John Ronge; The Holy Coat of Treves; New German-Catholic Church

by Johannes Ronge; Anonymous

I stand forth against the Romish hierarchy, because it is the means of crushing my dignity as a man, and reducing me to a state of disgraceful servitude. The dignity of man is acknowledged to consist in his reason and his will, and in the unrestrained use of both, for the attainment of moral freedom,—"Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." As Romish priest I dare not freely exercise my reason and my will. As such I only dare to think, and speak, and write, what the Church decrees, or what my superiors may allow. If I think, or speak, or write, more or otherwise, I am declared to be a heretic, i.e. a most grievous criminal. God himself must only be conceived of and adored, according to dictation of the Romish Church; and even He dares to accept no other adoration at my hands, than that prescribed by the Romish Church, in which, forsooth, salvation only can be found. As Romish priest I have no freedom, either of thought or conscience. Neither can I boast, as such, of any of the other rights of man, in opposition to my superior,—him I must blindly obey. The Romish priest is not regarded as a being personally free, but as an automaton, employed to spread abroad the mist of superstition. To cast off this bondage, and become a free moral agent, is a holy duty and injunction of the Christian religion, which demands freedom in the exercise of virtue. In order, however, to convince all men more clearly of the urgent nature of this duty, I shall attempt a feeble portraiture of the paralyzing influence exerted on myself, by priestly oppression, while I held an office in the Church—a portraiture in which the chief features in the case of hundreds among my colleagues may, at the same time, be recognized.

I felt a morbid irritability in contemplating the consecrated barriers which cut me off from my fellow-men; my spirit, sympathy, and active impulse died away, and in their place, in spite of my endeavours, cold indifference, and emotions even of hatred crept upon me. I likewise felt a suspicion of my colleagues, inexplicable in its earlier stages, and, in particular, I shunned those friends in whose society I had passed the unfettered years of college life, in order that I might not unnecessarily open the wounds which the loss of my freedom had inflicted on my heart.*

* I have often heard the complaint made, that the younger
members of the Catholic priesthood keep aloof from former
friends; a moving cause is given above, which may lead us
rather to compassionate than to condemn them.

But most crushing of all was, the performance of certain ceremonies at the altar, by which, as I knew and could perceive, many of the community were misguided into superstition and hypocrisy. Was I not forced to be a party to dissimulation, in the performance of such ceremonies? Could I help feeling myself lowered in my own opinion? When I knelt at the altar, with the credulous people behind me, and cast a look within, I shuddered in my inmost soul, an unspeakable woe tormented me, and I uttered the despairing cry, "And hast thou so long suffered this humiliation?" Each morning I was awakened, as with a piercing shriek, by the thought that I was a slave, and that my life was not only useless but fraught with degradation to my fellow-men—that I had been robbed of a bright career of useful labour, and that not even time itself might put an end to all my ignominy! My fetters were indeed consecrated, and, according to the prejudices of the world, they seemed to be unremovable. The world appeared determined to bear patiently the hideous yoke—its course was still the same!

I saw before me the abyss of falsehood or an early grave! Should I succumb? Unworthy cowardice! My courage gradually rose; courage for the contest of life and death within me. I determined to burst my fetters, and to leave the enchanted circle,—a circle drawn amid the incantations and the curses of Romish tyranny in the middle ages; I resolved to assist in tearing off the mask of holiness from the hypocrisy of a thousand years. This my resolve was only strengthened by contemplating the fate of my colleagues, some of whom were greater sufferers than even I. A few were snatched away by early death; they sank mute, and cheated of their lives, into the grave. He cannot surely have a drop of blood within his veins, who would not feel it boil with indignation to witness such a sight. And yet their fate was envied by the others, who glided through the world like mummies, in the springtime of their days, and hourly, slowly faded into death. Some rush, to deaden feeling, into drunkenness and other vices, or sink into insensibility, and passively vegetate from one day to the next. Others still, of livelier character, seek to lose themselves in the hierarchical spirit of the middle ages, and because ours are other days, and they, although they know it not, belong to them, have originated that modern species of bigotry which rises ofttimes into madness. Such heroes then surround themselves with halos borrowed from the early Fathers, and affect the startling voice of the preacher of repentance.

At last I sought, in order quite to fix my resolution, the countenance of those among the priests esteemed of noblest character; but found little real manliness, good and amiable (?) as several of them might be,—-or from a certain vacuity of mind, effeminate inertness, or well-concealed ambition, might appear to be.

