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In this blog I write short articles on various historical topics. 

The Old Catholic Church which did not want to be a Church.

The name Old Catholic Church or Altkatholisch in German hints to an old established church but this is partly wrong. The Old Catholic Church was created after the First Vatican Council in reaction to the dogma of papal infallibility which was declared on July 18.1870 at the Vatican. Why do the members of the Old Catholic Church name themselves, with exception of the Swiss members who name themselves Christ Katholische Kirche, Old Catholic Church? Because they see themselves as follower of the Catholic Church as it was before the dogmas of papal infallibility and papal primacy. Additionally, there was no plan for a new church, it was the reaction of the Catholic Church against the opposition especially the church ban which created this need. The ban excluded dissenters from the sacraments which forced dissident leaders to create an organisation which took care of their religious welfare.

When a new church was never the plan what was so unacceptable for devoted Catholics to rather suffer the consequences of the church ban than to subjugate to the new dogma? It was the subjugation of one´s own believe and conscience under the decision of one single person, the pope.

Church dogmas were nothing new in the Catholic Church and the consequence of church ban if not followed was common but all the dogmas before followed a process of cooperation between pope and council. Formally this was the case with the First Vatican Council too, but in fact the pop and his supporters organised the structure of the council to concentrate all power in their hands and denied the strong opposition all possibilities to present counterarguments and changes to the planed dogmas.

A principal factor in the process was the pope himself. Pope Pius IX. (Giovanni Maria Mastai Ferretti) was elected 1846 and after his exile in Gaeta between 1848 and 1850 a strict opponent against all modern and liberal currents of his time and especially against the freedom of conscience, opinion, and the press. Not surprisingly he was also a strict proponent of papal primacy. The first manifestation of papal primacy was the only through papal power legitimated declaration of the dogma of the Virgin Mary´s Immaculate Conception in 1854.

Against the growing papal dominance arose a widespread opposition especial in the German speaking countries, mostly from academic theologians like Ignaz von Döllinger, but also from high clerics like the Archbishop of Vienna Othmar Cardinal von Rauscher and the Archbishop of Prague Friedrich Cardinal von Schwarzenberg.

Against the growing opposition of increasing papal power Pope Pius IX and his supporters planed a council to institutionalise the absolute papal primacy and the papal infallibility in dogmas through an ecumenical council at the Vatican. Knowing of the strong opposition only high clerics from bishop up and religious superiors where invited, which was unusual as previously a far range of dignitaries including theological teachers were invited to at least the right to speak. But even within the high cleric the planed dogmas were met with opposition. When the First Vatican Council began on December 8.1869 the opposition was presented with the council rules of procedure which made any organised opposition against the planed dogmas impossible especially as these rules were changed several times to enforce the papal will.

On April 24. 1870 the Apostolic Constitution Dei Filius, which cemented the antimodern principles of Pope Pius IX, was proclaimed.

This Apostolic Constitution was already the fruit of the planed dogmas and enhanced the opposition but soon the opposing bishops recognised that they had no chance to stop the planed dogma. Except two they left Rome on July 17.1870 before the final votes to keep the unity for the outside world.

On July 18. 1870 Pastor Aeternus was decided. This dogma gave the pope the jurisdictional primacy in all decisions and the papal infallibility in deciding these decisions.

The First Vatican Council was never properly ended as the German French War started with the declaration of war through the French Emperor Napoleon III against Prussia on July 19.1870. This resulted in the withdrawal of the French protection forces and the occupation of Rome by Italian troops. Pope Pius IX lost his Papal State and became the Prisoner in the Vatican.

Despite Pope Pius IX loose of the territorial papal power the dogmas from the First Vatican Council determined his religious powers. The church bans against all who did not submit under these dogmas became the law with all consequences. Unsurprisingly all high clerics including Othmar Cardinal von Rauscher and Friedrich Cardinal von Schwarzenberg subjugated to the new dogmas.

But for countless theological teachers the submission was impossible as it went against their conscience and believes. In several publications like the “Declaration von Königswinter from August 14.1870 and the “Nürnberger Declaration” from August 26. 1870 they formulated the problems with the new dogmas in even for laypeople understandable form. The criticised that these dogmas were new law and had no basis in biblical or lived church praxis. Furthermore, due to the place and organisation of the First Vatican Council it was neither an ecumenical nor a free council as all power was concentrated in the pop´s and his curia hands, therefore not correct decided.

The dissenters wished that the Catholic Church would go formally back in its teaching before the First Vatican Council through an ecumenical council outside Italy free from papal pressure. As all First Vatican Council dissenters had submitted a new council was impossible. Soon the practical results of the church bans were felt as dissenters fell ill but did not receive the sacraments due to the excommunication. In this situation the dissenting teachers who were also Catholic priests began, despite being excommunicated themselves, to give the sacraments. It was never the plan to form a new church as they saw themselves as true members of the Catholic Church as it was before the wrongful First Vatican Council.

