SAXE-WEIMAR-EISENACH
496
SAXE-WEIMAR-EISENACH
at Jena (14 Oct., 1806). In consequence of the Con-
gress of Vienna (1815) Prussia surrendered to Saxe-
Weimar a territory of 6600 sq. miles with 78,000 in-
habitants — including Xeustadt, which had previously
belonged to the Kingdom of Saxony, and the Cathohc
Eisenach Highlands. On 31 April, 1815, Duke Charles
Augustus received the title of grand duke. In the
Austro-Prussian War of 1S66 Saxe- Weimar supported
Prussia ; it was a member of the North German Confed-
eration, and in 1871 became a federal state of the Ger-
man Empire. William Ernest (b. 1876) has been the
reigning grand duke since 1901.
Before the Reformation of the six-teenth century, the territories constituting the present grand duchy were, ecclesiastically speaking, under the Archdiocese of Mainz, the coadjutor bishop residing at Erfurt exer- cising jurisdiction in the name of the archbishop. The Reformation removed every vestige of Catholic life. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries some Catholics immigrated sporadically into the terri- tories of Weimar, Jena, and Eisenach. Spiritual ministration was supphed, as far as possible, by the Benedictines and secular priests of the city of Erfurt, which remained a secular possession of the Archbishop of Mainz until 1802, when it fell to Prussia. Duke Ernest Augustus II (1748-58) of Weimar erected a chapel for his CathoUc soldiers, so that they could not desert under pretence of attending service at Er- furt. CathoUc Divine Service was inaugurated in 1795 for the CathoUc students of the University of Jena. The spiritual care of the students was entrusted to the French priest Gabriel Henry, who had been compelled to leave France on the outbreak of the Revolution, because he refused to take the oath of the civil constitution of the clergy demanded by the French National Assembly. After the battle of Jena, Napoleon, at the request of Father Henry, proclaimed the political and religious equality of Catholics and Protestants; it was also due to Father Henry that the declaration of the various German states on joining the Rheinhund contained the article concerning the equality of Catholics and Protestants. Through Father Henry's exertions the first CathoUc parish in Jena was estabUshed in 1808; it was endowed by Napoleon, and all the Catholics of the territory were assigned to it. In 1819 the seat of the parish was transferred to Weimar. In 1815 Prussia ceded the Eisenach Highlands to the grand duchy. Until 1802 this territory, entirely Catholic, had belonged to the immediate ecclesiastical domain of Fulda; it contained nine pari.shes, united in the deanery of Geisa.
To-day (1911) the grand duchy contains altogether 14 parishes and a number of curacies and chaplaincies, 21 priests, and about 30 churches, all of which are sub-
f'ect to the deanery of Geisa. The Sisters of Mercy rom Fulda have estabUshments in four places; the Sistf-rs of St. Elizabeth (Grey Sisters) from Breslau have a house at Ei.senach. Male religious orders are forbidden to open houses in the grand duchy. With the agreement of the grand ducal government, the grand duchy was placed under the ecclesiastical juris- diction of the Diocese of Paderborn by the Bull "De salute animarum" of 16 July, 1821 ; the Bull " Provida Bolersque" of 16 Aug., 1821, placed the nine parishes of the deanery of Geisa under the Diocese of Fulda; but it was only in 1829 that the grand ducal govern- ment recognized the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Fulda over these parishes. In answer to the petition of the Bishop of Fulda (17 Dec, 1856), the whole grand duchy was placed under his jurisdiction by brief of Cardinal Secretary of State Antonelli (17 Feb., 1857j. The ecclesiastical jurisdiction of each new Bishop f)f Fulda in the grand duchy is recognized by the Government only after the receipt of an announce- ment of his entry into ofTicf and of a written guarantee (a bond), in which the bishop promises to observe all the grand ducal rights and powers, and promises, in
the name of his Catholic subjects, fidelity, homage,
and obedience. The State has regulated the condi-
tions of the Catholic Church in a narrow spirit by the
law of 1 Oct., 1823; these conditions have not been
substantially changed by the laws of 6 May, 1857,
and 10 April, 1895. " For the preservation and exer-
cise of the rights of the State, which, as regards the
Catholic Church, its goods, and servants, are derived
from the secular supreme direction and the power to
maintain order", there exists an " Immediatkommis-
sion fiir das katholische Kirchen- und Schulwesen"
(Commission for the CathoUc Church and Schools)
immediately responsible to the Government; to this
must be referred all matters in which the cognizance,
agreement, confirmation, etc. of the Government have
been expressly required. Purely dogmatic decrees
and decrees relating to the domestic discipline of the
Church and not affecting the State are excepted.
In the course of time custom has given rise to the state regulations that all episcopal ordinances, papal briefs etc., in so far as they affect the grand duchy, must be laid before the Government for inspection be- fore promulgation or delivery, and that spiritual pre- cepts may not be published without the ruler's placet, except they be of purely moral or dogmatic import. Until 1857 processions outside the church and church- yards and to places of pilgrimage were forbidden. Parochial positions and prebends are assigned by the bishop with the approval of the grand duke, in so far as the right of patronage does not pertain to the latter alone. In every parish and succursal church there is a church directorate, which consists of the pastor and two Catholic parishioners, and is entrusted with the administration of the church property, the mainten- ance of buildings, etc For a long period the terri- torial dean {Landdechant) , the pastor of Geisa, had to visit each pastor and church once annually, and for- ward a report of his visitation to the Immediatkom- mission. Should the bishop wish to make a visitation in person, he must first inform the territorial ruler of his purpose, whereupon it is decided whether or not a secular counsel shall be co-ordinated with the visita- tion. As regards the children of mixed marriages and change of religion the law of 10 April, 1895, decrees that the children must follow the religion of the father, even when he changes his reUgion. However, the change of religion in the case of the father does not affect the denomination of the children who are more than twelve years old. The father can also agree to the training of the children in the religion of the mother, although not before the birth of the first child and only by means of a declaration before the courts. Persons who have completed their eighteenth year may choose their own denomination. Whoever wishes, after the completion of his eighteenth year, to leave the Catholic or EvangeUcal Church, must first declare his intention to the proper clergyman, who will instruct him as to the importance of the step, and draw up an attestation of the conversion. The declaration of secession must be made before the courts. The school system is regulated by the law of 24 Jime, 1874, in the form published on 5 December, 1903. The public primary schools are maintained by the political community or a special school community. They are denominational — either Catholic or Evan- geUcal according as either creed is in the majority. Only in one place (Dermbach) is there both a Catholic (170 pupils in 1910) and an EvangeUcal division of the public primary school. In Geisa there are Catholic and Jewish divisions in the public primary schools, thanks tf) the tolerance of the Catholics — an example not imitated in the Evangelical towns. In six places, where the C'atholies are in a minority (Weimar, Eisen- ach, Apolda, Jena, Noistadt on the Orla, and Weida), there are Catholic private primary schools, to which the State grants no subsidy. Negotiations between the CathoUc primary schools and the Supreme School
