The Sun.
London, England, 1855-10-19 00:00:00

CONCORDAT BETWEEN AUSTRIA AND

THE HOLY SEE.

We borrow from a letter sent from Rome to the
Venice Gazette (an official journal) the following
analysis of the Concordat which• has been con-
cluded between the Holy See and the Austrian
Government :

The Catholic religion shall be maintained and pro-
tected, with all the rights and prerogatives accorded to
it by the holy canons, in every part of the empire where
it dominates.

The Placetum Regium is abrogated.
The relations of ►,he bishops with the Holy See in
spiritual affairs, the relations of the bishops with their
clergy and the people, their instructions and enjoinment'
in spiritual affairs, are flee.

The nomination of the vicar and the college, the grant-
ing or refusal of ordination to such as appear unworthy
of it, the foundation or collation of curates, the institu-
tion of public prayers, the convocation of the synods,
the publication of pastoral letters and injunctions, the
prohibition of dangerous books, belong freely to the
bishops alone.

The religious education of youth, the chief superin-
tendence over religious instruction, are confided to the
bishops, and subjected to an ecclesiastical inspector of
all the primary catholic schools.
The appointment of the catechists is confided to the
bishops, and the teaching of theology or of the canon
law is forbidden to every one without their approbation.
Ecclesiastical affairs are judged by ecclesiastical judges
according to the rules of the canons or the instructions
of the Council of Trent, and matrimonial affairs alone,
in their relations with the ecclesiastical effects of this
sacrament, are brought before the lay judges.
The bishops have the full right of punishing those
priests who transgress ecclesiastical discipline, and of
inflicting penalties upon such as violate the laws of the
church ; whereas temporal justice can only take cogni-
sance of civil affairs, and of the crimes committed by
ecclesiastics ; but in this latter case the bishop must be
previously inormed.
In prisons, the ecclesiastics will be separated from lay
prisoners; in ...lurches, the immunity will be maintained,
in so far as the public safety may permit.
Tne disputes of laymen with respect to patronage will
be judged by temporal judges.
Verbal or written defamation of the Catholic religion,
of the holy liturgy, as likewise of the bishops or priests,
will be interdicted.

The bishops of the province will be heard for the pre-
sentation of new bishops to the Holy See.
All rights claimed by the bishops over the seminaries
are recognised, including their nomination of the rectors,
proles ors, and teachers.
The priests are chosen from among the anadidates,
the first dignitaries of the cathedral chapter are appointed
by the Holy See, should there exist no right of patron-
age, the others by the Emperor, with the exception of
those proceeding equally from the right of patronage or
being connected with the free disposal of the bishops.
The right of appointing priests to all the csbnonicates,
and to all the livings where a right of patronage exists,
the result of a scientific or pious foundation, belongs to
the Emperor, on condition that the election shall fall on
one of the three candidates whom the bishop shall have
proposed after a preliminary examination.
The Holy See has the full right of creating, with the
Emperor's consent, new dioceses and new parishes.
His Majesty engages to make an adequate allowance
for such livings as are not yet properly endowed.
The law relative to the property of the church will be
administered in conformity with the instructions of the
canonical institutions • in what concerns possession, the
toles prescribed by the canons will be observed.
Free intercourse between the religious communities
and their superiors who reside at Rome are guaranteed ;
these latter will have the full right of visiting the monas-
t-lies of the monarchy, and of publishing circulars touch-
ing the discipline, &c.
The religious orders have the right of opening novi-
ciates, bishops that of instituting, with consent of the
Government, both mi.na4teries and convents.
The prop. r:y of the church is declared sacred and in•
violable, and the church is maintained in its full right of
acquiring property,
No suppression or sale cant-take place Without the
intervention of the Holy See ; the rights of the bishops
remain always intact.

--The estates of the church will be administered accord-
ing to the canonical instructions ; a commission will be
appointed for the administration of vacant livings.
The right of collecting tithes is maintained wherever
it still exists' and his Majesty undertakes to procure an
endowment having legal force wherever it no longer
exists.
All other affairs, not included in this Concordat, will
bh regulated in accordance with the doctrines of the
church and the regulations approved by the Holy See.
The Concordat is declared to be national law in per-
petuity, and it abrogates all the laws and arrangements
that have hitherto regulated ecclesiastical affairs in the
state.

An association has been formed at Stnttgardt (VI";
temberg) for purchasing provisions by wholesale, sw"
selling them to the poor at coat price.

BM