In the Pentecost Declaration published on May 28.1871 the banned dissenter declared that they could not accept the two new dogmas but were still Catholics. Therefore, the banned believers had still the need and right to the sacraments and the banned priest had additional the power and duty to give these sacraments.

In July 1871 Ignaz von Döllinger and Johannes Friedrich asked the state to give them a church for their church services. Munich followed this request and gave them the Gasteigkirche for their services, especially marriages.

The next step was the Catholic Congress between September 22. and 24. 1871 in Munich which was attended from three hundred delegates from German, Austria and Swiss together with guests from the Russian Orthodox, Anglican, Protestant Churches, and the Church of Utrecht. These guest together with Catholic guests from France, Spain, Brazil, Irland and United States attended the two open meetings. In the three delegates assemblies the Munich Program formulated the following seven principles.

1. The Old Catholics still believed in the Catholic believe as it was based on the Bible, traditions and cultus and so were still full righted members of the Catholic Church but reject the two new dogmas of the papal jurisdictional primacy and the papal infallibility.
2. They still accept the old church constitution and the bishops’ rights but reject the pope as only from God endowed church authority and power. The from God endowed hierarchy is bishop-priest-deacon.
3. The aim was a reform of the theological and canonical science in the spirit of the Old Church which includes God´s people in church matters. There are no dogmatic contradictions with the Church of Utrecht and an ecumenic union of the other Christian Churches is particularly important and a hope for the future.
4. The clerics need scientific schooling in addition to the seminary education.
5. The universal episcopate of the Pope was rejected on the grounds of civil liberty and the constitution of the countries and their culture.
6. The Jesuits as a reason for the church problems should be abolished.
7. They were still part of the Catholic Church including its properties.

The Congress dissented about new structures for the excommunicated. Ignaz von Döllinger wanted to keep the protest within the structure of the Catholic Church despite the excommunication but the Congress President Friedrich von Schulte and other prominent members of the Old Church movement were for the building of their own communities wherever these were needed. In the end the Catholic Congress accepted with only three counter votes von Schultes proposal which all accepted.

Following the Catholic Congress in Munich the Old Catholic Congress in Cologne between September 20. to 22. 1872 established the Old Catholic Church. The 350 delegates from Germany, France and Swiss were accompanied by guests from other Christian Churches but no longer from members of the Catholic Church. It was the first time the new church declared herself as Old Catholic Church and all who accepted the dogmas of the First Vatican Council as New Catholics. This Congress set the first steps for the church constitution and pastoral care. Most importantly the sacraments given in the traditional forms were now not only valid but also permitted. Additionally, the use of the German language during service was increased, the indulgences reformed and payment for church services together with worship of saints abolished. But still the Congress tried to limit the departure from the Catholic Church. The Congress also installed commissions which should create the procedure for the bishop election, organisation of the communities, relationship between the Old Catholic Church and the state and the relationship of the Old Catholic Church and other Christian Churches in the hope of reuniting.

The Old Catholic Congress in Konstanz from September 12. to 15. 1873 decided the synodal and congregational order including the general provision that the Old Catholics reserve all the rights of members of the Catholic Church and that their own ecclesiastical order is only provisional. It determined its strong synodal order as bishops and synodal members had to be elected with the synod as the highest administrative body which the bishop only chaired. Elected laypeople were given full membership and rights at synods. Laypeople have also a significant role in the parish assemblies.

With the Declaration of Utrecht on September 24. 1889 signed by bishops of the Old Catholic Church of the Netherlands, Germany, the bishop administrator of Austria and the bishops of the Christ Catholic Church in Switzerland the Utrechter Union was formed.

Due to state church laws, political and national problems the forming of the Austrian Old Catholic Church was quite difficult. Therefor I will write about the Old Catholic Church in Austria in another blog post.

Sources used:

Lexikon der altkatholischen Kirche – Home: https://altkatholische-kirche.at/

Altkatholiken: https://ome-lexikon.uni-oldenburg.de/begriffe/altkatholiken/

Altkatholische Kirche Österreichs: https://altkatholiken.at/unsere-grundsaetze/

Altkatholische Kirchengemeinde St. Salvator Teilgemeinde Baden-St. Anna Kapelle

https://baden.altkatholisch.info/index.php/kontakte?view=category&id=15

Michaela Anna Trummer:  Die Entstehung der altkatholischen Kirche mit besonderem Blick auf die Entstehung der ersten Gemeinden in Österreich  

chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://unipub.uni-graz.at/obvugrhs/download/pdf/242446

Christian Halama: Bemerkungen zur Identität der Altkatholischen Kirchen in Österreich, chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://unipub.uni-graz.at/download/pdf/492781.pdf

Kirche + Leben: https://www.kirche-und-leben.de/artikel/kurz-erklaert-was-ist-die-altkatholische-kirche

Utrechter Union: https://www.utrechter-union.org/uber-uns/alt-katholischen-kirchen/einheit-katholizitat-und-apostolizitat-der-kirche/

Einheit, Katholizität und Apostolizität der Kirche – Utrechter Union: https://www.utrechter-union.org/uber-uns/alt-katholischen-kirchen/einheit-katholizitat-und-apostolizitat-der-kirche/

Pius IX.: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pius_IX.

