State and Church--Ignaz von Döllinger--Ludwig's Letters to his
old Tutor
One Christmas night in the seventies, Ludwig II. was present with
the Queen-mother and the royal Princes at the midnight Mass in the
court church at Munich. In the midst of the service he laid his
prayer-book aside. He threw himself on his knees, hid his face,
and sobbed aloud. His mother regarded him anxiously, and called her
brother-in-law, Prince Luitpold, who was sitting in the box next
to them. The King rose to his feet and hid his head on her breast;
and she and his uncle conducted him to his rooms.
A few days previously an execution had taken place, which had made
a deep impression on him. A Neapolitan youth, twenty years of age,
who had committed a murder in his country, had been condemned to
death. The unhappy parents had sent a heartrending appeal to the
young King, who had wished to reprieve him; but his Ministers had
opposed his intention.
In his later years, Ludwig seldom attended divine service in Munich;
but during his residences at Berg, he went regularly to a little
church which had been built in the park there. At the castle of
Neuschwanstein there was an altar and a prie-dieu in his sleeping
apartment. He was in the habit of hearing Mass in the neighbouring
chapel; and no person was refused admittance because the King was
praying in it. When he visited the small village churches in the
highlands, he would often kneel unknown amid those at prayer. At
Ober-Ammergau he was so affected by the passion plays, that he caused
a magnificent marble group of the Crucifixion to be erected in that
town. Once when driving he met a priest carrying the sacrament; he
alighted, knelt upon the highroad and prayed. He was God-fearing,
but very tolerant; and he hated confessional dissensions.
In affairs of state he preserved a quiet and certain view, not
the less so where ecclesiastical matters were concerned; but the
relations between the Papal power and his Government were anything but
peaceful. Ludwig had a modern conception of the Church's relation to
the State; he desired that the schools should be freed from the yoke
of the Church. The reforms of the Government in this domain became
the source of violent skirmishes.
The Catholic Church party, which adorned itself with the often misused
name of "National," worked up a strong feeling against him and his
Ministers. In reality, this party was less national than the other;
for the Catholic Church is international in its principle and in
its entire organisation, the threads being collected in Rome from
the Catholic communities in all parts of the world! Nor was there
unity among the Catholic clergy themselves. One of the heads of the
Church in Bavaria at that time was Ignaz von Döllinger. He had been
Ludwig's teacher, and one of the few whom Ludwig in his youth had
really cared about. The Dean was among the most learned theologians of
the last century. He had in 1863 published a book, "Pabstfabeln des
Mittelalters," which had brought him into bad odour with the Romish
curia. In spite of threats from Rome he quietly continued the way
which his truth-loving spirit and his scientific researches pointed
out to him. In 1864 Pius IX. had issued the so-called "Syllabus,"
in which he vindicated and defined the mediæval conception of the
Church's supremacy over the State. The Pope meant by his action to
prepare for the dogma of his Infallibility. Döllinger made this the
object of scathing criticism. His writings did not indeed influence
the unenlightened masses, who received the Holy Father's message
with blind obedience, but within scientific circles in the Catholic
world the Dean's utterances made a deep impression. Munich became
the centre of the opposition, and Döllinger, as a matter of course,
became its leader.
The suppressed embitterment of which he had long been the object at
Rome was now transformed into open and violent persecution. During
these struggles King Ludwig held his protecting hand over his old
teacher, [29] and sent him the following letter:--
"My dear Dean von Döllinger,
"I intended to have called upon you to-day, but, unfortunately
I am hindered by indisposition from carrying out my purpose,
and expressing my very heartiest wishes for your happiness and
blessing on the occasion of your birthday.
"I therefore send you my congratulations in this manner.
"I hope that God may grant you still many years of unimpaired
intellect and health, so that you may lead to a victorious end the
struggle which you began for the honour of religion and science,
for the welfare of the Church and the State.
"Do not weary in this so serious and important combat! May you
ever be upheld by the consciousness that millions look up to
you with confidence as the champion and pillar of truth, and
who abandon themselves to the certain hope that you and your
undaunted fellow-fighters will put the Jesuitical intrigues to
shame and shed the light of victory over human malice and darkness.
"May God grant it, and I pray it of Him with my whole soul!
"Renewing my most sincere and affectionate wishes for your
happiness and welfare, I send you, my dear Dean von Döllinger,
my kindest regards, and remain, with good-will and unshakable
confidence, always
"Your greatly attached King,
"Ludwig.
"February 28th, 1870."
On the 18th of July the same year Pius IX. announced his dogma
of Infallibility. A few weeks afterwards the thunderbolt of
excommunication struck Ignaz von Döllinger. It is greatly to King
Ludwig's honour that he still continued to support him. On the 28th
of February, 1871, he sent him a letter in which, among other things,
he says:
"My dear Dean and Councillor of State,
Dr von Döllinger,
"I cannot let your birthday to-day go by without sending you my
best and most affectionate congratulations--giving you a sign of
my particular vigilance. My country and myself are proud of being
able to call you ours. And I am glad to dare believe that you,
as the ornament of science, and in your tried attachment to the
Throne, may yet for long, as hitherto, continue your activity
for the good of the State and Church.
"I need hardly emphasise how heartily glad I am at your firm
attitude in the Infallibility question. Very painful is it to me,
on the other hand, that Abbé Haneberg has submitted in spite of
his convictions. I daresay he has done it out of 'humility,'
In my opinion, it is a very perverted humility when a person
officially gives way and bears outwardly a different opinion from
that he has in his heart.
"I rejoice that I have not been disappointed in you. I have
always said that you are my Bossuet; he, on the other hand, is
my Fénélon.... I am proud of you, true rock of the Church! With
assurances, my dear Mr Dean, of my continued good-will, I remain,
with my kindest regards,
"Your greatly attached King,
"Ludwig."
The King later was in the habit of asking Döllinger for information
regarding religious works, and several times sent messengers to him
to require his explanation of certain passages.
Johannes von Lutz, the son of a village schoolmaster, but early well
known as a prominent lawyer, had become Prince Hohenlohe's successor as
Premier. He also was persecuted by the Catholic Church party. Ludwig
ennobled him, creating him a baron, and always protected him. When
the majority of the Parliament opposed the Government in 1883, he
sent him the following characteristic autograph letter:--
"My dear Minister von Lutz,
"I have with regret followed the obstructions which have been
placed, during the last few months, in the way of my Ministers,
whose labours, as I know, are only dictated by their solicitude
for the welfare of their country. I feel myself called upon to
express to you that it is my firm expectation that you and your
colleagues, who have been summoned by me to be the counsellors
of the Crown, will hold out firmly in the future, and with all
your strength champion my rights.
"With particular regard to the Church's relation to the State,
I have ever, and with the most affectionate conviction, yielded
the Church my protection, and I shall never cease to protect
the religious necessities of my people, which I consider as the
foundation of order.
"But I am equally decided that my Government now and in the future
must resist all attempts to undermine the undoubted rights of
the State, which will bring State and Church into a fatal position.
"While giving repeated expression herewith of this my will,
I assure you and your colleagues of my warm recognition of your
faithful resistance under difficult circumstances."