CSS 



ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 



only profit thereby. And when you place before rne 

 the prospect of the exercise of your pastoral power, 

 I may still hope that you will prefer to employ, in 

 the first place, toward me, the finest, most noble, 

 most benevolent, and most Christ-like attribute or 

 this power namely, the teacher's office. Should I 

 be convinced by testimonies and facts, I engage my- 

 self to revoke publicly all that I have written in this 

 matter, and to confute myself. In any case the re- 

 sults must be advantageous to the Church, and the 

 peace of spirits. For it is not myself alone who am 

 concerned; thousands of the clergy, hundreds of 

 thousands of the laity, think as I do, and find it im- 

 possible to accept the new articles of faith. 



Up to this day not a single one, even of those who 

 have signed a declaration of submission, has said to 

 me that he is really convinced of the truth of these 

 theses. All my friends and acquaintances confirm 

 me in this experience. " Not a single person believes 

 in it," is what I hear day by day from all lips. A 

 conference such as I have proposed, and the publi- 

 cation of the proceedings, will, in any case, afford 

 that deeper insight which so many long for. 



This led to a pastoral letter from the arch- 

 bishop on Easter Sunday, as follows : 



Gregorius, by the grace of Go_d and the Holy 

 Apostolic See, Archbishop of Munich, Prelate of the 

 Household and Councillor to his Holiness, etc., to 

 the venerable clergy of the archdiocese, salvation 

 and blessing in the Lord : 



Dr. von Dollinger, Dean of the Chapter and Pro- 

 fessor of Theology, addressed to us, on March 29th, 

 a declaration stating his position to the (Ecumenical 

 Council and its resolutions, which he, at the same 

 time, handed to the Augsburg Allgemeine Zeitung 

 for publication. It was accordingly published in the 

 extra supplement of said paper of March 31st. This 

 open declaration compels us, the venerable clergy 

 and the faithful of our archdiocese, to publicly and 

 emphatically draw attention to the principal errors 

 contained in this deplorable document, and to place 

 its author without the pale of the Koman Catholic 

 Church, in case he should persist in those heresies. 

 The author de'mands 



1. That he should be permitted to prove in an as- 

 sembly of bishops and theologians that the decrees 

 of faith of the fourth sitting of the (Ecumenical 

 Council were neither contained in the Holy Script- 

 ures ; as understood by the Fathers of the Church, 

 nor in the writings handed down according to their 

 true history ; that the latter have, in fact, been falsi- 

 fied by forged or mutilated documents, and that 

 these same documents are in flagrant contradiction 

 with the more ancient ecclesiastical decisions. But 

 the author has overlooked that there is no question 

 before us which is yet to be decided, and therefore 

 carefully to be examined. The question has already 

 been decided. A General Council, legally convened, 

 voluntarily assembled and directed by the head of 

 the Church, has, after careful examination, explained, 

 formulated, and defined this article of faith. Every 

 Catholic Christian knows at present what the Church 



Erescribes to believe. The Church which Jesus 

 hrist promised to the end of the world cannot bid 

 us believe any thing else than the revelation of God 

 Himself. Whoever, therefore, opposes the declara- 

 tion of the Church, opposes God. " He who will not 

 hear the Church, let him be unto thee as a heathen 

 and a publican" (Matthew xviii. 17). 



2. The author asserts that a purely historical ques- 

 tion was here only in the case, which could solely be 

 resolved by the same means and rules as apply to 

 the research of any other historical fact. By this 

 means the Church is placed under historical exami- 

 nation. The decisions of the Church are submitted 

 to the judgment of the last historical writer, her 

 divinely-ordained office to instruct is set aside, and 

 all the Catholic truths placed under controversy. 

 Let science take up the Catholic teachings of faith 



and examine them by all human means, and they 

 will stand proof against all contradiction. Let the 

 science of infidelity revolt against God and His rev- 

 elation, against the Church and her decrees of faith, 

 it will never be able to shake the rock upon which 

 the Lord has built His Church. 



3. The author declares that the decrees of July 18. 

 1870, are in contradiction with the constitutions of 

 European states, but particularly with that of Ba- 

 varia ; that this article of belief has wrought the ruin 

 of the old German Empire, and would, it prevailing 

 with the Eoman Catholic portion of the German 

 nation, plant the germs of a lingering and incurable 

 malady into the constitution of the new German Em- 



Eire. Against this entirely erroneous theory and 

 ateful accusation we protest with a loud voice, and 

 declare it an unfounded charge against the Catholic 

 Church, her head, her bishops, and all her members, 

 who will never cease "to render unto Caesar that 

 which is Caesar's, and unto God that which is 

 God's." 



^ Dearest members of the diocese, the views and 

 .judgments alleged in this document, of which wo 

 have only pointed out to you the most notable ones, 

 have, since the convention of the (Ecumenical Coun- 

 cil, been circulated in many books and newspapers. 

 It must be confessed with sorrow that this document 

 has given the highest probability to the long-enter- 

 tained, sad supposition that the author of this dec- 

 laration is the spiritual head of the whole movement 

 against the (Ecumenical Council, which has caused 

 so much confusion in the minds and consciences of 

 Christians. The equally numerous writings disprov- 

 ing this heresy found, a'las 1 no ear with those circles 

 hostile to the Church. Now, however, the open op- 

 position of a man who has hitherto deservedly filled 

 high positions in the Church and state has given 

 the matter the aspect of a formal revolt against the 

 Catholic Church. 



Dear brethren, we are well conscious of our duties 

 as chief pastor of the diocese, and have therefore not 

 delayed in addressing to you these grave and warn- 

 ing pastoral words, and in taking the now necessa- 

 ry measures. The further steps which we shall be 

 obliged to take will be in no less degree governed by a 

 irs threatening the Church in 



Germany and love to the erring brother. " We shall 

 not break the bruised reed nor quench the smoking 

 flax" (Matthew xii. 20). We shall, however, know 

 how to protect our dear flock from error and tempta- 

 tion. To the venerable priests of our archdiocese we 

 exclaim, with Paul. " Timothy, keep that which 

 is committed to tny trust, avoiding profane and 

 vain babblings and oppositions of science, falsely so 

 called" (Timothy xviii. 20, 21). Pray, however, 

 my dearest brethren, for the salvation of the author, 

 jeopardized by that unfortunate declaration; pray 

 for the holy Church, particularly in our dear German 

 and Bavarian fatherland ; pray for your sorrowful 

 pastor, who blesses you in the name of the Father, 

 and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. 



The present pastoral letter is to be communicated 

 from the pulpit according to the wants of the faithful. 

 GREGORIUS, Archbishop of Munich. 



MUNICH, Easter Sunday of the year 1871. 



It was followed by this formal excommu- 

 nication : 



We have been charged by his Excellency the Most 

 Rev. Lord Archbishop Gregory of Munich-Freising 

 to declare this day to your Reverence, that you have 

 incurred the major excommunication with all the 

 canonical consequences annexed thereto. 



The decrees adopted on the 18th of July of last 

 year, by the General Vatican Council, and confirmed 

 and solemnly proclaimed by Pius IX., have become 

 sufficiently well known to your Reverence. 



The attitude publicly assumed by your Reverence 

 toward the saiu Council compelled the archbishop 

 to require a precise declaration from you in this mat- 