Erste Vatikanisches Konzil: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erstes_Vatikanisches_Konzil

Erstes Vatikanisches Konzil: https://www.die-bibel.de/ressourcen/wirelex/5-inhalte-ii-kirchengeschichtsdidaktik/erstes-vatikanisches-konzil

150 Jahre Dogma der päpstlichen Unfehlbarkeit: https://de.catholicnewsagency.com/news/6914/150-jahre-dogma-der-papstlichen-unfehlbarkeit

The Memorial for the Viennese Jewish soldiers of World War I at the Wiener Zentralfriedhof

As a professional genealogist I regularly visit cemeteries in connection with family research where I often find interesting monuments and tombstones.

At the Wiener Zentralfriedhof there is a monument unknown to even most Viennese. It is located in the biggest cemetery in Vienna, the Wiener Zentralfriedhof (Simmeringer Hauptstraße 232-244, 1110 Vienna). This communal cemetery opened on 1. November 1874 and is in itself worth a visit. The biggest part of the cemetery is interconfessional, but some parts are dedicated to special confessions. In the beginning these parts were bought from the Community of Vienna, the owner of  this cemetery. The Jewish Community of Vienna (Israelitische Kultusgemeinde Wien IKG) was the first to buy ground to provide plots for their members. Until 1938 IKG officially exercised administrative authority over their registered members. They bought the space directly behind Gate 1 of Zentralfriedhof on July 20. 1877. In March 1879 the first burials were conducted.

It is in this part of the cemetery the memorial for the fallen soldiers of World War I is located, close to Gate 11. It was constructed in 1928 in grey stone according to the plans from the architect Leopold Ponzen. 

Marriage was not always easy for people in the Cisleithanian parts of the Habsburg Monarchy

Following the defeat of the anti-Habsburg Bohemian Revolt at the Battle of the White Mountain near Prague in 1620, only two religious confessions were legally permitted in Austria, the Roman Catholic Church and Judaism, the later under very strict conditions. This changed on October 13, 1781, when Emperor Joseph II issued the first Patent of Toleration. It extended religious freedom albeit heavily regulated to the Non-Catholic Christians: Lutherans, Calvinists and Eastern Orthodox (“ACatholics”) It was followed over the course of 8 years by several Edicts of Tolerance for Jews.

The Patents were a significant improvement but still included discrimination for all those not of the Roman Catholic faith. Because administrative powers were assigned to the Roman Catholic Church all births, marriages and deaths had to be recorded in the Catholic registers notwithstanding that the actual religious ceremony was headed by the religious authorities of the people involved. Catholicism was the „accepted“ faith, and with it the validity of Catholic ecclesiastical law. To this day the Roman Catholic Church defines marriage as a holy sacrament and therefore as inseparable. Divorced Roman Catholics are not allowed to remarry in church while the partner of a Catholic marriage is alive (with strictly defined exceptions regulated by Church Law). Despite the reforms of Joseph II, the marriage law of the state remained largely congruent with Catholic Church law.

Although “mixed” marriages between Catholics and members of the recognized Christian churches were possible, marriage between Christians and Non-Christians, especially Jews, was prohibited. Marriage between Catholics and other Christians had to be solemnized by a Catholic priest. Conversion to the Roman Catholic Church was administratively rather easy, contrary to leaving the Church. To become a Protestant a convert had to undergo six weeks of Catholic religious education. Conversion from a Christian faith to Judaism was prohibited. In 1811 the Austrian Civil Code (Allgemeines Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch – ABGB) was enacted. Its marriage law decreed different provisions, some for all married couples, some for Catholics only, some for Non-Catholic Christians, and some for Jews only.

This was the situation until Deecember 1867, when the “Basic Law on the General Rights of Nationals in the Kingdoms and Countries represented in the Council of the Realm” (Staatsgrundgesetz über die Allgemeinen Rechte der Staatsbürger über die im Reichsrate vertretene Königreiche und Länder - StGG) was passed. It followed the creation of the Dual Monarchy Austro-Hungary, in fact two independent states with the emperor/king as head of state and some common institutions in foreign and military affairs. Derived from the name of the border river Leitha the “Austrian” part of the Dual Monarchy got to be called, informal but not legally, Cisleithania, and the “Hungarian” part, with its Subsidiary Countries, Transleithania. It is important to note that until 1921 what today is Burgenland, was Hungarian and therefore belonged to Transleithania.

