RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Concordats and
Delimiting: Bulls
for Prussia, 1831.
them the rights of the Roman Church in a legal form that should bind the State as closely as possible. At the outset, too, the Protestant states were disposed to the conclusion of concordats.
Prussia, like Bavaria, had entertained
3. Delimit- ^j^g thought of an understanding with ing- Bull jj^Qjjjg since the summer of 1814— a
matter that seemed indispensable, indeed, on account of the disorganization of the Prussian dioceses. With reference to the kind of stipulation to be concluded, great differences of opinion prevailed in Berlin. The final result of negotiations conducted by Niebuhr was the bull De salute animarum, of July 16, 1821, which, having been sanctioned according to its essential substance and incorporated into the legal code, was published in Prussia by a cabinet order, August 23, albeit with reservation of all sovereign rights.
For the bull consult the Bullarium Romanum, xv. 403 sqq.; Nussi, pp. 188 sqq.; Mirbt, Quellen, pp. 347-349; for the negotiations consult Mejer, ut sup., vol. ii., part 2, pp. 3-116, 265 sqq., 300, vol. iii., part 1, pp. 88-184; E. A. T. Laspeyres, Geschichte und heutige Verfassung der katholischen Kirche Preussens, part i., Halle, 1840; Briick, ut sup., ii. 38 sqq.; C. Mirbt, Die preussische Gesandtschaft am Hofe des Papstes, Leipsic, 1899, pp. 13 sqq.
Negotiations for a concordat with Hanover were opened in the summer of 1817, and continued with long intermissions until about the middle of 1820. The Hanoverian government conditioned its consent to the concordat upon the concession of four provisos: absolute right of rejecting
4. Delimit- clergy that might be appointed; ing Bull oversight of church property; reserforHan- vation of certain prerogatives; and
over, 1824. the dependence of the legal status of new foundations upon government confirmation. The Curia just as definitely refused these concessions. In Mar., 1822, following the example of Prussia, the Hanoverian government announced through its envoy that, instead of a concordat, it likewise desired merely a delimiting bull. A draft of agreement was therefore prepared, which, being substantially accepted by the Hanoverian government, was approved by Pope Pius VII. a few days before his death, in a note dated Aug. 13, 1823. The ratification by Hanover took place early in 1824, and the bull Impensa Romanorum Vontificum was issued by Pope Leo XII. on Mar. 26, 1824, authorizing the organization of the episcopal sees of Hildesheim and Osnabriick (Nussi, pp. 222 sqq.). Their constitution is similar to the Prussian, and their confirmation by King George IV. took effect under date of May 20, 1824 (of. Mejer, ut sup., vol. ii., part 2, pp. 117-164, 241- 264, vol. iii., part 1, pp. 62-87; Briick, ut sup., vol. ii., pp. 75 sqq.).
At the initiative of Wiirttemberg, delegates of Wurttemberg, Baden, both the Hessian states, Nassau, the Saxon duchies, Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Oldenburg, Lubeck, and Bremen, assembled at Frankfort-on-the-Main, Mar. 24, 1818, to deliberate concerning the conclusion of a common concordat with Rome. Afterward Frankfort, Lippe, Waldeek, and both Hohenzollerns took part in the deliberations. It is true that the interest of all
these states in the conference was not the same, and some of them shortly withdrew. The delegates finally agreed to formulate a 5. The state law concerning the affairs of the States of Catholic Church in their districts in the Eccle- terms of a declaration and submit the siastical same to the pope. The declaration "^/tiT^ Ti^ was in shape by July, 1818, and at the er Rhii^' ^^"^ there were outlined certain
" Fundamental Provisions for an Organic Church Law of the State," resembling in the main the French " organic articles" — together with instructions for an embassy that was to carry the declaration to Rome. The states represented at Frankfort accepted these documents as the basis of transactions with the Curia by a formal agreement, Oct. 7, 1818. In Feb., 1819, Baron von Ttirckheim (Protestant) and Schmitz-Grollenburg (Catholic) went to Rome as envoys of the federated states. After long waiting for enlightenment in regard to the pope's real attitude, on Aug. 10, 1819, Consalvi issued the explicit note entitled " Exposition of the Views of His Holiness concerning the Declaration of the United Protestant Princes and States of the German Federation." In this note certain modifications of the declaration are proposed, which would have completely changed its tenor; and finally the proposition was made of merely a new delimitation of the bishoprics. The several governments voted, in Mar., 1821, to accept the delimitation, still expecting further negotiations in relation to its details, and they were surprised when the bull (Provida sollersque ; Nussi, pp. 229 sqq.) actually appeared, dated Aug. 16, 1821, constituting the present ecclesiastical province of the Upper Rhine. The conference reassembled at Frankfort in Oct., 1821, and its acceptance of the bull was communicated to the Roman Court at the close of November. All parts of the declaration of 1818 which were not touched upon in the bull had been meanwhile embodied in the contemplated statute, and with the same had been made into a so-called " Church Pragmatic," which it was intended to publish in all the states at the same time with the bull. This evoked energetic opposition from the Roman See, but the federated governments refused to yield and added a new compact, Feb. 8, 1822, to that of Oct. 7, 1818. On June 13, 1823, the pope refused to substantiate propositions in regard to the episcopal appointments, he demanded the total retraction of the " Church Pragmatic," and then issued, on June 16, 1825, an ultimatum which gave occasion to the reopening of the Frankfort Conference (Jan., 1826). The net result of all the negotiations was that on Apr. 11, 1827, Leo XII. issued the bull Ad dominici gregis custodiam, which in its first four articles gave directions for the election of the bishops and chapters; but then in articles v. and vi., agreeably to the ultimatum and without regarding the rejoinder of the governments, prescribed that in every diocese there should be a seminary conformably to the decrees of Trent, and that the bishops and archbishops should enjoy free communication with the pope, and all the rights of jurisdiction which accrued to them according to the canon law aa
Concordats and
Delimiting' Bulls