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Bible Encyclopedias
Bavaria
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
or a kingdom in South Germany. Its area in 1864 was 29,637 square miles, and its population 4,807,440. In consequence of the war with Prussia in 1866, Bavaria had to cede to that power a district containing about 33,000 inhabitants. (See GERMANY).
I. Church History. — As the Romans had numerous settlements near the Danube, Christianity was introduced into that part of the modern Bavaria earlier than into most of the other German countries. In the second century, a certain Bishop Lucius, of Rhaetia, is said to have preached at Augsburg and Ratisbon. In 304 St. Afra suffered martyrdom at Augsburg, which shows the existence of a Christian congregation at that city. Under the rule of the Christian emperors Christianity soon gained the ascendency, but pagans were found as late as the second half of the fifth century. In the middle of the fifth century, St. Valentin, an itinerant bishop of the two Rhaetias, is known to have preached and labored as a missionary at Passau, and to have been driven away by the pagans and Arians. About the same time St. Severin (454-482), a zealous combatant against Arianism, preached at Passau and Kunzing. The people to whom he preached were, according to the testimony of his disciple and biographer Eugippius, nearly all Catholics; but the tribes of the Alemanni, Herculians, and others, which, after the death of Attila, roamed through the Danubian countries, were either pagans or Arians. Severin established, in many of the places where he worked as a missionary, monasteries. Another part of Bavaria, which belonged to the Roman province of Noricum, early had a center of missionary operations in the celebrated convent of Lorch. St. Maximilian, probably an itinerant bishop, who died about 288, and St. Florian, a Roman officer, who suffered martyrdom in 304, are among those of whose lives and deaths we have some information. Among the missionaries who, in the seventh and eighth centuries, labored there, were Boniface, Rupert, Emmeran, Sturm, Corbinian, and Wilibald. In the eighth century, Passau, Freising, Wurzburg, Regensburg, Augsburg, Eichstadt, and Neuburrb had bishops, at the head of the church was the archbishop of Salzburg. A large number of rich cloisters arose. The Reformation found early adherents. Many priests, and also the diet, declared themselves in favor of it. But after Luther had been put under the ban at the Diet of Worms in 1521, the Duke of Bavaria was foremost among the princes of Germany in opposing and persecuting it, and a number of clergymen and laymen were put to death. The dukes remained ever after, in the councils of the German princes, the foremost champions of the Roman Church. In 1549 the Jesuits were called to Bavaria. though the number of Protestants was still so great that the diet demanded again, in 1553, "the introduction of their pure doctrine." The dukes, in order to suppress Protestantism more effectually. demanded from every officer of the state a confession of faith. In 1609 Duke Maximilian founded the "Catholic League," whose influence was so disastrous to the Protestant interests in Southern Germany. A better era for Protestantism and for religious liberty commenced under Maximilian Francis 1, who took from the Jesuits the censorship of books, reformed the convents, and improved the educational system. At the close of the 18th century Maximilian Joseph II and his minister Montgelas introduced religious toleration and suppressed a large number of convents. At this time Bavaria received a number of possessions which, from the beginning of the Reformation, had been wholly or prominently Protestant. Among these were the margraviates of Anspach and Baireuth, and the free cities of Nurnberg, Nordlingen, Augsburg, and others. The constitution of 1818 gave to the Protestants equal rights with the Roman Catholics. The year before the king had concluded a concordat with the pope, by which the Roman Catholic Church was divided into 2 archbishoprics and 6 bishoprics. (See CONCORDAT).
Under the reign of Louis 1 (1825-1849) the ultramontane party made many attempts to curtail the constitutional rights of Protestants, and were partly successful under the ministry of Abel (1837 to 1847). The Protestants complained especially of a decree by which all soldiers, without distinction of religion, were ordered to kneel before the Host. Their remonstrances against this decree were repeatedly supported by the Chamber of Representatives, but rejected by the Upper Chamber (Reichsrath). In 1848 the controversy was ended by a compromise, a military salutation of the Host being substituted for kneeling. The ultramontane party lost the favor of the king when the ministry resisted the demand for conferring the rank of nobility upon Lola Montez, and nine of the professors of Munich, who were regarded as leaders of the party (Dollinger, Philips, Hofler, Lassaulx, etc.), were removed. The successor of Louis, Maximilian II (1849-1864), never favored the schemes of the ultramontane party. In 1856 a great excitement sprang up in the Lutheran Church in consequence of several decrees of the supreme consistory concerning changes in the liturgy, mode of confession, catechism, hymnbooks, etc., in which a large number of the laity feared Romanizing tendencies, and the supreme consistory had to allay the excitement by concessions and compromises. Against the German Catholic and Free congregations the government was for many years very severe. At the beginning of the movement the government instructed the police to treat it as high treason. Some rights were granted to them in 1848 and 1849, but revoked in 1851. In the Palatinate a union between the Lutheran and Reformed Church was introduced in 1818. Then Rationalism prevailed among the clergy, subsequently the evangelical party gained the ascendency, and introduced orthodox books (catechism, hymn-book, etc.) instead of the former rationalistic ones. In 1860 the government removed, however, the orthodox heads of the Church (among whom was the celebrated theologian, Dr Ebrard), and the Church of the Palatinate came again under the influence of the Liberal (Rationalistic) party. At the General Synod held in 1863 the Liberals had a five-sixths majority, and a revised Church Constitution proposed by them was adopted by all save six votes. At the annual meeting of the Liberal - Protestant Association (Protestantischer Verein), it was reported that the association counted 18,000 members.