This Basic Law was a major improvement as it eliminated faith-based discrimination while granting important rights to the citizens. The Roman Catholic Church was still by far the dominant faith, but ACatholics and Jews now were invested with full citizenship rights, and their religious authorities became their administrative authorities for birth, marriage, and death. Articles 14 to 16 guaranteed the freedom of religion and of conscience, the right to public exercise of worship for churches and religious societies recognised under the law, the right to private exercise of worship for members of other religious confessions, as long as its praxis was not against the law or good manners. This for example applied to members of the Anglican Church, which was not officially recognized at that time. However, this created another problem – who should register the marriage of people who did not belong to a state-recognized church?

In May 1868, the possibility of a civil marriage was introduced with the concept of the “Notzivilehe”. This “emergency civil marriage” could take place if a priest refused to marry a couple for reasons that were not acknowledged by the state as an impediment to marriage. For instance, the Roman Catholic marriage impediment in connection with kinship was far stricter than the state laws. Therefore, when a priest, pastor or rabbi explicitly denied in written form his agreement for the wedding the couple could ask the state authorities to perform the wedding. Catholic couples could only ask for a Notzivilehe when a Catholic priest refused the act on grounds of a church law, or if the couple declared that they did not want to be married in a religious ceremony. We have to remember that the Catholic Church to the present day forbids a new marriage after divorce as long as the partner is still alive. Furthermore, all who did not belong to an accepted church, like the members of the Anglican Church, had to get married at a civil authority which was either the Bezirkshauptmannschaft (District Authority) or in towns with special status like Vienna, the Magistrat. This applied also to persons with no church at all. For couples without religious belief the Notzivilehe became possible in 1870, the first one performed by Cajetan Felder, the mayor of Vienna, between a former Christian bride and a former Jewish groom who had both left their religious communities. For the first time intermarriage between Jews and Christians became possible. Moreover, if they wished and were accepted, they could re-join their religious communities. For former Roman Catholics this was often the case after the death of the in Notzivilehe married spouse or the divorce of this marriage.  However, marriage in a church was still the by far dominant way to marry. Especially so as it was now possible in Christian interconfessional marriages that the couple were married by any priest of an accepted church and not exclusively a Catholic priest.

The question where to register children born in Notzivil marriages as well as deaths was solved by establishing birth and death books along with the marriage books at the responsible civil authorities.

What remained was the question of remarriage of Roman Catholics. A couple could not be divorced, only “Separated from Board and Bed”, but they remained legally married until one partner died. Even leaving the church or conversion to another faith offered no way out of this dilemma. One possibility was change of citizenship. The German Empire, founded in 1871, consisted of 25 States with their own legislation, including marriage laws. Some Protestant States allowed divorce, some asked for proof of separation, some required citizenship and residence, some demanded conversion to Protestantism. A famous case was that of Johann Strauß the Younger, who converted and became a citizen of the Duchy of Coburg, in order to marry his third wife Adele in 1887.

Closer to home Cisleithanian citizens of Austria had the choice of the so-called Siebenbürger Hochzeit (Transsylvanian Marriage). Siebenbürgen (Transsylvania) belonged to the Hungarian part of the Monarchy. The partner in a Catholic marriage who wanted to remarry, had to convert to a Protestant Church, preferably the Unitarian or a Protestant Reformed Church, as those unlike other Protestant Churches, did not demand the agreement of the other partner to the divorce, acknowledging  “Separation from Board and Bed“. Also needed was the conversion to Hungarian citizenship, easily obtainable up to 1879 after a few weeks of residence. After 1879, Hungary changed its Civil Law and introduced certain obstacles to citizenship.  A new citizen had to complete at least 5 years of residence, have proof of assets or a job that could provide for a family at the place of residence, together with registration as a taxpayer for 5 years. In effect only quite wealthy people could afford this. Some circumvented this obligation through adoption by a Hungarian citizen. When Hungary changed its Civil Law in 1895 with the introduction of obligatory state registration of birth, marriage and death and the establishment of register offices, it also abolished the religious restrictions in family laws. This made it possible for Hungarian citizens to remarry even when Roman Catholics. Of course, the Roman Catholic Church did not recognise such marriages, and the remarried partner lived in “sin and adultery”. The situation was especially bad for the not remarried partner if he or she did not change religion and citizenship too, because they still were bound by Roman Catholic marriage law. As citizens of Cisleithania, their civil marriage status was identical with their religious status. They were not allowed to marry themselves as long as their former partner was alive.

Of course, such fake citizenships were unacceptable in the Cisleithanian part of the Monarchy, the more so when residence there was re-established. Up to 1907, the Supreme Court in last instance declared all these marriages invalid. This legal opinion began to change around 1907 as it was considered problematic for a Cisleithanian court to pass judgment on the validity of a marriage contracted by a foreigner abroad.

