Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 14.djvu/414

 SWITZERLAND

362

SWITZERLAND

one for appeals in the domain of public law and cer- tain matters of civil law, the second for the other appeals in civil law, the third for complaints respect- ing the law of bankruptcy and the law of obUgation. For criminal cases there is a criminal court of three judges and twelve assessors. The federal attorney- general is appointed by the Federal Council.

The Constitutions of the Swiss cantons are in all cases democratic. However, great differences are to be found in the various cantons in regard to the can- tonal Constitution, taxation, communal Government, etc. In the larger cantons the legislative body is a council elected by the people, called the Cantonal Coimcil, or the Great Council. The members of the cantonal Governments are elected either by this council or directly by the people. The smaller can- tons have as the legislative body the cantonal assem- bly, composed of all the active citizens of the canton, which elects the cantonal authorities. The chief poht- ical parties of Switzerland, as represented in the Federal Assembly, especially in the chamber called the National Council, are: (1) The Radical or Pro- gressive-Democratic party that avowedly strives after greater centraUzation; this principle is especially ad- vocated by the Radicals of German-Switzerland. At times this part shows anti-Cathohc tendencies, as was particularly evidenced in the War of the Sonderbund, and in the turmoil caused by the Old CathoUc move- ment; during the last twenty years, however, this hos- tility has not been so marked. This party is the dom- inating one throughout the entire Confederation. (2) The Cathohc-Conservative party. (3) The Lib- eral-Conservative, or Protestant party. Both the Cathohc- and Liberal-Conservative parties are Feder- alists, but lay stress upon the rights of cantonal sovereignty. (4) The Social-Democratic party.

Ecclesiastical History. — There is no doubt that Christian missions were started in the territory of the present Switzerland as early as the third century, but it was not until after the Constantinian era that they made decided progress. The mission- aries of Christianity entered the country by three main roads: by way of the valley of the Rhone to Geneva, from Italy over the Great St. Bernard to Valais and into western Switzerland to the Helvetii, and over the pas.ses of the Alps by way of the Grisons into eastern Switzerland to the Rhaetians. After the political repartition of the Roman Empire during the reign of Diocletian, the earliest Swiss dioceses appeared in the course of the fourth century: in Valais the Diocese of Octodurum (Martigny), the see of which was transferred in the sixth century to Sion (Sitlen) ; in the south-west the Diocese of Geneva (Genava) was founded in the Ciiitas Genavensium, which belonged to the gi-eat territories of the AUo- broges; western and central Switzerland received the Diocese of the Helvetii, that was estabhshed in the Civitas Helvcliorum; its bishop lived now at Aven- ticum (Avenches), now at Vindonissa (W indisch) , until at a later date, between the years 585 and 650, the see was transferred to Lausanne, and the northern part of the region, that had been taken by the Ala- manni, was assigned to the Diocese of Constance. In the north-west the Diocese of Basle, the origin of which is obscure, was estabhshed in the Civitas Raura- corum. A part of the present Swiss Jura belonged to the Diocese of Besan^on; towards the east, in Rhtetia, the Diocese of Chur (Coire) was established. The territories south of the Alps belonged in part to the Dioceses of Como and Milan. A famous shrine was the church built over the graves of the martvT St. Mauritius and his companions (St. Maurice in Valais) ; in 515 the Burgundian King Sigismund founded an ab- bey at this sjiot, tlio oldest monasterj' on Swiss soil. The occupation of western Switzerland by the Burgundians, although they were Arians, led to no serious interruption of the life of the Church. At the

beginning of the sixth century King Sigismund be- came a Catholic; this was quickly followed by the adoption of the Catholic Faith by the Burgundians. From 534 the entire territory of the Burgundians be- longed to the Kingdom of the Franks, as they took part in the religious development of this kingdom. The Alamanni were still heathen and when they migrated into northern and north-eastern Switzer- land they destroyed, along with the Roman civiUza- tion, alniost the entire organization of the Church. After the Franks subjugated the Alamanni in 496 the Irish missionaries began to labour in their territories. In the sixth century the Diocese of Constance was founded for Alamannia; it included those parts of Switzerland occupied by this people. St. Coluraba and St. Cial! from the Irish monastery of Bangor laboured on the shores of Lake Constance and on those of Lake Zurich. When about 612 Columba went to Italy, Gall remained behind and founded a monastery, from which developed the celebrated Ab- bey of St-Gall. The monastery of Reichenau was of great importance in the further spread of Christianity on Lake Constance. Other monasteries were founded in eastern Switzerland, among them Pfaefers and Dissentis, and in the tenth century Einsiedeln. In western Switzerland famous abbeys were established in the territory of the Burgundians, as St-Imier, St- Ursanne, and Romainmotier; these, however, did not appear until the Prankish era. As time went on the growth of rehgion and civilization brought rich posses- sions and large secular power to t he bishops and abbeys.

The great movement for the reformation of the monasteries during the tenth century, in which Cluny led the way, reached western Switzerland and caused the founding of new and important abbeys, such as Payern in Vaux, St-Victor in Geneva, St-Alban in Basle, and others. Several more Benedictine abbeys were established in the twelfth century; among these were Muri in Schaffhausen, Fischingen at Thurgau; some Cistercian abbeys were also founded, as Haute- rive in Fribourg, St-Urban in Lucerne, and Wet- tingen in Aargau, while the Premonstratensians and Carthusians established numerous monastic houses in various districts of Switzerland. The change in mon- astic Ufe introduced in the thirteenth century by the Franciscans and Dominicans, who settled in the cities to exercise pastoral care, extended througliout Switz- erland at an early date. Both Franciscan and Do- minican monasteries sprang up in numerous cities, at Basle, Zurich, Berne, Schaffhausen, Solothurn, Chur, Fribourg, Lausanne, Geneva, and others. Among the kniglitly orders, the Knights of St. Jolm of Jeru- salem had the largest number of houses, some of which were endowed with large revenues. Other orders had a few monasteries. There were also large numbers of convents for women. Besides the monasteries there were houses of Augustinian canons in Switzerland, a fewof which still exist in the Cathohc cantons. Thus a rich religious life sprang up in the various districts of Switzerland around the numerous religious founda- tions of various kinds, the sees of the dioceses, the abbeys and other monasteries, and the religious insti- tutions of the cities.

The Protestant schism of the sixteenth century began in German Switzerland with the position taken by Zwingli in Zurich at the same time that it appeared in Germany. At first the religious innovation met with but little success. On 8 April, 1524, the five dis- tricts of Uri, Schwj'z, Unterwalden, Zug. and Lucerne decided to retain the old, true Christian Faith and to suppress the erroneous doctrine within their terri- tories. At the Diet of the (Confederation held at Lucerne on 20 April of the same year this decision was adopted by all the districts excejiting Zuricli and Schaffhausen. Dvu'ing tliis period .Vnabaptists made their ap))earance, especially in St-Gall and the Ori- sons, and Anabaptist communities were estabhshed in