Organic articles

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As organic products ( French Articles organiques ) referred to by Napoleon enacted regulations on religious practice in France . They were a supplement to the Concordat negotiated with the Vatican on July 15, 1801 . The organic articles gave the Concordat the legal basis. The Concordat only concerned the relations between the French government and the Pope ; the organic articles also regulated the conduct of religious practice throughout France.

history

The organic articles were drawn up and approved by the Council of State on April 3, 1802 , and made into law by the legislative bodies on April 8, 1802 without change . The concordat was ratified on September 10, 1801. It was not until seven months later that Napoleon himself, as the first consul, read the treaty in the Council of State. The vote in the tribunate on April 7, 1802 resulted in 78 against 7 and in the legislative body on April 8, 228 against 21 votes for the adoption of the bill.

In the sessions of the two assemblies, particularly in the Tribunate, there was a rather lively opposition . The laws presented were received unfavorably, and in some cases even rejected. Before the final vote, the tribunes and the legislature were reappointed, removing members who opposed the government's proposed legislation .

The Concordat was then published as a law on April 8, 1802 (18th Germinal X), simultaneously with the Organic Articles. The solemn promulgation took place on April 18th, Easter Sunday in 1802. During the ceremony in the Paris Cathedral of Notre-Dame , five archbishops and 19 bishops swore allegiance to the First Consul .

Even in the areas on the left bank of the Rhine annexed by Napoleon as part of the French national territory on March 9, 1801 after the Treaty of Lunéville , the organic articles were declared binding law for the newly acquired departments on the Rhine on May 4, 1802 (14th Floreal X) .

The “ Law on the Separation of Church and State ” of December 9, 1905 repealed the organic articles in France and introduced strict secularism . While the scope of the law of 1905 was extended to the overseas territories of Guadeloupe , Martinique and Réunion by a decree of February 6, 1911 , in the departments of Haut-Rhin , Bas-Rhin and Moselle , the 1905 became the then German state of Alsace-Lorraine belonged, the Concordat of 1801 and the Organic Articles of 1802. In the department of French Guiana and the French overseas territories with special status there are z. T. special regulations.

In Belgium and Luxembourg as well as in the German federal states on the left bank of the Rhine and western Swiss cantons, which were part of the French national territory during the Napoleonic period, certain financial regulations of the organic articles continue to have legal force. In 1997 they were formally largely replaced in Luxembourg by corresponding regulations in state church treaties. In the canton of Geneva , the organic articles were repealed by a referendum in 1907, and in fact replaced in the Netherlands in 1981.

content

The organic articles comprised a total of 77 articles. They fall back on the Gallican articles (1682), which prescribe teaching in theological institutions, revive the principles of the French state church in the spirit of Gallicanism and, albeit weakened, the ecclesiastical practice of the revolutionary era . The Organic Articles establish the state place for the proclamation of papal edicts in France, forbid the sending of papal envoys other than the certified nuncio, and declare only the government-approved catechism to be admissible. In addition to the Catholic Church, Napoleon only recognized the Reformed, Calvinist Church and the churches of the Augsburg confession , the Lutheran Church.

The Articles for the Catholic Church ( Articles organiques de l'Église catholique ) regulated the Church's relations with civil administration, the hierarchy and doctrine (discipline) of the Catholic clergy , the way in which worship should be held , the new division of the Church districts and parishes and the salaries of the clergy.

The organic articles for the Protestant churches ( Articles organiques des cultes protestants ) were divided into three titles. The first, which contained the general provisions ( Dispositions générales pour toutes les communions protestantes ), said that one had to be French to practice the religion and that pastors were paid by the state. The Protestant churches were not allowed to have relations with foreign powers. The second title dealt with the pastors, consistories and synods of the Reformed Church ( Des Églises réformées ) and the third title concerned the regulations in the Lutheran denomination ( De l'organization des Églises de la confession d'Augsbourg ).

Effects

Four recognized religions ("cultes reconnus")

With the Concordat and the entry into force of the organic articles, the anti-clerical politics of the revolutionary era came to an end. The organic articles issued by Napoleon without the knowledge of the Pope led to a protest by the cardinals because, as they believed, they were incompatible with the principles of the Catholic Church. Pope Pius VII did not feel bound by the articles and an exchange of notes took place between the Vatican and the French government up to the time of the Empire . But even in France itself, the laws gave rise to resistance. Many old Republicans and many officers of the Revolutionary Army were dissatisfied with the restoration of the old religion.

The number of archbishoprics in France, including the annexed areas, was set at 10 and that of bishoprics at 50. The payment of the bishops was also regulated: an archbishop received 15,000 francs and a bishop 10,000 francs annually from the French state. From the previous numerous church holidays only four were retained: Christmas, Easter, Ascension Day and All Saints' Day.

The Reformed and Lutheran consistorial churches were grouped into 6,000 parishioners each. They were led by local consistories, with five consistorial churches each forming a synod .