Overall, despite attempts to separate the religious Catholic marriage laws from state laws it remained impossible for couples married Catholic to remarry as long as one partner was alive. This ended only with the introduction of obligatory civil marriage when Austria became part of the German Reich in 1938.

Sources:

Christian Neschwara: Konfessionell gebundene Ehehindernisse im österreichischen Allgemeinen Bürgerlichen Gesetzbuch chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.austriaca.at/0xc1aa5576_0x0039014b.pdf

 Anna L. Staudacher: Proselyten und Rückkehr- Der Übertritt zum Judentum in Wien 1868-1914

Thomas Hiermann: Der lange Weg vom konfessionellen Eherecht zur Zivilehe – aufgezeigt anhand von Beispielen der Staaten Österreich und Israel

chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://epub.jku.at/obvulihs/download/pdf/1915384

Österreichische Nationalbibliothek: ALEX Historische Rechts- und Gesetzestexte

https://alex.onb.ac.at/

RIS Rechtinformationsinformationssystem des Bundes:

https://www.ris.bka.gv.at/Bund/

Wien Geschichte Wiki-Dezemberverfassung:

https://www.geschichtewiki.wien.gv.at/Dezemberverfassung

Wien Geschichte Wiki- Österreich-Ungarn:

https://www.geschichtewiki.wien.gv.at/%C3%96sterreich-Ungarn

Wien Geschichte Wiki- Eheschließungen

https://www.geschichtewiki.wien.gv.at/Eheschlie%C3%9Fungen

Simon Institution Ehe:

chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://rechtsgeschichte.univie.ac.at/fileadmin/user_upload/i_rechtsgeschichte/Dateien_Simon/Simon_Institution_Ehe.pdf

Do you think Vienna was always a Roman Catholic City? – Wrong!

Shortly after Martin Luther published his 95 Thesis 1517 in Wittenberg his writing and teaching was, thanks to the new letterpress technology and its much cheaper and easier distribution, speeding through Europa.

The first of these printings reach Vienna about 1520 and fell, due to an already widespread dissatisfaction with the Catholic Church, on a very fertile religious atmosphere. On January 12.1522 Paulus Speratus, a former priest from Freiburg im Breisgau and later Lutheran Bishop in Prussia, gave a Lutheran sermon in the Viennese main church, the Stephansdom, which started a long time of Lutheran domination in Vienna.

How was this possible in a town which was later the capital of the Counter-Reformation power?

Due to the widespread dissatisfaction with the theological teaching and practises like the selling of indulgences citizen and aristocrats alike welcomed the new teaching. But it was the political situation including the decreased political power of the Habsburgs due to the 3 splitting of the Habsburgian hereditary lands after the death of Emperor Ferdinand I and the Turkish threat including the first Turkish Siege of Vienna in 1529 that gave especially the aristocrats and through them the people the political freedom to follow the new Lutheran teachings.

But it was not an undisturbed success story for the Lutheran teaching in Vienna and the Habsburgian hereditary lands, it depended a lot on the political situation at any given time.

To understand this situation let’s look at this time in detail.  Shortly after the Lutheran teaching came to Vienna the younger brother of Emperor Karl V, Archduke Ferdinand, later Emperor Ferdinand I, left Spain and took the reign over the Austrian hereditary lands in 1521. He was not only a strict Roman Catholic but believed in the absolute rights of the souverain. But in Vienna the situation was quite different, as for a long time the land souverain was far away and the citizen tried to form a more independent administration. This changed dramatically when the new souverain Archduke Ferdinand really came in his lands. He didn’t even bother to enter Vienna but stopped in Wiener Neustadt and took the major and other citizen of Vienna who had tried to rebel against the old order to task which culminated 1522 in the Wiener Neustädter Blood Court and the execution of the major Martin Siebenbürger and several of his council men. For Vienna, this new strong sovereign power brought the loss of old rights and communal power. Not surprising Archduke Ferdinand also wanted to reestablish the Roman Catholic Church in its former position. In addition to the Wormser Edict from Emperor Karl V in the spring of 1521, which declared the “Reichsacht” (Reich ban) over Martin Luther which made him virtually right less, Archduke Ferdinand gave on March 12. 1523 an edict which prohibited all Protestant activity in his countries. As the Protestant believe had found roots in Vienna opposition to this edict arouse and so many Viennese Protestants found themselves in prison and Kaspar Tauber a prominent Viennese citizen was even executed on September 8.1524 for his refusal to return to the Roman Catholic Church.

