OLD
236
OLD
Marks ($27,500). A house of studies for gymnasial
students call(Ml the PauHnum was founded 20 April,
1898, and a rcsiilcnre for tlic hishup was bought. Be-
sides other p('rioili<'al puUlii'aticnis there is an official
church paper. Tlie.-<e statcinciits, which refer mainly
to Germany, may also be applied in part to the few
communities founded in .Austria, which, however, have
never reached any importance. In .Switzerland the
clergy, notwithstanding the very pernicious agitation,
acqultt<Ml theniselves well, so that only three priests
apostatized. The Protestant cantons, above all
liernc, Basle, and Geneva, did everything possible to
promote the movement. .\n OKI Catholic tlieological
faculty, in which two radical Protestants lectured, was
foiuided at the University of Berne. At the same time
all the Swiss Old Catholic communities organized
themsel\-es into a "Christian Catholic National
Church" in 1875; in the next year Dr. Herzog was
elected bishop and consecrated by Dr. Reinkens.
Berne was chosen as his place of residence. As in Ger-
man}' so in Switzerland confession was done away with,
celibacy abolished, and the use of the vernacular pre-
scribed for the ser\'ice of the altar. Attempts to extend
Old Catholicism to other countries failed completely.
That lately an apostate English priest named Arnold
Mathew, who for a time was a Unitarian, married,
then united w'ith another suspended London priest
named O'Halloran, and was consecrated by the Jan-
senist Archbishop of Utrecht, is not a matter of any
importance. Mathew calls himself an Old Catholic
bishop, but has practically no following. Some of the
few persons who attend his church in London do so
ignorantly in the belief that the church is genuinely
Catholic.
The very radical liturgical, disciplinary, and con- stitutional ordinances adopted in the first fifteen years gradually convinced even the most friendly govern- ment officials that the fiction of the Catholicism of the Old Catholics was no longer tenable. The damage, however, had been done, the legal recognition re- mained unchanged, and the grant from the budget could not easily be dropped. In Germany, although there was no essential change in this particular, yet the political necessity which led to a modus vivendi in the Kidturkampf chilled the interest of statesmen in Old Catholics, particularly as the latter had not been able to fulfil their promise of nationalizing the Church in Germany. The utter failure of this attempt was due to the solidarity of the violently persecuted Catholics. In many cases entire families returned to the Church after the first excitement had passed, and the winning power of the Old Catholic movement declined through- out Germany in the same degree as that in which the KuUurkampf poweHulW stinuilated genuine Catholic feeling. The number of Old Catholics sank rapidly and steadily; to conceal this the leaders of the movement made use of a singular device. Up to then Old Catho- lics had called themselves such, both for the police registr>' and for the census. They were now directed by their leaders to cease this and to call themselves simply Catholics. The rapid decline of the sect has thus been successfully concealed, so that it is not pos- sible at the present day to give fairly exact statistics. The designation of themselves as Catholics by the Old CathoUcs is all the stranger as in essential doctrines and worship they hardly differ from a liberal form of Protestantism. However, the prescribed concealment of membership in the Old Catholic body had this much good in it, that many who had long been secretly es- tranged from the sect were able to return to the Church without attracting attention. On account of these circumstances only Old Catholic statistics of some years back can be given. In 1878 there were in the German empire: 122 congregations, including 44 in Baden, 36 in Prussia, 34 in Bavaria, and about .52,- 000 members; in 1890 there were only about 30,000 Old Catholics, on account of a decided decline in Ba-
varia. In 1S77 there were in Switzerland about 73,-
000; in 1.890 only about 25,000. In Austria at the
most flourishing perioil there were perhaps at the most
10,000 adlicrciits, to-day there are prob.uhly not more
than tOIK). It may be said that the total number of
Old Catholics in the whole of Europe is not much
above ID.OOO.
It seems strange that a movement carried on with so much intellectual vigour and one receiving such large support from tlie State should from bad management have gone to pieces thus rapidly and completely, es- j)ecially as it w;i.s aided to large degree in Germany and Switzerland by a violent attack ii])(in Catholics. The rea.son is mainly the predominant influence of the laity under whose control the ecclesiastics were placed by the synodal constitution. The abrogation of com- pulsory celibacy showed the utter instability and lack of moral foundation of the sect. Dollinger repeatedly but vainly uttered warnings against all these destruc- tive measures. In general he held back from any active participation in the congresses and synods. This reserve frequently irritated the leaders of the movement, but Dollinger never let himself be per- suaded to screen with his name things which he con- sidered in the highest degree pernicious. He never, however, became reconciled to the Church, notwith- standing the many efforts made by the Archbishop of Munich. All things considered. Old Catholicism has practically ceased to exist. It is no longer of any public importance.
For accounts of the movements and tendencies that led up to Old Catholicism see Dollingek; GUnther; Hermes; Infallibility; Lamennais; Syllabus; Vatican Council.
Friedberg, Aktensliicke die altkathoHsche Bewegung hetreffend (TiibinEen, IS76J ; von Schulte, Der AUkatholizismus, Geschichte seiner Eittuicklung, innere (letilaltung und rechtlichen Stellung in Deutschtand (Ciessen. ISS7): Idem. Lebenerinnerungen. Mein Wirken ah Kechtslehrer, mein Anted an der Politik in Kirche und Staal (Gicssen, 190S) ; Verino, Kirehenrecht (3rd ed., 1893), gives a good summary based on the original authorities. Besides the statements in the statistical year-books there is a good account of Old Catholicism in MacCapfbey, History of the Catholic Church in the Nineteenth Century. 1789-1909, I (Dublin and Waterford, 1909): Marshall, Dollinger and the Old Catholics in Amer. Cath. Quart. Review (Philadelphia, 1890), 267 sqq.; cl. also files of the London Tablet and Dublin Revieio (1870-71); Bruck-Kissung, Geschichte der katholischen Kirche ivi neumehnten Jahrhundert (Miinster, 1908); Majunke, Geschichte des KuUurkampfes in Preussen-Deutschland (Paderborn, 1882) ; Ghanderath-Kibch, Geschichte des Vatikanischen Komils (Freiburg, 1903-06); cf. also Friedrich, Geschichte des Vatikanischen Komils (Bonn, 1877-87) : in addition, the very full polemical literature of 1868-72 concern- ing the council and the question of Infallibility should be exam- ined. The most important writings are briefly mentioned in the works just mentioned. The two biographies, from opposing points of view, of Dollinger by Friedrich (Munich, 1891-1901) and Michael (Innsbruck, 1892) contain much valuable material.
Paul Maria Baumgarten.
Old Chapter, The. — The origin of the body, for- merly known as the Old Chapter, dates from 1623, when after a period of more than half a century during which there was no episcopal government in England, Dr. William Bishop was at length created vicar Apos- tolic. He survived less than a year; but during that period he organized a regular form of ecclesiastical government, by means of archdeacons and rural deans, throughout the country which continued in force with little change down to the re-establishment of the hier- archy in 1850. An integral part of his scheme was the creation of a chapter consisting of twenty-four canons with Rev. John Colleton as dean. The ecclesi- astical status of the chapter has always been a matter of dispute. A chapter without a diocese is an anornaly , unknown in canon law, and Rome always refrained from any positive act of recognition. On the other hand, she equally refrained from any censure, al- though it was known that the chapter was claiming and exercising large functions. They therefore argued that the chapter existed "sciente et tacente sede apos- tolica" (with the knowledge and silent consent of the pope) and that this was sufficient to give it a canonical
