THE OLD CATHOLICS IN MUNICH.
[nom A OORIUSSPONDBNT.] Munich, November 27. I AVAILED myself yesterday of the opportunity to attend the Old-Catholic service in the little chapel which, I suppose, may at present be considered the Mater Ecclesia of the new Reformers. The day was a good one to test the church-going zeal of the congregation. It was one of those raw and bitter winter morn-
ings typical of the bleak Munich atmosphere at this season, while the thickly fallen snow added to the labour of pilgrims having to tread their way through unswept paths to the distant chapel of their worship. Nothing can be more altogether dis- couraging than the position of the church of St. Nicolas. It is beyond the river in a remote suburb at the very extremity of the city, in a region really difficult of approach under circumstances like yesterday, for it lies away from streets, in secluded fields, across which it was not easy to plod in the heavy snow. It was about nine when I got there, and I was well rewarded for my trouble. The church, as I have already said, is a mere chapel. It belongs to the city magistracy, and by it the use was assigned to the
Old Catholics. The accommodation is necessarily very limited, and I had considerable difficulty in getting into the church. Pro-
fessor Friedrichs, who, during the Council, had been Cardinal Holmenlohe's theologian, was preaching when I entered. The sermon was one treating of the great exciting question for the
listeners,—the Catholic position of the congregation in the point at issue. It was admirably delivered and eloquently composed. 'rue earnestness of the preacher and the intent attention of the audience were quite in harmony-, and for my part, when I hooked around and observed, I could not but think I was present at a scene much like those seen in many a church in Germany in the early days of the Reformation. My object in coming here had been to judge for myself as to the character of the congregation, and I watched it accordingly closely. The bulk was, undoubtedly, of the middle- classes, and there were men and women in about equal numbers. For this I was prepared, but what I confess did take me by surprise was to see not a few of the peasantry devoutly following the service and staying for mass. I should not have attached much importence to the audience at sermon, for it is intelligible that curiosity should attract to it, but curiosity could not make people kneel devoutly at a IOW Mass, said by an excommunicated priest, and impel old peasant women to tell their beads with the fervour I witnessed. What mver may be the ultimate result of this religious movement and whatever may be the substantive value of the religious nature of its leaders in the opinion of some, I venture to affirm that no observer of an impar- tial mind could say of the congregation assembled yesterday (and I have no reason to consider it exceptional) that it was not plainly marked with all the visible signs of simple-minded and fervent devoutness. As they went in and as they came out (I watched them closely) these church-goers all dipped their fingers in the holy- water ewer and crossed themselves, and bowed instinctively before the altar, just as in the most orthodox Catholic Church, and as I have already said, there were there men and women of all classes, but in greatest numbers of the middle, and all to come there On that inclement morning, must have faced not inconsiderable inconvenience.
So much for what can be seen by any one who chooses to take the trouble of wandering on any Sunday forenoon to the Church of St. Nicolas in the Gsteig suburb. Allow me to say now a few words on points less within the range of eyesight and more within the province of impalpable speculatiou,—the present position and prospects of this religious movement. In some respects, Munich, though its fountain-head, is a locality in which it is most difficult to gauge the real force of the movement, for people are here furiously divided by passions, BO that it is hard to sift the infor- mation that is proffered. I do not, however, propose to enter into any estimate of the intrinsic theological value of the movement. I doubt whether the time is come for doing BO, for it seems to me that, as is more or less the case with all movements, the general initiatory phase is one in which it is impossible to survey the scope and import of its future. All that can be done with some degree of confidence is to decipher the leading lineaments of the move- ment, and to inquire how far they have a prospect of fitting into the general course of the times. Now, what has struck every one who has paid the slightest attention to the subject, is the difficulty in which time Old Catholics find themselves in regard to priests, and above all, Bishops. A free-thinking movement like that of the German Catholics can by its nature do without either ; but it is of the essence of a religious society of the kind in question, pro- fessing to cling to the cardinal doctrines of a positive Church, to secure in some manner or other those ministrations which, according to the doctrine of such positive Church principles, can be provided only through the channel of these ordained servants of God. It was, therefore, a start- ling announcement to hear yesterday Professor Friedrichs close his sermon with the statement that written assurances had within the last few days been received from some Bishops of readi- ness to perform episcopal ministrations for the Old Catholics. I have
reason to believe that the statement is correct, and that if the Bishops in question are acceptable, it is certain that a capital religious difficulty will be got over which is of the most serious kind. " For," as a leading Old Catholic observed to me, "the religious needs must be satisfied. It is very well to go on as at present for a short while, but permanently this is out of the question, and if the movement is to be more than ephemeral, the means must be found of providing for those spiritual wants which are inherent to natures imbued with the religious sentiments of Catholicism," But there is more than this involved in the issue. It is impossible to converse with the men who are in the front of the movement, and not to gather the conviction that the views actuating them are incompatible with the existing constitution of the Church as wrought out by the action of the Court of Rome. When I have spoken of the matter with any of the leaders,
