Tolerance patent

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Page 1 of the 1781 patent
Page 5 of the 1781 patent

Tolerance patents denote Emperor Joseph II's edicts of tolerance as part of his reforms ( see: Josephinism ), which enabled minorities previously discriminated against in the Austrian hereditary lands to practice their religion more freely. The primacy of the Catholic Church continued to exist.

The tolerance patents can be seen as the end of the Counter Reformation .

Tolerance patents of Joseph II.

Patent from 1781

The patent dated October 13, 1781 enabled the Protestant churches ( Lutherans and Reformed ) recognized by the Peace of Westphalia and the Orthodox in the Habsburg crown lands to practice their religion for the first time since the Counter-Reformation ( see: Evangelical Church HB in Austria for the Helvetic Confession and Evangelical Church AB for the Augsburg Confession). The Bohemian brothers continued to remain illegal. However, this practice of religion was still subject to conditions:

Legal restrictions

As an official act, the marriage had to remain in the hands of the state-affiliated Catholic Church .

The tolerance prayer houses

The patent enabled Protestant prayer houses to be built in the crown lands of the Habsburg Monarchy from 1781, which were later referred to as tolerance prayer houses or tolerance churches . These Protestant prayer houses were subject to discriminatory structural restrictions , similar to the articulated churches in the northern part of Hungary, which had been approved 100 years earlier . They were not allowed to bear the name “church”, outwardly not look like churches , but like town houses. For example, round windows were not permitted. They also had to be at least 50 m from a main road and have an entrance facing away from the main road. In particular, they were not allowed to own a tower. In addition, a house of prayer was only allowed to be built if at least 100 families or 500 individuals in a certain area professed the Protestant faith.

The patent was announced on October 13 and 27, 1781 for the German and Bohemian provinces, on October 25, 1781 or December 21, 1781 for Hungary, on November 10, 1781 for Galicia, on November 12, 1781 for the Belgian provinces, on May 30, 1782 for Lombardy. It was proclaimed in Tyrol between November 6th and December 9th, 1781.

As a result, it became clear that in some areas of Austria, thanks to secret Protestantism, the traditions could be preserved for around a century and a half. In Gosau in the Salzkammergut , for example, almost the entire population claimed to be "acatholic", as the Protestants were called derogatory - also officially.

Patent from 1782

Monument to Emperor Joseph II with the tolerance patent in his right hand (Villacher Kaiser-Joseph-Platz)

In the patent dated January 2, 1782, Jews were also given greater freedom to practice their religion.

Patent from 1785

Freemasonry was legalized by the patent dated December 11, 1785, but at the same time the number of approved lodges was limited, which led to two collective locations in Vienna.

By the criminal patent of January 2nd, 1795 of Francis II , Freemasonry, like other "secret societies", was suppressed again.

Difficulty in converting

From 1787, the transition from the Catholic to the Protestant church was made more difficult again by the fact that one had to undergo a six-week religious lesson. The background to this measure was, on the one hand, that in some areas of Austria - north-east of Wels in Upper Austria, Inneres Salzkammergut , around Schladming in Styria and Upper Carinthia - more than half of the population professed the Protestant faith, which is particularly true of the regional ones Catholic church authorities aroused concern. On the other hand, some Protestants took advantage of the widespread ignorance of some Catholics in questions of faith in order to reach the number of people required for a house of prayer as quickly as possible.

Further development

As a result of the political upheavals of 1848/49 , numerous restrictions on Protestants were lifted. The derogatory and officially used term "acatholic" was replaced by "Evangelicals of the Augsburg or Helvetic denominations". The structural restrictions for church buildings have been lifted. As early as May 23, 1849, the foundation stone was laid in Wels for the first Protestant church in Austria with a tower. Almost all of the prayer houses were renovated to match the external appearance of a church.

It was not until 1861 that the Protestants received extensive freedom to practice their religion in the Protestant patent, and the state withdrew to supervisory duties.

The Protestant Law of 1961 finally regulated the relationship between the Protestant churches and the state in the sense of full internal freedom of the churches.

Tolerance communities

definition

The parishes that were legally able to form on the basis of the tolerance patent among the previously secret Protestants were referred to as tolerance parishes.

A house of prayer was allowed to be built in areas where at least 100 Protestant families lived (within an hour's walk from a place). However, this was not allowed to be recognizable as a church from the outside and had no public access from the street and no bells. Schools were also allowed to be built. Pastors and teachers could also be called. And what was important for the individual evangelical: He could become a master, receive civil rights and study.

The tolerance communities in today's Austria

Between 1781 and 1795, 48 tolerance communities arose within the borders of today's Austria:

The number of tolerance prayer houses must be distinguished from the 48 tolerance communities in Austria today. Since many tolerance congregations also included daughter churches and preaching stations, the number of tolerance prayer houses was considerably higher. Over 1,100 parishes emerged throughout the Austrian monarchy, most of them beyond the Leitha in the Hungarian part (Transleitania).

After 1795, Protestant congregations were still approved, but much more restrictively than in previous years. This change of course took place after the death of Josef II and Leopold II by the last Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, Franz II, who was crowned in 1792. Some examples of foundations between 1795 and 1861 are: Graz (1821), Gröbming (1812), Attersee am Attersee (1812), Hallstatt (1785 tolerance prayer house as a branch of Goisern, community survey 1836) and Linz (1844). A significant increase in the founding of Protestant parishes only happened after the Protestant patent of 1861 came into force, as this law lifted a number of restrictions.

