THE LETTER TO THE BISHOP OP TREVES, AND THE CHAPTER OF BRESLAU.
The hope of ultimate emancipation from the yoke of Rome, to which I now look forward with confident assurance, was excited by the slaves and blinded servants of the Roman Hierarchy and of the Jesuits, on seeing the extremes to which they carried their mockery of religion and trial of the patience of the German people.
A Tunic, of which they cannot even prove that it really was the tunic of Jesus Christ, is exhibited by these Baal-priests of avarice and greed, for public adoration; and the credulous multitude are not only allowed to offer homage to this garment, but are taught to hail it in these words:—"Holy garment, pray for us!" "Holy garment, I bow down before thee," &c. For such mockery of religion, such frenzy, assumed as piety, at the bidding of the Church, language is inadequate to the expression of our indignation; and my letter to Bishop Arnoldi, condemned as all too strong, is childlike in comparison of the sacrilegious offence committed by the Church upon religion and the human understanding.
It was, therefore, with unfeigned surprise that, in the beginning of November, after leaving Laurahütte (where a public school had been erected, and furnished, in the month of August, with two teachers) I received two written communications from the Chapter at Breslau, calling on me to retract what I had written, as offensive to that reverend body. I was less surprised when, after my refusal, I received the Decree of Excommunication.
I wondered less that Dr. Ritter should demand a recantation of my article—"Rome and the Chapter of Breslau," it being far less dangerous to him to place a lie upon the altar, in regard to circumstances which immediately after Silesia alone, as the carrying out of his designs were likely, therefore, to attract but limited observation. But that an entire Chapter should venture, in the face of Europe, and even of the world, to countenance such undisguised abuse as that of the adorable relic at Treves—such an unheard-of money-trafficking in the most sacred matters—such an insane mockery of reason and the Gospel, was not only ecclesiastically impolitic, but revolting to all Christendom.*
* DECREE OF EXCOMMUNICATION, &C.
"Breslau, Oct. 29th 1844.
"On the 30th of January of last year, the sentence of the
Canonical Council was forwarded to you, whereby, in
consequence of your failing satisfactorily to disprove the
authorship of the Article 'Rome and the Chapter of Breslau,'
and conducting yourself otherwise in a manner unbecoming a
Catholic clergyman, you were deposed from the Curacy of
Grottkau, and, having been interdicted from the performance
of spiritual functions, were charged to submit yourself ad
exercitia spiritualia in the Seminary here, under the
orders of the Superior, and await the farther pleasure of
the Council. You have hitherto paid no attention to this
judgment, especially in regard to its later requirements,
but have obstinately persisted in disobedience to your
superiors.
"There has lately appeared in No. 164 of the Vaterlands-
blatter, another Article, dated Laurahütte, Oct. 1st, and
bearing your signature, in regard to the exhibition of the
Holy Tunic of Jesus Christ at Treves—an Article most
offensive to all orthodox Catholics, and calculated
seriously to injure the character of one of the most worthy
bishops of the Catholic Church, and which, besides, contains
an invitation to rebellion against all existing and
universally recognized principles in the government of the
said Church.
"This calls for the strictest investigation, and excites
well-deserved suspicion,—I therefore require of you, seeing
that you subscribe yourself 'A Catholic Priest,' and call
yourself a member of the Catholic Church in this diocese, to
declare within fourteen days,
"1st, Whether you acknowledge yourself the author of the
above named Article;
"2d, Whether, in case you do, you are inclined to atone for
your offence, and the grief occasioned to the most reverend
Bishop Arnoldi of Treves, by a solemn retractation in the
same paper, and in other much-read Journals, to be named by
me;
"3d, Should you have had no part in the drawing out or
despatching of said Article, and should your signature and
address have been used without authority,—are you willing
and able to prove it, and to free yourself from the
suspicion which rests upon you, and in consequence of which
you are hereby enjoined to present yourself without delay!
"If the required explanation be not furnished within the
time specified, and should you not show yourself ready to
satisfy the questions put, I am reluctantly compelled, in
addition to the Decree of Suspension, which has already been
put in force, hereby to suspend over you the ecclesiastical
punishment of degradation and excommunication."
"—Latussrk, Suffragan Bishop and Vicar-General of the
Diocese."
"To the late Curate Ronge, at Laurahütte."
"To the Right Reverend the Suffragan Bishop and-Vicar-General of the Diocese.
"On the 18th and 19th of this month I received two letters of identical import; one addressed to me as a 'Catholic Priest,' the other as 'the late Curate,' in which I am required, before the lapse of fourteen days, to answer questions upon various points. To this requisition I reply in the following terms:—