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OLD CATHOLICS (Ger. Altkatholiken)

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Originally appearing in Volume V20, Page 69 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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OLD CATHOLICS (Ger. Altkatholiken) , the designation assumed by those members of the See also:

Roman See also:Catholic See also:Church who refused to accept the decrees of the Vatican See also:Council of 187o defining the See also:dogma of papal See also:infallibility (see VATICAN COUNCIL and INFALLIBILITY) and ultimately set up a See also:separate ecclesiastical organization on the episcopal See also:model. The Old Catholic See also:movement, at the outset at least, differed fundamentally from the See also:Protestant See also:Reformation of the 16th See also:century in that it aimed not at any drastic changes in See also:doctrine but at the restoration of the See also:ancient Catholic See also:system, founded on the diocesan episcopate, which under the See also:influence of the ultramontane movement of the loth century had been finally displaced by the rigidly centralized system of the papal See also:monarchy. In this respect it represented a tendency of old See also:standing within the Church and one which, in the 18th century, had all but gained the upper See also:hand (see See also:FEBRONIANISM and See also:GALLICANISM). Protestantism takes for its See also:standard the See also:Bible and the supposed doctrines and institutions of the apostolic See also:age. Old Catholicism sets up the authority of the undivided Church, and accepts the decrees of the first seven See also:general See also:councils—down to the second council of See also:Nicaea (787), a principle which has necessarily involved a certain amount of doctrinal divergence both from the See also:standards of See also:Rome and those of the Protestant Churches. The proceedings of the Vatican council and their outcome had at first threatened to See also:lead to a serious See also:schism in the Church. The minority against the decrees included many of the most distinguished prelates and theologians of the Roman communion, and the methods by which their opposition had been overcome seemed to make it difficult for them to submit. The pressure put upon them was, however, immense, and the reasons for submission may well have seemed overwhelming; in the end, after more or less delay, all the recalcitrant bishops gave in their See also:adhesion to the decrees. The " sacrificio dell' intelletto," as it was termed—the sub-ordination of individual See also:opinion to the general authority of the Church—was the See also:maxim adopted by one and all. Seventeen of the See also:German bishops almost immediately receded from the position they had taken up at Rome and assented to the dogma, See also:publishing at the same See also:time a See also:pastoral See also:letter in which they sought to justify their See also:change of sentiment on the ground of expediency in relation to the interests of the Church (Michelis, Der neue Fuldaer Hirtenbrief, 1870). Their example was followed by all the other bishops of See also:Germany.

See also:

Darboy, See also:archbishop of See also:Paris, and See also:Dupanloup, See also:bishop of See also:Orleans, in See also:France adopted a like course, and took with them the entire See also:body of the See also:French See also:clergy. Each bishop demanded in turn the same submission from the clergy of his See also:diocese, the alternative being suspension from pastoral functions, to be followed by deprivation of See also:office. It may be urged as some extenuation of this general See also:abandonment of a See also:great principle, that those who had refused to subscribe to the dogma received but languid support, and in some cases See also:direct discouragement, from their respective governments. The submission of the illustrious Karl See also:Joseph von See also:Hefele was generally attributed to the influence exerted by the See also:court of See also:Wurttemberg. The See also:universities, being less directly under the See also:control of the Church, were prepared to show a bolder front. Dr J. F. von Schulte, See also:professor at See also:Prague, was one of the first to publish a formal protest. A See also:meeting of Catholic professors and distinguished scholars convened at See also:Nuremberg (See also:August 187o) recorded a like dissent, and resolved on the See also:adoption of See also:measures for bringing about the assembling of a really See also:free council See also:north of the See also:Alps. The Appel aux Eveques Catholiques of M. Hyacinthe Loyson (better known as " Pere Hyacinthe" ), after referring to the overthrow of " the two despotisms," " the See also:empire of the Napoleons and the temporal See also:power of the popes," appealed to the Catholic bishops throughout the See also:world to put an end to the schism by declaring whether the See also:recent decrees were or were not binding on the faith of the Church. This See also:appeal, on its See also:appearance in La See also:Liberia See also:early in 1871, was suppressed by the See also:order of the See also:king of See also:Italy. On the 28th of See also:March See also:Dollinger, in a letter of some length, set forth the reasons which See also:corn- to accept the decrees.