As early as 1808, with the formation of the Consistoire central israélite, Judaism was officially recognized as a religion alongside the Catholic, Reformed and Lutheran churches. By ordinance of May 25, 1844, the regulations of the organic articles were put into effect analogously. The four denominations were now equal and recognized by the state. Even today one speaks of the four “cultes reconnus” in France.

Foundation of Protestant parishes on the left bank of the Rhine

In the areas with previously Catholic territorial rule (e.g. Archdiocese of Mainz , Archdiocese of Cologne , Archdiocese of Trier ), it was possible for the first time in the French period after 1802 to found legal Protestant parishes and to use their own church buildings due to the organic articles. For example, on the basis of the organic articles, the following secularized monastery churches were assigned by the French prefects to newly founded evangelical parishes:

In the legal succession of the French state, further secularized churches came into the property of the Prussian state through the Congress of Vienna and were replaced by King Friedrich Wilhelm III. and King Friedrich Wilhelm IV. made available to newly founded evangelical parishes:

These four churches are until now wholly or partially owned by the federal states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate .

State services of states and states on the left bank of the Rhine

Even today, some of the state payments ( endowments ) made to the churches in the German federal states of Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland and North Rhine-Westphalia on the left bank of the Rhine, those in Belgium as well as in France in Alsace and in the Lorraine department of Moselle for the salaries of pastors are based on compensation for parish assets then confiscated in favor of the treasury or on the organic articles and an imperial decree of Napoleon dated 13th Fructidor XIII (31st August 1805) executing them . The two only state theological faculties in France at the University of Strasbourg and their funding are also guaranteed by the Organic Articles.

In the Netherlands, the state benefits based on the organic articles were largely replaced in 1981 by a one-off payment of 250 million guilders. In Luxembourg, Article 106 of the constitution, which guarantees state funding for the clergy, is to be deleted as part of the pending constitutional reform as agreed by the majority parties and replaced by agreements with the religious communities.

The situation is different in the Swiss cantons that were wholly or partially part of the French Republic or of the subsidiary republics. Churches and parishes are often partially financed by the community ( Basel-Landschaft , Bern , Jura , Neuchâtel , Vaud , Valais ). In the canton of Geneva there has been a strict separation of church and state since 1907, but here too certain municipal building loads that arose before January 1, 1909 continue.

literature

  • Friedrich Bluhme : Codex of the Rhenish Evangelical Church Law . Elberfeld 1870 (text edition).
  • Brigitte Duda: The organization of the Protestant churches on the left bank of the Rhine according to the organic articles of 1802 (series of publications by the Association for Rhenish Church History, Vol. 40). Düsseldorf 1971
  • Friedrich Max Kircheisen : Napoleon I. - His life and time . (Volume 5) Georg Müller, Munich 1925.
  • Joseph Marie Comte Portalis : Concordat between the French Government and Pope Pius VII. Organic Articles of Catholic and Protestant Worship. In addition to a speech by the State Councilor Portalis . Strasbourg n.d. [1802].

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See Art. 45 of the Constitution for Rhineland-Palatinate . May 18, 1947.
  2. ↑ See Art. 39 of the Saarland Constitution (SVerf). From December 15, 1947, last amended by the law of May 15, 2013 (Official Journal I, p. 178) .
  3. ↑ Cf. Art. 21 of the constitution for the state of North Rhine-Westphalia . 28 June 1950.
  4. ↑ Cf. Art. 181 § 1 of the Belgian Constitution of February 7, 1831.
  5. ↑ The departments of Moselle, Bas-Rhin and Haut-Rhin were granted local law to continue to apply in the 1919 Repatriation Act.
  6. ↑ See Additional Article IV. (Originally Article 194), repealed in 1995, to the Constitution of the Kingdom of the Netherlands of August 24, 1815 in the version of the new publication of February 17, 1983.
  7. ↑ Cf. Art. 106 of the Constitution of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg of July 9, 1848 in the version published on October 17, 1868.
  8. ↑ See § 131 and § 140 of the Constitution of the Canton of Basel-Landschaft of May 17, 1984.
  9. ↑ Cf. Art. 123 of the Constitution of the Canton of Bern of June 6, 1993.
  10. ↑ Cf. Art. 134 of the Constitution of the Republic and the Canton of Jura of March 20, 1977.
  11. ↑ See Art. 98 of the Constitution of the Republic and Canton of Neuchâtel of September 24, 2000.
  12. ↑ See Art. 170 of the Constitution of the Canton of Vaud of April 14, 2003.
  13. ↑ See Art. 2 Para. 4 of the Constitution of the Canton of Valais of March 8, 1907.
  14. ↑ See Article 164 of the Constitution of the Republic and the Canton of Geneva of May 24, 1847 in the amended version of December 29, 1958.
  15. ↑ Cf. Art. 167f, ibid.

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