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BOLLINGER
learned Reusch, the afterwards celebrated ecclesiastical historian Langen, as well as Reinkens, afterwards bishop of the Old Catholic Church in Germany, Knoodt, and other distinguished scholars. In Switzerland, Professor Herzog, who became Old (or, as it is sometimes called, Christ-) Catholic Bishop in Switzerland, and other learned men supported the movement. Early in 1869 the famous Letters of Janus (which were at once translated into English) began to appear. They were written by Bollinger in conjunction with Huber and Friedrich, afterwards professors at Munich. In these the tendency of the Syllabus towards obscurantism and Papal despotism, and its incompatibility with modern thought, were clearly pointed out; and the evidence against Papal Infallibility, resting, as the “ Letters ” asserted, on the Forged Decretals, and accepted without controversy in an age of ignorance, was ably marshalled for the guidance of the Council. When, on 8th December 1869, it had actually assembled, the world was kept informed of what was going on in the Letters of Quirinus, written by Bollinger and Huber while the debates of the Council were proceeding. Some of these letters appeared in the German newspapers. An English translation was published by Rivington. Augustin Theiner, the librarian at the Vatican, then in disgrace with the Pope for his outspoken Liberalism, kept his German friends well informed of the course of the discussions. The proceedings of the Council were frequently very stormy, and the opponents of the dogma of Infallibility complained that they were not unfrequently interrupted, and that endeavours were made to put them down by clamour. The dogma was at length carried by a considerable majority of the bishops present, and the rest one by one submitted, Bishops Hefele, of Rottenburg, and Strossmayer, from Croatia, being the last who held out. Bollinger, however, was not to be silenced. He headed a protest by forty-four professors in the University of Munich, and gathered together a Congress at Nuremberg, which met in August 1870 and issued a declaration adverse to the Vatican decrees. An immense ferment took place. In Bavaria, where Bollinger’s influence was greatest, the strongest determination to resist the resolutions of the Council prevailed. But the authority of the Council was held by the Archbishop of Munich to be paramount, and he called upon Bollinger to submit. Instead of submitting, Bollinger, on 28 th March 1871, addressed a memorable letter to the archbishop, refusing to subscribe the decrees. They were, he said, opposed to Holy Scripture, to the traditions of the Church for the first thousand years, to historical evidence, to the decrees of the General Councils, and to the existing relations of the Roman Catholic Church to the State in every country in the world. “ As a Christian, as a theologian, as an historian, and as a citizen,” he added, “ I cannot accept this doctrine.” The reply of the Archbishop of Munich was the proclamation of an excommunication against the disobedient professor. This roused opposition afresh. He was almost unanimously elected rector-magnificus of the University of Munich, and Oxford, Edinburgh, and Marburg Universities conferred upon him the honorary degree of doctor of laws, and Vienna that of philosophy. The Bavarian clergy invited Bishop Loos, the bishop of a Church in Holland which for more than 150 years had existed independent of the Papacy, and had adopted the name of “ Old Catholic,” to hold confirmations in Bavaria. The offer was accepted, and the bishop was received with triumphal arches and other demonstrations of joy. The three Dutch Old Catholic bishops declared themselves ready to consecrate a bishop, if it were desired. The momentous question was discussed at a meeting of the opponents of the Vatican
decrees, and it was resolved to elect a bishop and ask the Dutch bishops to consecrate him. Bollinger, however, voted against the proposition, and withdrew from any further steps towards the promotion of the movement. This was the critical moment in the history of the resistance to the decrees. Had Bollinger, with his immense reputation as a scholar, as a divine, and as a man, allowed himself to be consecrated bishop of the Anti-Vaticanist Church, it is impossible to say how wide the schism would have been. But he declined to initiate a schism. His refusal lost Bavaria to the movement; and the number of Bavarian sympathizers was still further reduced when the seceders, in 1878, allowed their priests to marry, a decision which Bollinger, as was known, sincerely regretted. The Old Catholic Communion, however, was formally constituted, with Reinkens at its head as bishop, and it still continues to exist. Bollinger’s attitude to the new community was not very clearly defined, nor indeed very consistent. He did not refuse to meet the Old Catholic leaders in the various Conferences which were held between 1871 and 1875, and was always ready to give his advice, when asked, to the infant community. He remained on the most friendly terms with its members. His addresses on the Reunion of the Churches, delivered at the Bonn Conferen6e of 1872, show that he was by no means hostile to the newly formed communion, in whose interests these Conferences were held. It may be difficult to reconcile the two declarations made by him at different times: “ I do not wish to join a schismatic society; I am isolated,” and “ As for myself, I consider that I belong by conviction to the Old Catholic community.” The latter declaration was made some years after the former, in a letter to Pastor Widmann. The nearest approach to a reconciliation of the two statements would appear to be that while, at his advanced age, he did not wish to assume the responsibility of being head of a new denomination, formed in circumstances of exceptional difficulty, he was unwilling to condemn those who were ready to hazard the new departure. “ By conviction ” he belonged to the Old Catholics, but practically he took no active part in their proceedings. Yet at least he was ready to meet the leaders of the Old Catholic Church, to address them, and to discuss difficult problems with them. In 1874, and again in 1875, he presided over the Reunion Conferences held at Bonn and attended by leading ecclesiastics from the British Isles and from the Oriental Church, among whom where Bishop Christopher Wordsworth of Lincoln; Bishop Harold Browne of Ely; Lord Plunket, archbishop of Dublin; Lycurgus, archbishop of Syros and Tenos ; Canon Liddon ; Professor Ossinine of St Petersburg, and other eminent divines. At the latter of these two Conferences, when Bollinger was seventy-six years of age, he delivered a series of marvellous addresses in German and English, in which he discussed the state of theology on the Continent, the Reunion question, and the religious condition of the various countries of Europe in which the Roman Catholic Church held sway. Not the least of his achievements on this occasion was the successful attempt, made with extraordinary tact, ability, knowledge, and perseverance, to induce the Orientals, Anglicans, and Old Catholics present to accept a formula of concord, drawn from the writings of the leading theologians of the Greek Church, on the long-vexed question of the Procession of the Holy Spirit. This result having been attained, he passed the rest of his days in retirement, emerging sometimes from his retreat to give addresses on theological questions, and also writing, in conjunction with his friend Reusch, his last book, Geschichte der MoralstreitigTceiten in der Rbmisch-Katholischen Kirche seit dem sechzehnten Jahrhundert, mit Beitrdgen zur Geschichte und Charak-