The former, driven from his See also:

parish church, was followed by the See also:majority of his See also:congregation, who, in spite of every discouragement, continued faithful to him; and for years after, as successive members were removed by See also:death, the crosses over their See also:graves recorded that they had died " true to their ancient belief." Tangermann, the poet, expelled in like manner from his parish by the archbishop of See also:Cologne, before See also:long found himself the See also:minister of a much larger congregation in the episcopal See also:city itself. These examples exercised no little influence, and congregations of Oid Catholics were shortly after formed at numerous towns and villages in See also:Bavaria, See also:Baden, See also:Prussia, German See also:Switzerland, and even in See also:Austria. At See also:Warnsdorf in Bohemia a congregation was collected which still represents one of the most important centres of the movement. In See also:September the second See also:congress was held at Cologne. It was attended by some 500 delegates or visitors from all parts of See also:Europe, and the See also:English Church was represented by the bishops of See also:Ely and See also:Lincoln and other distinguished members. At this congress See also:Friedrich boldly declared that the movement was directed " against the whole papal system, a system of errors during a thousand years, which had only reached its See also:climax in the doctrine of infallibility." The movement thus entered a new phase, the congress occupying itself mainly with the formation of a more definite organization and with the question of See also:reunion with other Churches. The immediate effect was a fateful divergence of opinion; for many who sympathized with the opposition to the extreme papal claims shrank from the creation of a fresh schism. See also:Prince Chlodwig See also:Hohenlohe, who as See also:prime minister of Bavaria had attempted to unite the governments against the See also:definition of the dogma, refused to have anything to do with proceedings which could only end in the creation of a fresh See also:sect, and would make the prospect of the reform of the Church from within hopeless; more important still, Dollinger refused to take See also:part in setting up a separate organization, and though he afterwards so far modified his opinion as to help the Old Catholic community with sympathy and See also:advice, he never formally joined it. Meanwhile, the progress of the See also:quarrel between the Prussian See also:government and the See also:Curia had been highly favourable to the movement. In May 1873 the celebrated See also:Falk See also:laws were enacted, whereby the articles 15 and 18 of the Prussian constitution were modified, so as to legalize a systematic See also:state supervision over the See also:education of the clergy of all denominations, and also over the See also:appointment and dismissal of all ministers of See also:religion. The measure, which was a direct response to the Vatican decrees, inspired the Old Catholics with a not unreasonable expectation that the moral support of the government would henceforth be enlisted on their See also:side. On the r rth of August Professor J.

H. See also:

Reinkens of See also:Breslau, having been duly elected bishop of the new community,' was consecrated at See also:Rotterdam by Bishop Heykamp of See also:Deventer, the archbishop of See also:Utrecht, who was to have performed the ceremony, having died a few days before. In the meantime the See also:extension of the movement in Switzerland had been proceeding rapidly, and it was resolved to hold the third congress at See also:Constance. The proceedings occupied three days .(12th to 14th September), the subjects discussed being chiefly the institution of a See also:synod 2 as the legislative and executive See also:organ of the Church, and schemes of reunion with the See also:Greek, the See also:African and the Protestant communions. On the loth of September the See also:election of Bishop Reinkens was formally recognized by the Prussian government, and on the 7th of See also:October he took the See also:oath of See also:allegiance to the king. The following See also:year (1874) was marked by the assembling of the first synod and a See also:conference at See also:Bonn, and of a congress = Reinkens was elected at Cologne in See also:primitive See also:Christian See also:fashion by clergy and See also:people, the latter being representatives of Old Catholic congregations. 2 The diocesan synod, under the See also:presidency of the bishop, consists of the clergy of the diocese and one See also:lay delegate for every goo church members. It now meets twine a year and transacts the business prepared 'for it by an executive See also:committee of 4 clergy and 5 laymen. In Switzerland the organization is still more democratic; the bishop does not preside over the synod and may be deposed by it.at See also:Freiburg-See also:im-See also:Breisgau. At the congress Bishop Reinkens spoke in hopeful terms of the results of his observations during a recent missionary tour throughout Germany. The conference, held on the 14th, 15th and 16th of September, had for its See also:special See also:object the discussion of the early confessions as a basis of agreement, though not necessarily of See also:fusion, between the different communions above-named. The meetings, which were presided over by Dollinger, successively took into See also:consideration the Filioque clause in the Nicene creed, the sacraments, the See also:canon of Scripture, the episcopal See also:succession in the English Church, 'the See also:confessional, indulgences, prayers for the dead, and the See also:eucharist (see DoLLINGER).

