and Switzerland, (Christian Catholic Church), though they have spread to various other countries. They obtained their episcopal succession through the Jansenists of Bolland, and they have been particularly generous in passing it on, creating great confusion as to who are really entitled to be classed as Old Catholics. They set themselves up to accomplish reform in doctrine, discipline, and theology, most of which has been in the direction of Protestantism. It would be difficult to give a complete account of these changes, as Old Catholic sects vary from a rigid orthodoxy to positions which are scarcely recognisable as Christian at all. Of late years they have come into contact with Anglicanism and Eastern Orthodoxy and in some cases have formed partial unions with these. There are three bodies of Old Catholics in America, in agreement with tbe Old Catholic churches of Europe: the Catholic Church of North America organized at Chicago; the American Catholic Church, independent of the Old Catholic Church in America; and the Old Catholic Church in America.
Fuente: New Catholic Dictionary
Old Catholics
The sect organised in German-speaking countries to combat the dogma of Papal Infallibility.
Filled with ideas of ecclesiastical Liberalism and rejecting the Christian spirit of submission to the teachings of the Church, nearly 1400 Germans issued, in September, 1870, a declaration in which they repudiated the dogma of Infallibility “as an innovation contrary to the traditional faith of the Church”. They were encouraged by large numbers of scholars, politicians, and statesmen, and were acclaimed by the Liberal press of the whole world. The break with the Church began with this declaration, which was put forth notwithstanding the fact that the majority of the German bishops issued, at Fulda on 30 August, a common pastoral letter in support of the dogma. It was not until 10 April, 1871, that Bishop Hefele of Rotterdam issued a letter concerning the dogma to his clergy. By the end of 1870 all the Austrian and Swiss bishops had done the same.
The movement against the dogma was carried on with such energy that the first Old Catholic Congress was able to meet at Munich, 22-24 September, 1871. Before this, however, the Archbishop of Munich had excommunicated Döllinger on 17 April 1871, and later also Friedrich. The congress was attended by over 300 delegates from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, besides friends from Holland, France, Spain, Brazil, Ireland, and the representatives of the Anglican Church, with German and American Protestants. The moving spirit in this and all later assemblies for organization was Johann Friedrich von Schulte, the professor of dogma at Prague. Von Schulte summed up the results of the congress as follows:
Adherence to the ancient Catholic faith; maintenance of the rights of Catholics as such; rejection of the new dogmas, adherence to the constitutions of the ancient Church with repudiation of every dogma of faith not in harmony with the actual consciousness of the Church; reform of the Church with constitutional participation of the laity; preparation of the way for reunion of the Christian confessions; reform of the training and position of the clergy; adherence to the State against the attacks of Ultramontanism; rejection of the Society of Jesus; solemn assertion of the claims of Catholics as such to the real property of the Church and to the title to it.
A resolution was also passed on the forming of the parish communities, which Döllinger vehemently opposed and voted against. The second congress, held at Cologne, 20-22 September, 1872, ws attended by 350 Old Catholic delegates, besides one Jansenist and three Anglican bishops, Russian clergy, and English and other Protestant ministers. The election of a bishop was decided on, and among the most important resolutions passed were those pertaining to the organization of the pastorate and parishes. This was followed by steps to obtain recognition of the Old Catholics by various governments; the general feeling of that time made it easy to obtain this recognition from Prussia, Baden, and Hesse. Professor Reinkens of Bonn was elected bishop, 4 June, 1873, and was consecrated at Rotterdam by the Jansenist Bishop of Deventer, Heydekamp, 11 August, 1873. Having been officially recognized as “Catholic Bishop” by Prussia, 19 September, and having taken the oath of allegiance, 7 October, 1873, he selected Bonn as his place of residence. The bishop and his diocese were granted by Prussia an annual sum of 4800 Marks ($1200). Pius IX excommunicated Reinkens by name, 9 November, 1873; previous to which, in the spring of 1872, the archbishop of Cologne had been obliged to excommunicate Hilgers, Langen, Reusch, and Knoodt, professors of theology at Bonn. The same fate had also overtaken several professors at Braunsberg and Breslau. The fiction brought forward by Friedrich von Schulte that the Old Catholics are the true Catholics was accepted by several governments in Germany and Switzerland, and many Catholic churches were transferred to the sect. This was done notwithstanding the fact that a decree of the Inquisition, dated 17 September, 1871, and a Brief of 12 March, 1873, had again shown that the Old Catholics had no connection with the Catholic church; represented, therefore, a religious society entirely separate from the Church; and consequently could assert no legal claims whatever to the funds or buildings for worship of the Catholic Church.
