house, and a dwelling for the pastor, without lessening their power to pay the taxes to the Government, they shall be at liberty to build, and their pastor shall be free to visit the sick who may wish to see him. He, however, shall be answerable, if any Protestant person wishing to see a Catholic priest, should be hindered in his desire. The meeting-houses are allowed to be built of any material; it is prohibited, however, that they should resemble churches,—they, therefore, shall not have bells or spires, and their entrance shall not be direct from the street.
III. The Protestants are permitted to erect, at their own expense, their own denominational school. The schoolmaster is, like the pastor, to be supported by the congregation; the Magistrates have the right of ing over the method of teaching.
IV. The Protestants supporting their pastor themselves have the right of electing the pastor; to his Majesty, however, remains reserved the right of recognising the elected.
V. The fees usually paid for funerals, weddings, and so on, belong to the Roman Catholic priest of the parish as before.[1]
VI. Religious matters of the Protestants shall be always taken into consideration by the civil magistrates, to whom one of the pastors and Protestant divines shall be added for the sake of closer information.
VII. The Protestants are permitted to buy houses and land properties, and are admitted to dignities and offices in the civil government and in the army.
The remaining nine articles contain only detailed instructions to carry out the preceding seven articles.
A prominent feature in the character of the brilliant Maria Theresa—by whose son, Joseph II., this Edict was given—was her unlimited devotion to the Romish Church. It is not surprising then to find that the education of her son was confided to bigoted ecclesiastics, nor is it greatly to be wondered at that he, an active, venturesome boy, should have felt keenly the crisis of the Seven Years’ War, and
- ↑ Thus, if there was a Protestant wedding, the fee belonged to the priest, and the Protestant pastor was responsible for paying it, and so with funerals.