With the death of his brother-in-law, King Ludwig II of Hungary on August 29.1526, and Ferdinand’s planed succession to the Hungarian Crown due to the Succession Agreement between the Hungarian Ruling Jagiellonian Family and the Habsburgian Family from 1515 Ferdinand not only inherited Ludwig II conflict with the since 1520 reigning Ottoman Sultan Süleyman I the Magnificent ,who forcefully enlarged his empire, but also had to fight against Jan Zápolya, who became the, from the national Hungarian political group and Sultan Süleyman I supported, Counter King. This conflict culminated in the First Turkish Siege of Vienna between September 21. and Oktober 15.1929. Despite the failed Siege of Vienna, Ferdinand I was only able to retain a relatively small part of the Hungarian kingdom for himself and he ultimately had to recognise Jan Zápolya as king of the rest of Hungary but the conflict with Zápolya´s successor and his associated Ottoman Empire continued. This situation brought several problems for the now King Ferdinand I. Hungary did not belong to the Holy Roman Empire, so he only got money and troops for his fight against the Ottoman Empire on Austrian territory but not the close Hungarian territory. With the Augsburger Peace of Religion 1555, which gave the princes of the realm the right to decide which confession, Catholic or Augsburger Confession they and their subjects followed many German princes of the realm became Protestants of the Augsburger Confession. As many of the estates of the realm, who had to approve on the money and troops, in the Holy Empire were now Protestants Augsburger Confession, Ferdinand I had to adapt his religious politic in his reign. Especially as his position in the Holy Empire became more prominent first as representant of his brother Emperor Karl V and after his brother’s resignation 1558 as new emperor. Ferdinands new politics of reconciliation between Catholics and Protestants showed in the Augsburger Peace of Religion from 1555 where he represented Emperor Karl V at the Reichstag.

A great problem for Ferdinand I was that his oldest son Maximilian showed a lot of sympathies for the Evangelical believe and he feared that his son would become a Protestant himself. Despite these fears Ferdinand I made sure that Maximilian would follow him as emperor of the Holy Empire but ordered in his last will, that his hereditary countries were parted between his 3 sons, Maximilian, only got the territories in present-day Lower and Upper Austria (Lawer Austria) as well as Bohemia and Hungary. The strictly Roman Catholic sons received the rest. Karl got   Styria, Carinthia and Carniola (Inner Austria) and Ferdinand ruled Tyrol with the Vorlanden (Upper Austria).

So, when Ferdinand I died on July 25. 1564 the Protestants in Vienna enjoyed a very sympathetic reign, but Maximilian II never left the Catholic Church despite his sympathies for the Protestant confession. In the Religious Denomination 1568 Emperor Maximilian II gave the noble families in his Austrian countries, who were mostly Protestants, the right to practise their Augsburger belief for them and their subjects, on their country estates, but this privilege was not given to the towns and smaller places, so the Protestant citizen of these places went to the noble places in the countryside to practise their faith. For the Protestants in Vienna the Viennese suburbs like Hernals, Inzersdorf, Rodaun and Vösendorf became the places to illegally take part of the noble’s religious practice. The most important protestant suburb was Hernals as the noble families Geyer and Jörger opened their estates and on Sundays the Protestant citizen went to Hernals to hear the Protestant sermons, and they also married and had their children baptised there.

After Maximilian II sudden death on October 12.1576 his eldest son Rudolf II became not only the next Emperor of the Holy Empire but also the new souverain in his father´s hereditary countries. Rudolf II was in mentally ill health which became increasingly worse and especially during the last 6 years of his reign he was no longer capable to rule. From the start of his rule, he made Prague his capital and Vienna lost its status as imperial residence. Rudolf II lived as a Roman Catholic but was especially in the first time of his rule personally tolerant to members of other confessions but soon he followed his brothers in their Counter-reformist politics. In 1577 he prohibited Protestant sermons and closed Protestant churches and schools in Vienna.

But it was still quite easy to live as Protestant in Vienna as Rudolf II and his brother Mathias needed the nobles in their power fight which in the end Mathias won due to the mental illness of Rudolf II. In 1608 Mathias became the new regent in the Austrian heredity countries which former belonged to Rudolf II and in 1611 he also became King of Bohemia and after the death of Rudolf II in 1612 he also became the new Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.

In his younger years, Mathias II was a strict representative of the Counter-Reformation, but from his accession to the throne he sought to reconcile the confessions, so the religious situation in Vienna did not change.

As Mathias II had no legitim heir his cousin Archduke Ferdinand of Inner Austria became his designated successor and with Mathias declining health he gained power and due to family treaties, he became King of Bohemia in 1617 and King of Hungary in 1618 while Mathias II still lived. He was a strict representative of the Counter-Reformation, forcing even the Protestant nobility and Protestant scholars in his Inner Austrian hereditary lands to either become Catholic or leave the country. The loss of thousands of Protestants meant a severe economic decline in his lands.