The development of the internal organization of the sect occupied the congresses held at Freiburg in the Breisgau, 1874; at Breslau, 1876; Baden-Baden, 1880; and Krefeld, 1884; as well as the ordinary synods. The synodal constitution, adopted at the urgency of von Schulte, seems likely to lead to the ruin of the sect. It has resulted in unlimited arbitrariness and a radical break with all the disciplinary ordinances of Catholicism. Especially far-reaching was the abolition of celibacy, called forth by the lack of priests. After the repeal of this law a number of priests who were tired of celibacy, none of whom were of much intellectual importance, took refuge among the Old Catholics. The statute of 14 June, 1878, for the maintenance of discipline among the Old Catholic clergy, has merely theoretical value. A bishop’s fund, a pension fund, and a supplementary fund for the incomes of parish priests have been formed, thanks to the aid given by governments and private persons. In the autumn of 1877, Bishop Reinkens founded a residential seminary for theological students, which, on 17 January, 1894, was recognized by royal cabinet order as a juridical person with an endowment of 110,000 Marks ($27,500). A house of studies for gymnasial students called the Paulinum was founded 20 April, 1898, and a residence for the bishop was bought. Besides other periodical publications there is an official church paper. These statements, which refer mainly to Germany, may also be applied in part to the few communities founded in Austria, which, however, have never reached any importance. In Switzerland the clergy, notwithstanding the very pernicious agitation, acquitted themselves well, so that only three priests apostatized. The Protestant cantons — above all, Berne, Basle, and Geneva — did everything possible to promote the movement. An Old Catholic theological faculty, in which two radical Protestants lectured, was founded at the University of Berne. At the same time all the Swiss Old Catholic communities organized themselves into a “Christian Catholic National Church” in 1875; in the next hear Dr. Herzog was elected bishop and consecrated by Dr. Reinkens. Berne was chosen as his place of residence. As in Germany so in Switzerland confession was done away with, celibacy abolished, and the use of the vernacular prescribed for the service of the altar. Attempts to extend Old Catholicism to other countries failed completely. That lately an apostate English priest named Arnold Matthew, who for a time was a Unitarian, married, then united with another suspended London priest named O’Halloran, and was consecrated by the Jansenist Archbishop of Utrecht, is not a matter of any importance. Matthew calls himself an Old Catholic bishop, but has practically no following. Some of the few persons who attend his church in London do so ignorantly in the belief that the church is genuinely Catholic.
The very radical liturgical, disciplinary, and constitutional ordinances adopted in the first fifteen years gradually convinced even the most friendly government officials that the fiction of the Catholicism of the Old Catholics was no longer tenable. The damage, however, had been done, the legal recognition remained unchanged, and the grant from the budget could not easily be dropped. In Germany, although there was no essential change in this particular, yet the political necessity which led to a modus vivendi in the Kulturkampf chilled the interest of statesmen in Old Catholics, particularly as the latter had not been able to fulfil their promise of nationalizing the Church in Germany. The utter failure of this attempt was due to the solidarity of the violently persecuted Catholics. In many cases entire families returned to the Church after the first excitement had passed, and the winning power of the Old Catholic movement declined throughout Germany in the same degree as that in which the Kulturkampf powerfully stimulated genuine Catholic feeling. The number of Old Catholics sank rapidly and steadily; to conceal this the leaders of the movement made use of a singular device. Up to then Old Catholics had called themselves such, both for the police registry and for the census. They were now directed by their leaders to cease this and to call themselves simply Catholics. The rapid decline of the sect has thus been successfully concealed, so that it is not possible at the present day to give fairly exact statistics. The designation of themselves as Catholics by the Old Catholics is all the stranger as in essential doctrines and worship they hardly differ from a liberal form of Protestantism. However, the prescribed concealment of membership in the Old Catholic body had this much good in it, that many who had long been secretly estranged from the sect were able to return to the Church without attracting attention. On account of these circumstances only Old Catholic statistics of some years back can be given. In 1878 there were in the German empire: 122 congregations, including 44 in Baden, 36 in Prussia, 34 in Bavaria, and about 52,000 members; in 1890 there were only about 30,000 Old Catholics on account of a decided decline in Bavaria. In 1877 there were in Switzerland about 73,000; in 1890 only about 25,000. In Austria at the most flourishing period there were perhaps at the most 10,000 adherents, to-day there are probably not more than 4000. It may be said that the total number of Old Catholics in the whole of Europe is not much above 40,000.
