Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 2.djvu/97

 AUGSBURG

AUGSBURG

Among them were Johann II, Count of Werdenberg (1469-86), tutor to the emperor's son, afterwards Emperor Maximihan I, who convened a synod in DiUingen, and encouraged the recently invented art of printing; Friedrich von Zollern (14S6-1.5U5) pupil of the great preacher Geiler von Kaysersberg, and founder of a college in DiUingen, who held a synod in the same city, promoted the printing of liturgical books, and greatly enriched the possessions of the diocese; Henrj' IV, von Lichtenau (1505-17), a great friend and benefactor of monasteries and of the poor, and patron of the arts and sciences. During the episcopate of these bishops Augsburg acquired, through the industry of its citizens, a world-wide commerce. Some members of its families, e. g. the Fuggers and the Welsers, were the greatest merchants of their time; they lent large sums of money to the emperors and princes of Germany, conducted the financial enterprises of the papacy, and even extended their operations to the newly discovered continent of .\merica. Among the citizens of Augsburg famous at that time in literature and art were the humanist Conrad Peutinger; the brothers Bernard and Conrad .\delmann von Adelmannsfelden; Matthias Lang, .secretary to Emperor Frederick III, and later Car- dinal and Archbishop of Salzburg; the distinguished painters Holbein the elder, Burgkmair and others. With wealth, however, came a spirit of worldliness and cupidity. Pride and a super-refinement of cul- ture furnished the rank soil in which the impending religious revolution was to find abundant nourish- ment.

(3) Reformation Period. — The Reformation brought disaster on the Diocese of Augsburg. It included 1,050 parishes with more than 500,000 inhabitants. Besides the cathedral chapter it could boast eight collegiate foundations, forty-six monasteries for men, and thirty-eight convents for women. Luther, who was summoned to vindicate himself in the presence of the papal legate before the Reichstag at Augs- burg (1518), found enthusiastic adherents in this diocese among both the secular and regular clergj', but especially among the Carmelites, in whose con- vent of St. Anne he dwelt; he also found favour among the city councillors, burghers, and tradesmen. Bishop Christopher von Stadion (1517—13) did all in his power to arrest the spread of the new teachings; he called learned men to the pulpit of the cathedral, among others L'rbanus Rhegius, who, however, soon went over to Luther; he convened a sj-nod at DQIingen, at which it was forbidden to read Luther's writings; he promulgated throughout his diocese the Bull of Leo X (1520) against Luther; he forbade the Car- mehtes, who were spreading the new doctrine, to preach; he warned the magistrates of Augsburg, Memmingen, and other places not to tolerate the reformers, and he adopted other similar measures. Despite all this, the followers of Luther obtained the upper hand in the city council, and by 1524, various Catholic ecclesia-stical usages, notably the obsers-ance of fast days, had been abolished in Augsburg. The apostate priests, many of whom, after Luther's ex- ample, had taken wives, were supported by the city council, and the Catholics were denied the right of preaching. The .Anabaptists also gained a strong following and added fuel to the fire of the Peasants' War, in which many monasteries, institutions, and castles were destroyed. .\t the Diet of Augsburg in 1530, at which the so-called Augsburg Confession w^as delivered to Emperor Charles V in the chapel of the episcopal palace, the emperor issued an edict according to which all innovations were to be abol- ished, and Catholics reinstated in their rights and property. The city council, however, set itself up in opposition, recalled (1531) the Protestant preachers who had been expatriated, suppressed Catholic ser- vices in all churches except the cathedral (1534), and

in 1537 joined the League of Smalkald. .At the beginning of this year a decree of the council was made, forbidding everywhere the celebration of Mass, preaching, and all ecclesiastical ceremonies, and giving to the Catholic clergy the alternative of en- rolling themselves anew as citizens or leaving the city. An overivhelmuig majority of both secular and regular clergy chose banishment; the bishop with- drew with the cathedral chapter to DiUingen, whence he addressed to the pope and the emperor an appeal for the redress of his grievances. In the city of Augsburg the Catholic churches were seized by Lutheran and Zwinglian preachers; at the command of the council pictures were removed, and at the in- stigation of Bucer and others a disgracefid storm of popular iconoclasm followed, resulting in the destruc- tion of many splendid monuments of art and an- tiquity. The greatest intolerance was exercised towards the Cathohcs who had remained in the city; their schools were dissolved; parents were compelled to send their children to Lutheran institutions; it was even forbidden to hear Mass outside the city under severe penalties.

Under Otto Truchsess von Waldburg (1543-73) the first signs of improvement were noted in the attitude towards Catholics. At the outbreak of hostihties (1546) between the emperor and the League of Smalkald, Augsburg, as a member of the league, took up arms against Charles V, and Bishop Otto invested and plundered Fussen, and confiscated nearly aU the remaining possessions of the diocese. After the victory at MiilJberg (1547), however, the imperial troops marched against Augsburg, and the city was forced to beg for mercy, surrender twelve

Eieces of artillery, pay a fine, restore the greater num- er of churches to the Catholics, and reimburse the diocese and the clergy for the property confiscated. In 1547 the Bishop, Otto von Truchsess, who had meanwhile been created cardinal, returned to the city with the cathedral chapter, followed shortly af- terwards by the emperor. At the Diet hclil at -Augs- burg m 1548 the so-called "Augsburg Interim" was arranged. After a temporary occupation of the city and the suppression of Catholic services by the Elector, Prince Maurice of Saxony (1552), the "Religious Peace of Augsburg" was concluded at the Diet of 1555; it was followed by a long period of peace. The disturbances of the Reformation were more disastrous in their results throughout the dio- cese and adjoining lands than within the immediate precincts of Augsburg. Thus, after many perturba- tions and temporarj' restorations of the Catholic religion, the Protestants finally gained the upper hand in Wiirtemberg, Oetttngen, Neuburg, the free cities of Nordlingen, Memmingen, Kaufbeuren, Din- kelsbiihl, Donauworth, Ulm, in the ecclesiastical terri- tory of Feuchtwangen and elsewhere. Altogether during these years of religious warfare the Diocese of Augsburg lost to the Reformation about 250 parishes, 24 monasteries, and over 500 benefices. Although the religious upheaval brought with it a great loss of worldly possessions, it was not without beneficial effect on the religious Ufe of the diocese. Bishop Christopher von Stadion, while trj-ing to protect Catholicism from the inroads of the Reformation, had sought to strengthen and reWve ecclesiastical discipline, which had sadly declmed, among both the secular and the regular clergy. The work was carried on even more energetically by Bishop Otto Truchsess, who achieved a fruitfid counter-reformation. By fre- quent visitations he sought to become familiar with existing evils, and by means of diocesan sjmods and a vigorous enforcement of measures against ignorant and dissolute clerics, secular and regtdar, he endeav- oured to remedy these conditions. He advanced the cause of education by founding schools; he sum- moned the Jesuits to his diocese, among others Blessed