The synod (May 27-29) was the first of a See also:

series, held yearly till 1879 and afterwards twice a year, in which the doctrine and discipline of the new Church were gradually formulated. The tendency was, naturally, to move further and further away from the Roman model; and though the synod expressly renounced any claim to formulate dogma, or any intention of destroying the unity of the faith, the " Catholic See also:Catechism" adopted by it in 1874 contained several articles fundamentally at variance with the teaching of Rome .3 At the first synod, too, it was decided to make See also:confession and See also:fasting optional, while later synods pronounced in favour of using the See also:vernacular in public See also:worship, allowing the See also:marriage of priests, and permitting them to administer the communion in both kinds to members .of the See also:Anglican Church attending their services. Of these developments that abolishing the compulsory See also:celibacy of the clergy led to the most opposition; some opposed it as inexpedient, others—notably the Jansenist clergy of See also:Holland—as wrong in itself, and when it was ultimately passed in 1878 some of the clergy, notably Tangermann and See also:Reusch, withdrew from the Old Catholic movement. Meanwhile the movement had made some progress in other countries—in Austria, in Italy and in See also:Mexico; but everywhere it was hampered by the inevitable controversies, which either See also:broke up its organization or hindered its development. In Switzerland, where important conferences . were successively convened (at Solothurn in 1871, at Olten in 1872, 1873 and 1874), the unanimity of the " Christian Catholics," as they preferred to See also:call themselves, seemed at one time in danger of being shipwrecked on the question of See also:episcopacy. It was not until September 18th, 1876, that the conflict of opinions was so far composed as to allow of the See also:consecration of Bishop See also:Herzog by Bishop Reinkens. The reforms introduced by M. Hyacinthe Loyson in his church at See also:Geneva received only a partial assent from the general body. Among the more See also:practical results of his example is to be reckoned, however, the fact that in French Switzerland nearly all the clergy, in German Switzerland about one See also:half, are married men. The end of the Kullurkampf in 1878, and the new See also:alliance between See also:Bismarck and See also:Pope See also:Leo XIII. against revolutionary See also:Socialism, deprived the Old Catholics of the special favour which had been shown them by the Prussian government; they continued, however, to enjoy the legal status of Catholics, and their communities retained the rights and the See also:property secured to them by the See also:law of the 4th of See also:July 1875. In Bavaria, on the other hand, they were in March ago, after the death of Dollinger, definitely reduced to the status of a private religious sect, with very narrow rights. When Bishop Reinkens died in See also:January 1896 his successor Theodor See also:Weber, professor of See also:theology at Breslau, elected bishop on the 4th of March, was recognized only by the governments of Prussia, Baden and See also:Hesse.

The See also:

present position of the Old Catholic Church has disappointed the expectation of its See also:friends and of its enemies. It has neither advanced rapidly, as the former had hoped, nor retrograded, as the latter have frequently predicted it would do. In Germany there are 90 congregations, served by 6o priests, and the number of adherents is estimated at about 6o,000. In Switzerland there are 4o parishes (of which only one, that at See also:Lucerne, is in the 3 E.g. especially Question 164: " this (the Christian) community is invisible," and Question 167, " one may belong to the invisible Church (i.e. of those sharing in See also:Christ's redemption) without belonging to the visible Church. Roman Catholic cantons), 6o clergy and about 5o,00o adherents. In Austria, though some accessions have been received since the Los von Rom movement began in 1899, the Old Catholic Church has not made much headway; it has some 15 churches and about 15,000 adherents. In Holland the Old Catholic or Jansenist Church has 3 bishops, about 30 congregations and over 8000 adherents. In France the movement headed by Loyson did not go far. There is but one congregation, in Paris, where it has built for itself a beautiful new church on the See also:Boulevard Blanqin. Its See also:priest is See also:George Volet, who was ordained by Herzog, and it has just over 300 members. It is under the supervision of the Old Catholic archbishops of Utrecht. In Italy a See also:branch of the Old Catholic communion was established in 1881 by See also:Count Enrico di Campello, a former canon of St See also:Peter's at Rome.

