to accept the decrees. The former, driven from his parish
church, was followed by the majority of his congregation, who,
in spite of every discouragement, continued faithful to him;
and for years after, as successive members were removed by
death, the crosses over their graves recorded that they had died
" true to their ancient belief." Tangermann, the poet, expelled
in like manner from his parish by the archbishop of Cologne,
before long found himself the minister of a much larger congregation
in the episcopal city itself. These examples exercised
no Httle influence, and congregations of Old Catholics were
shortly after formed at numerous towns and villages in Bavaria,
Baden, Prussia, German Switzerland, and even in Austria.
At Warnsdorf in Bohemia a congregation was collected which
still represents one of the most important centres of the movement.
In September the second congress was held at Cologne.
It was attended by some 500 delegates or visitors from all parts
of Europe, and the English Church was represented by the
bishops of Ely and Lincoln and other distinguished members.
At this congress Friedrich boldly declared that the movement
was directed " against the whole papal system, a system of
errors during a thousand years, which had only reached its
climax in the doctrine of infallibility."
The movement thus entered a new phase, the congress occupying itself mainly with the formation of a more definite organization and with the question'of reunion with other Churches. The immediate effect was a fateful divergence of opinion; for many who sympathized with the opposition to the extreme papal claims shrank from the creation of a fresh schism. Prince Chlodwig Hohenlohe, who as prime minister of Bavaria had attempted to unite the governments against the definition of the dogma, refused to have anything to do with proceedings which could only end in the creation of a fresh sect, and would make the prospect of the reform of the Church from within hopeless; more] important still, Dollinger refused to take part in setting up a separate organization, and though he afterwards so far modified his opinion as to help the Old Catholic community with sympathy and advice, he never formally joined it.
Meanwhile, the progress of the quarrel between the Prussian government and the Curia had been highly favourable to the movement. In May 1873 the celebrated Falk laws were enacted, whereby the articles 15 and 18 of the Prussian constitution were modified, so as to legalize a systematic state supervision over the education of the clergy of all denominations, and also over the appointment and dismissal of all ministers of religion. The measure, which was a direct response to the Vatican decrees, inspired the Old Catholics with a not unreasonable expectation that the moral support of the government would henceforth be enlisted on their side. On the nth of August Professor J. H. Reinkens of Breslau, having been duly elected bishop of the new community, ' was consecrated at Rotterdam by Bishop Heykamp of Deventer, the archbishop of Utrecht, who was to have performed the ceremony, having died a few days before. In the meantime the extension of the movement in Switzerland had been proceeding rapidly, and it was resolved to hold the third congress at Constance. The proceedings occupied three days (12th to 14th September), the subjects discussed being chiefly the institution of a synod ^ as the legislative and executive organ of the Church, and schemes of reunion with the Greek, the African and the Protestant communions. On the 20th of September the election of Bishop Reinkens was formally recognized by the Prussian government, and on the 7th of October he took the oath of allegiance to the king.
The following year (1874) was marked by the assembling of the first synod and a conference at Bonn, and of a congress
Reinkens was elected at Cologne in primitive Christian fashion by clergy and people, the latter being representatives of Old Catholic congregations.
- The diocesan synod, under the presidency of the bishop, consists
of the clergy of the diocese and one lay delegate for every 200 church members. It now meets twice a year and transacts the business prepared for it by an executive committee of 4 clergy and 5 laymen. In Switzerland the organization is still more democratic; the bishop does not preside over the synod and may be deposed by it.
at Freiburg-im-Breisgau. At the congress Bishop Reinkens spoke in hopeful terms of the results of his observations during a recent missionary tour throughout Germany. The conference, held on the 14th, isth and i6th of September, had for its special object the discussion of the early confessions as a basis of agreement, though not necessarily of fusion, between the different communions above-named. The meetings, which were presided over by Dolhnger, successively took into consideration the Filioque clause in the Nicene creed, the sacraments, the canon of Scripture, the episcopal succession in the EngUsh Church, the confessional, indulgences, prayers for the dead, and the Eucharist (see Dollinger). The synod (May 27-29) was the first of a series, held yearly till 1879 and afterwards twice a year, in which the doctrine and discipline of the new Church were gradually formulated. The tendency was, naturally, to move further and further away from the Roman model; and though the synod expressly renounced any claim to formulate dogma, or any intention of destroying the unity of the faith, the " Catholic Catechism" adopted by it in 1874 contained several articles fundamentally at variance with the teaching of Rome.' At the first synod, too, it was decided to make confession and fasting optional, while later synods pronounced in favour of using the vernacular in public worship, allowing the marriage of priests, and permitting them to administer the communion in both kinds to members of the Anglican Church attending their services. J Of these developments that aboUshing the compulsory celibacy of the clergy led to the most opposition; some opposed it as inexpedient, others — notably the Jansenist clergy of Hollandas wrong in itself, and when it was ultimately passed in 1878 some of the clergy, notably Tangermann and Reusch, withdrew from the Old CathoUc movement. 1
Meanwhile the movement had made some progress in other, countries — in Austria, in Italy and in Mexico; but everywhere! it was hampered by the inevitable controversies, which either broke up its organization or hindered its development. In. Switzerland, where important conferences were successively convened (at Solothurn in 1871, at Olten in 1872, 1873 and 1874), the unanimity of the " Christian Catholics, " as they preferred to call themselves, seemed at one time in danger of being shipwrecked on the question of episcopacy. It was not until September i8th, 1876, that the conflict of opinions was so far composed as to allow of the consecration of Bishop Herzog by Bishop Reinkens. The reforms introduced by M. Hyacinthe Loyson in his church at Geneva received only a partial assent from the general body. Among the more practical results of his example is to be reckoned, however, the fact that in French Switzerland nearly all the clergy, in German Switzerland about one half, are married men.
The end of the Kulturkampf in 1878, and the new alliance between Bismarck and Pope Leo XIII. against revolutionary Sociahsm, deprived the Old Catholics of the special favour which had been shown them by the Prussian government; they continued, however, to enjoy the legal status of Catholics, and their communities retained the rights and the property secured to them by the law of the 4th of July 1875. In Bavaria, on the other hand, they were in March 1890, after the death of Dollinger, definitely reduced to the status of a private reUgious sect, with very narrow rights. When Bishop Reinkens died in January 1896 his successor Theodor Weber, professor of theology at Breslau, elected bishop on the 4th of March, was recognized only by the governments of Prussia, Baden and Hesse. The present position of the Old Catholic Church has disappointed the expectation of its friends and of its enemies. It has neither advanced rapidly, as the former had hoped, nor retrograded, as the latter have frequently predicted it would do. In Germany there are 90 congregations, served by 60 priests, and the number of adherents is estimated at about 60,000. In Switzerland there are 40 parishes (of which only one, that at Lucerne, is in the
I E.g. especially Question 164: " this (the Christian) community is invisible, " and Question 167, " one may belong to the invisible Church {i.e. of those sharing in Christ's redemption) without belonging to the visible Church."
