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FEBRONIANISM

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Originally appearing in Volume V10, Page 231 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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FEBRONIANISM , the name given to a powerful See also:

movement within the See also:Roman See also:Catholic See also:Church in See also:Germany, in the latter See also:part of the 18th See also:century, directed towards the " nationalizing " of Catholicism, the restriction of the monarchical See also:power usurped by the papacy at the expense of the episcopate, and the See also:reunion of the dissident churches with Catholic Christendom. It was thus, in its See also:main tendencies, the See also:equivalent of what in See also:France is known as See also:Gallicanism (q.v.). The name is derived from the See also:pseudonym of " Justinus Febronius " adopted by Johann Nikolaus von See also:Hontheim (q.v.), coadjutor See also:bishop of Treves (See also:Trier), in See also:publishing his See also:work De stale ecclesiae et legitima polestate Romani pontificis. This See also:book, which roused a vast amount of excitement and controversy at the See also:time, exercised an immense See also:influence on See also:opinion within the Roman Catholic Church, and the principles it proclaimed were put into practice by the rulers of that Church in various countries during the latter part of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century. The main propositions defended by " Febronius " were as follows. The constitution of the Church is not, by See also:Christ's institution, monarchical, and the See also:pope, though entitled to a certain primacy, is subordinate to the universal Church. Though as the " centre of unity " he may be regarded as the See also:guardian and See also:champion of the ecclesiastical See also:law, and though he may propose See also:laws, and send legates on the affairs of his primacy, his See also:sovereignty (principatus) over the Church is not one of See also:jurisdiction, but of See also:order and collaboration (ordinis et consociationis). The Roman (ultramontane) See also:doctrine of papal See also:infallibility is not accepted " by the other Catholic Churches " and, moreover, " has no See also:practical utility." The Church is based on the one See also:episcopacy See also:common to all bishops, the pope being only See also:primus inter pares. It follows that the pope is subject to See also:general See also:councils, in which the bishops are his colleagues (conjudices), not merely his consultors; nor has he the exclusive right to summon such councils. The decrees of general councils need not be confirmed by the pope nor can they be altered by him; on the other See also:hand, See also:appeal may be made from papal decisions to a general See also:council. As for the rights of the popes in such matters as appeals, reservations, the See also:confirmation, See also:translation and deposition of bishops, these belong properly to the bishops in provincial synods, and were usurped by the papacy gradually as the result of a variety of causes, notably of the False See also:Decretals. For the See also:health of the Church it is therefore necessary to restore matters to their See also:condition before the False Decretals, and to give to the episcopate its due authority.

The main obstacle to this is not the pope himself, but the See also:

Curia, and this must be fought by all possible means, especially by thorough popular See also:education (primum adversus abusum ecciesiasticae-potestatis remedium), and by the assembling of See also:national and provincial synods, the neglect of which is the main cause of the Church's woes. If the pope will not move in the See also:matter, the princes, and notably the See also:emperor, must See also:act in co-operation with the bishops, summon national councils even against the pope's will, defy his See also:excommunication, and in the last resort refuse obedience in those matters over which the papacy has usurped jurisdiction. It will be seen that the views of Febronius had but little originality. In the main they were those that predominated in the See also:great general councils of See also:Constance and See also:Basel in the 15th century; but they were backed by him with such a See also:wealth of learning, and they fitted so well into the intellectual and See also:political conditions of the time, that they found a widespread See also:acceptance. The book, indeed, was at once condemned at See also:Rome (See also:February 1764), and by a brief of the 21st of May the pope commanded all the bishops of Germany to suppress it. The papal condemnation met with a very mixed reception; in some dioceses the order w prohibit the book was ignored, in others See also:action upon it was postponed pending an See also:independent examination, in yet others(nine in all) it was at once obeyed " for political reasons," though even in these the forbidden book became the " See also:breviary of the governments." The Febronian doctrine, in fact, exactly fitted the views of the See also:German bishops, which were by no means disinterested. It must be remembered that the bishops were at this time great See also:secular princes rather than Catholic prelates; with rare exceptions, they made no pretence of carrying out their spiritual duties; they shared to the full in the somewhat shallow "enlightenment" of the See also:age. As princes of the See also:Empire they had asserted their practical See also:independence of the emperor; they were irked by what they considered the unjustifiable interference of the Curia with their See also:sovereign prerogatives, and wished to establish their independence of the pope also. in the ranks of the See also:hierarchy, then, selfish motives combined with others more respectable to secure the acceptance of the Febronian position. Among secular rulers the welcome given to it was even less equivocal. Even so devout a sovereign as Maria See also:Theresa refused to allow " Febronius " to be forbidden in the See also:Habsburg dominions; her son, the emperor See also:Joseph II., applied the Febronian principles with remorseless thoroughness. In See also:Venice, in See also:Tuscany, in See also:Naples, in See also:Portugal, they inspired the vigorous efforts of " enlightened despots " to reform the Church from above; and they gave a fresh impetus to the movement against the See also:Jesuits, which, under pressure of the secular governments, culminated in the suppression of the Society by Pope See also:Clement XIV. in 1773. " Febronius," too, inspired the proceedings of two notable ecclesiastical assemblies, both held in the See also:year 1786.

