7 MAY 1932, Page 13

A Hundred Years Ago

TILE " SPECTATOR," 111A1- :ire, 1832.

A great religious change is taking plc.'' in Germany. The Bible in read with avidity by the Roman U'ath,,fien and time clergy of thin religion are making strenuous efforts for the abolition of celibacy, and for liberty to read the Mass in German. In serious instances they have turned Protestants, with a great portion of their flocks. But the most important event is the formation of an anti-papal Catholic community at Dresden, which is likely to become the nucleus of a very numerous sect. If we couple this with a growing desire among the Protestants of that country to introduce more cereinonies into their religious worship, it reunion of the two churches seems not among impossible things.