GERMANUS, SAINT, OF PARIS: Bishop of Paris; b. in the district of Autun (230 m. s.e. of Paris) about 496; d. at Paris May 28, 576. He was of good family, and became head of the abbey of St. Symphorien at Autun about 540; about ten years later he became bishop of Paris, and as such took part in synods at Tours in 567 and Paris in 556 and 573 (MGR, Leg., aectio iii., Concilia, i.,1893, pp. 135, 145, 148). He did not shrink from excommunicating King Charibert I. for an amour with two sisters, winning by such faithfulness and courage the respect of the nobles, though his efforts to keep peace among them were of little avail. The people admired his rigidly ascetic life and his benevolence, and ascribed to him the gift of prophecy and miracles. He was buried in the Church of St. Vincent built. by Childebert I. and consecrated by himself in 559; later it was named after Germanus and is now St. Germain des Prbs.
Bibliography: Sources: a letter to Queen Brunhilde is in MPL, I xxii. 77 and in MGR, Epist., iii (1891), pp. 122-124; and matter relating to him is in MGR, Dipl" i (1872), 5, no. 3. The Vita by his contemporary Fortunatus Venantius is in MGH A uct. ant., iv. t (1885), 1127, and, with commentary, epitaphium, miracula, and translatio, in ASS, May, vi. 774-805. Consult: Hist. littéraire de la France, iii . 310, iv. 44, Parls,'1735-38; A. Ebert, Alipemeine Geschichte der Literatur des Mittelalters, ii. 356-357, Leipsic, 1880; 0. Holder-Egger, in NA, xviii (1893), 274-281.
I. General Survey: Germany in the broadest sense is the country of an important branch of the Teutonic race. which first appears in history divided into numerous tribes occupying, roughly, the lands between the Rhine, the Danube, the Vistula. and
the sea. The Romans included all the tribes in the general designation Germani and called their country Germania. Since about the twelfth century the Germans have called themselves the Deutschen. In the time of the migrations, and later, German peoples have become incorporated in neighboring and more distant lands, and their territories have been invaded and permanently occupied by aliens; nevertheless the bounds of Germany as a political designation have never materially changed. The conversion of the more important. German tribes to Christianity is treated in separate articles (see Alemanni, Bavarians, etc., and notices of missionaries like Boniface). For the religious history of the older German Empire (more correctly the German-Roman or Holy Roman Empire) also, see articles like Charlemagne and other biographical sketches of important personages, names of places, events, periods, sects, and the tilre (Aachen; Augsburg, Religious Peace of; Anabaptists; etc.).
The modern German Empire, constituted in 1871, has an area of 208,830 square miles and a population (1908) of 60,641,278. It occupies a large part of Central Europe, consisting of twenty-five sov-
ereign states and the "imperial terri I. The tory" of Alsace-Lorraine. The king Modern of Prussia is hereditary head of the
German federation, bearing the title German Empire. Emperor (not Emperor of Germany).It has colonial possessions aggregating 1,028,000 square miles in area, with a population of about 13,000,000 (12,500 Europeans), in Africa and Oceanica besides Kiau-Chau in China, which was ceded to Germany in 1898 on a lease for ninetynine years (see Africa, II..; Pacific Islands). According to the latest figures accessible (those of Kirchliches Jahrbuch, 1908) the people of the empire are divided religiously as follows:
Protestants ................................. | 37,848,852 | |
Roman Catholics ............................ | 22,094,492 | |
Russian Orthodox ........................... | 1,991 | |
Greek Catholics ............................. | 13,161 | |
Dissenters (Baptists, Methodists, etc.; see below,II.)................................ | 259,717 | |
Jews........................................ | 607,882 | |
Non-Christian religions (Mohammedans, Buddhists,etc.)............................. | 909 | |
Other confessions (Pantheists, freethinkers, etc.) . | 12,024 | |
Confessors of no religion | 4,270 | |
60,841,278 |
471 |
In 1872 began in Germany the so-called Kultur kampf, during the course of which numerous stringent laws were passed against the Roman Catholics (see Ultramontanism). These measures, with the exception of the law expelling the Jesuits, were later repealed; and in 1904, through their powerful political party, the Centrum, the Catholics secured the repeal of the clause of this law giving full power to expel individual members of the Society of Jesus and kindred orders. Other clauses of the law excluding from the empire such orders in their corporate capacity remain in force. This is practically the only restriction now placed on the Roman Catholics in Germany. See German Catholicism.