It seems strange that a movement carried on with so much intellectual vigour and one receiving such large support from the State should from bad management have gone to pieces thus rapidly and completely, especially as it was aided to a large degree in Germany and Switzerland by a violent attack upon Catholics. The reason is mainly the predominant influence of the laity under whose control the ecclesiastics were placed by the synodal constitution. The abrogation of compulsory celibacy showed the utter instability and lack of moral foundation of the sect. Döllinger repeatedly but vainly uttered warnings against all these destructive measures. In general he held back from any active participation in the congresses and synods. This reserve frequently irritated the leaders of the movement, but Döllinger never let himself be persuaded to screen with his name things which he considered in the highest degree pernicious. He never, however, became reconciled to the Church, notwithstanding the many efforts made by the Archbishop of Munich. All things considered, Old Catholicism has practically ceased to exist. It is no longer of any public importance.
For accounts of the movements and tendencies that led up to Old Catholicism see DÖLLINGER; GUNTHER; HERMES; INFALLIBILITY; LAMENNAIS; SYLLABUS; VATICAN COUNCIL.
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FRIEDBERG, Aktenstucke die altkatholische Bewegung betreffend (Tubingen, 1876); VON SCHULTE, Der Altkatholizismus, Geschichte Deutchland (Giessen, 1887); IDEM, Lebenerinnerungen. Mein Worken als Rechtsleher, mein Anteil and der Politik in Kirche und Staat (giessen, 1908); VERING, Kirchenrecht (3rd ed., 1893), gives a good summary based on the original authorities. Besides the statements in the statistical year-books there is a good account of Old Catholicism in MACCAFFREY, History of the Catholic Church in the Nineteenth Century. 1789-1909, I (Dublin and Waterford, 1909); MARSHALL, Döllinger and the Old Catholics in Amer. Cath. Quart. Review (Philadelphia, 1890), 267 sqq.; cf. Also files of the London Taablet and Dublin Review (1870-71); Bruck-Kissling, lGeschicte der katholischen Kirche im neunzehnten Jahrhundert (Munster, 1908); MAJUNKE, Geschicte des Kulturkampfes in Preussen-Deutchland (Paderborn, 1882); GRANDERATH-KIRCH, Geschicte des Vatikanischen Konzils (Freiburg, 1903-06); cf. also Friedrich, Geschicte des Vatikanischen Konzils (Bonn, 1877-87); in addition, the very full polemical literature of 1868-72 concerning the council and the question of Infallibility should be examined. The most important writings are briefly mentioned in the works just mentioned. The two biographies, from opposing points of view, of Dolllinger by FRIEDRICH (Munich, 1891-1901) and MICHAEL (Innsbruck, 1892) contain much valuable material.
PAUL MARIA BAUMGARTEN Transcribed by Herman F. Holbrook
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XICopyright © 1911 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, February 1, 1911. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., CensorImprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York
Fuente: Catholic Encyclopedia
Old Catholics
a name adopted in 1870 by those members of the Roman Catholic Church who refused to recognize the validity of the decrees of the Vatican Council (q.v.), especially that concerning the infallibility of the pope; and who, when the bishops, by means of excommunication, tried to enforce submission to the Vatican decrees, organized independent congregations, and gradually advanced, by the election of bishops, to the organization of an independent religious denomination.
1. The bishops of Germany and Austro-Hungary, who during the proceedings of the Vatican Council opposed the proclamation of papal infallibility as inopportune, not only expected such a movement, but expressly warned the majority of the council not to provoke it by a measure which was intensely disliked by a very large number in the Church. The opposition of several bishops of the minority to the doctrine of infallibility had been so determined that they were expected to favor and join the secession movement. This expectation was, however, disappointed. After the promulgation of the doctrine of infallibility all the bishops, one after another, submitted, though some as bishop Hefele, of Rottenburg, in Germany, and bishop Strossmayer, of Sirmium, in Hungary with unfeigned reluctance. At length only a few bishops of the United Armenian Church, who, even before the convocation of the council, had fallen out with the pope on questions relating to the former privileges of the Armenian Church, remained in opposition to the Vatican Council. In Germany, the center of the opposition to the Vatican decrees, the bishops, soon after their return from Italy, had held a meeting at Fulda, and drawn up a joint pastoral letter to the Catholics of Germany, in which they announced their own submission to the Vatican decrees, and advised all faithful Catholics to follow their example. This advice was, however, in a signal manner disregarded by a large number of Catholic scholars of Germany. Only a few days after July 18, the day when the Vatican Council formally sanctioned the doctrine of infallibility, Prof. F. Michelis, of the Lyceum of Braunsberg, Eastern Prussia, issued a declaration in which he accused the pope of being a heretic, and of devastating the Church. At Mtunich, forty-four professors of the university, under the leadership of Dollinger and Friedrich, signed a protest against the binding authority of the Vatican Council and the validity of its resolutions. Similar protests were numerously signed by professors of the universities of Bonn, Breslau, Freiburg, and Giessen. In August the theological leaders of the movement met in conference at Nuremberg to concert further action.
