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 DENMARK

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DENMARK

ate, and nominated the prefect, Johannes von Euch, Bishop of Anastasiopolis and vicar ApostoHc. There- by were secured the necessary conditions for a solid growth of the Church. Since then the number of CathoUcs has considerably increased. To-day it is estimated at over 8000, to which niunber we must add 7000 Polish workmen There are in Copenhagen three parishes and four chapels with connected insti- tutions. In the Stenosgade the Jesuits have estab- lished a high school and, close to the city, the fine col- lege of St. Andrew at Ordrupshoi, both institutions nimierously attended by pupils of eveiy denomina- tion. For a complete list of the present stations see above. Among the secular clergy there are several native Danes and converts. The regular clergy are represented by foundations of the Society of Jesus, Redemptorists, Marists, Lazarists, Premonstraten- sians, Camillans, etc. Himdreds of sisters are en- gaged in teaching and in nursing the sick in the hospi- tals. Among the converts are promment Count Hol- stein-Ledreburg and family, Count Moltke Hvitfeld, and the gifted author and poet John Jorgensen.

How little the religion of Luther has penetrated the hearts of the Danish people, is witnessed by the Prot- estant Bishop Pontoppidan almost 200 years after the establishment of heresy. This bishop expressly ad- mits in a pastoral (translated into German by Schon- feldt, Rostock, 1756) that an "almost pagan blind- ness" prevailed throughout the country. This is easily understood when we bear in mind that at the end of the seventeenth centurj' the mass of the coun- try population were imable to read and write, cate- chetical instruction was lacking, and the sermons, mostly of a polemical nature, were not understood by the people. On the other hand this state of affairs had prevented the formation of sects. For a time all spiritual life appeared to have died among the clergy, completely subject to the will of the royal "Sumepis- kopus". Towards the end of the eighteenth century, rigid Lutheran orthodoxy gave way quite generally to a rationalistic tendency. Bishop Balle of Zealand (1783-1808) and his successor Jacob Peter Miinster tried in vain to stem this current. Grundtvig (d. 1872) was the first who earnestly endeavoured to restore to their former position of honour the Libri Symbolici, or ecclesiastical creeds. Afterwards he changed his views and came so near the Catholic doc- trine that he found himself forced to renounce entirely the Protestant view of the Bible. His contemporary, Soren Kierkegaard (d. 1875), at first an opponent of both Rationalism and the orthodox theology, then an enemy of the State Church and of official, or rather of all positive, Christianity, did more than Grundtvig to shatter to its very foundations the Danish Church as reconstructed by the kings of the Reformation period. As mentioned above, the legislation of 1849 and 1852 granted complete religious liberty. Thereby the Evangelical- Lutheran church ceased to be the "es- tablished church". Since, however, the greater part of the nation exteriorly still adheres to it, the State guaranteed to it a subsidy as being the people's Church; this leaves the Church subordinate to the civil authority; its ministers may be nominated and deposed by the Government. It exercises no influence over its own legislation. Its laws are made by the majority in the Reichstag, which has already enacted many that threaten an internal dissolution. Attend- ance in the city churches is slender, and the frequenta- tion of the Lord's Supper is not large. The people in- cline strongly to infidelity and Socialism, or find a sub- stitute for religion in secret societies. Of the Protest- ant sects the following may be mentioned: Baptists, Mormons, Methodists, and Irvingites. A few thou- sand Jews are scattered over the land.

The Protestant clergy is divided, generally speak- ing, into three parties: the infidel-rationalistic school, no longer very inimerous; the conservative majority,

holding fast to the "symbolic books", or creeds, of the sixteenth century; lastly, the Grundtvigites, who recognize the necessity of an ecclesiastical tradition in addition to the Bible, and in this way come closer to the Catholic Church. The revival of Catholicism not imnaturally called forth protests. The first to raise his voice was Bishop Martensen, who published divers little pamphlets and in particular a small work trans- lated into German (Gutersloh, 1874). The feud was also taken up by the Copenhagen preacher Schepelern, more particularly by Professor, now Bishop, Nielsen, the author of various polemical works and essays (cf. Hermens-Kohlschmidt, "Protest. Taschenbuch ", col. 508). In conclusion it may be mentioned that, at the request of Frederick IV, the first Protestant mission was opened (1705) at Trankcbar (East India) and an- other followed (1730) ill Civ, i,l:iii,l.