Education is compulsory throughout the empire for children from about the sixth to the fourteenth year, though the school-age varies 4. Edu- somewhat in the different states. cation. The percentage of illiteracy is only about one-half of one per cent. Despite increasing agitation for secular education, public elementary schools are usually confessional, being either Protestant or Roman Catholic; and local supervision of schools is still largely in the hands of the clergy (see Church and School). In the curriculum religion has its place with other subjects. The system of secondary and technical education is admirable, and there are twenty-one universities in the empire, each having, as a rule, distinct faculties of theology, law, medicine, and philosophy. The theological faculties are Roman Catholic in the universities of Freiburg, Münster, and Würzburg. At Bonn, Breslau, Strasburg, and Tübingen there are both Evangelical and Roman Catholic theological faculties. All the universities are maintained and administered by the states in which they are located.]
II. Sectarianism in Germany: The word "sect"
is derived from the Latin
sequor, "to
follow," or
from
seco
in the sense of
sequor.
In classical Latin
recta
meant a mode of thinking, acting, or living, then
specifically
a political party or philosophical school
or tendency. The Vulgate used the word to translate the Greek
hairesis
in
Epistles of the New Testament the
I.
Meaning term has reference to the formation
of "Sect." of factions within the Christian
congregation (cf.
472 |
The communities which exist in Germany beside the Evangelical state churches or have existed there temporarily fall into very different groups. First must be mentioned those which were received into Germany because of persecution in other
countries and subsequently were ale. Different lowed to establish their own forms of
Classes of worship. To this category belong,Non-estab- among others, the Walloons and French lished from the territory of Calvinism, the Bo-
Churches. hemian Brethren, the Waldenses, andespecially the Mennonites. Communities of this kind have been gradually brought into friendly relations with the state churches. From the standpoint of church feeling and sentiment even the Mennonites, who remained isolated, can hardly be considered sects, because their communities are not separations from the German Evangelical Churches and they have never attempted to proselyte from those Churches. In like manner the congregations of foreigners, such as English and Americans in Berlin and other cities, can not be considered sects.
Separations from a state church constitute a second group. Such separations have originated because a minority did not approve of changes in the constitution and rites of a particular State Church (e.g., the Old Lutherans or Separated Lutherans in Prussia; see Lutherans; PxussiA). Such separations concern an entire church body. But there are also separations of a local and ephemeral character, as when a clergyman falls into conflict with his church authorities and carries a part of his congregation with him in the organization of a new church. It is a disputable question in how far such separations come under the conception of "sect." It is to be considered whether the separatists were justified in their opposition, which may have been against progress in the Church; whether their conception of the Church has experienced a change in the direction of Donatism; whether after separation they are still able to take part in the spiritual development of Evangelical theology or isolate themselves theologically and thus become sectarian.
A third group of separate congregations, which are undoubtedly 11 sects," has originated in Ger-
472many by the invasion of Anglo-American Christianity. Here we have to do not with separations based on the internal history of the churches of the German Reformation, but with representatives of another conception of churchdom, of other views concerning the way of salvation, and other ideals of piety. They have come over to Germany considering the German churches as a missionary field. Herein lies the real danger of sectarianism for the German churches-a danger of a twofold kind, because, in the first place, the German churches are deprived of zealous and active members; in the second place, the invasion of foreign ideas produces a foreign spirit in the national churches and exercises a disintegrating effect upon them.
