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Chapter Seventeen |
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Restoration and Liberalism (1815-1870 A.D.) |
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| I. | Introduction: A creeping form of liberalism came into the Church and society during this time. A new found freedom would not be hampered by authoritarian governments nor by the orthodoxy of the Church. This prompted Pope Pius IX to call the first Vatican Council in 1869. | |||
| A. | Restoration | |||
| 1. | The principles-- after the upheavals of the Revolution the Congress of Vienna in 1814 A.D. undertook to reorganize Europe. The pope got his papal states back. Tsar Alexander I of Russia signed a Treaty of Holy Alliance with the emperor of Austria and the king of Prussia. These three monarchs took it upon themselves to rule according to Christian principles and to offer aid and assistance to each other. | |||
| a. | Eternal Values--ideological literature rejected revolutionary principles and exalted once again the eternal values of religion, morality, and hierarchy. Men and women did not have rights, but duties. In France the monarchy and Catholicism became indissolubly connected. Divine right had to be restored to the monarchy and the pope recognized as the guarantor of universal order. | |||
| B. | Political restoration and religious reconstruction in France | |||
| 1. | The throne and the altar--became one in the same thing. The church and state became indistinguishable and the nobility became bishops once again and the state began pouring money back into the church. New churches were being built and the freedom of worship continued and divorce was suppressed. | |||
| 2. | Religious reconstruction--the purpose of the reorganized church was to Re-Christianize the masses whose practice of Christianity had suffered during the Revolution. New seminaries were built and more clergy recruited to staff the ever expanding countryside churches. In fifty years France added 5,000 new churches to already existing 27,000 in existence. | |||
| See Handout #220 | ||||
| 3. | Hundreds of Congregations-- gradually the old orders of religious were revived. The Jesuits were reluctantly welcomed back into France. Religious orders resumed taking care of the poor, teaching and hospital work. They returned to the spirituality of the Franciscans, Dominicans and Ignatians. Especially important to the French mind set was the reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Mary. | |||
| C. | Across Europe | |||
| See Handout #221 | ||||
| 1. | Italy--the main posts of positions of authority remained in the hands of churchmen and there was a general feeling in Italians that they wanted a united Italy. Anti-clericalism grew and the papacy's governance of the papal states created discontent. The old order continued to rule the southern portion of Italy while the northern section showed itself to be much more active by the foundation of new congregations and charitable works | |||
| 2. | Germany and Austria--with the reorganization of new territories Catholics were put under the jurisdiction of Protestant princes. Tension in Germany was high and Catholics of northern Germany remained under the awesome power of the kings of Prussia while King Ludwig I of Bavaria made Munich the great cultural center of Catholicism. | |||
| 3. | The Protestant World--King Friedrich-Wilhelm III forced the fusion of Lutheranism and Calvinism into a United Evangelical Church. In Protestant groups two themes arose; i.e., revivalism and liberalism. Revivalism played on the piety of feelings and outward actions. Liberalism sought to make Christianity acceptable in a scientific world. Rationalism was introduced into Christianity and subjectivity was the norm of belief. Free churches became established that differed greatly from any of the formal churches of the Reformation. | |||
| See Handout #222 | ||||
| See Handout #223 | ||||
| 4. | The Orthodox World--throughout the nineteenth century the Greek Orthodox church was under the rule of the Ottoman empire, Persians. The Greek Patriarch celebrated Easter Sunday and then was hung by the Turks from his own gatepost. In Russia, the Orthodox patriarch refused to be under the rule of the Persians in Greece and declared the Russian church independent and free from the Greek Church. | |||
| II. | God and Freedom | |||
| A. | The revolutions of 1830 A.D.-- the Catholic restoration in France sparked a short-lived revolution. King Charles X, very Catholic, suppressed the freedom of the press and people revolted. Anti-clericalism rose again and people attacked parish priests and tore down crosses. King Charles died and King Philippe came into power, much less Catholic and brought the revolution to an early end. | |||
| 1. |
Across Europe--the idea of revolution was still popular and in Belgium, unhappy with their absorption into the kingdom of the Low Countries, they rioted. The Catholics did not hesitate to ally themselves against the Dutch sovereign and established the independent nation of Belgium on liberal lines; i.e., a separation of church and state, freedom of worship, of teaching and of the press. An embarrassed papacy had to accept them. With the death of Pope Pius VIII in 1830 A.D. brought about an uprising against the papal states. Pope Gregory XVI appealed to Catholic Austria to put down the uprising which was held in contempt by liberal Italians and Gregory became numbered among those rulers who were enemies of freedom. In November of 1830 A.D. Poland, under the rule of the Tsar of Russia declared its independence. The Tsar crushed the Poles and many left their own country immigrating to the Americas. Those that stayed behind appealed to Pope Gregory and so did the Tsar. The pope sided with the Tsar and people questioned whether the church really upheld the ideals of freedom. |
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| B. | Lamennais and L'Avenir | |||
| See Handout #224 | ||||
| 1. | From
Ultra-royalism to liberalism--Felicite de la Mennais grew up under the
revolution. At first not much of a Catholic later became a zealot for the
faith. He became a priest and a journalist and his writings in the
beginning called for a Catholic empire in France. For him the pope and
papacy was all that mattered in the fight against Gallicanism. He
published the journal called L'Avenir (the future) with the subtitle of
God and Freedom. He proposed freedom of conscience, a society that was
free, separation of church and state, and freedom of the press. The
bishops took a disliking to his writings and placed sanctions on him and
to those who read his works. He appealed to Pope Gregory, his friend, who
had just written that letter to the Polish bishops and he became
infuriated. He left Rome which he called "a gigantic tomb where there
are only bones to be found." In retribution he wrote an article Words
of a Believer expressing all that was in his heart about all tyranny,
social and religious. He was condemned by the papacy.
