SAXONY
502
SAXONY
tion of the King of Saxony. According to the Con-
stitution of Saxony the dean of the cathedral at Baut-
zen is a permanent member of the I'pper House of the
Saxon diet, but not the vicar Apostohc as such; he is
a member only because the two offices are generally
united. The "two ecclesiastical offices are combined
on account of the revenues, and the union is effected
thus: the chapter of Bautzen elects as dean the vicar
Apostolic who has already been appointed for the
hereditary possessions of Saxony. It should be said,
however, that the union is only a personal one and
that the two administrative districts of the Church
exist the same after as before the union.
At the time of the Reformation Lusatia belonged politically, as has already been said, to Bohemia, i.e., to Austria. Before his resignation the last Bishop of Mei.s.sen transferred in 1581, with the approval of the Holy See, the ecclesiastical administration of Lusatia to Johann Leisentritt of Juhusberg, dean of the cathedral chapter of Bautzen, as adminidrator epis- copatus. When the Reformation entered the country Dean Leisentritt was able to keep at least a part of the population faithful to the Catholic Church. Most important of those bodies that remained Catho- hc were: the cathedral chapter of St. Peter's at Baut- zen; the two celebrated Cistercian abbeys for wonien, Marienthal near Ostritz on the Neisse and Marien- stem between the cities of Kamenz and Bautzen; a part of the parishes that had been under the con- trol of the monasteries, and some other independent towns. The only members of the chapter of St. Peter's at Bautzen that remained Catholic were the dean, the senior, the cantor, and the scholasticiis; the provo.st, who according to the rules of the foundation was elected from the chapter at Meissen, became a Lutheran. Ever since that time the provostship has been granted by the Saxon Government to a Protes- tant, generally to one of the higher state officials. This secular provost has, however, no connexion whatever with the cathedral chapter; he receives from the government ministry the revenues yielded by the lands belonging to the provo.stship. The cathedral chapter consists of four resident canons and eight honorary ones; when the position of dean is vacant the p)ower of aidministration belongs to the cathedral canons; the dean is elected by the regular and hono- rary canons in the presence of a royal commissioner and is confirmed by the Apostolic See. The Cathe- dral of St. Peter's at Bautzen is the oldest church in Lusatia, and was built 121.5-21; at the end of the fif- teenth century it was much altered. Since the Ref- ormation the choir has belonged to the Catholics, and the rest of the cathedral, which is divided from the choir by a grating, belongs to the Protestants. Another church in Bautzen retained by the Catholics ifl the Church of Our Lady, built in the thirteenth century, in which the services for the Catholic Wends are held. The cathedral chapter has the right of patronage for six Catholic parishes, the right of ap-
g ointment for the Catholic seminary for teachers at autzen, the same for the cathedral school, and also the right of patronage for five Protestant parishes. The convent of Marienstern, in the Wendic district of Lusatia, that was founded in the mifMle of the thirteenth century, and the convent of Marienthal in the German section, that was founded before 1234, have done much to preserve Catholic life in Lusatia. For hundrwls of years the pastoral care of the two convents has been exercised bv priests of the Cister- cian mona«tery of Osseg in Bohemia. A pilgrimage church much visited, especially by the Wends, is at Rf>8enthal in the Wendic parish of Ralbitz. In the treaty bet wwin Saxony and Austria of 13 May, 1635, by which Lusat ia was transferred to Saxony, the Saxon elector was obliged to grant his special sovereign pro- tection to the Catholic communities of Lus.itia and the two conventa, the emperor, aa suzerain, retaining the
supreme right of protection. The Catholics of Lusa-
tia had the right to the free exercise of religion, but
in agreement with the earlier legal rights of the State
Church, only so far as they belonged to one of the
old parishes. Catholics who lived within the bound-
aries of Protestant parishes were obliged to call
upon the Protestant pastor of the community for all
baptisms, marriages, and burials, or at least must pay
for these the customary fees. This compulsion ex-
ercised upon the Catholics living in Protestant par-
ishes was not annulled for Lusatia until 1863.
By a treaty of peace between Saxony and France that was signed at Posen 11 December, 1806, Saxony was made a kingdom and entered the Confederation of the Rhine. This trcatj' granted the Catholics of Saxony nominally, although not in reality, civil and political equality with the Lutherans. The fifth article of the treaty declared that the Roman Catho- lic Church services were placed on an absolute parity with the services of the Augsburg and allied confes- sions, and subjects belonging to both religions were to enjoy equal rights. Now for the first time the bells of the Court Church at Dresden, which had hung silent in the tower for fifty years, could be rung. The concessions to Saxon Catholics made in the con- vention of 1806 were confirmed by the royal edict of 16 February, 1807, and by the Constitution of the German confederation of 1815 (art. XVI). The re- lations between Church and State were still further defined by the Edict of 19 February, 1827, which is still in force. This edict abrogated for the hereditary territories the compulsorj^ dependence of Catholics on Protestant ))ast<)rs and created the Catholic Con- sistory for the administration and jurisdiction of the Church including matters pertaining to marriage. This consistory is made up of three ecclesiastical and two secular councillors. The vicar Apostolic has the right of nomination for the appointments. A vica- rial court was created as, with the exception of Rome, the highest court of appeal; it consists of the vicar Apostolic, two ecclesiastical councillors, one secular Catholic councillor, a legal assistant, and in addition for matters pertaining to marriage two Protestant councillors. At the same time the vicariate Apos- tolic was declared to be simply a special department for Church and school matters under the supervision of the Protestant state ministry. In Upper Lusatia the ecclesiast i(;al administration and jurisdiction was placed in the hands of the "consistory of the chapter at Bautzen", which consists of the dean, three eccle- siastical councillors and a secular justiciary. The vicarial court was made the court of appeal.
The Constitution of 4 S(')itom})er, 1831, confirmed the ordinances and arrangcniciits that were then valid. It was forbidden to establish new monasteries in addition to the two convents of Marienthal and Marienstern already in existence in Lusatia, or to admit into Saxony the Jesuits or other religious or- ders. It was not until a few years ago that a few Grey Sisters and nuns of St. Charles Borromeo were allowed to settle in Saxony, in all in thirteen places within eight cities. The authority of the State over the Church, the supreme supervision and the right of protection were assigned by the Constitution to the king as/w-s circa sacra. By the Law of 7 November, 1837, this authority was given to the department of the minister of education and worship, who by the Constitution must always be a Protestant. The ad- ministration and use made of the property of the Church is also under the supervision of the State. Money for the needs of the Church beyond what is provided by the property of the parish or endowments 13 obtained from a Church tax laid by the State (law of 2 August, 1878). The tax is raised as a supple- mentary income tax; the yearly amount of the tax is fixed by the Protestant minister of worship and edu- cation, while the Protestants can fix the amount of
