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

by Johannes Ronge; Anonymous

No certificate of creed was required, so that the crowds of Protestants, who were drawn from mere curiosity, had the fullest opportunity of seeing what was to be seen. The ceremony continued daily, during the whole six weeks, for twelve hours, and was opened and closed by the chime of the cathedral bells. At the commencement the weather was fine, but in a few days it became quite unsettled and stormy; yet nothing could damp the long-cherished ardour of the pilgrims. Band after band advanced, and, like the crusaders of old, all the sufferings and hardships of the journey were forgotten as they approached the Holy City. The fatigues of long travelling were so far relieved by addresses from the clergy who marched with their parishioners, and still more by the sacred music which, ever and anon, filled the air. Vast bodies of clergy, from distant parts, arrived to take part in the ceremonial with the general body of the faithful, and, afterwards, share in the heavy duties of the Mass and the Confessional, as required for such an extraordinary occasion. At last, to complete the arrangements, on the evening of the 23d, an immense banner, with a red cross on a white ground, was elevated to the top of the cathedral, to direct the weary steps of the pilgrims, and to cheer their hearts as they approached the august city. So vast occasionally was the concourse, that on some days not fewer than about 20,000 were quartered within the walls. Fortunately such arrangements had been made with regard to the supplies of provisions, that but a small rise of price in the necessaries of life was perceptible, which is certainly remarkable, when it is stated that in one week, at least 150,000 strangers visited the city, and in the whole time about 1,200,000. Truth also requires the remark—that, taken as a whole, matters were conducted with general decorum and regularity, though it requires but little knowledge of human nature to see that where there was such a miscellaneous concourse of people, often ill fed and ill lodged, the ordinary regulations and observances of society would be disregarded, and a strong encouragement and temptation be given to immorality and crime. Although it was officially stated that there was accommodation in the city and neighbourhood for 20,000 persons, still all the powers of military police, and clergy combined, could not prevent many mournful scenes of misery and vice. It is, by the way, a most significant fact that, along with the announcement now mentioned there was added, under equally official authority, the urgent request that "all citizens and strangers should avoid all criticism on religious matters or opinions." If anything were required to convince one that the high authorities of Treves were afraid of the effects of free discussion, or even doubtful allusion to what might well make the most bigoted inquisitive, this significant sentence is sufficient. Such were the scenes which, with every variety of incident, were being enacted at Treves—a melancholy exhibition of priestly power to give currency and strength to superstition and blind idolatry, as well as of the state of passive submission on the part of the people, to all that the Church, in the arrogance of its blasphemies, may command. The voice of politics was, for a time, hushed—the busy commerce of the city, and even the harvest labours of the field were silent—everything like this world's occupations and concerns were all alike neglected, to give pomp and emphasis to the sad spectacle of men's faith deceived and led astray by a piece of an old garment. Not merely from the poor villages in the vicinity, but from the enlightened towns on the Rhine, from Coblentz, and Bonn, and Cologne, the processions of pilgrims came. Take one specimen:—On the evening of the 22d September, a most numerous procession, which had left Cologne nine days before for Treves, returned. This procession was composed chiefly of the lowest classes, with a vast proportion of women of every age. A body of white-dressed girls had advanced a long way to meet the procession, bearing all kinds of church emblems in their hands—crucifixes, flowers, anchors, hearts, &c. The pilgrims were all supplied with medals and engravings of the Holy Coat, as well as with small books containing an account of its history and miracles. These were people who looked poor and miserable, and who evidently had not the means to undertake such a journey, and yet, such was the passion for visiting Treves, that the pawnbrokers reaped a rich harvest from the desperate attempts made to collect money enough to supply their bare wants during their absence from home, and to give their votive offerings to be applied as before mentioned. Cases the most heart-rending have been published of poor people parting with their last possessions to obtain means for the journey, from which they looked for such marvellous results. The sick even were carried thither, with the firm belief that they would be healed; and the debased devotion of the pilgrims broke out in such expressions—"Holy Coat, we pray to thee. Holy Coat, pray for us," and the like. The higher classes, of course, consulted their own convenience in their modes of travelling, employing the Rhine and Moselle steamers or their private conveyances; but it is melancholy to think, that such vast bodies of the respectable classes did lend their influence to these unholy exhibitions.

