GERMAN CATHOLICISM.
Origin. Johannes Ronge (§1).
Johann Czerski (§ 2).
Growth and Organization (§ 3).
Absorption by the Free Protestant Congregations (§ 4).
Reasons for Failure (§ 5).
By " German Catholicism " (Deutschkatholicismus) is meant a reform movement which arose within the Roman Catholic Church in Germany in
RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
G-erlach
German Catholicism
the middle of the nineteenth century, led to the formation of separate congregations, and ultimately entered into such close relations with the Protestant bodies called Lichtfreunde (see Free Congregations in Germany) that the two i. Origin, movements at present can be distin- Johannes guished only in certain parts of Ger- Ronge. many. The tendency was promoted, on the one hand, by the after-effects of the age of the Enlightenment and the liberal spirit which passed over Europe from about 1830; on the other hand, by the spread of Ultramontanism within the Roman Church. The immediate occasion was the solemn exhibition of the seamless coat of Christ by Bishop Arnoldi in Treves in 1844 (see Treves, Holy Coat of) ; this was intended to demonstrate that the Roman Catholic population rendered unconditional obedience to the leadership of their clergy, a principle which had already been illustrated by the victory of Archbishop Droste- Vischering of Cologne over the Prussian government (see Droste-Vischering, Clemens August, Freiherr von), and the intention was fully realized. But if this celebration was a great demonstration of the power of the Roman Church over its members, it had also the effect of a challenge on circles which in spirit had outgrown the tutelage of the clergy. This explains the publication of an open leuter to Bishop Arnoldi on Oct. 15, 1844: it was a trenchant protest against the " idolatrous celebration " (Goetzenfest) of the Roman hierarchy which inveigled the credulous multitude into directing " those feelings of reverence which we owe to God alone, to an article of clothing, a work that human hands have made." The contradiction between the veneration of relics and the spirit of Christianity is sharply emphasized, and the German people is exhorted " to check the tyrannical power of the Roman hierarchy." The author of the letter was Johannes Ronge, a priest, thirty-one years old (b. Oct. 16, 1813), who, because of an article " Rome and the Cathedral Chapter of Breslau," had been suspended from office in 1843 and since then had acted as a teacher in Laurahiitte in Upper Silesia. When Ronge refused to retract his open letter, he was excommunicated and degraded, Dec. 4, 1844, by the suffragan bishop Latussek of Breslau. Ronge left the Roman Church but continued the literary controversy in a series of pamphlets, in which he demanded the abolition of celibacy, of auricular confession, and of Latin as the ecclesiastical language, and called for the formation of a German Catholic Church.
Another priest, in the neighboring province of Posen, independently of him had already put these thoughts into practise. Johann Czerski (b. May 12, 1813) had come to doubt many dogmas while in the bishop's seminary, and was con- 2. Johann firmed in these doubts by studying Czerski. the Holy Scripture while vicar in Posen. When he had been transferred to Schneidemuhl, where, even before his arrival, similar ideas had been spreading, he went further in this direction, married, gave up his ecclesiastical position, and with his followers left the Roman Church in order to organize themselves as a
" Christian Catholic " Church. The first congregation was founded in Breslau in 1845, on the basis of an Apostles' Creed modernized by Ronge as follows :
I believe in God, the Father, who through his almighty word created the world and rules it in wisdom, righteousness and love. I believe in Jesus Christ our Savior, who by his teachings, his life, and his death has ransomed us from the bondage of sin. I believe in the sway (Walten) of the Holy Ghost on earth. I believe in a holy, universal Christian Church, the communion of the faithful, the forgiveness of sins, and an eternal life.
At the same time the congregation proclaimed the principle of complete freedom of conscience and the freedom of scientific investigation.
There now followed in quick succession the founding of congregations in the other parts of Germany. To bind them together was the pur- 3. Growth pose of the " First General Church and Organi- Convention of the German Catholic zation. Church," held in Leipsic Mar. 23-26, 1845. According to the official minutes fifteen congregations were here represented, thirty-one delegates being present. As the title of the new Church the name " German Catholic Church " was adopted. As to its teaching, it was resolved: " the foundation of the Christian faith for us shall be Holy Scripture solely and alone, the construction and interpretation whereof is left free to reason penetrated and moved by the Christian idea." A creed was set up to show the content of the doctrines of the faith, which was an abbreviation of the confession adopted in Breslau. The demand of Czerski that the divinity of Christ should be added thereto was not complied with; moreover, the primacy of the pope, the hierarchy, auricular confession, compulsory celibacy, the invocation of saints, the veneration of relics and images, indulgences, etc., were rejected. But two sacraments were recognized, baptism and the Lord's Supper, the latter under both kinds. Regulations were also made concerning divine worship, which should be held in the German language without the use of the canon of the mass. Presbyterial organization was decided on for the congregations, which at the same time received the right to elect their own ministers and standing committees.
It seemed as if a great day was dawning for German Catholicism when Ronge began his agitational journeys through Germany. They became triumphal processions. At the second German Catholic ecclesiastical convention of 1847 there were already 259 congregations with eighty-eight ministers. The movement attracted notice even in foreign countries. Ronge received resolutions of approval from the United States; a Free Catholic congregation was founded in New York in 1846; in subsequent years ministers who had emigrated from Germany founded similar ones in St. Louis and Philadelphia. English, Irish and French Unitarians showed their interest in what was going on in Germany, as did the Arminians of Holland.
Friendly relations soon arose between the German Catholic congregations and the free Protestant congregations which were founded about the same time (see Free Congregations in Germany). The friendship grew so that in May, 1850, the third
German Catholicism Germanus