§ 34. THE REFORMATION IN ST. GALL. 123
caused some losses, but the Reformed Cliurch retained the majority of the population to this day, and with it the preponderance of intelligence, enterprise, wealth, and prosperity, although the numerical relation has recently changed in favor of the Catholics, in consequence of the emigration of Protestants to America, and the immigration of Roman- Catholic laborers, who are attracted by the busy industries (as is the case also in Zurich, Basel, and Geneva).^
§ 34. The Reformatio7i in St. Grall, Toggenburg, and A})penzell. Watt and Kessler.
The sources and literature in the City Library of St. Gall which bears the name of Vadian (Watt) and contains his MSS. and printed works.
I. The historical works of Vadianus, especially his Chronicle of the Abbots of
St. Gall from 1200-1540, and his Diary from 1529-33, edited by Br. E. Goetzinger, St. Gallen, 1875-79, 3 vols. — Joachimi Vadiani Vita per Jounnem Kesslerum conscripta. Edited from the MS. by Dr. Goetzinger for the Historical Society of St. Gall, 18G5. — Johannes Kessler's Sabbata. Chronik der Jahre 1523-1539. Herausgegeben von Dr. Ernst Goetzinger. St. Gallen, 1866. In " Mittheilungen zur vaterlilndischen Geschichte " of the Historical Society of St. Gall, vols. V. and VI. The MS. of 532 pages, written in the Swiss dialect by Kessler's own hand, is preserved in the Vadian library.
II. J. V. Arx (Rom. Cath., d. 1833) : Geschichte des Kant. St. Gallen. St. Gallen, 1810-'13, 3 vols. — J. M. Fels: Denkmal Schweizerischer Beformatoren. St. Gallen, 1819. — Joh. Fr. Franz: Die schwdrmerischen Gratielscenen der St. Galler Wiedertdufer zu Anfang der Reformation. Ebnat in Toggenberg, 1824. — Joh. Jakob Bernet : Johann Kessler, genannt Ahenarius, Burger und Beformator zu Sankt Gallen. St. Gallen, 1826. — K. Wegelin : Geschichte der Grafschaft Toggenburg. St. Gallen, 18o0-'33, 2 Parts. — Fr. "Weidmann : Geschichte der Stiftsbibliothek St. Gallens. 1841. — A. Naf : Chronik oder Denkiciirdigkeiten der Stadt und Landschaft St. Gallen. Ziirich, 1851. — J. K. Bijchler: Die Reformation im Lande Appenzell. Trogen, 1860. In the " Appenzellische Jahrbiicher." — G. Jak. Baumgartner: Geschichte des Schweizerischen Freistaates und Kantons St. Gallen. Ziirich, 1868, 2 vols. — H. G. Sulzberger: Geschichte der Reformation in Toggenburg ; in St. Gallen; im Bheinthal ; in den eidgenossischen Herrschaften Sargans und Gaster, sowie in Rapper schwil ; in Hohensax-Forsteck ; in Appenzell. Several pamphlets reprinted from the " Appenzeller Sonntagsblatt," 1872 sqq.
1 In 1850 the Protestant population of Glarus numbered 26,281 ; the Catholic, 3,932. In 1888 the proportion was 25,935 to 7,790. See Fritzsche, p. 53.
124 THE SWISS REFORMATION.
III. Theod. Pressel: Joachim Vadian. In the ninth volume of the " Leben und ausgewahlte Schriften der Vater und Begriinder der reformirten Kirche." Elberfeld, 1861 (pp. 103). — Rud. Stahelin: Die reformatorische Wirksamkeit des St. Galler Humanisten Vadian, in " Beitrage zur vaterlandischen Geschichte," Basel, 1882, pp. 193-262 ; and his art. " Watt " in Herzog2, XVI. (1885), pp. 663-668. Comp. also Meyer von Knonau, " St. Gallen," in Herzog-^, IV. 725-735.
The Reformation in the northeastern parts of Switzerland — St. Gall, Toggenburg, Schaffhausen, Appenzell, Thurgau, Aargau — followed the course of Zurich, Berne, and Basel. It is a variation of the same theme, on the one hand, in its negative aspects : the destruction of the papal and episcopal authority, the abolition of the mass and superstitious rites and ceremonies, the breaking of images and relics as symbols of idolatry, the dissolution of convents and confiscation of Church property, the marriage of priests, monks, and nuns ; on the other hand, in its positive aspects : the introduction of a simpler and more spiritual worship with abundant preaching and instruction from the open Bible in the vernacular, the restoration of. the holy communion under both kinds, as celebrated by the congregation, the direct approach to Christ without priestly mediation, the raising of the laity to the privileges of the general priesthood of believers, care for lower and higher education. These changes were made by the civil magistracy, which assumed the episcopal authority and function, but acted on the initiative of the clergy and with the consent of the majority of the people, which in democratic Switzerland was after all the sovereign power. An Antistes was placed at the head of the ministers as a sort of bishop or general superintendent. Synods attended to legislation and administration. The congregations called and supported their own pastors.
St. Gall — so-called from St. Gallus (Gilian), an Irish missionary and pupil of Columban, who with several hermits settled in the wild forest on the Steinach about 613 — was a centre of Christianization and civilization in Alemannia