But without entering into farther details let us hasten to the closing scene on the 7th October. At 2 p.m. the doors of the Cathedral were closed, and the ceremony of removing the holy relic from public view proceeded with in presence of the whole body of the clergy. At four the doors were re-opened, and Bishop Arnoldi delivered a discourse, to a vast audience, on the "Unity of the Church." At its close, began the procession of the civil officials, of teachers of all grades, of merchants and artisans, and of the guard of honour, dressed in black, with wax torches, through the transept into the choir, to join in the Te Deum. After the hymn of St. Ambrose had been sung, accompanied by the thunder of the cannon and the pealing of all the bells in the city and neighbourhood, the general procession advanced through the chief streets of the city. The committee were in front, followed by the guard of honour; they were succeeded by the different fraternities, all with wax candles—a strong choir of singers, then vast crowds of the people, with the various trades, each with their peculiar flags and emblems. They proceeded through the chief parts of the city to the palace of the Bishop, which was brilliantly illuminated. He, accompanied by the head Bishop of Verdun and the dignitaries of the Cathedral, dispensed the benediction. Then advanced from the arch-diocese of Cologne a torch-procession, accompanied by instrumental music. The whole proceedings were closed by the chorus,—"Lord God! we praise thee," in the Cathedral. The chief streets of the city were illuminated in the evening, and the grand organ continued pealing. In the middle window of the Cathedral where, in former times, the exhibition of the relic had taken place, was a transparency of the Cross, with splendid emblematic devices.

While all this was going on within the Cathedral, outside there was everything to call the mind of the devotee from the scene in which he had taken part; for, in addition to the jostling and bustle of the crowded city, there was everything in the way of the ordinary and extraordinary sights of a fair, to make him forget the feelings and object of his pilgrimage. Menageries, panoramas, plays, &c, all solicited the attention and money of those assembled, equally with the music and services of the Cathedral.

The bishops who had officiated during the ceremonial from first to last, were those of Metz, Nancy, Verdun, Luxembourg, Spires, Limburg, Osnabrück, Münster, Cologne, with several from Holland. Each bishop entered the city amid the ringing of the church bells. The pilgrims from France did not enter the city in processional order, but their clergy were numerously represented. During the whole period, processions to the city were not uncommon. Controversies between several of the journals, as to many occurrences connected with the proceedings, have taken place. Charges have been advanced, and as flatly contradicted, so that we do not feel called on to detail either the nature of the charges or the defence. It is easy enough admitting exaggeration on both sides.

It only remains to notice the inseparable adjuncts of such proceedings—the miracles which are said to have been effected. To a Protestant, who has not spent some time in a Catholic country, it must seem in the highest degree strange to hear of solemn statements, by opposite newspapers in support of, or in opposition to, certain pretended miracles; nay, not only so, but to have counter-medical certificates pitted against each other on the issue. Yet all this has lately been done. It would be worse than useless to recite the floating stories which one hears in the neighbourhood, about Protestant clergymen dying suddenly in the full possession of health, for having denounced the whole thing as a piece of imposture to a body of passing pilgrims, or of the many miraculous cures of sight, lameness, and the like. Yet, that all this is fact, any intelligent and inquiring tourist of the Rhine can testify. One case, in particular, created great interest, that of the Countess Droste-Vischering, a relation of the Archbishop of Cologne, who has been for many years unable to walk without the use of crutches, but who, after beholding the Holy Coat, was enabled, to the wonderment of all, to walk home unassisted. The plain truth comes out from her medical adviser,—that she had been long suffering from a diseased knee-joint, that she resolved at all hazards to go to Treves, and that, while in a fit of ecstasy before the relic, she had excited a degree of energy, in stretching or bending the diseased limb, which had given the temporary relief, by relaxing the long rigid muscles. Since this period she has had relapses, and is, we believe, now using the crutches, which had been too hastily hung up in the Cathedral as a thank-offering for her marvellous restoration. Yet this simple story is paraded about and magnified into a miracle, to give still greater éclat to the Holy Coat and the church ceremonies connected with it. It would be useless to enter into other details, when all are equally barefaced. The above case may be selected as a rather better than average specimen of the popish miracles of the continent.