As of October 1782, 73,722 Evangelicals were already registered in Cisleithanien, and by the end of 1785 the number known to the Court Chamber had increased to 107,454 Evangelical Christians.

Statistics on the tolerance communities in Austria

This article or the following section is not adequately provided with supporting documents ( e.g. individual evidence ). Information without sufficient evidence could be removed soon. Please help Wikipedia by researching the information and including good evidence.
Tolerance prayer house in Fresach (today Diocesan Museum)
Tolerance prayer house in Sankt Johann am Tauern (today religious church)

Between 70,000 and 80,000 people registered in what is now Austria and known to be Protestant. The Upper Austrian Salzkammergut was the center for the tolerance communities possible under this imperial patent . In detail, the formation of Protestant communities, so-called tolerance communities, from secret Protestant groups can be quantified immediately after the tolerance patent in Austria as follows (outside of Vienna, Graz and omitting Burgenland; the number of persons estimated at around 1800, unless otherwise stated):

Upper Austria - 1786: 7644 people:

Lower Austria :

Styria :

Carinthia :

Other municipalities:

Belief Church (Sankt Johann am Tauern)

Preserved tolerance prayer houses

Reconstructed tolerance prayer house in the Wallachian Open Air Museum (Czech Republic)
Reconstructed tolerance prayer house in the Wallachian Open Air Museum from the inside

With the increasing freedoms, some of the above-mentioned houses, depending on their use, have been more or less adapted to the outside of the churches over the past two hundred years and are sometimes, as in Vienna and Graz, no longer recognizable as tolerance prayer houses. The Watschiger tolerance prayer house has remained very original and is still used in this form .

Well-known pastors of the tolerance communities

See also

literature

  • Günter Stemberger (Ed.): 2000 years of Christianity. Illustrated church history in color. Herrsching: Pawlak, 1983, especially chapter Theology, Enlightenment and Idealism , p. 539 ff. ISBN 3-88199-122-0
  • Karl R. Popper : On the subject of freedom. In: Ders .: All life is problem solving. About knowledge, history and politics. Munich: Piper, 8th ed., 2004, pp. 155-172. ISBN 3-492-22300-1
  • Louise Hecht: Tolerance Patents. In: Dan Diner (Ed.): Encyclopedia of Jewish History and Culture (EJGK). Volume 6: Ta-Z. Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2015, ISBN 978-3-476-02506-7 , pp. 137-141.

Web links

Wikisource: The tolerance patent of Emperor Joseph II.  - Sources and full texts
Commons : Tolerance Prayer Houses  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Johann Thomas Edler von Trattner : Collection of the imperial princely ordinance in Publico-Ecclesiasticis . Kaiserl. Royal Court printers and booksellers, Vienna 1782 ( online version - Patent No. 133 of October 13, 1781).
  2. ↑ "A Rhenish Legal Scholar": For the religious unity of Tyrol: An open German word to the Tyrolean people , Verein-Buchdruckerei, 1861, pp. V, 30, 88, 89, 92 ( online version )
  3. ^ Wilhelm Engelander: Catholicism and Protestantism in Austria , 1846, p. 88 ( online version )
  4. ↑ Karl Kuzmány (Ed.): Document book on the Austrian Protestant church law and practical theology of the Protestant church augsb. and helvet. Confession. First volume: textbook of canon law. Second section: Document book , Wilhelm Braumüller, Vienna 1856, p. 140 ( online version )
  5. ↑ Albert Jäger: Emperor Joseph the Second and Leopold the Second: Reform and Counter-Reform 1780-1792 , Prandel & Ewald, 1867, p. 99 ( online version )
  6. ↑ No. 209, patent dated January 2nd, 1795, "The crime of high treason commits the one ..." , in: His Majesty the Emperor Franz Laws and Constitutions in the Justitz-Fache for the German states of the Austrian monarchy , imperial-royal state printing, Vienna 1817, p. 177
  7. ↑ a b c d e Peter F. Barton: Evangelical in Austria . 1st edition. Böhlau, Vienna Cologne Graz 1987, ISBN 3-205-05096-7 , p. 129 .
  8. ^ Leopold Temmel : Evangelical in Upper Austria. Career and existence of the Evangelical Church . 1st edition. Oberösterreichischer Landesverlag , Linz 1982, ISBN 3-85214-334-9 , p. 79 .
  9. ^ A b c Peter F. Barton: Evangelical in Austria . 1st edition. Böhlau, Vienna Cologne Graz 1987, ISBN 3-205-05096-7 , p. 130, 143, 203 .
  10. ^ Leopold Temmel : Evangelical in Upper Austria. Career and existence of the Evangelical Church . 1st edition. Oberösterreichischer Landesverlag , Linz 1982, ISBN 3-85214-334-9 , p. 162, 174 .
  11. ^ Johannes Mathesius Society
  12. ^ "Mitterbach" - The only tolerance community in Lower Austria on ORF from August 24, 2003
  13. ↑ History of the Evangelical Parish of Pinkafeld  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.pinkafeld-evang.at