650 



OLD CATHOLICS. 



OREGON. 



ty, Pastor Schroder, of Rheinfelden, polled 34. 

 He was consecrated on September 18th, by Dr. 

 Reinkens, the Old Catholic Bishop of Germany, 

 in the church of Kheinfelden, in the canton of 

 Aargau. From the report made to the Synod 

 of Olten, it appears that the Church at this 

 time numbered in Switzerland 55 organized 

 congregations with resident priests, 25 socie- 

 ties which were as yet without priests, and 

 73,380 persons. Of the organized congrega- 

 tions, 25 are in the canton of Bern, 7 in that 

 of Aargau, 3 in Solothurn, and 11 in Geneva. 

 Fourteen of the twenty- two cantons were as 

 yet without either congregation or society. 

 The accession of several large congregations to 

 the movement was shortly expected. The Syn- 

 od greeted the union which the Old Catholic 

 Church of Germany is striving to restore with 

 the Protestant churches, and the Greek and 

 Anglican churches, as " a great work longed 

 for by the Founder of the Christian religion," 

 and pledged its hearty cooperation with the 

 movement. The Synod declared that it ac- 

 knowledged " as the sole head of the Church 

 Jesus Christ, under whom she governs herself 

 autonomously in association with her episco- 

 pate, priesthood, and diaconate," and that it 

 regarded as " (Ecumenical Church assemblies 

 only the seven councils recognized as such by 

 the undivided Church of East and West." The 

 use of the national language was declared to 

 be permissible at the celebration of the mass, 

 and to be in accordance with Christian anti- 

 quity, and a committee was charged with edit- 

 ing a ritual and missal in the German and 

 French languages. It was further declared that 

 the obligation to confess at least once a year, 

 introduced in 1216 by the Fourth Lateran Syn- 

 od, was not regarded by the Synod as binding, 

 and that each man must decide, after conscien- 

 tious self-examination, whether the reception 

 of the sacrament of penance before the com- 

 munion is necessary or advisable for him. In 

 regard to the question of priestly celibacy, it 

 was declared that the capacity for holding spir- 

 itual offices is not dependent upon the question 

 whether the priest concerned is married or un- 

 married. 



Two papers were published for the Old Cath- 

 lics of Switzerland, the Katholische Blatter, at 

 Olten, by Prof. Hassler, and Le Catholique Na- 

 tional, at Geneva. 



The number of students at the Old Catholic 

 Theological Faculty of the University of Bern 

 was 14 12 Swiss and 2 German. Two stu- 

 dents were in the course of 1876 ordained as 

 priests. 



Dr. Herzog, the first bishop of the Christian 

 Catholic Church of Switzerland, was born in 

 1841, at Schongau, in the canton of Lucerne. 

 He studied theology in Lucerne, chiefly under 

 his uncle, Prof. Leu, one of the foremost 

 Catholic theologians of Switzerland. After 

 his uncle's death he continued his theological 

 studies at the Universities of Tubingen and 

 Freiburg, and after his return to Lucerne was 



ordained priest in 1867. The government of 

 the canton of Lucerne, wishing to confer upon 

 him the professorship of Biblical exegesis at 

 Lucerne, sent him further to Bonn for a year's 

 preparation. He held this position until 1872, 

 when he resigned all his offices on joining the 

 Old Catholic body. He was then called to the 

 pastorate of the church at Crefeld, in Ger- 

 many, but he was soon recalled to Switzer- 

 land, to become parish priest of Olten, in the 

 canton of Solothurn. "When the Catholic theo- 

 logical faculty was established in the University 

 of Bern, Herzog accepted a professorship, and 

 was, for some time, dean of the faculty, until 

 the National Synod summoned him to be the 

 first bishop. 



The Old Catholics in Austria published, in 

 1876, two papers the Abwehr, at Warnsdorf, 

 with Pfarrer Nittel as editor, and the Freie 

 Staat, at Vienna, under the editorship of Dr. 

 Linder. Both papers are not exclusively de- 

 voted to religious questions, but also treat of 

 secular affairs. 



The Old Catholic movement has not gained 

 any footing in France. The numerous writ- 

 ings of Abbe" Michaud in defense of the move- 

 ment have not led to the organization of con- 

 gregations, and the abb6 himself has left 

 France, and accepted a call as professor to the 

 Faculty of Old Catholic Theology at the Uni- 

 versity of Bern. 



In Italy the organization called the National 

 Italian Church chose Luigi Prota-Giurleo its 

 bishop, at a general election, at which 10,250 

 votes were cast. (See ITALY.) 



OREGON. The material and financial con- 

 dition of the State of Oregon is quite promis- 

 ing. On the 14th of September, 1874, there 

 was a balance in the State Treasury of $138,- 

 178.97. During the two years following the 

 receipts were $679,380.04, and the disburse- 

 ments $753,664.47, leaving a balance, Septem- 

 ber 11, 1876, of $63,894.54. The liabilities of 

 the State consisted at that time of $27,386 in 

 soldiers' bounty and relief bonds, $160,000 of 

 Lock bonds, $130,991.30 of Modoc War bonds, 

 $109,154 of wagon-road warrants, and $29,- 

 665.01 of State warrants. The total appro- 

 priations for general expenses "for the period 

 of two years was $388,743.16. The State tax 

 was five mills on a dollar of taxable prop- 

 erty. 



The common-school fund now amounts to 

 $525.381.82. The sum of $68,408.85 was dis- 

 tributed for the support of common schools 

 during the period of two years. The fund ac- 

 cumulated for the support of the State Univer- 

 sity now amounts to $75,492.20, and there are 

 22,826 acres of land belonging to the institu- 

 tion still unsold. The university building, at 

 Eugene City, has been completed, and the 

 structure and grounds, valued at $52,000, have 

 been given to the State by the people of Lane 

 County, in consideration of having the institu- 

 tion permanently located there. The Agricult- 

 ural College fund, so far as realized from sales 