The reasons for the estrangement of Germans from their mother church must not be sought primarily in sectarian teachings themselves. The attraction of sectarianism lies deeper. There is a wide variance between the religious ideal of the church and the actual condition of the congregations. The sect allures above all the active, working members by proposing to them a community of none but living Christians. Herein, in the compact spiritual community which it offers, lies the chief power of attraction exercised by a sect. Other reasons for separation are the craze for religious fads; spiritual haughtiness, which feels itself elevated above the duly appointed authorities; ambition; impatience and dislike of the dependence of the Church upon the State or of the "scientific theology" taught to the clergy by the universities.
The constitutional law of the State in regard to sects has undergone various changes since the
Religious Peace of Augsburg and the 3. Attitude Peace of Westphalia. By the former of the State only Roman Catholics and adherents
Toward of the Augsburg Confession received Sects. recognition by the State; in 1648 the
Reformed were also recognized. These three churches still enjoy special privileges. The State supports them, considers their spiritual offices as public offices, and provides theological faculties for the education of their clergy. Of other communities only the Jews were to be tolerated, but exceptions have been made. The Bohemian Brethren were received in Brandenburg, Prussia, in 1548, and the Mennonites in 1722. The French Reformed were granted privileges in 1639, 1685, and 1694. Frederick II. tolerated Moravians, Schwenkfelders, and even Socinians. In 1847 a law was passed empowering local courts to attest births, marriages, and deaths of "tolerated" communities that previously had been required to report them to the preachers of the parishes in which they lived for entry in the parish registers. A constitutional document of 1848 (revised 1850) made the enjoyment of civil and political rights independent of religious confession, but with the proviso that religious communities without corporative rights could obtain them only by special laws. Such rights were obttained by the Mennonites in 1874, and by the Baptists in 1875. The legal status of sects has been further alleviated by the introduction of civil register-offices and obligatory civil marriage (1874 for Prussia, 1875 for the empire).
473 |
The church authorities agree that, in combating sects, appeals to the secular powers are to be rejected. An effective opposition must recognize that
the religious needs which attract mem o. Means of bers of the state churches to the sects Combating must be satisfied within the Church.
Sects. Every appearance of a sect is a warn-ing to the Church of defects and abuses, and to remove such faults is the way to preserve members for the Church, and meet the accusations of sectarians. It is an open question what measures of discipline should be followed against members who have associated themselves with sects without severing their connection with the State Church. It is maintained by some that occasional participation in the services of sectarians or even in their celebration of the Lord's Supper does not exclude a person from the State Church. Others would refuse the sacrament of the State Church to apostatizing members. There seems to be agreement on the following points: (1) clergymen of the state churches can not remain in office if they stand in any connection with a sect; (2) school authorities must tolerate no teacher of religion who has joined a sect; (3) adherents of a sect must not be admitted to honorary positions in the Church, such as that of elder and the like; (4) the receiving of a second baptism is to be treated as an actual separation from the State Church.
Accurate statistics of sects in Germany are not available. According to Pieper's Kirchliche Statis-
tik Deutschlands (Tübingen, 1899), g. Statistics. which is based on the census of 1895,