II. Ecclesiastical Statistics. — The Roman Catholic Church has 2 archbishoprics (Munich and Bamberg) and 6 bishoprics (Passau, Augsburg, Regensburg, Wurzburg, Eichstadt, and Spires). The diocesan chapters consist of 1 provost, I dean, and 8 or 10 canons. The king nominates all the archbishops, bishops, and deans; the pope appoints the provosts Convents are very numerous: there were, in 1856, 63 convents of monks with 951 members 40 convents of nuns with 882 persons, besides 45 houses of sisters of mercy, and 65 houses of poor school-sisters. The Jesuits have not been admitted. Theological faculties are connected with the universities of Munich and Wurzburg, and every diocese has a theological seminary. Many of I the state colleges are under the management of religious orders, especially of the Benedictines. There is still among the clergy a school which is strongly opposed to ultramontanism, and has friendly dispositions for all evangelical Protestants (See SAILER), but it is decreasing in number and influence.
But, though less conciliatory toward Protestants, the Roman Catholic scholars continued to be too liberal for Rome. When, in 1863, Dr. Dollinger and Dr. Haneberg called a meeting of Roman Catholic scholars of Germany, their conduct was censured by the pope on the ground that such meetings should only be called by the bishops. Two other members of the same faculty, Dr. Frohschammer, a writer on philosophical subjects. and Dr. Pichler, the author of the best Roman Catholic work on the history of the Eastern Church. had their works put on the Index. Dr. Frohschammer refused to submit, and openly defied the authority of the Congregation of the Index. The two archbishops and one bishop are members of the Upper Chamber (Reichsrath), and the lower clergy elects eleven members of the Chamber of Deputies. Romanist newspapers and journals are not very numerous, yet among them is one of the most important periodicals of the Roman Catholic Church, the Historisch- Politische Blatter, founded by Gorres and Philips. Among the Roman Catholic theologians and scholars of Bavaria in the nineteenth century, Dollinger, Haneberg, Franz von Baader (q.v.), and Gorres (q.v.), are best known. The Roman Catholics form about two thirds of the total population, numbering 3,748,032 souls, while the number of Protestants amounts to 1,427,382. The king, though a Roman Catholic, is regarded as the supreme bishop of the Protestant Church. He exercises the episcopal power through a supreme consistory at Munich, which consists of a president, four clerical and one lay councillor. Subordinate to it are two Lutheran provincial consistories, at Anspach and Baireuth, consisting of one director, two clerical and one lay councillors, and one consistory of the United Evangelical Church at Spires. The district of the former comprises the seven provinces on the other side of the Rhine, and contains 27 deaneries and 1036 parishes, of which seven are Reformed.
The district of the latter is the Palatinate, with fourteen dioceses. In all the three consistorial districts the diocesan synods meet annually. The laity is represented at them, but not by deputies of their choice. The ecclesiastical boards select them from a number presented by the clergy or by the presbyteries. Every fourth year a general synod meets in each of the three districts. The two Lutheran general synods of Anspach and Baireuth were united into one in 1849 and 1853, but in 1857, the government, fearing excitement in discussion, ordered them again, contrary to the general wish of the Church, to be held separately. A theological faculty is connected with the University of Erlangen. The present faculty (1860) is known for its attachment to High Lutheran principles, and publishes one of the leading theological magazines of Germany, the Zeitschrift fur Protestantismus und Kirche. The Palatinate has a few old Lutheran congregations. The highest court for the adjudication of the marriage affairs of Protestants is a commission (senate) of Protestant members of the Supreme Court of Appeal at Bamberg. The president of the supreme consistory of Munich is a member of the Upper Chamber of the Diet, and tie lower clergy elect five deputies for the House of Representatives. Among the great Protestant theologians and scholars of the present century we mention Harless, Hofmann, Thomasius, Delitzsch, Schubert.— Buchner, Geschichte von Baiern aus den Quellen (Regensb. 1820-1855, 10 vols.); Zschokke, Bair. Geschichte (Aarau, 2d ed. 1821, 4 vols.); Matthes, Kirchliche Chronik.
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McClintock, John. Strong, James. Entry for 'Bavaria'. Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tce/b/bavaria.html. Harper & Brothers. New York. 1870.
