Honorius, Bartiiolojiew, a Prremonstratist, who flourished in the second half of the 16th century, was born at Eerfel, in Brabant, became canon at Floreffe, near Naumur, later preacher at Helmont, and finally,
being persecuted by the Cahdnists, went to Rome. He wrote Admonitio adfratres inferioris Germanice (Her- zogenb. 1578) : — Hodoeporicon celebrioruvi ordinis Prce^ monstratensis per orbem universum Ahbatiarum (ibid, 1584) : — Qucestiones theologicm LXX adversus Calvinism tas (ibid. 1586): — Elucidurium Anselmi Cantuariensia (ibid. 1586) ; and a number of other, but less valuable works. — Pierer, Univers. Lex. viii, 522.
Honter, John, one of the apostles of Protestaniism in Transylvania, was bom at Cronstadt in 1498 ; studied at "Wittenberg under Luther, then went as a teacher to Cracow, whence he moved to Basle to continue his stud- ies. In 1533 he returned to his native city, where he started a printing establishment, and published Luther's writings. He also published at his o^nl expense a translation of Luther's works in Hmigarian. In 1544 he was appointed pastor, and became quite popular as a preacher. He died Jan. 23, 1549.— Herzog, Real-Ency- klop. vi, 254; Hardwick, Ch. Hist, of the Reformation, p. 98; Hist. ofProt. Church in Hungarij, p. 59.
Hontheim, John Nicolas von (kno^^^^ common- Ij' as Febronius), suffragan bishop of Treves (in lihen- ish Prussia), was born Jan. 27, 1701, and educated at the Jesuits' college and universitj' of that place. HaA'- ing completed his studies, he went on a joiuniey to Rome, and after his return (1727) was appointed suc- cessively to several high positions iu the Church, and finally became suffragan bishop INIay 13, 1748, which post he fiUed until 1788. . He died Sept. 2, 1790. His His- toriu Trevirensis, diplomatica et pragmatica (Trevir, 1750, 3 vols. foL, with a Pi-odromus, 1757, 2 vols. fol. ; Augsb. 1757, 2 vols, fol.) is considered a work of great merit ; but it was as the author of De Statu Ecclesice et legitima Potestate Romani Pontijicis Liber singularis, ad reuniendos dissidentes in religione Christiana compositus (Bidlioni apud Guillelmum Evrard, 1763, 4to), publish- ed under the pseudonym of " Justinus Febronius," that he attracted the attention of the Christian world. The daring expressions of independent thought which char- acterize the entire work created general excitement. As early as 1763-5 he issued an enlarged edition, and a third, still more enlarged, in 1770-74. An abridgment of the work appeared in German in 1764, another in Latin in 1777, and the translations into the various modern languages soon made it knoA\ni throughout Europe (French, Sedan and Paris, 1767 ; Italian, Venice, 1767, etc.). Many Roman celebrities wrote against it, espe- cially Zaccaria (to whose writings an answer is given in Nova defensio Eebronii contra P. Zaccaria, BuUioni, 1763, 3 vols.) and Ballerini (De potestate ecclesiastica Ro- man. Pontif. et concil. genei-alium conti-a opus J. F(^lro- nii (Verona, 1768, 4to, and often). Pope Clement XIII caused the book to be entered on the Index, although it was dedicated to himself. Hontheim seeks especially to draw a line of distinction between the spiritual and the ecclesiastical power of the Roman see. He seems to say to his readers, '• Without becoming Protestants, you may very well oppose the encroachments and abuse of power of the papal court." The principal points of which the work treats are, the constitution of the prim- itive Chiu-ch, the representative character of general councils, the thoroughly human basis on which rests the primacy of the bishop of Rome, the fatal influence of the pseudo-Isidorian decretals, the tendency to usurpa- tion of power bj^ the nuncios, the illegal influence of the mendicant orders, and the monopoly of episcopal elec- tions possessed by the chapters at the expense of the rights of the lower clergy and the people. As all his assertions are accompanied by historical proofs, and his book contains hardly anythmg but quotations from the fathers in support of his views, it exerted great influ- ence. As the v.-ork had been published under the no7n de jilume of Justinius Febronius, the system of Church government which Hontheim propounded is generally called Febronianism. During the years which followed its publication, papal authority was greatly restricted in
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many countries. Hence, as soon as the real author of the Ds Statu Ecclesiie Avas known, he became the object of ceaseless persecutions. Pope Pius VI showed him- self especially the enemy of Hontheim. The ex-Jesuit Beck, privy councillor of the elector Clement Wenceslas, not satisfied witli persecuting Hontheim, persecuted also all the members of his family, most of whom held of- fices in the province of Trier. The old man (Hontheim was then nearly seventy-nine), tired of all these annoy- ances, and perhaps frightened at the jjrospect of what he might stiU have to undergo, finally gave way, and submitted to the pope. When his recantation reached Rome in 1778, Pius VI held a special consistory in order to apprise the whole Roman Catholic world of the event; but several Roman Catholic governments opposed the pubUcation of the acts of this consistory in their states. Moreover, the effects of the dispute had been too widely felt to be obliterated by a tardy expression of repent- ance. The author himself -wrote to his friends, " I gave way, like Fenelon, in order to avoid ceaseless annoy- ance. My recantation can do no liarm to the Christian religion, neither can it in any way benefit the court of Rome ; the thinking world has read my arguments, and has indorsed them." Some of the more liberal-minded Roman Catholic historians say that Hontheim, in his (first) recantation, declared his object to have been to effect a union of the Roman Catholic and the Protestant churches. He believed that this could only be accom- plished by altering or removing some of the institutions of the Romish Chiu-ch. Later, he modified his recanta- tion greatly by a subsequent Commentary (Frankfort- on-the-Maine, 1781), to which cardinal Gardi replied, at the special request of the pope. But eventually Hont- heim made full submission to the Church. In 1788 he resigned his charges, and spent the last years of his life on his estate of Monquentin, in Luxemburg. See Iloe- fer, Nouv. Biog. Geneiale, xxv, 91 ; Herzog, Real-Ency- Mop.Yi, 255; Hase, Church Hist. p. 528; Mohler, Sijm- holism, p. 45 ; jMenzel, Neuere Gesch. d. Deutschen, xi, 456 sq. ; Fuhrmann, Ilomlwurterh. der Kirchengesch. ii, 343 sq.; Schriickh, Kirchengesch. xxii, 13; s. d. Hejhrm.xi, 532 sq. ; Walch, Neueste Relig. Gesch. i, 145 sq. ; vii, 175 sq., 210 sq., 453 sq. ; Henke, Kirchengesch. vii, 133 sq. ; Baiu", Gallerie hist. Gemalde d. 18'"' Jahrh. iv, 402 sq. ; Kurtz, Text-book of Ch. Histori/,n,23i; Hase, Ch. Hist. p. 528. On the Roman Catholic side : Aschbach, Kirch.- Lex. ii, 745 sq. ; Wetzer imd AVelte, Kirchen-Lex. v, 324 s.|.: R,,il-K,ir,iMop.f. d.KathoI.Beutschl.y, 473; Wer- inr. (,' .<r,'i. il. kathol. Theol. p. 209 sq., 273, and especially Bri<j'irii'li.<il zic. d. Churfursten Clemens Wene, v. Trier II. d. ]\'< i/ibisch. X. V. Honiheim ii. d.Buch J. Fabronius, etc. (Frankfort-a-M. 1813).