The reforming See also:

synod which met at See also:Pistoia under the See also:presidency of the bishop, Scipione de' See also:Ricci, is dealt with elsewhere (see P1sTOJA). The other was the so-called See also:congress of See also:Ems, a See also:meeting of the delegates of the four German archbishops, which resulted, on the 25th of See also:August, in the celebrated "Punctation of Ems," subsequently ratified and issued by the archbishops. This document was the outcome of several years of controversy between the archbishops and the papal nuncios, aroused by what was considered the unjustifiable interference of the latter in the affairs of the German dioceses. In 1769 the three See also:archbishop-See also:electors of See also:Mainz, See also:Cologne and Treves (Trier) had See also:drawn up in See also:thirty articles their complaints against the Curia, and after submitting them to the emperor Joseph II., had forwarded them to the new pope, Clement XIV. These articles, though " Febronius " was prohibited in the archdioceses, were wholly Febronian in See also:tone; and, indeed, Bishop von Hontheim himself took an active part in the See also:diplomatic negotiations which were their outcome. In See also:drawing up the " Punctation " he took no active part, but it was wholly inspired by his principles. It consisted of See also:XXIII. articles, which may be summarized as follows. Bishops have, in virtue of their See also:God-given See also:powers, full authority within their dioceses in all matters of See also:dispensation, patronage and the like; papal bulls, briefs, &c., and the decrees of the Roman Congregations are only of binding force in each See also:diocese when sanctioned by the bishop; nunciatures, as hitherto conceived, are to cease; the See also:oath of See also:allegiance to the pope demanded of bishops since See also:Gregory VII.'s time is to be altered so as to bring it into conformity with episcopal rights; See also:annates and the fees payable for the See also:pallium and confirmation are to be lowered and, in the event of the pallium or confirmation being refused, German archbishops and bishops are to be See also:free to exercise their See also:office under the See also:protection of the emperor; with the Church tribunals of first and second instance (episcopal and See also:metropolitan) the nuncios are not to interfere, and, though appeal to Rome is allowed under certain " national " safe-See also:guards, the opinion is expressed that it would be better to set up in each archdiocese a final See also:court of appeal representing the provincial synod; finally the emperor is prayed to use his influence with the pope to secure the See also:assembly of a national council in order to remove the grievances See also:left unredressed by the council of See also:Trent. Whether this manifesto would have led to a reconstitution of the Roman Catholic Church on permanently Febronian lines must for ever remain doubtful. The See also:French Revolution intervened; the German Church went down in the See also:storm: and in 1803 the secularizations carried out by order of the First See also:Consul put an end to the temporal ambitions of its prelates. Febronianism indeed, survived. Karl Theodor von See also:Dalberg, See also:prince See also:primate of the See also:Confederation of the See also:Rhine, upheld its principles throughout the See also:Napoleonic See also:epoch and hoped to establish them in the new Germany to be created by the congress of See also:Vienna.

He sent to this assembly, as representative of the German Church, Bishop von Wessenberg, who in his diocese of Constance had not hesitated to apply Febronian principles in reforming, on his own authority, the services and discipline of the Church. But the times were not favourable for such experiments. The See also:

tide of reaction after the Revolutionary turmoil was setting strongly in the direction of traditional authority, in See also:religion as in politics; and that ultramontane movement which, before the century was ended, was to dominate the Church, was already showing signs of vigorous See also:life. Moreover, the great national German Church of which Dalberg had a vision—with himself as primate—did not appeal to the German princes, tenacious of their newly acquired status as See also:European powers. One by one these entered into concordats with Rome, and Febronianism from an aggressive policy subsided into a speculative opinion. As such it survived strongly, especially in the See also:universities (See also:Bonn especially had been, from its See also:foundation in 1774, very Febronian), and it reasserted itself vigorously in the attitude of many of the most learned German prelates and professors towards the question of the See also:definition of the See also:dogma of papal infallibility in 187o. It was, in fact, against the Febronian position that the decrees of the Vatican Council were deliberately directed, and their promulgation marked the See also:triumph of the ultramontane view (see VATICAN COUNCIL, See also:ULTRAMONTANISM, PAPACY). In Germany, indeed, the struggle against the papal See also:monarchy was carried on for a while by the governments on the so-called Kulturkampf, the Old Catholics representing militant Febronianism. The latter, however, since See also:Bismarck " went to See also:Canossa," have sunk into a respectable but comparatively obscure See also:sect, and Febronianism, though it still has some hold on opinion within the Church in the chapters and universities of the Rhine provinces, is practically See also:extinct in Germany. Its revival under the See also:guise of so-called Modernism See also:drew from Pope See also:Pius X. in 1908 the scathing condemnation embodied in the encyclical Pascendi gregis. (q.v.). (W.

A.

End of Article: FEBRONIANISM

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