A joint declaration against the Vatican decrees was agreed upon and signed, among others, by Dollinger and Friedrich, of Munich; Michelis, of Braunsberg; Reinkens and Baltzer, of Breslau; Knoodt, of Bonn; and Schulte, of Prague all of whom had thus far been regarded as among the most prominent scholars of the Catholic Church. The bishops now demanded from all the professors of theology an express declaration that they recognised the cumenical character of the council. A few, like Prof. Haneberg, of Munich, who was soon after appointed bishop of Spires, and Prof. Dieringer, of Bonn, yielded to the pressure brought to bear upon them; but the majority remained firm in their opposition. The laity appeared, however, at first to take but little interest in the movement. Only a few isolated protests were published, the most noted of them being the so-called protest of the Old Catholics of Munich, a name which was subsequently adopted by the entire party. The leaders appeared to be at a loss as to the further steps to be taken, and the most prominent among them, Prof. Dollinger, emphatically dissuaded the organization of independent Old-Catholic congregations, in order not to make the breach in the Church incurable. For some time only two Catholic congregations in all Germany, one in Bavaria and one in Prussia, assumed an attitude of open opposition; but in a number of other towns, especially in Bavaria and on the Rhine, the sympathizers with the movement kept up a kind of organization by means of local committees. A decisive step towards an independent Church organization was taken by the first Old-Catholic Congress, held at Munich from Sept. 20 to 24, 1871.
Notwithstanding the continuing opposition of Dollinger, this congress, which was numerously attended by the Old Catholics of Germany, Switzerland, and Austria, resolved to provide for the religious wants of the Old Catholics in all places where it seemed to be needed, and for this purpose to organize congregations and churches. It was also resolved to enter into communion with the Church of Utrecht, or the so-called Jansenists, SEE JANSENISTS, who for about two centuries had maintained principles similar to those of the Roman Catholics, and insisted on remaining members of the Catholic Church in spite of the continuous:anathemas hurled against them by the pope. The connection with this Church, which still has an archbishop and two bishops, was of vital importance for the perpetuation of the Old-Catholic community as long as it intended to claim a doctrinal agreement with the Catholic Church as it existed before 1870; for two of the Catholic sacraments, Holy Orders and Confirmation, can only be dispensed by bishops.
The Congress of Munich appeared to be very intent upon avoiding everything that might involve an open breach with the Catholic Church before 1870, and endanger the claim of the Old Catholics to being regarded by the state governments as the only true representatives of the Catholic Church, and the owners of the Church property. The introduction of more radical reforms, which was chiefly urged by Austrians and Swiss, was postponed to a future period, when the participation of the Catholic people in Church legislation would be fully regulated by a new Church constitution. One of the resolutions, however, adopted by the Congress, declaring that even for the doctrinal decisions of an cumenical council validity could only be claimed if they agreed with the original and traditional faith of the Church as witnessed by the faith of the people and traditional science, involved a principle cutting deep into the traditional theories of the infallibility of the Church.
At the same time a hope was expressed for a reunion with the Oriental and Anglican churches, and the doctrinal differences were not important enough to be regarded as insurmountable obstacles to a reunion. In consequence of the resolutions passed by the congress Old-Catholic congregations were organized at Munich, Passau, Cologne, Bonn, Heidelberg, and a number of other cities. In some places, as in Munich and in Cologne, the municipal and state authorities gave to the Old Catholics the simultaneous use of one of the Catholic churches, a permission which was regularly followed by the voluntary abandonment of such a church by the ultramontane members of the congregation, who were exhorted to shun all communion with the new heretics. When the Catholic army bishop, Namszanowski, declared the soldiers’ church of Cologne, which the military authorities had allowed the Old Catholics for simultaneous use to have been desecrated by the sacrilegious mass, the minister of war suspended him from his office. A regulation of the legal affairs of Old Catholics by the state governments was found to present unexpected difficulties. The demand expressed by Prof. Schulte, the president of the Old-Catholic Congress of Munich, and one of the foremost lay leaders of the movement, that the Old Catholics alone be regarded as the legal successors of the Catholic Church prior to 1870, and that they be put by the state in possession of the entire property of the Church, could not be complied with, as the number of avowed Old Catholics was insignificant in comparison with the infallibilists, and as the’ state governments were unwilling to interfere in a matter of a strictly ecclesiastical character. For the latter reason they equally refused to comply with the request of the bishops no longer to regard the Old Catholics as members of the Catholic Church. Thus no course was left open to the state authorities but to recognize both parties as members of the Catholic Church, with equal rights. This point of view was gradually adopted by the governments of all the German states. Considerable difference of opinion showed itself, however, in the execution of the principle.