It was therefore surprising that the largely Protestant bohemian estates elected him king. Before he was crowned, he had to swear, to accept the Letter of Majesty given by Emperor Rudolf II in 1609 which gave the bohemian estates religious freedom. But soon he showed that he was not willing to hold to this promise and he began his Counter Reformation politic. As a result of this politics Protestant bohemian nobles tossed high ranking officials on May 23. 1618 through a window of the Prague castle. This so called “Prager Festersturz” was the start point of the War of 30 Years, which also brought for a brief time a new Protestant Bohemian King.

This War of 30 Years brought for a long time the end of official Protestant religious practise in Austria and of course in Vienna. When the troops of Emperor Ferdinand II where successful at the Battle of the White Mountain on November 8.1620 Ferdinand II could not only reclaim the Bohemian Throne but also strength his power in all his hereditary lands. Like before in his Inner Austria´s lands he forced the people of his lands, including the nobles, to either came back to the Roman Catholic Church or leave his lands. For example, the last Protestant liege lord of Hernals, Helmhard von Jörger, who denied this and the homage to the emperor was publicly condemned as a rebel and his possessions forfeited. His possessions were confiscated for the emperor. His liege was given to the Cathedral Chapter of St. Stephan in Vienna.

On April 9. 1624 Emperor Ferdinand II gave a patent for Bohemia in which he only allowed the Roman Catholic faith and its religious praxis. A few days later he forbade the King´s towns to give citizen rights to non-Catholics and only Catholics were allowed to practise their trade there.

In Austria below the Enns, the historical name for Niederösterreich to which Vienna until 1921 belonged, followed 1627 with the Expulsion of preachers and schoolmasters.

After that the Protestant faith could only be practised in the chapels of foreign embassies and there only for their members or as so named Secret Protestants, who official where Catholics but secretly practised their Protestant faith. The punishment if found out was severe and often brought forced deportations in sparsely populated border areas of the monarchy or to Protestant foreign countries, leaving behind most of their property, and often children under the age of 14 were separated from their deported parents and brought up as Catholics in the country.

This was the situation until Emperor Joseph II issued on October 13.1781 the Patent of Toleration for the followers of the Augsburg and Helvetic Confessions as well as the non-United (Orthodox) Greeks, the so called “Acatholics”.

This Patent gave them the right to build a house of prayer and a school at their own expense for worship gatherings of fellow believers wherever at least 100 families lived within a radius of several hours. But there were still severe discriminations. The name church was reserved for Catholic places of worship and the Acatholic places of warship were not to be seen as such but had to look like normal town houses and of course were not allowed a tower. The Acatholic places of worship had also be at least 50 meters away from the main street and its entries had to face to the opposite side of the main street. Additional and more important for the daily lives of Acatholics was that they were still under the jurisdiction of the Catholic priests as those alone had the duty and right to register birth, marriage and deaths for the state including earning the fees for the rituals concerning these live occasions even when an Acatholic cleric performed the rituals.

Pastors had to be confirmed by the sovereign and Children from mixed marriages were to be brought up as Catholics. Acatholics needed a dispense, since 1848 from the provincial office, to acquire property, citizenship, master craftsman rights, academic dignities, and public offices.

As the number of Catholics who converted to the Protestant Confessions massively increased, especially in some regions of Austria above the Enns, Inner Salzkammergut and Schladming a new law was introduced in 1787 which made a 6 week Catholic teaching mandatory before somebody could convert from the Catholic Religion to a Achatholic confession.

It was not before 1849 that Acatholic pastors got the right to legally register birth, marriage and death and no extra fee for the Catholic priest was needed.

It was the Protestant Patent from April 8.1861 issued from Emperor Franz Josef I for the Augsburger and Helvetian Confession that the situation for Protestants improved greatly. Despite being embedded in the state Administration the officials in this religious administration had to be of Protestant believe. This patent gave the right to public Protestant worshiping. All restriction concerning their places of worship were abolished, even towers and bells were allowed. Protestant schools could be organised. Members of the Augsburger and Helvetian Confession now had the same civil and political rights as Members of the Catholic faith.

With the Protestant Act from 1961 ended the incorporation of the Protestant Augsburger and Helvetian Confession in the administrative organisation of Austria. These protestant confessions became their own legal personality as a public corporation and full autonomy from the state administration.

Today the religion has no influence concerning the citizen rights in Austria. As of 2023 the Protestant Churches of Augsburger and Helvetian Confession together have about 257,200 members in Austria.

