Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-12-06
VATICAN REFUSES ASSENT
Resists All Pressure Which Fried
rich August Can Bring.
EUR0PE's OLDEST ROYALTY
Reigning Family of Saxony Dates
Back to 1OS9-How It Came
to Be. Catholic.
BY WILLIAM F.. CURTIS.


Written for The Star and the Chicago Record
Herald
The King of Saxony is in funny fix.
His wife ran away from him and has
since married an opera singer. with
whom she is now living in London. and
vet the Pope will not give him divorce.
The supreme court of Saxony has DIS
solved the marriage, and the guilty wire
has been stripped of all her titles and
estates by legal proceedings, but the Pope
is memorable. and in the eyes OF the
Roman Catholic Church. of which Fried
rich August Us a member. and OF his SUBJ
jects who belong to that faith, he is a
married man. In the eyes of his Protest
ant subjects however. he is single. All
of the courts of Europe have recognized
the divorce. although the king would
have difficulty in arranging another mar
riage.
Every now and then a rumor is started
that the King of SaxOny is about to re-
nounce his religion and accept the faith
of majority of his subjects. Last sum-
mer such reports were more persistent
than ever. and there was no official con-
tradiction. as usual. This silence Is con-
strued both ways, according to the preju-
dices of the people, but those who have
an opportunity to know declare that the
king is tired of reiterating. his den1als
and will pay no more attention to such
reports.
Catholic officials Dismissed.
One of the reasons for a revival of the
story is the fact that his majesty dis
missed several Catholic officials last
spring and appointed Lutherans in their
places Another reason rs the publication
of a book entitled "Wir Katholiken und
die Anderen' GIVE Catholics and 9th
ers'). by Mgr. di Matthies. one of the pa
pal chamberlains at Rome. in which King
Friedrich August is spoken of in most
contemptuous manner. The Herder Pub.
fishing Company of Freiburg, a. well
known firm. which has printed many
Catholic books, apologized to the king In
q letter which has been printed In all the
Catholic newspapers of Germany, and ex-
pressed it's regret that the insulting para
graphs had been overlooked. but Mgr.
di Matthies and the papal officials at the
Vatican are silent.
1t is curious anomaly that the strong
est Protestant country In the world. ,often
called the cradle of the reformation.
whose population is IS per cent Protes-
be governed by a Roman Catholic king.
This, however, is due to an historical
episode.
Tho royal family of Saxony is perhaps
Count Heinrich Won Eilenburg. a valiant
knight, who. in 1889, was elected Mar
grave of Meissen-the town where the
porcelain known as Dresden china Is
manufactured. Dresden was fishing
village then, but one OF his successors
liked the location so well that he built
a castle there in 1916 and each genera
tion made 1t their home
In 1894 Friedrich August 1 came to the
throne. He was known as August der
Starke (the Strong. He could break a
horseshoe with his hand, and once held
q trumpeter by the belt with one hand
out of the palace window while that
gentleman sounded an alarm to the
of genius, gifted by nature with remark
able taste and talent, and by education
with unusual culture for even princes of
that period He is the founder of nearly
all the great things for which Dresden
10 famous He was the most ambitious
and liberal of all the Saxon kings as q
patron of art. music and education, and
the thirty-nine years Of his reign were
the golden age of Dresden.
Made Commander-in-Chief
In 1895. when the Hungarians appealed
ior help from Europe to repel an inva-
sion OF the Turks, August the Strong led
- army into the field and was chosen
oommander-in-chief Of the allied forces.
the crown of Poland and on the 18th of
June. 1857. was crowned at Krakow. but
to accept il, under the constitution of
Poland. he was required to enter the
communion of the Holy Catholic Church.
His Saxon subjects were loud and long
in their lamentations and remonstrances,
but he Gained them by declaring that he
would most strongly maintain and man.
age my subjects in the Augsburg confess
sion. and assure them entire freedom of
conscience and faith"
The queen. Christiane. A daughter OF
the Margrave of Brandenburc, remained
true TO Professionalism. but her children
were brought up in the Catholic faith,
aud from that time until now the kings
OF Sa xony have adhered to it.
Friedrich August III, King of SaXony,
married to Marie Louise Antoinette,
Princess of Tuscany, archducbess of the
imperial house of Austria and sister of
the Austrian archduke, Leopold Ferdi-
nand. November 81. 1891, and the mar
riace was dissolved by the supreme court