Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 6.djvu/47

 FEBRONIUS

25

FECKENHAM

in Germany, mention should be made of the Trier pro- fessor, Franz Anton Haubs, "Themata ex historia ecclesiastiea de hierarcliia sacra primorum V sseculo- rum" (Trier, 1786); "Systema primsEVum de potes- tate opit;copali ejusque applicatio ad episcopalia quirdanijura in speciepunctationibusl. II. et IV. con- gressus Emsani exposita" (Trier, 178S); and Wilhehn Joseph Castello, " Dissertatio historica de variis causis, queis accidentahs Romani Pontiiicis potestas successive ampliata fuit" (Trier, 1788). It was the Austrian canonists, liowever, who contributed most towards the compilation of a new law code regulating the relations of Church and State, which was reduced to practice under Joseph II. Especially noteworthy as being conceived in this spirit were the textbooks on canon law prescribed for the Austrian universities, and compiled by Paul Joseph von Riegger, " Institu- tiones juris ecclesiastici " (4 vols., Vienna, 1768-72; fre(iueiitly reprinted), and Pehem, " Prselectiones in jus ecclesiasticum universum", also, in a more pro- noiinccil way, the work of Johann Valentin Eybel, "lutroductio in jus ecclesiasticum Catholicorum" (4 vols., Vienna, 1777; placed on the Index, 1784).

The first attempt to give Febronian principles a practical application was made in Germany at the Coblenz Conference of 1769, where the three ecclesias- tical Electors of Mainz, Cologne, and Trier, through their delegates, and vmder the directions of Hontheim, compiled a list of thirty grievances against the Roman See, in consonance with the principles of the " Febro- nius" (Gravamina trium Archiepiscoporum Electo- rum, Moguntinensis, Trevirensis et Coloniensis contra Curiam Apostolicam anno 1769 ad Cajsarem de- lata; printed in Le Bret, "Magazin zum Gebrauch der Staaten- und Kirchengeschichte ", Pt. VIII, Ulm, 1783, pp. 1-21). More significant was the Ems Con- gress of 1786, at which the three ecclesiastical electors md the Prince-Bishop of Salzburg, in imitation of the Coblenz Congress, and in conformity with the basic principles of the "Febronius", made a fresh attempt to readjust the relations of the German Church with Rome, with a view to securing for the former a greater measure of independence; they also had their representatives draw up the Ems Punctation in twenty-three articles; they achieved, however, no practical results. An attempt was made to realize the principles of the "Febronius" on a large scale in Austria, where under Joseph II a national Church was established according to the plan outlined. Efforts in the same direction were made by Joseph's brother Leopold in his Grand-Duchy of Tuscany. The reso- lutions adopted at the Synod of Pistoia, under Bishop Scipio Ricci, along these lines, were repudiated by the majority of the bishops of the country.

Mbjer, Febronius, Weihbischof Johann Nicotaus van Hont- heim undsein Wiiierruf (Tubingen, 18S0, 2nd ed., 1885), anti- Roman; KuNTZlGEK, Febronius et le Fcbronianisme in Memoires couronnes et autres memoires publics par V Academie Royale des sciences, des letlres et des beaux-arts de BelgiqiLe, Vol. XLIV (Brussels, 1891), also anti-Roman; Stumper, Die kirchenrecht- lichen Ideen des Febronius, inaugural dissertation presented to the faculty of jurisprudence and political economy of the Uni- versity of Wiirzburg (Aschaffenburtr. 190S), Catholic; RoscH, Das Kirchenrecht im Zeitalter der A afh^.ir^ivq. T ■ Der Febronian- ismus in Archiv f. kath. Kirchenr,,!,' I \ \ \ 1 1 I iMainz, 1903), 446-82,620-52. Also Walch, iVi». . <:.schichte,Vt.l

(Lemgo, 1771), 14.5-98; Pt. VI (1T7, . i;,. ju^. I't. VII (1779), 193-240, 453-64; Pt. VIII (1781), .-,-a-42; Ur.tiwechsel zwischen wi'iland ihrer Durchlaucht dem Herrn Kurfursten von Trier, Clemens Wenzeslaus und dem Herrn Weihbischof Nik. von Hont- heim itber das Buch,Just. Febronii de statu EcclesicB (Frankfort, 1813); Phillips, Kirchenrecht (Ratisbon, 1848), III. 365-74; Makx. Gesch. des Erzstifts Trier (Trier, 1864), V, 90-129; Bruck, Die ralionalistischen Bestrebungen im katholischen Deutschland (Mainz, 1865); von .Schulte, Die Gesch. der Quellen und Lit. ,;,-, «.,,„„,\W,.o Itrrh'- (Sfiitt.-nrt. 1880), Vol. Ill, Pt. I. 193- '-'ii- l;nii-..in, ,,i //' ' h-politische Blatter, LXXXVI il'^" ' ' ii Kr I u. 1 'I' ine Deutsche Biographic, s. V. 11"..'!,., 1, ,:, /\ / r.s.v. Hontheim: Anon.. Nel-