He died in 1854 A.D., but those things that he fought for and was condemned for are now fact: the separation of church and state in France; freedom in teaching and in the press. |
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| See Handout #225 | ||||
| C. | 1848 A.D.--Euphoria of short duration | |||
| 1. | Economic and social transformation--living conditions in France were deplorable and working conditions were even worse. French society needed transforming both economically and socially. | |||
| See Handout #226 | ||||
| 2. | The people's spring-- the discontents revolted in 1848 A.D. Republicans, Catholics, the unemployed created a new Republic. The new government called for prayers and priests blessed the new freedoms proposed. This same revolutionary ideal swept throughout Europe into Austria, Germany and Italy. | |||
| 3. | The days of June 1848 A.D.--in France elections were held in a wave of enthusiasm that things would be different. But those elected to hold government positions were the same nobility and priests who had caused the revolution in the first place. Thousands were killed from June 23-26th. | |||
| See Handout #227 | ||||
| 4. | The revolution in Rome--Pope Pius IX tried to bring reform to the papal states, but his emissary was assassinated and he fled Rome and the Romans proclaimed themselves a Republic in the pope's absence. The French sent an army to Italy to re-instate order and the pope in 1849 A.D. | |||
| III. | The First Vatican Council | |||
| A. | The political and religious context | |||
| 1. | The question of Rome--because of military aid from France Victor Emmanuel proclaimed himself king of the Italian territories taking away most of the papal states from the pope. Napoleon the III wanting to remain in the good graces of the church allowed the pope to keep his Rome and surrounding country, but everyone was waiting for Pope Pius IX to die. Although it was a question of lands and who controlled them, the papal state issue was to poison the life of the church until 1929 A.D. This pope viewed freedom as the cause of all evil in the church. | |||
| 2. | Catholic division over liberalism-- battle lines were drawn over those who would hold the old line of defending the pope's right over all temporal power of the papal states and those who stood with the socialist's way of thinking of freedom. | |||
| See Handout #228 | ||||
| 3. | Reason and faith--Catholicism was called into question by the philosophers and scientists during the nineteenth century. Kant, a German philosopher, said God could not be proved by reason. Renan, another philosopher, reduced Jesus to just another human being. | |||
| 4. | The pope's place in the church-- Catholics in Europe were indignant at seeing the pope lose his papal states and many wanted to see his temporal and spiritual powers strengthened and infallibility more clearly defined by proclaiming the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception of Mary in 1854 A.D., the pope indirectly declared his infallibility. | |||
| 5. | Partial responses--yielding to pressure from several bishops, Pope Pius IX took a stand against the evils of his time; i.e., rationalism, Gallicanism, Socialism, and Liberalism. The encyclical Quanta Cura appeared to condemn the whole of society. The hard line Catholics were overjoyed, the anti-clerics snickered, the Liberal Catholics were depressed. In this atmosphere, Pius IX called for a Vatican Council in 1869A.D | |||
| See Handout #229 | ||||
| See Handout #230 | ||||
| B. | The meeting of the Council | |||
| 1. | Setting up--on December 8th the Council was convened with about 700 European bishops present and many thought the real agenda would be the pope's definition of his own infallibility. | |||
| 2. | Work--the
constitution Dei Filius was the result of the relationship
discussion on reason and faith. The statement proclaims that there is a
personal God who could be attained by reason and at the same time
affirming the necessity of revelation. There was no conflict between
reason and faith.
Pastor Aeternus' document defined the infallibility of the pope in faith and morals. It was a stormy discussion pro and con, but in the end it affirmed the papal primacy and the infallibility of the pope in conjunction with his bishops. |
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| 3. | The adjournment of the Council--On July 19,1879 A.D. France and Germany declared war on each other. Napoleon III withdrew his troops from Rome which had been protecting the pope and Italian troops stormed Rome and made it the capital of Italy. The council was adjourned and never reconvened. | |||
| C. | The result of the Council--the decisions of the Council were generally accepted. Strictly speaking, the pope exercised infallibility only in the definition of the Assumption in 1950 A.D. and most recently in the pronouncement of the male priesthood. This was a time of centralizing the papacy in Rome and increase the prestige and primacy of the pope in union with his bishops. | |||
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Handouts |
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| 220 | Ultramontanism at the beginning of the nineteenth century. A pro pope stance in an anti-pope era. | |||
| See Full Text | ||||
| 221 | Jean-Adam Mohler (1796-1838 A.D.) A German theologian talks about spirituality. | |||
| See Full Text | ||||
| 222 | Friedrich Daniel Ernst Schleiermacher (1768-1834 A.D.) The father of Protestant liberalism. | |||
| See Full Text | ||||
| 223 | The starets. Russian spiritual directors=a portrait. | |||
| See Full Text | ||||
| 224 | L'Avenir. One who scandalized the Catholic Church and nobility with his call to return to the roots of Christianity. | |||
| See Full Text | ||||
| 225 | Man reduced to the level of a machine. A Cardinal's view of humanity. | |||
| See Full Text | ||||
| 226 | All Republicans in February 1848 A.D. The French revolt and the Church is in the midst of it. | |||
| See Full Text | ||||
| 227 | Resignation, a prime Christian virtue. The Church proclaims poverty as a virtue, so be satisfied with it! Not a popular stance then or now. | |||
| See Full Text | ||||
| 228 | The Syllabus (1864 A.D.) Pope Pius IX condemns contemporary errors. | |||
| See Full Text | ||||
| 229 | The First Vatican Council (1869-1870 A.D.) It anathemizes a whole lot of things. | |||
| See Full Text | ||||
| 230 | Papal primacy and infallibility. Just what it says. | |||
| See Full Text | ||||