And now, in finishing this part of the subject, we may be allowed to quote the opinion of one of the great organs of German Catholicism:—"Who can deny that this exhibition of the Holy Coat has been an event for the Rhine provinces and the West of Europe, which, in its consequences, must be of the greatest moment, whilst, for its grandeur, in church history it is unprecedented? Proceeding from a small circle, it has already embraced a wide circumference in its influence." After enumerating the quarters from which the crowds of pilgrims flocked, he proceeds:—"Who shall name those, principally from the higher classes, who came as single pilgrims from distant cities and lands, and what language do all these bands speak? They proclaim the triumph of faith over a system of false enlightenment; the victory of the newly-awakened elements of the day over all overthrowing tendencies—in a word, they proclaim the power of the Church, which has brought together such vast bodies of men, separated among so many princes by language and habits, yet made to act as the members of one and the same body."

We now turn to the more pleasing part of the subject, the statement of the more striking particulars connected with the late re-action against this God-dishonouring spectacle. It was impossible that a movement so singular and extensive should escape being made the subject of general newspaper remark and criticism. And, as the fact has proved, it has been argued and re-argued in a hundred ways by Catholic and Protestant journals, so that the whole bearings of the case, and the positions of all the different political and religious parties in the country in relation to it, have been brought and kept steadily before the public mind. This, it is clear, can be but seldom realized where the State puts its imprimatur upon the full freedom of the press, and where, in consequence, public opinion is but struggling for existence and definite expression, instead of being, as in Britain, the one element which overrules and directs the movements of the whole social system. We can appreciate the effects of free inquiry;—and when we know that this is now being unsparingly applied to the workings of that system, which "loves the darkness rather than the light," we may, under God's guidance and blessing, be allowed to look for new and large results, in the way of the exposure of errors, which have the sanction of long centuries of ignorance, and of great preparatory movements at least, for the reception of the truth as it is in Jesus. This is one great point gained; and if the spirit of inquiry, which has now been excited, could be but well directed, we might already rejoice in the Protestant prospects of Germany. That men feel unsatisfied with what is, is manifest—that feelings long kept under, are now obtaining clear and full expression—that men are being undeceived in having so long believed a lie, and often in agony of spirit are seeking for the simple truth to bring peace to their souls—all this, and much more is evident, and calls loudly for our active sympathies and prayers.

A few points call for especial notice:—

Very many of the Catholic journals have taken their stand against the late scenes at Treves. It is true, that several of those Journals may have been actuated by secondary motives in so doing, or what is the notorious fact, that some, at least of such Journals, want almost entirely a religious character; and though Catholic in name, are infidel in fact. Still it is equally notorious, that several of the Catholic Journals, whose orthodoxy is above suspicion, have lifted up their voice against what has taken place, as scandalous to Christianity, and eminently perilous to the Church.

In addition to the discussions which have appeared in the public prints, a vast mass of pamphlets has been issued on both sides. The most remarkable of these is, one issued by two professors in Bonn, Gildermeister and Sybel (the latter a Catholic,) entering into a grave and learned historical inquiry as to the genuineness of the relic, exposing in the most triumphant manner the various defences which have appeared on the Catholic side,—and all characterized by the most severe sarcasm, in holding up the trumpery of the system of relic-worship to contempt. The title of the book is "The Holy Coat of Treves, and the twenty other Holy Coats." A second edition was soon called for, in which four other such relics were stated as discovered. It is generally known, that among these numerous claimants for genuineness, the great body of the French clergy have bid hard to prove that the Coat of Argenteuil is the genuine one; and this view has been warmly defended by one of the Catholic clergy of Einsiedeln in Switzerland—notoriously one of the most celebrated places of pilgrimage in the world. More than this, writings have appeared stating the events connected with the other relics of the same name, and treasured with equal sanctity in numerous Cathedrals; also giving an account of the separate and independent series of miracles wrought by each as the true Coat of the Lord. It would be tedious to detain the reader with more of such details. We desire merely to notice the various workings of the movement in and out of the Catholic Church. It may accordingly suffice to state in addition, that poetry as well as prose has been called into requisition, and that satirical ballads and lyrics have been numerously circulated, and eagerly read by all parties. Many of them are filled with the most stinging remarks on the general position and moral character of the clergy.