Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 17.djvu/814

Rh 754 OLD CATHOLICS OLD CATHOLICS, the self-assumed name of a new party in religious Christendom, which, like the Reformers of the 16th century, has for its avowed aim the restoration of the ancient standard of Christian belief and practice ; but, while the Reformers took for their model the supposed doctrines and institutions of the apostolic age, the Old Catholics have agreed to accept the decrees of the first seven general councils (down to the second of Niccea, 787 A.D.) as authoritative and binding on the church at large. Like the Reformation, Old Catholicism may be said to have had its representatives within the Roman Church long before its formal organization ; but the immediate occasion of the movement arose out of the assembling of the oecumenical council at Rome in 1869 by Pope Pius IX. That pontiff had previously given indications of a tendency towards a reactionary policy which contrasted strongly with the liberal measures which characterized his earlier career. Of such indications the dogma of the Immaculate Conception (8th December 1854) and the &quot;Syllabus&quot; of 1864 were the most notable instances. The &quot;Syllabus&quot; was a formal repudiation of the chief doctrines and theories which during the preceding twenty years had been put forward by writers of various schools of thought, but representing opinions unfavourable to the teachings of Catholicism or the claims of the Papacy; and speculations which called in question the existence of a Divine Being were condemned in the same category with views inimical to the temporal power of the Roman curia. It was for the purpose of giving more emphatic recognition and sanction to the tenets of the &quot;Syllabus&quot; that the oecu menical council of 1869 was professedly convened, and the announcement that such a solemn expression of the convictions of the church at large was thus to be invited was hailed by the organs of the Catholic press through out Europe with unqualified approval. Not until the council was on the eve of assembling did it become vaguely rumoured that among the doctrines which would be brought forward for its acceptance and ratification was that of the Papal Infallibility. The mere report was, however, looked upon as a matter of such grave import that Prince Hohen- lohe, the chief minister of Bavaria, was induced to use the most strenuous exertions to prevail upon the Catholic powers to combine to prevent the promulgation of such a dogma, but without success. The council which assembled at Rome (8th December 1869) was more deserving of the name of &quot;oecumenical&quot; than any which had ever before obeyed the behest of em peror or pope, being attended by delegates from nearly all parts of the world. It included 49 cardinals, 9 patriarchs of the Eastern communion, 4 primates, 121 archbishops, 479 bishops, and 52 abbots and other monastic dignitaries. The total number on the day of opening was 719, increased by the loth of January to 744. As a representative body it was, however, very unequally composed, the numerous holders of Italian bishoprics (many of which are of but small extent) constituting a large majority of the entire number. A proposal to rectify this practical inequality by dividing the whole council into eight or six sections represent ing national elements was summarily rejected. On the other hand, the superiority of the minority in learning and reputation was obvious. It included such names as Schwarzenberg, Mathieu, Darboy, Rauscher, Simor, Ginoulhiac, MacHale, Dupanloup, Ketteler, Strossmayer, Clifford, Kenrick, Maret, and Hefele ; while in the long list of those who eventually recorded their placets in favour of the new decree scarcely a name of real eminence appears. Dr Dollinger, the foremost scholar of Catholic Germany, was not among the &quot;fathers&quot; of the council, but his disapproval of the new dogma was notorious, as also was that of the Comte de Montalembert in France. After protracted sittings, extending over seven months, and characterized mainly by a series of discreditable man oeuvres designed to break the firm phalanx of the minority, who could only record their protests and utter eloquent remonstrances, the Constitutio (as it was termed) was finally laid before the council, and carried with eighty-eight dissentients, while ninety-one abstained altogether from recording any vote. The supremacy of the Roman pontiff over even an oecumenical council was thus declared in terms more explicit and emphatic than had ever before been employed (Friedrich, Documenta, ii. 316), while the new dogma was enunciated in the following terms : &quot;We teach and define. . . that the Roman pontiff, when he speaks ex cathedra, that is, when in discharge of his office of Pastor and Doctor of all Christians lie defines, in virtue of his supreme apostolic authority, a doctrine of faith or morals to be held by the Universal Church, is endowed with the divine assistance promised to him in Blessed Peter, with that infallibility with which our divine Redeemer willed that the church should be furnished in defining doctrine of faith or morals, and, therefore, that such definitions of the Roman pontiff are irreformable of themselves and not in virtue of the consent of the church. &quot; When the above dogma was promulgated in its entirety (18th July 1870) in the presence of 535 fathers, only two dissentient votes were recorded. The rest of the minority had decided on quitting Rome before the final event, a resolution confirmed by the oppressive heat of the weather and the threatening aspect of the political horizon. It has since been asserted on good authority that the action of the Papal party was largely influenced by the empress of France and her advisers ; and it cannot be doubted that at Rome, not less than in Paris, it was ardently hoped that this bold proclamation of Ultramontanist doctrine would have been followed by the triumph of the French arms over those of Prussia. The conduct of the different members of the opposition on their return to the isolation of their respective dioceses can only be described as a series of pitiable tergiversations. The &quot;sacrificio dell intelletto,&quot; as it was termed, was the plausible maxim adopted by one and all. Seventeen of the German bishops almost immediately receded from the position they had taken up at Rome and gave in their assent to the dogma, publishing at the same time a pastoral letter in which they sought to justify their change of sentiment on the ground of expediency in relation to the interests of the church (Michelis, Der neue Fuldaer Hirten- brief, 1870). Their example was followed by all the other bishops of Germany as well as by those of Bavaria. Dar boy and Dupanloup in France adopted a like course and took with them the entire body of the Gallican clergy. Each bishop demanded in turn the same submission from the clergy of his diocese, the alternative being suspension from pastoral functions, to be followed by deprivation of office. It may be urged as some extenuation of this general abandonment of a great principle, that those who had refused to subscribe to the dogma received but lan guid support, and in some cases direct discouragement, from their respective Governments. The submission of the illustrious Hefele was generally attributed to the influence exerted by the court of Wurtemberg. The universities, being less directly under the control of the church, were prepared to show a bolder front. Dr von Schulte, professor at Prague, was one of the first to publish a formal protest. A meeting of Catholic professors and distinguished scholars convened at Nuremberg (August 1870) recorded a like dissent, and resolved on the adoption of measures for bringing about the assembling of a really free council north of the Alps. The &quot; Appel aux Eveques. Catholiques &quot; of M. Hyacinthe Loyson (better known as. &quot; Father Hyacinthe &quot;), after referring to the overthrow of &quot; the two despotisms,&quot; &quot; the empire of the Napoleons and the temporal power of the popes,&quot; appealed to the Catholic