Prussia has besides 20,351,448 members of the Evangelical State Church, 119,245 members of "other Protestant church communities," i.e., almost 6 per cent of Evangelicals who do not belong to the State Church. According to the statistics of Prussia in 1900 there were 45,594 Old Lutherans, 14,543 Old Reformed, 4,031 Moravians, 13,876 Mennonites, 38,143 Baptists, 5,226 Methodists and Quakers, 32,215 Irvingites, 2,557 belonging to English churches, 272 members of the Salvation Army, 8,400 belonging to " Free Congregations," 27,679 " dissidents," and 5,635 " other Christians." The statistics of the German Empire for 1890 showed besides 31,000,000 of Protestants belonging to the State Churches, 145; 000 adherents of smaller communities. Such figures are inaccurate, since many adherents of sects have not formally separated from their respective State Churches, and many who simply call themselves "Evangelical" are not counted. Later statistics show that the number of sec-
tarians is increasing.Bibliography: For sources there is nothing comparable to the MGH. Consult also P. JaHB, Bibl%otheca rerum Ger maniaavm, 6 vols., Berlin. 1884-73: J. von Hartaheim. Conedlia German%as,Cologne, 1759-83; and for a general history the work of J. Janssen, Geschichte des deutadaen Yollua, 8 vols., Freiburg, 1903, Eng. transl., 10 vols., London, 1907. A satisfactory review is even in E. F. Henderson, Short Hist. of Germany, 2 vols., New York, 1902. On the early religion consult P. D. Chaatepie de Is Ssuasape, Religion of the Teutons. Boston, 1902; and for origins compare F. B. Gummere, Germanic Origin#, New York, 1892. The early period of church history is treated in the works on the history of the Church in
Germany by Friedberg. Rettberg, and Hauck, and in W. Stubbs, Germany in the Early Middle Ages. 47111860, ad. A. Hassell, 1908. For German Protestantism consult: C. F. A. Kahnie, Internal HiaE. of German Protestantism, Edinburgh, 1856: J. I. Good, Ori gin of the Reformed Church in Germany. Reading. Pa.. 1887; S. B. Gould, The Church in Germany, London, 1891; R. Rocholl, Geschichte ds' evangelischen Kirche in Deutschland, L eipsie, 1897: C. Tiaehhauser, Geschichte der eroangdiachera Kirche Deutschlanda in der araten HBlfte des 19. Jahrhunderla, Basel, 1900; G. Eeke, V:e evangelischen Landeakirchen Deutadelanda %m 19. Jahrhunderk. Berlin, 1903; R. Seeberg, Die Kirche Deutschlands %m 19. Jahrhunderte, Leipsic, 1903; E. Foerater, Die Entatehung der preuaaischen Landeak%rche unter . . . Friedrich Wilhelm 111., vol. ii., Tübingen, 1907. For the Catholic Church consult: H. Brifek, Geschichte der katholsechen Kirche i m 19. Johrhunderte in Deutschland, 4 vols., Mainz, 1887-1901; G. Goyau, L'Allemapne religieusa. Le Catholi ciame, 1800-181,8, 2 vols., Paris, 1897-1905; A. Werminghoff, Geschichte der Kirchenfaaeung Dautachlanda i m Mittelalter, Hanover, 1905. For the relations between Protestants and Catholics read: J. A. Moehler, Neu@ Unterauchungen der Lehrpepenadtze ztalachen den Kathol%ken and den Profeatanten, Regensburg, 1900; P. Maiunke, Geschichte des Kulturkampfea in Deutschland, Paderborn, 1902. For a general view of religious life consult: E. F. Williams, Christian Life in Germany as Seen %n the State and the Church, New York, 1897. For statistics consult: P. Pieper, Kirchliche Statiatik Deutschlande, Tübingen, 1899; H. A. Kroee, Konfesaionasfatiatik Deutschlanda, Freiburg, 1904; Von Hirschfeld, in Zeitechrroft du kbnip1%chen preuaaiaehenatatiatiaW enBureaua, iii (1863), iv (1884); J. Schneider, Kirchliches Jahrbuch (an annual; 35th issue, 1908). On sectarianism in Germany consult: Allpomeina Rirchenblatt, 1853, 1855. 1884, 1886 (gives reports of discussions in the Eisenach Conference on the question of assts); H. Schmidt, Die Kirche. Ihre tri6lische Idea und die Fnrmen ihrer . . . Ersclaeinung, pp. 189 sqq., Leipsic, 1884; H. F. Jacobson, in ZKR, i (1881), 392 sqq.; idem, Evangelisches Kirchenrecht, i. 124-125, Halle, 1864: C. Palmer, Die Gemeinschaften and Sekten Württembergs, Tübiagen, 1877; L. von R&nne, Staatarecht der yreueaischen Monarchic, ii. 2, pp. 151 sqq., Leipsic,1882; Richter, Rirchenrecht, pp. 318 sqq.; E. Dreabach. Die protestantischen Sekten der Gegenwart, Düsseldorf,1887; W. Rohnert, Kirche, Kirehtn and Sekten, Leipsic, 1900; E. Kalb, Kirchen and Sekten der Gegenwart, Stuttgart, 1905: J. Jüngat. Der Methodismus in Deutschland, Giessen, 1908.
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