H. Petersen, Om No7-'U'. , kdse og Gudetro i Hel- denold (Copenhagen, 187tj ; i ■. . Dmnordiske Kirkes Grundlaeggelse og Forste TJ ',',;/ i Miniiiagen, 1S74): MuN- TER. Kirchengeschichte v. Danrrmnk und Norwegen (Leipzig. 1S2.'5); K.^RUP (convert), Geschichte der katholischen Kirche in Ddnemark, tr. from the Danish (Munster, 1863); Jensen, Schte^wig-Holsteinische Kirchengeschichte, ed. by Michel.sen (4 vol.s., Kiel, 1873-79; index, 1881); Witt, Der KalhoU:ismus in Schlenoig-H olstein seit der liefomuition, in Proceedings of the Society for Schleswig-Holstein Church-History, 2d serie.*?, num- ber 5; Helveg, Den danske Kirkes Historie til Rcjorniationen (1862-70); Koch, Den danske Kirkes Historie, lS01-lsr,h (1879-83); Funk, Lehrbuch der Kirchengeschichte (4th ed., 1902); Cornelius. Kristna Kyrkans historia (5th ed., Stoclc- holm. 1809); Del nittonde arhundradets Kyrkohistoria (2d ed., Upsala, 1899); Engeln (CathoUc), Den Kristne Kirkes His- torie (2d ed.. Copenhagen, 1896), a popular treatise, but based on original sources; Berl.\ge in Kirchenlex. s. v. Ddnemark; Katholische Missinnen (Freiburg, 1880, 1881, 1883, 1891, 1897, 1898, 1900-1901. 1904-1905, 1906-1907); Nordisk Vgeblad for Katholske Kristne — former title, Nordisk Kirketidende (pub- lished since 1856); O. Andersen, Varden (1903 ), a literary

periodical; Kirkehistoriske Samlinger vtg. af Selskabel for Dan- marks Kirkenhistorie (Copenhagen. 1849 ); D.\uga.vrd, Om

de dunske Klostre i Middelalderen (Copenhagen, 1830); Helveg, De danske Domkapitler for Reformationen (Copenhagen. 1855); B.ixTER in The Ave Maria (Notre Dame, Ind.), LXIV, no. 22.

Political History. — Many thousands of years ago the northern countries were covered with slowly mov- ing masses of ice and snow, just as inland ice occupies the greater part of Greenland even to-day. Only after these masses had melted could the land be settled. At the end of the Glacial Period, the Baltic was at first one immense landlocked sea, for South Sweden was still joined to Denmark and Germany. The ocean later forced its way through and separated the Danish islands by the Sound and the two Belts. Fre- quent risings and subsidences of the ground gave it its present appearance. Denmark was settled very early. In Maglemoor near MuUerup, on Zealand, a habitation was discovered which was built during the Stone Age, and numerous are the Kjiikkenmodinger (piles of refuse) from that age, which contain not only remnants of meals — e. g. clams, shells, bones of fishes and other animals — but also implements of flint, kaolin, and horn. The so-called Later Stone Age must be placed between 5000 and 2000 B. c. That forestry, fishing, and agriculture were then flourishing, is shown by axes, sickles of flint, nets, and similar finds. The attention paid to the repose of the dead and the sacrifices at the graves indicate that a life after death was recognized. At some period between 2000 B. c. and 500 B. c. stone was superseded by bronze, which was thenceforth used for vessels, tools, weapons, and ornaments. The dead were commonly buried in oaken coffins. Chairs, bowls, boxes, and similar arti- cles were constructed of wood. The art of weaving clothes from wool and of making caps was not un- known, ;vs excavations at Trindhoi and Borum-Eshoi, in Jutland, have sho^\^l. Scandinavian bronze ob- jects, the raw material for which was imported, were always cast. The Iron Age lasted from 500 B. c. to about A. D. 1 100, and is divided into four periods: the ante-Roman, the Roman, the time of the migrations, the Viking epoch. \i first the use of bronze pre- vailed. In the course of time, however, iron became