U:. U.uili^^ni i,ud i's./ntn.. W i uze^laus {Die Anfanqe der jebro- niainschcn llarcsic) in KuthuUk. I (1891), 537-57; II, 19-39; ZiLLlcn, Febronius in Hallesche Abhandlungen zur neueren Geschichte, XLIV (Halle, 1U06).

FrIEDRICH LAnCHERT.

Febronius, Ju.stinu.s. See Fedronianism.

Feckenham, John de, last Abbot of Westmin- ster, and confessor of the Faith; b. in Feckenham Forest, Worcestershire, in 1515(?), of poor parents named Howman; d. at Wisbech Castle, 16 Oct., 158.5. He became a Benedictine monk at Evesham, and studied at Gloucester Hall, Oxford (B.D., 11 June, 1,5.39), returned to Evesham to teach junior monks till the dissolution, 27 Jan., 1540, when he received a pen- sion of 15 marks. Rector of Solihull, Worcestenshire (15447-1554), he became known as an orator and con- troversialist. He was domestic chaplain to Bishop Bell of Worcester till 154.3, and then to Bonner of London till 1549. He was sent to the Tower by Cran- mer for defending the Faith, but in 1551 was "bor- rowed out of prison" to hold public disputations with the new men, e. g. with Jewel and Hooper. Again relegated to the Tower, he was released by Queen Mary, 5 Sept., 1553, and was much employed as a preacher in London; he was advanced to benefices, and in March, 1554, made dean of St. Paul's. He .showed great mildness to the heretics, many of whom he con- verted, and saved others from the stake. He pre- pared Lady Jane Grey for death, though he could not convince her of her errors, as he did Sir John Cheke, the king's tutor. Feckenham interceded for Eliza- beth after Wyatt's rebellion, obtaining her life and subsequent release. He took the degree of D.D. at 0.\- ford. May, 1556, and on 7 Sept., 1556, was appointed abbot of the royal Abbey of Westminster, restored to the order by the queen. The Benedictines took po.s- session on 21 November (since known as dies memo- rabilis), and the abbot was installed on 29 November, beginning his rule over a community of about twenty- eight, gathered from the dissolved abbeys. He suc- ces.sfully defended in Parliament, 11 Feb., 1557, the threatened privileges of sanctuary, and restored the shrine of the Confessor in his abbey church.

Elizabeth at her accession offered (November, 1558) to preserve the monastery if he and his monks would accept the new religion, but Feckenham steadily re- fused, bravely and eloquently defending the old faith in Parliament and denouncing the sacrilegious inno- vations of the Anglicans. He gave sanctuary to Bishop Bonner, and quietly went on planting trees while awaiting the expulsion, which took place 12 July, 1559. He generously resigned a large part of the money due him to the dean who succeeded him. Nevertheless, in May, 1560, he was .sent to the Tower "for railing against the changes that had been made". Three years later he was given into the custody of Home, the intruded Bishop of Winchester, but in 15G4 he was sent back to the Tower, his episcopal jailer having failed to pervert him. Feckenham him- self said that he preferred the prison to the pseudo- bishop's palace. In 1571 he prepared his fellow-pris- oner. Blessed John Storey, for death, and a little later was sent to the Mar.shalsea. In the Tower he and his fellow-confessors had been "haled by the arms to Church in violent measure, against oiu- wills, there to hear a sermon, not of persuading us but of railing upon us." He was released on bail, 17 July, 1.574, after fourteen years' confinement, and lived in Hol- born, where he devoted himself to works of charity. He encouraged boys in manly sports on Sundays, pre- ferring that they should practise archery rather than attend the heretical services. But falling ill, he was permitted to go to Bath, where, in 1576, he built a hos- pice for poor patients and did much good. But his zeal for the Faith excited fresh rancour, and in 1577 he was committed to the custody of Cox, Bishop of Ely, who was requested to bring him to conformity. Fecfc- enham's so-called "Confession" (British Museum, Lansdowne MSS., No. 30, fol. 199) shows how egre- gioiLsly Cox failed, and in 15S0 he petitioned the coun- cil to remove the abbot, who was accordingly sent to