A church was opened in Rome by See also:

Monsignor Savarese and Count Campello, under the super-See also:vision of the bishop of Long See also:Island in the See also:United States, who undertook the superintendence of the congregation in accordance with the regulations laid down by the See also:Lambeth conference. But dissensions arose between the two men. The church in Rome was closed; Savarese returned to the Roman Church; and Campello commenced a reform See also:work in the rural districts of See also:Umbria, under the episcopal guidance of the bishop of See also:Salisbury. This was in 1885. In 1900 Campello returned to Rome, and once more opened a church there. In 1902 he retired from active participation in the work, on See also:account of age and bodily infirmity; and his See also:place at the See also:head of it was taken by Professor Cicchitti of See also:Milan. Campello ultimately returned to the Roman communion. There are half-a-dozen priests, who are either in Roman or Old Catholic orders, and about twice as many congregations. Old Catholicism has spread to See also:America. The See also:Polish Romanists there, in 1899, complained of the See also:rule of Irish bishops; elected a bishop of their own, Herr Anton Kozlowski; presented him to the Old Catholic bishops in Europe for consecration; and he presides over seven congregations in See also:Chicago and the neighbourhood. The See also:Austrian and See also:Italian churches possess no bishops, and the Austrian government refuses to allow the Old Catholic bishops of other countries to perform their functions in Austria. Every Old Catholic congregation has its choral See also:union, its poor See also:relief, and its mutual improvement society.

Theological faculties exist at Bonn and See also:

Bern, and at the former a residential See also:college for theological students was established by Bishop Reinkens. Old Catholicism has eight See also:newspapers—two in Italy, two in Switzerland, and one each in Holland, Germany, Austria and France. It has held reunion conferences at Lucerne in 1892, at Rotterdam in 1894, and at See also:Vienna in 1897. At these, members of the various episcopal bodies have been welcomed. It has also established a quarterly publication, the Revue internationale de theologie, which has admitted articles in French, German and English, contributed not merely by Old Catholics, but by members of the Anglican, See also:Russian, Greek and See also:Slavonic churches. Old Catholic theologians have been very active, and the work of Dollinger and Reusch on the See also:Jesuits, and the See also:history of the Roman Church by Professor See also:Langen, have attained a See also:European reputation. An outline of the whole movement up to the year 1875 will be found in The New Reformation, by " See also:Theodorus "(J. See also:Bass Mullinger) ; and an excellent resume of the See also:main facts in the history of the movement in each European See also:country, as connected with other developments of liberal thought, and with See also:political history, is given in the second See also:volume of Dr F. Nippcld's Handbuch der neuesten Kirchengeschichte, vol. ii. (1883). See also A. M.

E. Scarth, The See also:

Story of the Old Catholic and Kindred Movements (See also:London, 1883) ; Buhler, Der Altkatholicismus (See also:Leiden, 188o); J. F von Schulte, Der Altkatholizismus (See also:Giessen, 1887); and See also:article in Hauck-Herzog's Realencyk. See also:fur prot. Theol. and Kirche, i. 415. For details the following See also:sources may be consulted : (a) For the proceedings of the successive congresses: the Stenographische Berichte, published at See also:Munich, Cologne, Constance, &c. ; those of the congress of Constance were summarized in an English See also:form, with other elucidatory See also:matter, by Professor See also:John See also:Mayor. (b) For the questions involved in the consecration of Bishop Reinkens: Rechtsgutachten fiber See also:die Frage der Anerkennung See also:des altkatholischen Bischofs Dr Reinkens in Bayern (Munich, 1874) ; Emil See also:Friedberg, Der Stoat and d. Bischofswahlen in Deutschland (See also:Leipzig, 1874) ; F. von See also:Sybel, Des altkatholische Bisthum and das Vermogen d. romischkatholischen Kirchengesellschaften in69 Preussen (Bonn, 1874). (c) Reinkens's own speeches and pastorals, some of which have been translated into English, give his See also:personal views and experiences; the See also:Life of See also:Huber has been written and published by See also:Eberhard Stirngiebl; and the persecutions to which the Old Catholic clergy were exposed have been set forth in a pamphlet by J. Mayor, Facts and Documents (London, 1875). (d) For Switzer-See also:land, C.

Herzog, Beitrage zur Vorgeschichte der Christkathol. Kirche der Schweiz (Bern, 1896).

End of Article: OLD CATHOLICS (Ger. Altkatholiken)

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