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 DRUIDISM

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DRUIDISM

This unexpected move on the part of the Government was intended to conciliate the Catholic nobility of Westphaha and Rhenish Prussia as well as the Cath- ohc clergy and laity, who began to lose confidence in the fairmindedness of the Government and justly pro- tested against the open favouritism shown to Protes- tants in civil and ecclesiastical affairs. The cathedral chapter of Cologne, which had become accustomed to act as a passive instrument in the hands of the Gov- ernment, elected Clemens August as Archbishop of Cologne on 1 Dec, 1S35. He received the papal con- firmation on 1 Feb., 1836, and was solemnly en- throned by his brother, Maximilian, Bishop of Mun- ster. on 29 May. Soon after this he came into conflict with the adherents of Hermes (d. 1831), whose doctrines (see Hermes .a.xd Her.mesl^xism) had been condemned by Pope Gregory XVI on 26 Sept., 1835. When many professors at the University of Bonn refused to submit to the papal Bull, Clemens August refused the imprimatur to their theological magazine, forbade the students of theology to attend their lectures, and drew up a list of anti-Hermesian theses to which all candidates for sacerdotal ordina- tion and all pastors who wished to be transferretl to new parishes were obliged to swear adherence. The Government was angered because the archbishop had enforced the pajxil Bull without the royal approba- tion, but gave him to understand that it would allow him free scope in this affair, providetl he would accede to its demands concerning mixed marriages. Before Clemens August became archbishop he was asked by an agent of the Govermnent whether, if he should be set over a diocese, he would keep in force the agree- ment regarding mixed marriages, which was made "in accordance with the papal Brief of 25 March, 1830", between Archbishop von Spiegel and Minister Bunsen on 19 June, 1834. Clemens August did not then know in what this agreement consisted, and misled by the words "in accordance with the papal Brief, answered in the affirmative. After becoming archbishop he discovered that the agreement in ques- tion, far from being in accordance with the papal Brief, was in some essential points in direct opposition to it. The pajjal Brief forbade Catholic priests to celebrate mixed marriages unless the Catholic train- ing of the children was guaranteed, while in the agreement between von Spiegel and Bunsen no such guarantee was required. Under these circumstances it was the plain duty of the archbishop to be guided by the papal Brief, and all attempts of the Govern- ment to the contrary were futile. His conscientious devotion to duty finally caused the Government to have recourse to the most drastic measures.

Advised by Minister Bunsen, Frederick William HI ordered the arrest of the archbishop. The order was carried out in all haste and secrecy on the evening of 20 Nov., 1837, and Clemens August was trans- ported as a criminal to the fortress of Minden. If the Government thought it could overawe the Catholics of Prussia bj' thus trampling under foot the religious liberty of its subjects, it speedily discovered its mis- take. The Bishops of Munster and Paderborn, fired by the example of Clemens August, recalled the as- sent they had formerly given to the agreement; while Martin von Dunin, the Archbishop of Gnesen and Posen, was imprisoned at Kolberg for the same offence that had sent Clemens August to Minden. In an Allocution of 10 Dec, 1837, Pope Gregory XVI praised the course of the Archbishop of Cologne and solemnly i)rotested against the action of the Govern- ment. The slanderous "Darlegung", or expos^, in which the Government attempted to defend its course by accusing the archbishop of treason, was refuted by Joseph Gorres in his great apologetical work "Atha- nasius", and a declaration of the true state of affairs was published at Rome by order of the pope. The Government saw its mistake and the archbishop was

set free on 22 April, 1839. He was permitted to re- tain the title of Archbishop of Cologne, but, in order to uphold the authority of the State in the public eye, was prevailed upon to select a coadjutor in the person of Johann von Geissel (q. v.), Bishop of Speyer, who henceforth directed the affairs of the archdiocese. The slanderous accusations of the above-mentioned "Darlegung" were publicly retracted by Frederick William IV, who had meanwhile succeeded to the throne. In 1844 the archbishop went to Rome, where he was most kindly received by the pope anci the Curia. The cardinalate, which was offered him by the pope, he refused with thanks and returned to Munster in October. Clemens August is the author of a few ascetical and ecclesiastico-political works. The most important is an exposition of the rights of Church and State entitled "Ueber den Frieden unter der Kirche und den Staaten", published at Miinster in 1843.

BrOck, Geschichte der kath. Kirche in Deulschland im 19. Jahrhunderi (Munster, 1903\ II. 298 sqq.; Kappen, Clemens Atigunl, Erzbischof mn K.,ln (Munster, 1S97); Moth in Deutschlands Episcopal in Lebensbildern {Wiirzburg, 1875), III, no. 5.

Michael Ott.

Druidism. — The etymology of this word from the Greek 5pCs, " oak", has been a favourite one since the time of Pliny the Elder; according to this the druids would be the priests of the god or gods identified with the oak. It is true that the oak plays an important part as the sacred tree in the ancient cult of the Aryans of Europe, and this etymology is helped out by the Welsh word for druid, viz. derwydd. But there is a difficulty in equating the synonymous Irish draoi and Welsh derim/dd. Probably the best-sub- stantiated derivation of the word is from the root lid, "to know", and the intensive prefix dm. According to this etymology, the druids would be the " very wise and learned ones ". But this, like the others, is merely a conjecture, and it has been surmised that the word as well as the institution was not of Celtic origin. Although the druids are mentioned with more or less fullness of account by a score of ancient writers, the information to be derived from their statements is very meagre, and very little of it is at first hand. Even Caesar, who probably came more in contact with the druids than any other writer, does not seem to speak of the druids of his time in particular, but of the druitls in general. With the ancient writers the word druid had two meanings: in the stricter sense it meant the teachers of moral philosophy and science; in the wider sense it included the priests, diviners, judges, teachers, physicians, astronomers, and philos- ophers of Gaul. They formed a class apart and kept the people, who were far inferior to them in culture, in subjection. They were regarded as the most just of men, and disputes both public and private were re- ferred to them for settlement. Thus their influence was much more a social than .a religious one, in spite of the common opinion that they were exclusively a priestly class or Gaulish clergy. They enjoyed cer- tain privileges, such as exemption from military ser- vice and the payment of taxes; antl the ancient au- thors are unanimous in speaking of the great honours which were shown them.

Above all, the druids were the educators of the no- bility. Their instruction was very varied and exten- sive. It consisted of a large number of verses learned by heart, and we are told that sometimes twenty years were required to complete their course of study. They held that their learning should not be consigned to writing. They must have had a considerable oral literature of sacred songs, formula" of prayers, rules of divination and magic, but of all this lore not a verse has come down to us, either in their own language or in the form of translation, nor is there even a legend that we can call with certitude ilruidic Pomponius