I have fouud them always arriving at the conclusion that what is the bane of the religious life of the Church is the thraldom Rome has contrived to throw on its members, and that emancipation of the epiecbpate from Rome is an absolute necessity for the reform that is indispensable. How this emancipation is to be consum- mated is a point answered variously, but I repeat, that as far as I am able to understand the minds of the leading reformers, it is not Dogma, but Reform in the organic constitution of the Church which is really the object they pursue. Now I am much impressed how political matters in. this country are taking the shape calculated precisely to furnish the moans of meeting the requirements of these reformers. It is extraordinary how the antagonism between civil authority and the Church, as represented by the Hierarchy, is grow- ing in Germany generally, in Bavaria specially. Thie is the capital fact of the day, and it is one deserving the greatest atten- tion. Many persons may have been disposed to smile at the idea that any merely dogmatic utterance could ever in this .century prove dangerous to the State, but the attitude taken up by the Roman Catholics, especially in the Diet under the leadership of the Bishop of Mayence, has brought home the possibility to minds otherwise probably closed to it. The Catholic Episcopate has in a manner drifted into a position of hostility to the groat leading political facts of the newly founded Empire, and has blunder- ingly got itself identified with the elements that oppose the carrying out and completion of the new national structure. The result is that a duel is virtually engaged in throughout the Empire between the State and the Church. You have no doubt read the remonstrance of the Prussian Bishops, and the King's firm rebuke and intimation of measures to be presented to the Prussian Laudtag for the proper safeguard of religious liberty against encroachment from the Church, There can be no doubt as to what will be the reception given to such measures in the Prussian Legislature. The temper shown in the German Diet on the Bavarian proposal-to punish political effusions from the pulpit is a sufficient pledge. Now, I consider it a point of possibly far- reaching consequences that the new Imperialist feeling should have been generally fanned against the specific Roman Catholic hierarchy ; but particularly that in Bavaria—the emphatically Catholic kingdom—the State should be conspicuous in asserting its authority against the Bishops, and virtually extending, therefore, in some degree protection to those Catholics who are rebelling against the dictatorship of their Bishops. For what must ensue if this course be firmly pursued by the State is that the inferior clergy, hitherto helplessly at the mercy of the Bishops, will feel encouraged in opposition, and such encouragement is what, I am assured, is just needed to make many excellent priests speak out. But be that as it may,—aud I really feel quite unable to make any guess as to the correctness of what I have been told about the number of priests who would manifest dissent if once assured of not being abandoned to episcopal persecution,—I am firmly of opinion that the antagonism (and it is rapidly growing) between the new German State authority and the Roman Catholic hierarchy is a grave fact ; for on the one hand stands forward the national sentiment, and on the other, hierarchical pretensions which have got mixed up with a decided tinge of disloyalty. It is a curious and a significant coincidence, that has made the structure of the first thoroughly native German Empire syn- chronous, with a renewal of the old contest against the peculiar claims put forward by those who aro the sworn men of the Court of Rome before they are Germans. But the question is, whether the State will psove firm, and stand stoutly by what it considers its indelible rights. It is certain that in this respect Bavaria plays a chief part as the principal Catholic State of Germany, and from its particular connection with the religious controversy that has given immediate rise to the present issue. No one at all conversant with Bavaria will underrate the strength
of the Ultramontane party. The half-and-half attitude of the Government does not surprise me, for it has to deal with a powerful opposition. It is, therefore, a significan1. stroke of policy to have got the last blow at the Bishops, the law punishing political diatribes from the pulpit, voted in the Itnperial and not in the Bavarian Legislature. It is tantamount to making thc Emperor's writ run in the Bavarian kingdom, when to have got the King's writ might have been impos- sible. I cannot say I have found any one confident that the measure will prove effective, but then it is not the actual con- demnation of political priests, so much as the manifestation of general hostility against the Bishops which gives it importance. What is wanted is some pledge that the Government has deter- mined not to court the Episcopate, that it will prove firm in., standing by those who merely for opinion's sake are bullied by ecclesiastical superiors, and that it will extend protection to those who otherwise must prove victims of episcopal wrath. I find the general impression to be that the present Minister of Worship, Lutz, the real mainspring of the Cabinet, can be relied on, and his recent speech in Berlin is certainly of a sufficiently decided character. But it would be a great mistake to overlook thee serious difficulties of a position where there is such a powerful reactionary organization, a fanatical episcopate aud a bigoted aristocracy combined ; while, on the other hand, there is only the intellect of the towns, which is wanting in organization, undirected. by any statesman of commanding influence, and with a monarch as wayward as inconsistent,—indisposed indeed to ecclesiastical encroachment, but also eminently accessible to other sentiments that may at any moment make him the tool of crafty intriguers. Whoever cares to know about Germany, whoever is curious to foregather the chances of the Old-Catholic movement, would do well to study what is going on in these parts. It is not very easy to acquire a full insight, and I feel that I have not been able even to sketch the situation in this letter ; but I may venture to say that problems of great consequence are on the anvil, and that whether they be solved or not (and no great problem has ever been worked out thoroughly to its end in one generation), what is now pending is sure to leave durable results, and to furnish deeply interesting study to the observer. A Ezeoessuesierr.
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