The Prussian government exempted the Old Catholics of Wiesbaden from the duty of contributing for the expenses of the Catholic parish; but, on the other hand, excused the Catholic children of the Gymnasium of Braunsberg from attending the religious instruction of the teacher, who had joined the Old Catholics. On the other hand, the Old- Catholic children in Bavarian schools were excused from attending the religious instruction given by infallibilist teachers. At the beginning of 1872 the number of priests who had identified themselves with the movement was about thirty. A new impulse was given to it in the spring of that year by lectures which several leaders, like Dollinger, Reinkens, Michelis, Huber, and Friedrich, delivered in various places. In some parts of Germany, as in the Bavarian palatinate and the grand-duchy of Baden, the Old-Catholic societies perfected their organization by meeting in district conferences. In July, 1872, the archbishop of Utrecht accepted an invitation from several Old-Catholic congregations of Germany to administer the sacrament of confirmation to their children, and to this end visited the congregations of Cologne, Munich, Spires, and other towns. Considerable progress in the further organization of the. new Church was made at the second Old-Catholic Congress, which was held in September, 1872, at Cologne, and, like the first, was presided over by Prof. Schulte.
The Congress declared that the adherents of papal infallibility had separated from the true Catholic Church, and organized an ultramontane and-church (Gegenkirche); that the New-Catholic bishops had forfeited their rights of jurisdiction over those Catholics who remained faithful to the Old Church, and that the state authorities were in duty bound to protect the Old Catholics in the possession of all their ecclesiastical rights, to recognize their bishops and priests, to grant to their congregations corporate rights, to exempt them from the duty of contributing to the expenses of the New-Catholic worship, to secure them the simultaneous use of the ecclesiastical edifices, .and a share in the Church property; and, finally, to provide in the public expenditures for Catholic Church purposes an endowment for Old-Catholic bishops, priests, and churches. The election of an Old-Catholic bishop by the clergy and delegates of the congregations was taken into consideration, and it was provided that as long. as the Old Catholics had no bishops of their own, the bishops of the Old Catholics of Holland, and those bishops of the United Armenian Church who occupied a similar position with regard to the papacy as the Old Catholics, should be invited to perform those functions which the usage of the Catholic Church reserves to bishops. All other reforms were postponed to the time when a regular Church synod should meet under the presidency of a bishop; but the Congress applauded a declaration of Prof. Friedrich, of the University of Munich, one of the prominent theological scholars of the Church, that the Old-Catholic Church had already grown beyond the bounds originally observed, and that it was no longer exclusively directed against papal in infallibility, but against an entire system of errors of one thousand years, which had its climax in this novel doctrine of infallibility. By the compulsion of the bishops, the speaker remarked, we are pushed forward on the road to reforms.
The Congress, on the other hand, decidedly disapproved the arbitrary advances in this direction by individual congregations and priests, like father Hyacinthe, who, without waiting for the abolition of priestly celibacy by the proper Church authorities, had entered the state of marriage. A special interest was shown in the project of a reunion of the large, divisions of Christendom, and a special committee was appointed, with Dr. Dollinger as chairman, to enter into negotiations with the Eastern and Anglican churches on this subject. On June 4, 1873, the hierarchical structure of the new Church was completed by the election of Prof. Reinkens. of the University of Breslau, as the first Old-Catholic bishop. The electoral body, which met at Cologne, consisted of all the Old-Catholic priests of the German empire, and delegates of the Old-Catholic congregations and societies. The bishop elect was on Aug. 11 consecrated by bishop Heykamp, of Deventer, of the Old-Catholic Church of Holland, and was recognized as a bishop of the Catholic body by the governments of Prussia, Baden, and Hesse. The government of Bavaria, however, in accordance with a report made on the subject by a committee of jurists, refused to recognize him, although, on the other hand, it also declined to grant the request of the bishop of Augsburg to forbid bishop Reinkens from administering the sacrament of confirmation in Bavaria. The third Old- Catholic Congress, held in September, 1873, at Constance, adopted a synodal constitution of the Church, which, however, was expressly designated as provisional, in order to reserve all the rights of the Old Catholics to the property of the Catholic Church in Germany. The synodal constitution, in many points, resembles that of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States. The diocesan, provincial, and general synods consist of priests and lay delegates. At the head of the diocese stands the bishop, who is assisted by a vicar-general and a synodal committee (Synodal reprasentanz), consisting of four priests and five laymen.
