170 



GERMAN CATHOLICS 



GERMANICUS 



separated from the Roman Catholic Church in 1844. 

 Whatever might be the deeper causes of the schism, 

 the immediate occasion of it was the exhibition of 

 the Holy Coat at Treves (q.v.). In 1844 Bishop 

 Arnoldi appointed a special pilgrimage to this relic. 

 This proceeding called forth a protest from Johannes 

 Ronge (1813-87), a priest in Silesia, who, having 

 quarrelled with the authorities of his church, had 

 been suspended. Ronge addressed a public letter 

 to Bishop Arnoldi in which he characterised the ex- 

 hibition of the coat as idolatry. A short time pre-' 

 viously, Czerski, a priest at Schneidemuhl, in Posen, 

 had seceded from tlie Roman Catholic Church, and 

 had formed a congregation of ' Christian Apostolic 

 Catholics.' Czerski and Ronge were naturally 

 drawn into confederacy. Ronge addressed an appeal 

 to the lower orders of the priesthood, calling upon 

 them to use their influence in the pulpit and every- 

 where to break the power of the papal curia, and 

 of priestcraft in general, throughout Germany; to 

 set up a national German Church independent of 

 Rome, and governed by councils and synods ; to 

 abolish auricular confession, the Latin mass, and 

 the. celibacy of the priests ; and to aim at liberty of 

 conscience for all Christians. 



The first congregation of the new church was 

 formed at Schneidemuhl, and took the name of 

 'Christian Catholic.' The confession of faith, 

 which was drawn up by Czerski, differed little in 

 point of doctrine from that of the Catholic Church. 

 The confession drawn up by Ronge for the congre- 

 gation at Breslau, on the other hand, completely 

 departed from the doctrine and ritual of the Roman 

 Catholic Church. The Scripture was laid down to 

 be the sole rule of Christian faith, and no external 

 authority was to be allowed to interfere with the 

 free interpretation of it. The essentials of belief 

 were restricted to a few doctrines : belief in God as 

 the Creator and Governor of the world, and the 

 Father of all men ; in Christ as the Saviour, in the 

 Holy Spirit, the holy Christian church, the forgive- 

 ness of sins, and the life everlasting. Baptism 

 and the Lord's Supper were held to be the only 

 sacraments, though confirmation was retained. At 

 the first council of German Catholics, held at 

 Leipzig in 1845, the principles of the Breslau 

 Confession were substantially adopted ; and by the 

 end of the year there were some 300 congregations. 



