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dioceses, and the founding of seminaries and parishes.
The congress maintained an unbroken silence; more-
over, it disposed of the church lands on the recovered
left bank of the Rhine. As the congress also divided
the territories of the primate Dalberg, after its
session closed the Church was poorer than before. In
vain Dalberg sought through his representative Wes-
senberg at the congress, and afterwards at the Diet
of the Confederation at Frankfort, to bring it about
that the church affairs of the Catholics should be
made one of the matters to be settled by the Confed-
eration. The reorganization of the Church and its
equipment was left to the good will of the individual
rulers. This was most disadvantageous, as Catholic
principles were regarded with strong disfavour by
Protestants and Freemasons, and by adherents of
Febronianism and Josephinism.
After Bavaria and Prussia had begun the negotia- tions with Rome that led to the concordats of 1818 and 1821, the envoys of several Protestant rulers met at P'rankfort in iVIarch, 1818, at the instance of Wurtomberg, to confer concerning the condition of the Catholic Church in their respective countries, and to discuss the general principles which should be followed by the German states in concluding a concordat. This conference was attended by representatives of Wurtemberg, of the Grand Duchies of Baden, Meck- lenburg, and Hesse, of the Electoral Principalit}' of Hesse, the Duchy of Nas.sau, Frankfort, and of se^-eral North German states which later withdrew. In the opening address on 24 March, 1818, the envoy of Wtirtemberg threw upon the Roman See the respon- sibility for the fact that ecclesiastical affairs were not yet in an organized condition in Germany; then he urged a close imion of the Protestant governments in their position towards Rome, and announced that the governments would take up the national Church schemes of Febronius in case Rome was not willing to agree to the "favourable conditions" offered by the various countries. He i':ill(-d the church law devised by Febronius and Jo.scph 11, with its episcopal system, the "only salvation" of the Catholic Church. The ends to be attained in negotiations with Rome were : first, the reorganization of religious conditions "without endangering the jxro princijium circa sacra or granting rights to the Roman Court whereby it could have a disadvantageous effect upon the peace, civil order, and civilization of the states"; secondly, "the introduction of a church system which would bring church affairs more into harmony with the constitution of the State and the present position of enlightenment, in order to set boundaries to the papal system which has lately threatened the states with obscurantism and aU its consequences". In the seventeenth session it was decided that a concordat with the Holy See was not to be sought, but that the governments were to communicate to the pope in a Declaration" what they were ready to concede to the Church; the claims of the state circa sacra were embodied in an "Organic Statute", that was kept secret at first and was to be given to the new bishoi)S of the respective countries at the close of the negotiat ions.
The "Declaration", in which Baden, Wtirtemberg, the two Hesscs, Nassau, and Frankfort had agreed, were presented to Pius VII, 23 March, 1819, by the amba.s.sadors of the combined governments. On 10 Aug. this declaration was answered by Cardinal Consalvi in a celebrated report, and rejected by the Holy See. As, however, the pope had requested the governments to take in hand, at least provisionally, the circumscription and filling of new dioceses, the representatives of the governments assembled once more at Frankfort, where new negotiations lasted from 22 April, 1S20, to 24 Jan., 1821. The proposal for the circumscription of new dioce.ses was accepted by the governments, and they further agreed anion?; themselves to urge the founding of special dioceses for
each country, and to demand that these dioceses
should not be exempt, but should be under a metro-
politan. The hope was that a church province with an
archbishop would be more independent of Rome than
exempt, isolated bishops. The church Province of
the Upper Rhine, that was to be erected, was to
include the Dioceses of Freiburg, Fulda, Limburg,
Mainz, and Rottenburg, with the metropolitan see at
Freiburg. The desire of the pope to have the archi-
episcopal See of St. Boniface re-established at Mainz
failed of accomplishment, on account of the opposition
of Wtirtemberg and Nassau. In March, 1821, the
draft of an organization and the documents which
designated the amounts necessary for the endow-
ment of the sees were sent to the pope. On the basis
of these documents Pius VII issued, 16 Aug., 1821, the
Bull of circumscription "Provida soUersque", sup-
pressing the Bishopric of Constance and the provost-
ship of EUwangen, and canonically erecting the
church Province of the Upper Rhine with the dio-
ceses already mentioned.
Although the governments were only partially satisfied with the Bull, still it was accepted by their representatives at PVankfort ; its pubhcation, however, was postponed. The principles and schemes of the combined governments as to national Churches, concerning which no agreement had been reached with Rome, were set forth by the assembled diplomats in the "Fundamental Instrument" and the "Church Pragmatic". These two documents demanded the complete control of the Church system by the State. It was the intention of the governments, as soon as Rome had estabhshed the new dioceses, to force upon the new bishops this right of the State over the Church, which under no circumstances could have received the approval of Rome. In a secret treaty between the states, 8 Feb., 1822, it was agreed that the "Church Pragmatic" was to be made binding upon the new bishops and canons. The govern- ments also hastened to select their candidates for the new sees, some states asking the advice of the deans of the chapters. The candidates thus chosen were bound to observe the "Church Pragmatic". The Holy See, when informed of these proceedings by Vicar General von KempfT, who was under consider- ation as Bishop of Fulda, rejected on 13 June, 1823, both the candidates nominated for bishops and the whole of the "Church Pragmatic". Negotiations were again broken off. However, the necessity, which was every day more apparent, of re-establishing settled church relations and the lack of agreement among the governments led Baden, first of all, to open new and confidential negotiations for itself with Rome. The results of these negotiations were four propositions which were sent as the ultimatum of the Holy See to the Government of Baden on 8 Dec, 1824. These propositions regulated the method of filling the arcliiepiscopal see, the first and later appointments of the metropolitan chapter, and the founding of a seminary for jjriests; they also demanded a freer intercourse with Rome for the archbishop, and the free exercise of ecclesiastical jurisdiction according to the canons of the Church. Baden accepted tlie.se propositions, with some changes conceded by the pope. Divided into six articles these propositions were communicated after this, on (i July, 182,'), to the other courts that had negotiated with the Holy See. The united governments accepted the articles, 4 Aug., 1S2(), and communicated their acceptance to the pope, 4-7 Sept., demanding, however, the omission of the articles which treated of the endowment of the seminaries and guaranteed the freedom of the admin- istration of the Church. According to their own declarations th("se reservations of the governments did not imply the validity of the principles of the "Church Pragmatic", and, as the governments made no reply to the explanations which the pope gave
