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 WESTPHALIA

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WESTPHALIA

estant. In the same way the attempts of the dukes of Cleves, who had returned to the Church, to drive Protestantism out of the countships of Mark and Ravensberg failed, especially as in 1614 both count- ships became a part of Brandenburg. Rietberg was completely regained for Catholicism by the conversion to Catholicism of the heiress of the Countship of Riet- berg, Sabina Katharina, and by her marriage with the convert John III of East Freisland, a grandson of King Gustavus Vasa. In 1610 the exercise of Prot- estantism was forbidden in Rietberg. The ruler of Biiren, Elizabeth, was converted in 1613; her .son Moritz became a Jesuit, and presented his seigniorial domain to the order. The attempts to re-establish Catholicism which were undertaken during the Thirty Years War, on account of the Edict of Restitution of 1629, had only a temporary success. Among these efforts were the one at Minden, where the Jesuits la- boured for a short time and where in 1632 a diocesan synod was held, and that at Herford.

The Treaty of Westphalia (1648) established as the basis of ecclesiastical affairs the conditions of the year 1624. Accordingly, since then the territories of Min- den, Ravensberg, Mark, Tecklenburg, Rheda, Hohen- limburg, Siegen-Hilchenbach, Wittgenstein, and the imperial city of Dortmund have been entirely or mainly Protestant, while Miinster, Paderborn, the Duchy of Westphalia, and Rietberg have been Cath- olic. The Countship of Steinfurt and the Seigniory of Gemen gradually became for the most part Catholic. Until modern times territorial boundaries were also denominational boundaries, especially in Westphalia. With the present era the denominational compactness was broken by the growth of the cities and the immigra- tion of large numbers of factory hands from all parts of Germany. In 1648 Brandenburg-Prussia received by the Treaty of Westphalia the Diocese of Minden, in 1702 the Countship of Lingen by inheritance from the line of Orange, and in 1707 the Countship of Teck- lenburg by purchase. From the end of the seven- teenth century to the beginning of the nineteenth cen- tury Church life was torpid and little progress was made. The cathedral chapters at Miinster and Pader- born withdrew more and more from their spiritual duties. From the fifteenth century they were open only to members of the old families of the pobility, of whom but a few were ordained. The others did not live differently from the .secular nobility. The old Benedictine and Cistercian abbeys had also become very worldly, and but little was done for the training of their inmates in learning, although, in general, good discipline and order were maintained. Only the mendicant orders, especially the Franciscans, laboured actively for the cure of souls. The system of schools was very defective. In the Diocese of Miinster the seminary for priests founded by the Prince-Bishop Ferdinand in 1613 was allowed to fall into decay, so that the training of priests was very unsatisfactory.

Much was done at the end of the eighteenth cen- tury for the improvement of education by the distinguished minister and Vicar-General of Miin- ster, Frcihorr Franz von Fiirstenberg. His work affected at first only the Diocese of Miinster, but the example had an influence on the whole of Westphalia, and indeed was felt throughout Germany. lie reor- ganized the cnlire school .system of Miinster from the lowest elcnicnlary in.st ruction up to the university on a well constructed plan, founded the Universityof .Miin- ster in 1771, rc-i'slablishcd the seminary for priests, and founded the normal school over which he placed Overberg. The era of the FrcMcli Kevolution and of the Napoleonic empire brought violent changes. On account of the Peace of Lunevillc (ISOl) and of the Enactment, of (he Imperial Delegation (IS3), the secular .sovereignty of 1 he bisho))S was suppressed and their territ(iri<'s ii.sed to compensate the princes who were obhged to yield their possessions on the left bank

of the Rhine to France. Thus Prussia received the Diocese of Paderborn and a part of the Diocese of Miinster, that is the half of the upper section of the diocese with the capital. The other half was used to form petty principalities for the Princes of Salm, Croy, and Looz-Corswaren ; the lower diocese and the district called Emsland were given to the Dukes of Oldenburg and of Arenberg. The Duchy of West- phalia went to the Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt. The new rulers at once secularized the monasteries for men, a right given them by the enactment of the imperial delegation. Thus in the spring of 1803 Prussia suppressed the monasteries of Kappenberg, Marienfeld, Liesborn, Abdinghof, Hardehausen, Dalheim, and Boddeken. By an Edict of 17 October, 1803, Landgrave Louis of Hesse suppressed the mon- asteries in his territories.

In 1807 Prussia had to concede its Westphalian possessions to France. The western part of West- phalia was obliged to change its nationality several times, it belonged in part to the French Empire, in part to the Grand Duchy of Berg under Joachim Murat. The eastern section of Westphalia was made, in conjunction with territories taken from Prussia, Hesse, Hanover, and Brunswick, into the Kingdom of Westphalia, the name of which was a misnomer, as the larger part of the new kingdom was com- posed of lands that were not Westphalian. The Kingdom of Westphaha was given to Napoleon's brother Jerome. The French continued the seculari- zation of the monasteries, nor did they spare the con- vents. On 13 May,' 1809, Jerome decreed the suppres- sion of six convents and on 1 November, 1809, ordered the suppression of all religious foundations, chapters, abbeys, and priories with exception of those devoted to education. Similar decrees were issued by Napoleon himself on 14 November, 1811, for the territories of Miinster. As far as possible the lands were sold. In 1815, after the French had been driven out of the country, Prussia received, besides its earher posses- sions, the former Duchy of Westphaha, the Abbey of Corvey, the former free imperial city of Dortmund, and a number of mediatised principaUties and seign- iories. In 1816 the Provinceof Westphalia wasformed from these acquisitions. At a later date (1851) the whole of Lippstadt, which up to then had been divided between Prussia and Lippe, was added to the province. Under Prussian administration the prov- ince has reached a high degree of prosperity.

The life of the Church has also greatly developed in connexion with the revival of German Catholicism in general. There are in Westphalia a large number of religious, pohtical, social, and charitable associations of Catholics, and brotherhoods which are very active and have many thousand members. The Catholic Press of Westphalia also is in a prosperous condition. There are 82 Catholic newspapers, of which the " Westfiihscher Merkur" of Miinster, the "West- fahsches Volksblatt" of Paderborn, and the "Tre- monia" of Dortmund should be mentioned, besides numerous Catholic periodicals. A diocesan synod was held at Paderborn in 1867 and at Miinster in 1897. Next to the province of the Rhine, \\'estphalia is the most important Catholic part of Prussia. The ecclesiastical (li\'isions have been so arranged by the Bull "De salute animarum" of 1821, that the Diocese of Miinster includes the government district of Miin- ster, one parish in the government district of Minden, as well as three enclaves in the government di.strict of Arnsbcrg: the Countv of Konigssteole in the govern- ment district of Arnsbcrg belongs to the Archdiocese of Cologne, and all else to the Dioce.sc of raderborn. The government distri<>t of Miinster contains 800, .'502 Catholics, and 182,011 ICvangclicals; the government district of Arnsherg, 1, 08 l,:i4:U 'at holies and 1,276,187 Fvangelicals; the government district of Minden, 239,889 Catholics and 489,441 Evangehcals. For