The diocesan synod, which meets annually under the presidency of the bishop, consists of all the priests of the diocese and of lay delegates, each delegate representing two hundred constituents. The work of the synod is prepared by the synodal committee; amendments are admitted when signed by at least twelve members; resolutions, petitions, remonstrances, etc., can only be discussed when notice of them has been given at least fourteen days before the opening of the synod. The resolutions are passed by an absolute majority of votes; but all resolutions not passed by a two-thirds majority are suspended at the request of either the minority of the synod or the synodal committee, until their discussion and readoption by the next synod. In regard to affairs strictly religious, the congregation is administered by the pastor and by the bishops; in all other matters it is represented by the Church Council and the Congregational Assembly. The Church Council, which consists of from six to eighteen members, administers the property of the congregation, represents it in all legal questions, establishes the budget, appoints the sexton and organist, makes the necessary preparations for the care of the poor, convokes the Congregational Assembly, and carries on correspondence with other congregations. The Church Council chooses its own president. The Congregational Assembly, in which all the adult male members of the congregation who are in possession of their civic rights take part, ratifies the budget, apportions the taxes, elects the pastor, the Church Council, and the delegates to the synod.
The pastor is confirmed by the bishop, in conformity with the existing state laws, and installed in his office. He can only be removed for a legal reason, and after a formal proceeding by the synod. Besides the adoption of the Church constitution, the Congress discussed the subject of the reunion of the Christian churches; and, to carry out its views the more efficiently, appointed special committees for negotiations with the Greek and with the Anglican churches. In accordance with the new constitution of the Church. the first Old-Catholic Synod met at Bonn in August, 1874. It was attended by thirty priests and fifty-nine lay delegates. The synod adopted the Church constitution which had been agreed upon by the Congress of Constance, passed resolutions on Church reforms in general, and issued a series of declarations on auricular confession, on fasting and abstinence, and on the use of the native tongue in divine service. The synod pointed out a number of desirable reforms which might be carried out without any change of Church legislation, as the abolition of abusive practices in connection with indulgences and the veneration:of saints, the administration of the sacrament of penance, etc. It appeared to be the unanimous sentiment that all reforms in the Church should proceed from the synod, and that individual clergymen and congregations should abstain from arbitrary changes. In regard to confession, it was resolved that the practice of private confession should be retained, but that it should be freed from Romish corruptions, and brought back to the purity of the ancient Christian Church. Similar resolutions were passed with regard to fasting and abstinence. No action was taken on the abolition of priestly celibacy, which was proposed by several congregations, but it was postponed to a later synod. Two committees. were appointed to prepare, the one a draft for a new ritual in the native tongue, the other a catechism and a Biblical history.
The synod also elected six synodal examiners, four of whom were priests and two laymen. From a statistical report made to this synod it appears that in May, 1874, there were in Prussia 31 congregations fully organized and 16 in the course of organization; in Bavaria, 51 congregations; in Baden, 31 congregations and societies. The number of Old-Catholic priests was 41, and that of students of theology 12. The latter studied at the University of Bonn, where a majority of the professors of the theological faculty had joined the movement. The fourth Old-Catholic Congress, which was held in September, 1874, at Freiburg, devoted its attention chiefly to the subject of Church property, demanding that wherever a formal separation between the adherents of the Vaticah Council and the Old Catholics should take place, the latter should receive a proportionate part of the Church property. One of the favorite projects of the Old-Catholic leaders, the holding of a Union Conference between Old Catholic, the Eastern Church, and Anglican theologians, for the purpose of discussing the best means for reuniting these large divisions of the Christian Church, was carried out in September, 1874. The first Union Conference of these theologians met at Bonn, under the presidency of Dr. Dollinger. The theologians of all the three churches agreed that the differences on doctrinal points which divided the three churches were not insuperable.
