Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 12.djvu/393

 PRAGUE

341

PRAGUE

to the consistory. Thus the imperial cities which had been Utraquistic rapidly became Lutheran. At Prague three Lutheran parishes were soon formed. When Rudolph II shut himself up in the castle on the Hradschin the archdukes of Austria selected Matthias as the head of the Hapsburg dynasty. The Bohemian estates, taking advantage of the family quarrel of the Hapsburgs, elected a directory and raised an army. They remained indeed loyal to Rudolph, but forced from him in 1609 the royal charter (Majestatsbrief), which confirmed the Bohemian Confession, opened the university to the evangelical estates, granted them the right to elect defensors, and also permitted the three secular estates of lords, knights, and imperial cities to build Protestant churches and schools. Rudolph finally abdicated and in 1611 Cardinal Dietrichstein of Olmiitz crowned Matthias King of Bohemia (1611-9). Contrary to the regulations of the royal charter granted by Rudolph, subjects of the Archbishop of Prague built a Protestant church at Klostergrab and subjects of the Abbot of Braunau one at Braunau. The archbishop commanded these to be closed, and when the Emperor Matthias sanctioned this order the result was the Third Defenestration of Prague, with which the Thirty Years' War began. A government of thirty directors was formed, and the head of the Prot- estant Union and of the German Calvinists, Frederick V, Elector of the Palatinate, was elected King of Bohemia. The Cathedral of Prague was arranged for Calvinistic services; altars were torn down, pictures and statues destroyed. The court preacher Scultetus drew up an independent liturgy for Bohemia.

A sovereign has seldom begun his reign under greater difficulties than Ferdinand II (1619-37). The insur- gents under Thurn were at the gates of Vienna; within the city the non-Catholic estates made common cause with the besiegers. Ferdinand, however, never yielded. After the battle of the White Mountain (1620)"he took more severe measures against the disturbers; they were driven out of the country, the royal charter that had been the source of so much disorder was annulled, and a system of government introduced in 1627 that among other things made the clergy the first estate. It granted the bishops, prelates, and abbots seats and votes in the diet (the ecclesiastical bench) and the title of Primus regni to the archbishop. Only the Catholic religion was to be permitted. An imperial commission of reform ("dragonnades", "saviours") was to tra- verse the country purging it of preachers, heretical schoolmasters and books. Thirty-six thousand fami- lies were welcomed in neighbouring countries, but with all this the country was not made thoroughly Cath- olic. Many conformed only externally and the vary- ing phases of the Thirty Years' War, for which in the end religion wasmerely theexcuse, constantly favoured Protestantism. In the Peace of Westphalia (1648), however, Ferdinand III did not allow himself to be dictated to. During the period when princes were absolute rulers, events protected the Church against fresh attacks. Pastoral care, instruction, and eccle- siastical administration were improved. The Mont- seratines, Piarists, Theatines, and Ursuline nuns were introduced into the country, the clerical seminary was founded, and the new Dioce.ses of Leitmeritz (1655) and Koniggriitz (1665) were erected. The old Univer- sity of Prague and the Clementinum, the Jesuit col- lege, were united into the Caroline-Ferdinand Univer- sity. The tax of fifteen kreuzers on salt, either mined in Bohemia or imported, was applied to Church purposes, the St. Wenceslaus fund was used to dis- tribute good books, and the Emeritus fund was em- ployed to aid poor priests. For two years from 1712 the churches even in Prague were closed on account of the plague. In 1729 the canonization of St.. lohnNepomucene was celebrated with great festivi- ties. The power of the sovereign over the Church was introduced by Protestantism. The Catholic rulers at

first only assumed this position as regards their Prot- estant subjects. In the course of time, however, they began to exercise this power also as regards their Cath- olic subjects. As the maintenance of religion (the Counter-Reformation) was their work and they ob- tained the chief patronage of the Church, a State Church was the natural consequence. Even in the reign of Maria Theresa edicts were issued concerning ecclesiastical matters. No one could take the vows of an order until fully twenty-four (1770); monastic prisons were to be suppressed (1771). As the basis of theological instruction were to be used: Sagan's Catechism (1772), Riegger's " Institutiones jurispru- dentice ecclesiasticae", and Rautenstrauch's "Synopsis juris ecclesiastici". Trumpets and drums could no longer be used in the churches; in the lessons of the Breviary for the feast of St. Gregory VII the places concerning the power of the pope to depose kings were to be omitted. Parish priests were expressly for- bidden to speak abusively of the laws of the country. Within ten years Joseph II issued sixty-two hundred laws, orders of the court, and ordinances. Even what was good showed marks of haste; laws and ordinances contradicted one another. When in 1781 the patent of toleration was issued quite a number who had been Protestants in secret now appeared as such openly. The Bull "In coena Domini" and "LTnigenitus" were to be suppressed. It was forbidden to study theology at Rome, Roman dignities and titles could only be assumed after obtaining permission of the ruler. A general seminary was established at Prague, where both secular priests and candidates for the orders were to be educated. Even the number of Masses to be held in a church and the number of candles that could be used at such services were prescribed by law; the litany of the Trinity was forbidden "on account of various additions". Many monasteries were sup- pressed, the remaining ones were regulated by the State, and fell into decay. One good measure of the emperor was, that he formed a fund for the mainte- nance of religion from the propert}' of the suppressed monasteries and used it to increase the number of parishes. In this way Joseph II founded eighty-one parishes and three hundred and fourteen dependent churches in Bohemia. He also established the Diocese of Budweis.

Joseph's brother Leopold II soon changed condi- tions. The general seminaries were abolished, there was no further suppression of monasteries, and books for theological instruction were submitted to the cen- sorship of the bishop. Francis II was a pious ruler, who took a serious view of his duty in regard to conscience and religious duties, but for nearly a generation the war with France claimed all the strength and energy of the Government. In the meantime both laity and clergy grew more and more accustomed to the Jose- phine reforms of the Church. Were any ecclesiastical concessions made the Josephinists raised a cry over the unjustifiable demands of the Church and the un- heard of concessions of the Government. One of the results of the French war was the demand of the Gov- ernment for the silver plate in 1806, 1809 etc., when all the Church silver not absolutely necessary went to the mint. In return, the churches received from the Government an acknowledgment of the indebted- ness. During this period the priest, Bernhard Bol- zano, a philosophical writer and profes.sor of theology at the IJniversity of Prague, wrote: "Lehrbuch der Rehgionswissenschaft" (4 vols.); " Wissenschaf ts- lehre"; "Logic" (4 vols.); "Athanasia oder die Grunde fur die Unsterblichkeit der Seele"; "Erbau- ungsreden an die akademische Jugend" (4 vols.); "Ueber die Perfektibihtat des Kathohzismus". The authorities were suspicious of him on account of his teachings, but his archbishop, Prince von Salm, pro- tecteil him. In 1820 he was removed from his profes- sorship and died in 1848. In 1848 Alois, Freiherr von