But German Catholicism was destined soon to 

 find enemies both within and without. To say 

 nothing of orthodox Catholics, conservative Pro- 

 testantism began to suspect it as undermining 

 religion. And, as the movement fell in with the 

 liberal tendencies of the times, the governments 

 took the alarm, and set themselves to check its 

 spread. Saxony took the lead, and Prussia soon 

 followed, in imposing vexatious restrictions upon 

 the ' Dissidents ; ' in Baden they were denied the 

 rights of citizens, while Austria expelled them from 

 her territories. It was more, however, internal dis- 

 agreements than state persecutions that checked 

 the prosperity of German Catholicism. Czerski 

 and his adherents held closely by the doctrines and 

 ritual of Rome ; while Ronge's party approached 

 nearer and nearer to the extreme Rationalists, and, 

 leaving the province of religion altogether, occupied 

 themselves with freethinking theories and demo- 

 cratic politics. When the great storm of 1848 

 burst, Ronge was active in travelling and preach- 

 ing, and, although his freethinking and political 

 tendencies were repudiated by numbers of the 

 body, they predominated in many places. After 

 the political reaction set in, strong measures 

 were taken against the German Catholics. The 

 early enthusiasm of the movement apparently died 

 out, and after the dissolution of the Frankfort 

 parliament Ronge retired to London (in 1861 he 

 returned to Germany, and lived successively at 



Breslau, Frankfort, Darmstadt, and Vienna). In 

 1850 a conference was held between the German 

 Catholics and the ' Free Congregations ' ( Freit 

 Gemeinden), an association of freethinking con- 

 gregations which had been gradually forming since 

 1844 by secession from the Protestant Church, anil 

 with which an incorporate union was effected in 

 1859. Six years later the council refused to commit 

 itself to belief in a personal God. From a mem- 

 bership of 13,000 in 1867 in Prussia and Saxony, 

 the body has gradually dwindled to almost total 

 extinction. The Old Catholics (q.v. ) may be re- 

 garded as having superseded the German Catholic 

 movement. See Kampe's Geschichte des Deutsch- 

 katholicisrmis (1860). 



German, Cousin-. See COUSIN. 



Germander (Teucrium), a large and widely 

 distributed genus of labiate herbs, of which all the 

 European species are of old medicinal repute on 

 account of their aromatic, bitter, and stomachic 

 properties. The species are numerous. The Wall 

 Germander or True Germander (T. chamcedrys), 

 often found on ruined walls, has probably been 

 introduced from the south of Europe. With the 

 German T. Botrys, it enjoyed a high reputation in 

 the treatment of gout. Wood Germander or Wood 

 Sage (T. Scorodonia) is a very common British 



Slant, in dry bushy or rocky places. It is very 

 itter and slightly aromatic. It is used in Jersey 

 as a substitute tor hops. Water Germander (T,. 

 Scordium), in wet meadows, has a smell like garlic.. 

 Cat or Sea Thyme ( T. Marum ), of southern Europe, 

 like catmint and valerian root, has great attractive^ 

 ness for cats. It is still sometimes used in the 

 preparation of sneezing powders. 



GermanicilS Caesar, a distinguished Roman 

 general, was the son of Nero Claudius Drusus, and 

 of Antonia, daughter of Mark Antony and niece of 

 Augustus. He was born 15 B.C., and by desire of 

 Augustus was adopted in the year 4 A.D. by Tiberius, 

 whom he accompanied in the war against the Pan- 

 nonians, Dalmatians, and Germans. In the year 12 

 he was consul, and next year was appointed to the 

 command of the eight legions on the Rhine. In 14 

 he was at Lugdunum Batavorum when news came 

 of the death of the Emperor Augustus and of the 

 mutiny for more pay and shorter service among the 

 soldiers in Germany and Illyricum. Germanicus 

 hastened to the camp and quelled the tumult by 

 his personal popularity ; and at once led his soldiers 

 against the enemy. Crossing the Rhine below 

 Wesel, he attacked and routed the Marsi, and next 

 year marched to meet the redoubtable Arminius 

 (q.v.), the conqueror of Varus and his legion- 

 aries, whose bones had lain whitening for six 

 years in the Teutoburg Forest. With solemn 

 rites his soldiers buried these sad relics of disaster, 

 then advanced against the foe, who, retiring into 

 a difficult country, managed to save himself, and 

 was not subdued until the year after, when Ger- 

 manicus again earned a part of his army up the 

 Ems in ships, crossed to the Weser, and completely 

 overthrew Arminius in two desperate battles. The 

 victories thus achieved were to have been followed 

 up in the succeeding years, but Tiberius, jealous of 

 the glory and popularity of Germanicus, recalled 

 him from Germany in the year 17, and sent him to 

 settle affairs in the East, at the same time appoint- 

 ing as viceroy of Syria, in order secretly to counter- 

 act him, the haughty and envious Cn. Calpurnius 

 Piso. Germanicus died at Epidaphnse, near Antioch, 

 9th October 19, probably of poison, to the profound 

 sorrow of provincials and Romans alike. His wife, 

 Agrippina, and two of her sons were put to death 

 by order of Tiberius ; the third son, Caligula, was 

 spared. Of the three daughters who survived their 

 father, Agrippina became as remarkable for he 



