716 



ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 



ments by them is forbidden. Establishments of 

 theirs at present existing shall be suppressed within 

 a period to be settled by the Federal Council, but 

 not later than six months. 



II. The members of the Order of the Society of 

 Jesus or of Orders and Congregations affiliated, 

 may. if aliens, be expelled from the territory of the 

 Confederation. If they are natives, their residence 

 in certain districts, or certain places, may be forbid- 

 den, or prescribed, to them. 



IIL The Federal Council will take the measures 

 necessary for securing the execution of this law. 



In faith of which we have set our hand and seal 

 imperial. 



Done at Ems, July 4, 1872. WILLIAM. 



BlSjUABCK. 



NOTICE CONCERNING THE ABOVE. 



In virtue of paragraph III., of the law of the 4th 

 inst., regarding the Order of the Society of Jesus 

 (Bulletin of Imperial Laws, p. 253), the Federal Coun- 

 cil has decided: 



1. The Order of the Society of Jesus, being ex- 

 cluded from the German Empire, the exercise of 

 every function of their ministry, especially in the 

 Church, and in the School, and the giving of Mis- 

 sions, is interdicted to the members ot this Order. 



2. The establishments of the Order of the Society 

 of Jesus shall be suppressed, at latest in six months 

 from the going into effect of this law. 



3. The proper measures, in each special case, for 

 the execution of the law, will be arranged by the po- 

 lice authorities of each locality. 



For the Chancellor of the Empire, DELBBUCK. 

 BEBLIN, July 5, 1872. 



The law, though naming the Jesuits only, 

 was interpreted by the Government in the 

 widest sense, and not only Jesuits, but Re- 

 demptorists, Brothers of the Christian Schools, 

 and even Sisters of Charity, were expelled and 

 their establishments closed. 



The German bishops, in a memorandum 

 drawn up at Fulda, September 26, 1872, pro- 

 tested against this act, and the other proceed- 

 ings, while the bodies to which the law applied, 

 and in some cases individual members claim- 

 ing rights as nobles, protested, but the law was 

 rigorously carried out. A general association 

 of German Catholics met at Mayence, but 

 only drew down prosecutions by its protests. 

 The law extended not only to Prussia proper, 

 but also to Baden, Bavaria, where the King 

 was unable to retain one of his own family. 

 The excitement produced by these measures 

 continued throughout the year. In December 

 the Catholic churches in the Diocese of Gnesen 

 and Posen (Polish Prussia) were closed, and 

 many clergy prosecuted for reading a pastoral 

 letter of Bishop Ledochowski, appointing the 

 8th of December for devotions to the Sacred 

 Heart of Jesus, under whose protection he 

 placed his diocese, imploring a suspension of 

 the hostility against the Church. 



The allocution already given contributed to 

 continue the excitement in Germany. 



Following the example of Germany, the can- 

 ton of Geneva expelled the Christian Brothers 

 and the Sisters of Charity, who had for some 

 years conducted the free schools of the Catho- 

 lic population. The canton of Geneva is made 

 tip in part of territory taken from France and 

 Savoy in 1814. The Catholic population of the 



new canton were, by the brief of Pius VII., in 

 1819, placed under the Bishop of Lausanne, 

 who was made also Bishop of Geneva. In 

 1865 M. Mermillod, who had been appointed 

 cure of Geneva, was appointed and consecrated 

 by the Pope Bishop of Hebron in partibus in- 

 jftdelium, and Bishop auxiliur of Geneva, Mon- 

 seigneur Marilley, Bishop of Lausanne and Ge- 

 neva, at the same time nominating him vicar- 

 general of the latter diocese. Bishop Mermil- 

 lod's appointment was never formally recog- 

 nized by the cantonal authorities, although he 

 has hitherto appointed the cures or pastors of 

 the various parishes, and given confirmation 

 on them, and exercised other episcopal acts. 

 In the excitement arising out of the expulsion 

 of the religious communities, the canton re- 

 fused, -by decree of September 20, 1872, to rec- 

 ognize him any longer as cure, cut off his sala- 

 ry, and forbade him to exercise any episcopal 

 functions at Geneva. They also called upon 

 Monseigneur Marilley to recall any powers 

 conferred upon him ; but that prelate formally 

 resigned all jurisdiction in the Diocese of Ge- 

 neva. The Bishop of Hebron, on the 28th, 

 protested against their action, appealing to 

 article 15 of the treaty of Turin, and protocol 

 of the Congress of Vienna, article 387. A pro- 

 test of the clergy was also made, and the Cath- 

 olic bishops of Switzerland, on the 24th of Sep- 

 tember, sustained his position, and encouraged 

 him to remain firm ; but the Government pro- 

 ceeded to new measures, and somewhat later 

 expelled Bishop Mermillod from the Swiss 

 soil, upon which he retired to Paris. Upon 

 the occasion of his arrest by the chief of po- 

 lice at Geneva, Monsignor Mermillod drew up 

 the following protest: "I protest in the name 

 of the rights of the Catholic Church, in the 

 name of the liberty of Catholic consciences 

 violated in my person, in the name of my 

 rights as a free citizen of the Helvetian Re- 

 public, against the decree of banishment by 

 which the Federal Council puts me outside 

 the territory of my country without having 

 heard me in person, without judging me, and 

 without any violation on my part of any law 

 of the Constitution." 



Another Swiss bishop, Monseigneur Lachat, 

 of Basle, had been forbidden by the government 

 of Soleure to publish the canons and decrees 

 of the Vatican Council, under threat of pro- 

 ceedings against him. In October, 1872, how- 

 ever, he pronounced the pastor of Starrkirsch 

 excommunicated. The government directed 

 the authorities to prevent by force any other 



Eriest from taking the position of cure. At a 

 iter date they withdrew their recognition of 

 Monseigneur Lachat as Bishop of Basle, de- 

 clared the see vacant, and requested the chap- 

 ter to elect a new bishop. 



Among the Armenians in the Turkish Em- 

 pire who recognized the Pope, troubles arose in 

 1872, at the head of which was Kasangian, 

 Bishop of Antioch. Hassonn, patriarch of the 

 Catholic Armenians, in carrying out the de- 



