The Irish standard., 1891-08-29

named Ronge, who bad been deposed
from his curacy and suspended from
Office, came out with manifesto assert
ing that the veneration Of the holy coat
was al idolatrous practice. and calling
upon Catholics to come out of a church
that sanctioned such an act. Unfor-
tunate)y, this dishonest appeal and
Ronge's calumnles were not without
their Influence on number of weak
minds, and not few Catholics, as they
called themselves, broke with the
church and joined hands with the Pro-
testants, wnc, naturally, applauded
their action. Ronge found a sympa-
thetlc ally ia Posen apostate priest.
who, some time before, had revolted
and formed what he called a Christian
Apostolic Catholic congregation; and
these two worthless summoned others to
follow them. The first congregation Of
the sect was formed at Seine eidemuhl,
in Posan, and others sprang up in differ
ent places. until, in 1S45, the schismatics
claimed to have 800 churches. The
Posen apostate gets tho credit OF having
drawn up the articles of faith for the
sectarians, but, singularIy enough, he
omitted to put jn his creed any declara-
ton against the worship of saints and
relics, though it was on that point that
bis co laborer. Ronge, made issue with
Bishop Arnold and the veneraulon of
the holy coat. The schismatics held
conyenticIe at Leipsic in March, 1845,
and after adoptiog what was known as
the Breslau Confession, they declared
for the rational Interpretation of the
scriptures, pervaded and actuated bv
"the Chi istian idea"; for ada ptation Of
forms of worship to the requirements of
time and place; for the government Of
churches by presbyterial and synodal
action, and for the election of the CLERGY
to bene6ces by popular vote.
The patronage which the authorizes
extended to these German scb1smatics
enabled them to attain a greater prom
inence than they would otherwise have
won. AS in every case of eccles iastical
revolt, there were not lacking enemies
Of Cathohcity to applaud the move
ments, nor sore heads to join it. The
officials Of every town where the new
sect gained a foothold appear to have
been kindly disposed toward it, and
were inclined to aid it IN it's propaga
tion of error. But church built up in
that way seldom enjoys any lasting ex-
istence, and it was not long before this
latest heresy began to show signs Of
and decay. The Catholic
bishops with their faithful clergy, of
course, steadfastlY opposed it and e&-
posed the falsity Of the charges its pro-
moters alleged against the true church:
and it was not. long before the .Protes
tants who had supported it discovered
that reformed priests are not charac-
ters to give any movement credltable
reputation or becoming management.
The two apostles who started the new
departure could not agree among them
selves on matters of doctrine. Ronge
leaned too much toward nationalism to
please his ally, ana the latter was ac-
cnsed by his coadju.or of clinging too
closely to the orthodox Catholic belief.
A second conventicle was called at
Berlin in l847 in the hope Of putting
more life ia the movement, but the at
tempt proved a complete failure; public
interest in the heresY had waned great
y, and only a handful gathered. Seeing
that the game was up, Rorge went oyer
20 London to practice his arts on the
who are always taken in by
any movement that porCends to be
Catholic, but not Roman Catholic; the
Austrian authorities suppressed the few
n01ibund congregations that existed
n their distI lets, and another ''Old
Catholic" movement had gone the way
If its predecessors AMI successors, in.
,luding the Dolliuger departure of our
,wn days, Although the cathedral of
Creves is universally admitted 70 pos
'ess among it's treasures the seamless
garment worn by the Saviour, which
it. Helena brought from the East in
he fourth century. there is another
lolY coat in the church at Argenteui],
rear Paris, which is also an object of
,ious veneration. There is nothing in
consistent in this. The Redeemer un-
luestionably had more than one gar
nent, and we readily believe that we
arly Christians took every possible
,recaution to preserve all they could
belonging to him and to transmit those
precious relics to posterily. Though
lot 80 widely known as the holy coat Of
he Treves cathedral, whose authen-
icity has been vouched for by Popes.
he Argenteuil robe has been pro-
lounced genuine relic of the Redeem
r. the bishop of Versailles testifYing to
hat fact in 1904. The robe has fire.
Luently been exposed to the veneration
i the faithful, and through its instru-
mentality, as at Treves, many miracu-
ono hannonin0o havo foko, D1ooo Of