I stand forth against the tyrannical dominion of the Romish Hierarchy, because it prevents me from faithfully pursuing my avocation as teacher of the people.

I am bound, as teacher of the people, and as teacher of religion, at all hazards to guard, not only my own freedom and independence, but those also of my fellow-men. In accordance with the language of the New Testament,—-"we are all the children of one father, we are brethren," it is my duty, as teacher of the people and of religion, not only to proclaim freedom to all mankind, but to endeavour to realize the lesson, because it is the freeman who alone is virtuous. It is, in fact, my duty as a teacher, not only to strive after intellectual perfection for myself, and to keep pace with the gradual development of mind, but to carry before my parishioners, the banner of civilization and humanity. I am not only impeded by the tyrannical oppression of the Romish Hierarchy in the discharge of all these duties, but am even commanded to proclaim bondage for freedom, darkness for light, and for progress—intellectual stagnation! I must thereby call down upon myself the deserved hatred of the present age, and the curses of posterity.

I stand forth against the tyrannical dominion of the Romish Hierarchy, because I am convinced that what the Hierarchs call the Catholic religion is not the true Catholic doctrine,—is not a doctrine calculated to promote the happiness of nations; that the Romish, Hierarchy does not teach and act in accordance with the leading and fundamental doctrines of the religion of which Christ was the author,—but that it has introduced abuses, and framed ordinances which are calculated to undermine the intellectual and physical welfare of nations, and only to increase the power and riches of a privileged priesthood, of whom the Roman Bishop is the head.

It were superfluous here to attempt the proof of this position by a long-winded, learned treatise. The fruits of the Romish Hierarchy have been proving it for centuries, and it is in the power of every man to convince himself, who wishes to be convinced. Or is it perhaps in consequence of the blessings emanating from Rome, that a portion, and not a small one, of our people, languish in the most abject poverty?! while another portion, and within it many preachers of religion, especially the higher prelates, are rolling in superfluous wealth? Are these the fruits of a Church in which alone is salvation, that some should be kept by spiritual oppression and ignorance in superstition and insensibility, and even degraded to a level with the brutes, in order that others, and among them many consecrated servants of the Pope, may be the lords and drivers of the dishonoured horde! How then can the injunction of love to our neighbour find a place in such a Christian Church, in such a society of Christians? Where then is the succour of alone-saving Rome, amid so deep spiritual degradation, amid so great bodily want among our people? Where is the practical working of brotherly-love! where does she labour for the elevation and improvement of the people! Where is the right understanding of the Lord's Supper, the feet-washing! and where the living exemplification of so many others of the essential doctrines of the New Testament? Has it not all degenerated into form and pretence! Has not religion been degraded to a system of usury and hypocrisy, which aims alone at the enriching and aggrandizement of the Church of Rome! The Church, as the Romish Hierarchy exhibits and teaches, is but a phantom of falsehood and dissimulation, which floats unseen above the nations, keeping them in constant dread and blind obedience. Hence comes the alienation from the priests, the horror and bitterness of feeling unanimously entertained by the considerate and right-thinking portion of mankind, towards the so-called Romish Church! And the animosity is well deserved; for what efforts do the priesthood make for the temporal and spiritual amelioration of the suffering people? The greater number of them pass coldly by, as the priests and Levites passed by the poor Samaritan of old. We grant that hundreds of the priests are not aware, or are careful to avoid the knowledge of the game they play, and the Power they serve as blinded instruments. They speak, His true, of the spirit of reconciliation and the Church, but they halt by the dead letter. They know not, and they do not desire to know, that the Church means all mankind, and mankind here on earth! That the need of reconciliation is indeed most pressing, for mankind in its present condition—I mean a reconciliation and approximation of the educated and uneducated, the moral and immoral, portions of mankind. Yea, more, I mean a reconciliation between the rich and the needy portions of humanity. This reconciliation and approximation must be brought about preeminently by the teachers of the people; it must result, not in empty words—with them we have been surfeited—but in actual deeds. This is a vineyard of the Lord, where the ears are ripe for harvest, and where labourers are required. These labourers need no authority from Rome, no outward consecration—it must be in their spirits—they must have consecrated hearts! When they appear, the people will acknowledge them, although they bear no Roman symbols. But seeing that the Romish Hierarchy love no such labourers—the people's truest friends and guides,—seeing that she resolutely opposes the moral elevation of mankind, it is a duty to contend against her and her false system—and such is the duty I shall now endeavour to fulfil.