The Old Catholics and Anglicans conceded to the Eastern theologians that the words Filioque (q.v.) were added to the Nicene Creed in an illegal manner, and that, with a view to fiuture peace and unity, it is desirable to examine the question whether the creed can be restored to its original form without sacrificing a doctrine expressed in the form at present used by the Occidental churches. The agreement by the Old Catholics to several doctrinal theses adopted by this conference indicates a further progress in the departure of the Old Catholic movement from the doctrinal system of the Church of Rome. Among the most important of these theses were the following: The apocryphal books of the Old Testament are declared to be not canonical in the same sense as the books contained in the Hebrew canon; no translation of Holy Writ can claim a higher authority than the original text; divine service should be celebrated in a language understood by the people, the doctrine that superabundant merits of the saints can be transferred to others, either by the heads of the Church or by the authors of the good works, is untenable; the number of sacraments was for the first time fixed at seven in the 12th century, and this became a doctrine of the Church, not as a tradition of the Church received from the apostles or earliest times, but as the result of theological speculation; the new Rorpan doctrine of the immaculate conception of the Virgin is at variance with the tradition of the first thirteen centuries; indulgence can only refer to penances which have really been imposed by the Church herself. The second Old-Catholic Synod, which was held at Bonn in January, 1875, adopted the draft of a German liturgy, and recommended its introduction to the congregations. Most of the resolutions passed by this synod aimed at completing the organization of the Church. In regard to the abolition of priestly celibacy, opinions still differed very widely, and action on the subject was again postponed. From the statistical reports made to the synod it appeared that on March 31, 1875, the number of Old-Catholic congregations was 98, with 14,766 adult members, and a total population of 44,886. The number of Old-Catholic priests was 53, and of Old-Catholic students of theology at the University of Bonn 11.
Of the congregations, 32 belonged to Prussia, 35 to Baden, 26 to Bavaria, 3 to Hesse, 1 to Wurtemberg, and 1 to Oldenburg. These figures were, however, far from exhibiting the total strength of the Old Catholics, for a number of societies had not sent in the lists of membership in time. A second Union Conference of theologians of the Old-Catholic, Oriental, and Anglican churches, again presided over by Dr. Dollinger, was held at Bonn in August, 1875. After long and animated discussions, a resolution was adopted that the three churches agreed in receiving the cumenical symbols and the doctrinal decisions of the ancient undivided Church, and in acknowledging the representations of the doctrine of the Holy Ghost as set forth by the fathers of the undivided Church. The third Old-Catholic Synod was held at Bonn in June, 1876. From the statistical report it appears that the greatest progress during the year had been made in the grand-duchy of Baden, where there had been an increase of 10 congregations, 6 ministers, 1182 men, and 2210 persons. In Prussia 2 new congregations had been organized, 1 new parish had been established, and 6 societies had been recognised by the government. The increase in the number of clergymen was 3, in that of men 263, and in total population 1759. In the grand-duchy of Hesse 2, and in Oldenburg 1 new congregation had been formed. The reports from Bavaria were incomplete and unsatisfactory. In some places there had been a decline, and on the whole there had been no progress. . Without Bavaria there were 87 congregations (last year 72), and an increase of 1624 men and 4434 souls. The number of priests has increased since 1873 from 30 to 60.
2. The first German state which regulated by law the affairs of the Old Catholics, and particularly their claim to a proportionate share of the property of the Catholic Church, was the grand-duchy of Baden. The law, which was sanctioned by the grand-duke in May, recognises the equal rights of Old Catholics to the property of the Catholic Church. protects Old-Catholic holders of Catholic benefices, provides for the organization of independent Old-Catholic congregations, and secures to them the simultaneous use of ecclesiastical edifices and utensils. Wherever the majority of any Catholic congregation declares in favor of Old Catholicism, it is to remain in possession of the Catholic church and its property, but must concede to the other party a simultaneous use of the church. A similar law was promulgated in Prussia in July, 1875.
In the Austro-Hungarian monarchy the organization of Old-Catholic congregations Was attempted at many places, and in Austria Proper the Liberal majority of the Lower House of Parliament favored the recognition of their rights by a special law. But the government refused to recognize them in any way, and the Upper House of Parliament. in 1875, refused to concur in the favoring resolutions passed by the other branch. One of the ministers declared, however, on this occasion, that the government would no longer oppose the establishment of Old-Catholic congregations. Accordingly, in February, 1876, delegates of five congregations met at Vienna and drew up a synodal constitution of the Church, similar to that adopted in Germany, and presented it to the government for approval.