Sources:

Evangelische Kirche Wien  : https://www.evang-wien.at/

Reformation: https://www.geschichtewiki.wien.gv.at/Reformation

Wien – eine Metropole als Reformationsstadt:

https://www.evang-wien.at/wien-eine-metropole-als-reformationsstadt

Thema: Reformation: https://www.evang-wien.at/thema-reformation

Brennen für den Glauben: https://www.wienmuseum.at/brennen_fuer_den_glauben

Wien war im 16. Jahrhundert mehrheitlich protestantisch:

https://www.katholisch.at/aktuelles/2017/02/15/wien-war-im-16.-jahrhundert-mehrheitlich-protestantisch

Karl von Otto, Die Anfänge der Reformation im Erzherzogthum Oesterreich (1522—1564), in: Jahrbuch der Gesellschaft für die Geschichte des Protestantismus 1 (1880) 11-20: Transkription Speer 2017

https://repertorium.at/sl/otto_anfaenge_1880.html

Luthernest Hernals. Reformation & Gegenreformation

https://www.bezirksmuseum.at/de/ausstellung/luthernest-hernals-reformation-gegenreformation/

Paul SPERATUS: https://museum.evang.at/persoenlichkeiten/paul-speratus/

Caspar Tauber: https://www.geschichtewiki.wien.gv.at/Caspar_Tauber

Jörger: https://www.geschichtewiki.wien.gv.at/J%C3%B6rger

„Glaube oder Heimat“ 1648-1781: https://museum.evang.at/rundgang/1648-bis-1781/

Evangelisches Oberösterreich: https://www.ooegeschichte.at/archiv/themen/wir-oberoesterreicher/evangelisches-oberoesterreich

Geschichte der Evangelischen in OÖ: https://museum-ooe.evang.at/geschichte.html

Toleranzpatente Josephs II.: https://www.rechteasy.at/wiki/toleranzpatent/

Staatsgrundgesetz vom 21. Dezember 1867: https://alex.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/alex?aid=rgb&datum=1867&page=422&size=45

Bundesgesetz vom 6. Juli 1961 über äußere Rechtsverhältnisse der Evangelischen Kirche – Protestantengesetz Vom 6. Juli 1961: https://www.kirchenrecht.at/document/39209/search/protestantengesetz

Ausstellung: "Die Geschichte der Evangelischen in Wien":

https://www.evang-wien.at/ausstellung-die-geschichte-der-evangelischen-wien

Banner 1: Reformation und Gegenreformation: https://www.evang-wien.at/banner-1-reformation-und-gegenreformation

And more

Memorial seen from the outside.

Its form is quite unusual. Through a gate you enter a very small, roofed space, leading to another gate comparable to a double gate. 

View from inside of the memorial to the graves outside.

Following the gate is an octagonal building in the shape of a fortified tower without roof. The walls are crowned with battlements resembling tablets of law.

Inside there are a total of 7 white marble panels, one on each side except the door side. They contain the names of the fallen Viennese Jewish soldiers in alphabetical order, separated into officers and enlisted men.

List of names of the officers 

List of names of the names of the enlisted men

A concrete path leads to the centre of the monument, the panels stand in a ring of gravel around the centre of the octagon.

Above the panel on the opposite side of the gate is a tablet with an inscription in Hebrew  ‘No longer will people raise sword against people, and they will learn war no more.’

Inside the double gates is an inscription “„Die israelitische Kultusgemeinde Wien ihren im Weltkrieg 1914–18 gefallenen Söhnen “(‘The Jewish Community of Vienna to its sons who died in the 1914-18 World War’)

The memorial was opened on 13. Oktober 1929 by Alois Pick, the Präsident of the Israelitische Kultusgemeinde Wien.

In 1999 the Vienna Military Command and the Austrian Black Cross, an organisation which looks after the gravesites of war dead, added a panel in remembrance of the Jewish soldier who served in the Austro-Hungarian army and the army of the first Austrian Republic and  who became victims of the Shoa.

Remembrance panel between the double gates

Between 1933 and 1937, an annual hero's memorial service was held at the Jewish war memorial, which was also attended by a guard of honour of the Austrian Armed Forces.

Outside the memorial are war graves of Jewish solders.

Interestingly the memorial was not damaged during the Nazi regime whilst graves and other Jewish buildings like the halls of ceremonies where damaged or destroyed.

Today exist two Jewish cemeteries within Zentralfriedhof. The Old Jewish Cemetery, with the war memorial had run out of space, so  in 1916  additional space was bought near Gate 4  and opened as New Jewish Cemetery in 1917.

Sources:

Wien Geschichte Wiki: Zentralfriedhof

Wien Geschichte Wiki: Jüdisches Kriegerdenkmal

Rote Spuren: Denkmal zu Ehren der jüdischen Soldaten aus dem ersten Weltkrieg

NETWORLD Database: DENKMAL FÜR JÜDISCHE SOLDATEN DES ERSTEN WELTKRIEGES UND KRIEGERDENKMAL AM ZENTRALFRIEDHOF WIEN, ÖSTERREICH

Former edition of Wiener Zentralfriedhof Website

Photos: Autor Katja-Maria Chladek