No. 10.
Mr. Orth to
Mr. Fish.
Legation of
the United States,
Vienna, March 9, 1876.
(Received April 6.)
No. 109.]
Sir: In my No. 93, of date January 21, 1876, I
advised you of the passage in the upper house of the Reichsrath, with slight
amendment, (the same having previously passed the lower house,) of the bill
regulating and restraining religious institutions.
These amendments received the subsequent approval of the lower house, and the
bill is now, and ever since its passage by both houses has been, in the
hands of the ministry awaiting their recommendation for approval by His
Majesty the Emperor.
As stated in my No. 93, this measure, during its pendency in the upper house,
encountered the united opposition of the spiritual peers, who doubtless
represented not only their views but also that of the body of the
ultramontane clergy, who oppose, step by step, every innovation upon or
change of their established notions or customs.
Pending this bill a most vigorous protest against it has been issued, signed
by Cardinal Schwarzenberg and thirty-one archbishops and bishops and
ecclesiastics. Presuming that the views thus expressed would be of interest
to you in connection with this reformatory movement, I herewith send a copy
of the original protest, as published in the New Free
Press, with translation thereof.
The final action has not yet been taken by the ministry, but it is understood
that a majority favor the measure and that the bill as it passed the
Reichsrath will receive imperial approval.
I have, &c.,
[Inclosure.—Translation.]
Declaration of the Austrian archbishops and bishops
relative to the draft of the law affecting monastic society as
debated in the Reichsrath.
Already, in the year 1874, the Austrian archbishops and bishops assembled
in Vienna found themselves placed in the sad necessity of bringing
complaint against a proposition
[Page 13]
of the government relating to the legal relations of the monastic
societies that the intended law openly, and in a special manner, carried
upon its front the mark of distrust, of arbitrariness, and of severity.
In accord with the judgment of the Sacred Chair, which rightly
recognized the destructive and hostile character of the law, they have
proved in its several enactments how greatly thereby the rights of the
church, the freedom of Catholic conscience, and the security of an
honestly-obtained property are imperiled.
After the governmental draft of law was not put aside, as was to have
been hoped, but, on the contrary, was submitted to discussion in both
bodies of the representation of the empire, and hereby received many
disadvantageous alterations, being rendered even more severe than
before, the undersigned deem themselves called upon by their high
ecclesiastical position again to oppose the present draft of law as well
as the unjustifiable attacks which hereby have been raised against the
orders of the Catholic Church generally, and against the monasteries in
Austria especially, and to defend these ecclesiastical institutions
against the suspicions contained also in the projected law.
* * * * * * *
The undersigned bishops therefore entertain the assured hope that a law
so composed under such ruinous operation will not be passed. Should they, however, find themselves disappointed in
this confident expectation, so must they from a sense of duty
protest against a law which is intended to do
harm to an instruction in accordance with that of Jesus Christ and a
form of Christian life approved by the Church and tending to the
salvation of souls, a law which equally violates the equality and
personal freedom of the citizen, the dignity of religion, the honor of
the Catholic Church, and the members of religious orders. And especially
must they protest against the insinuation that the Catholic Church could
ever institute or approve a religious order whose vocation and operation
would deserve those distrustful, suspicious measures which are expressed
in the present draft of law.
January,
1876.—Signed by Frederick Cardinal Schwarzenberg and
thirty-one archbishops, bishops, and other high
ecclesiastics.