In Switzerland the governments of most of the cantons took at once a decided stand in supporting the parish priests who refused to submit to the Vatican Council against their bishops. A central committee was formed to organize the movement throughout Switzerland, and most of the prominent leaders of the Liberal Catholics took an active part in it. The committee drew up a Constitution for the Christian Catholic churches in Switzerland, which was similar to the one that had been adopted in Constance for the Old Catholics of Germany. A convention of the societies of Liberal Catholics, held at Olten, in the canton of Solothurn, on June 15, 1874, adopted the main points of this draft; a second convention held in the same town on Sept. 21 sanctioned the entire organization. The first synod of the Church, for which the name Christian Catholic (Christkatholisch) was preferred to Old Catholic, was held at Olten on June 14,1875. It finally adopted the Church constitution which had been drawn up by the central committee, and made all the necessary arrangements for the appointment of a synodal council, but postponed the election of a bishop. The synodal council was appointed on Aug. 30, 1875. At its first meeting, held at Olten Sept. 2, the synodal council resolved to arrange the proper manner of examining the candidates for the priesthood, and to appoint two committees, one for drafting a ritual and missal on the basis of those prepared by Hirscher (q.v.), and the other for defining the attitude to be observed by Old-Catholic priests with regard to the new federal laws on civil marriage. The congregations were permitted to make their own selection among the different Church vestments used in the Catholic Church, and to introduce the native tongue into divine service; it also declared the Church commandment to go to confession at least once a year no’ longer obligatory.
Further legislation on these and other proposed reforms was reserved for the next meeting of the synod. In regard to the election of a bishop, it appeared desirable to obtain previously the consent of the Federal Council of Switzerland, as the new constitution of Switzerland provides that new bishoprics are only to be established with the consent of the federal council. This consent was given in April, 1876, and the election of the first bishop of the Christian-Catholic Church accordingly took place in June, 1876. The progress of the Old-Catholic movement has been especially favored by the cantonal governments of Berne and Geneva, which by new laws regulated the legal condition of the Catholic Church; and when the Ultramontane party refused to recognize the new laws, deposed all the refractory priests, and turned the churches and the Church property over to the Old Catholics. The government of Berne also founded a faculty of Old-Catholic theology in connection with the University of Berne. In Geneva serious difficulties arose among the Old Catholics themselves, in consequence of which abbe Loyson better known under his former monastic name of father Hyacinthe resigned the position of president of the Old-Catholic Church Council. In March, 1876, the Old Catholics in all Switzerland numbered 54 congregations, and 26 societies not yet organized, with an aggregate population of 72,880 persons.
In Italy the Old-Catholic movement found many sympathizers, and among them some very prominent names, like father Passaglia, a celebrated Jesuit author, and the marchese Guerrini-Gonzage. A committee of agitation was established’ in Rome, and in 1875 the delegates of a number of congregations met in Naples and elected a bishop.
In all other countries the movement has as yet not gained any firm footing. In Madrid an Old-Catholic committee was constituted, and a large number of priests were reported to have joined it; but nothing has been heard of it since the restoration of the Bourbons. In France two distinguished priests, father Hyacinthe and abbe Michaud, took a very active interest in the movement, but no congregations could be formed. England was represented at some of the Old-Catholic congresses of Germany by lord Acton and others; but up to May, 1876, no congregations had been formed.
3. The leaders of the Old-Catholic movement express themselves hopeful in regard to the future. Inclusive of the Church of Utrecht, in the Netherlands, with which they entirely agree, they had in June, 1876, six bishops, and a population of about 140,000. But the number of those who, while fully sympathizing with them, have not yet severed their connection with the papal Church they believe to be immensely larger, and they expect a rapid increase as soon as they obtain from the state governments the same efficient protection which is accorded to them in Baden, Prussia, and some of the Swiss cantons. They have in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria a number of periodicals, the most important of which are the Deutsche Merkur (a weekly), in Munich, and the Theologische Literaturblatt, of Bonn. See Reinkens, Ueber den Ursprung der jetzigen Kirchenbewegung (Cologne, 1872); Nippold, Ursprung, Umfung, Hemninisse und Aussichten der altkatholischen Bewegung (Berlin, 1873); PBre Hyacinthe, De laReforme Catholique (Paris, 1872); Michaud, P rogramne de Ref orme de l’Eglise d’Occident (ibid. 1872); Frommann, Gesch. u. Kritik. d Vat. Concil. v. 1869-70 (Gotha, 1872); Whettle, Cathoiicism and the Vatican (Dublin, 1872); Theodorus. The New ReJbrmation (Lond. 1874, 8vo). The most valuable sources for the history of the movement are the official report on the Old-Catholic congresses, the synods, and the union conferences. Quite fill extracts and a trustworthy synopsis have been regularly given in the Meth. Qu. Rev. (from 1869 to 1876). See also Amer. Ch. Rev. July, 1873, art. i; (Lond.) Qu. Rev. July, 1872. art. iii; Brit. Qu. Rev. July, 1873, art. iii; Contemp. Rev. Dec. 1871, art. viii; Nov. 1872; New Englander, April, 1874, art. viii; Christian Qu. Oct. 1872, art. 4:(A. J. S.)