Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 2.djvu/171

AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN to the Church. These ribald foes spread desolation over a good part of God's vineyard in Austria. The "Free from Rome" movement will remain a disgraceful stain, but not in the history of the Catholic Church. Filled with a sense of the sacredness of their duty as bishops and Austrians, the episcopacy warned the faithful in pastorals against the movement and its schemes (1899, 1901). They addressed an earnest memorial to the emperor on the subject (1901), as well as one to Körber, the head of the ministry (November, 1902).

In 1891 the bishops deliberated on cremation and funeral addresses by non-Catholic clergymen in Catholic cemeteries; in 1898 they drew up a form of reconciliation for duellists and their seconds. They exhorted Catholics "to observe faithfully the ordinances against duelling, whether issued by God, the Church, or the State". After due deliberations, they also adopted resolutions on the position of catechists and the admission of catechetical teachers into the ecclesiastical organization and arranged the manner in which erring ecclesiastics "should be led back to their calling and to the service of God by their fellow-clergymen". In 1891 they issued regulations concerning the social activity of the clergy, and in 1901 concerning clerical conventions and legal societies.

The bishops aided the several religious communities, and watched over the loyalty of the religious orders. In 1889 the relation of the bishops to the election and consecration of the abbots of new religious foundations was defined. In 1891, the pope granted permission to the strictly cloistered orders of women (Ursulines) to attend university lectures. The Austrian bishops celebrated the diamond jubilee of the consecration of Leo XIII to the priesthood and the golden jubilee of his consecration to the episcopacy by joint letters of veneration to the Holy Father and by joint pastorals to the faithful. In these letters they did not fail to express their regret on the subject of the so-called Roman question, of the offensive Giordano Bruno celebration, and of the 25th anniversary of the taking of Rome. In 1903 they sent a magnificent letter of congratulation to the Holy Father, Pius X.

We must go back five hundred years in the history of Austria to find another ruler who reigned fifty years. On the semi-centennial anniversary, 2 December, 1989, of the reign of the Emperor Francis Joseph, the bishops issued a joint pastoral and sent it with a dedication to the emperor. In the dedication they say: "The mysterious counsels of God have ordained that Your Majesty should spend this day in sorrow. [Empress Elizabeth was assassinated 10 September.] We all suffer with our gracious emperor and ruler. But our grief cannot silence our gratitude; our gratitude to our Lord God who has preserved Your Majesty for us, our gratitude to Your Majesty for fifty years of strong and fatherly protection, for fifty years of self-sacrificing love, for fifty years of exemplary devotion to Your Majesty's exalted but arduous calling."

Since 1851 all the provinces of the Austrian Crown have been under one uniform government. Since 1867, however, Hungary has been an independent part of the Hapsburg monarchy, enjoying equal rights with the rest. During the battle over the Concordat which raged in 1867, the Hungarian bishops did not appeal to the Concordat, for fear that the agitation might spread to Hungary. In point of fact, however, they held fast to the Concordat. John Simor, Primate of Hungary from 1866-91, preserved the peace of the Church in the kingdom. There was a conflict, however, respecting the laws concerning baptism. A law of 1868 enacted that in the case of mixed marriages the boys should be brought up in the faith of the father, the girls in that of the mother, even if this were contrary to the desire of the parents. But, when parents so requested, Catholic priests baptized those children who according to the law should be brought up non-Catholic. This practice was called Wegtaufen. Even when, in 1879, the criminal code made the conferring of baptism under such circumstances punishable, the priests were not dismayed-"Go, baptize". Besides this, they were regularly acquitted by the court of last resort in the suits which were brought against them by the Protestant pastors. In 1890 "dununciation" of such baptisms was forbidden by Rome, and the excitement gradually subsided. Augustine von Roskovány, Bishop of Neutra, was the most learned man among the Hungarian bishops of this time. Von Roskovány was Doctor of Philosophy and Theology, secretary to Ladislaus Pryker, Archbishop of Erlan, and died in 1892. His works are important authorities: "De Matrimoniis mixtis" (7 vols.); "Monumenta pro independentiâ potestatis eccles. ab imperio civili" (13 vols.); "Celibatus et Breviarium" (2 vols.); "Beata Virgo Maria in suo Conceptu immaculata" (9 vols.); "Romanuis Pontifex Primas ecclesiæ et Princeps civilis e monumentis omnium sæculorum" (16 vols.); "Matrimonium in ecclesiâ Catholicâ potestati ecclesiasticæ subjectum" (4 vols.); "Supplementa ad Collectiones Monumentorum et Literaturæ" (10 vols.).

In 1893 the Hungarian Parliament began to meddle with religion. The head of the ministry, Wekerle, introduced three bills enacting that returns of marriages, births, and deaths should be made by a civil registrar; that the Jewish religion should be legally recognized, that permission should be given for its free exercise, and the right to enter or leave the Jewish faith should be granted. These bills were soon followed by others for the amendment of the marriage laws (civil marriage made compulsory) and concerning mixed marriages. Wekerle carried the first three bills, and they became law. Baron Desiderius Banffy was made the head of the ministry, January, 1895. In order to prevent the passage of the two remaining bills by Banffy, the papal nuncio, Agliardi, went to Hungary. But the Hungarian Parliament declared that such interference in the internal affairs of Hungary would not be permitted. Count Kalnocky, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, who had supported the nuncio, was replaced by Count Agenor Goluchowsky, and Agliardi was made a cardinal and recalled to Rome. The road was now clear. Count Ferdinand Zichy formed the Catholic people's party in opposition to Banffy's aims; but without avail. The two bills became law. The Lutz amendment on pulpits could not be passed during the lifetime of the primate, Simor, but after his death it was adopted (1899).

Article 26 of the Diet of 1790 guaranteed to the Protestants of Hungary the entire control of the affairs of their religion. The Government has hardly any power in regard to either their churches, their schools, or religious foundations. Since 1848 the Catholics have been endeavouring to obtain autonomy. The Catholic congress of 1870 prepared a bill to this end. The Catholic Autonomy Association, consisting of the bishops, the abbots, and certain elected members, clerical and lay, exists to represent the Church in regard to the faithful, on the one hand, and the Government, on the other, in all questions of schools, of church property, and especially (since the minister of public worship might happen to be a non-Catholic) to advise the king in the exercise of his prerogative of nominating bishops. It is plain that the advantage or disadvantage to the Church of autonomy would depend on the composition of the commission. For this reason a commission such as Wekerle wished to form in 1894 was rejected by the bishops, and Zichy's motion, made