The War Upon Religion: Being an Account of the Rise and Progress of Anti-Christianism in EuropeCunningham, Francis A. (Francis Aloysius)
History
The War Upon Religion: Being an Account of the Rise and Progress of Anti-Christianism in Europe
Cunningham, Francis A. (Francis Aloysius)
Catholic Church -- Europe; Catholic Church -- History; Church and state -- Catholic Church
Frohschammer had already one of his former books _On the Origin of the
Soul_ condemned by the Church: but instead of acknowledging his errors,
he repeated them in subsequent works, at the same time maligning the
Congregation of the Index and abusing the Church with epithets and
calumnies. But Frohschammer effected less harm when he placed himself in
open rebellion so that all Catholics could be on their guard when his
teachings were brought forward. To the liberals, however, he was a
welcome aid, reading as they did in his works, and as coming from a
Catholic source, the very tenets they were striving to inject into the
German mind.
_DOELLINGER._
Perhaps no more potent evil genius existed for the corruption of the
Catholic German mind at the time than the too famous theologian of
Munich, Ignatius Doellinger. Born at Bamberg, on February 28, 1799, he
made rapid and brilliant studies at Wurzburg and in his native town. He
was ordained priest in 1822 and spent a few months in parochial work. In
1823 he was made professor of history and canon law in the preparatory
college of Aschaffenburg, and when the University of Landshut was
transferred to Munich, he was selected for the chair of history in the
new institution.
[Illustration: DOELLINGER.]
In his earlier career, in fact as late as 1860, Doellinger was one of
the foremost and loyal of German Catholics. At a time when so many of
his co-religionists were being led into the campaign of hostility to
Papal authority and the ancient discipline of the Church, Doellinger
ever remained true to his ultramontain principles. In 1826 appeared his
first theological work, _The Doctrine of the Eucharist During the First
Three Centuries of the Church_, which was followed in rapid succession
by a series of brilliant expositions of Catholic truth and history. In
1847 appeared his three magnificent volumes on "_The Reformation, Its
Interior Development and Its Effects_." It was the signal for a crusade
against the falsehoods of Protestant historians as uttered in nearly all
the universities of Germany.
In 1861 appeared his "_Church and the Churches, the Papacy and the
Temporal Power_," a collection of public lectures which the author had
delivered at the "Odeon" of Munich during that year. The work created a
sensation among the Catholic teachers of the land, who could not but
recognize in it the germs of the conflict which Doellinger was yet to
wage with the Holy See. The Piedmontese had just completed their
invasion of the Papal States, and naturally the world looked to
Doellinger for words of protest. The unhappy theologian proved recreant
to his duty at a moment of so much importance. Instead of uttering an
unequivocal protest, Doellinger babbled only about the necessity of
liberal institutions secularization, etc., imitating to a humiliating
degree the expressions of Cavour and Napoleon III. Doellinger had now
steered his bark into the stormy waters of Liberalism.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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