Concordat of 1855

The Concordat of 1855 was a Concordat or agreement between the Holy See and the Austrian Empire as regards the Catholic Church in Austria.

The Austrian Bishops' Conference was established in 1849 and agreed to a Concordat which would grant them greater scope in a variety of areas. They were granted full control over their own affairs, including making appointments.[1]:123 The Catholic church was also placed in charge of 98% of public primary schools, i.e. those nominally Catholic and controlled the curriculum.[1] The Catholic ecclesiastical courts were given jurisdiction over marriages where either or both the couple were Catholic.[1]

International repercussions and abolishment

The Concordat had an impact across Germany stimulating anti-clericism amongst liberal opinion. During the Austro-Prussian War the Austrian soldiers were called "Concordat soldiers". The Austrian defeat in this war forced the Emperor Franz Josef to grant concessions to German liberals in Cisleithania.[1]:124 Following the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867, the liberals, in the Josephinist tradition, largely influenced the Cisleithanian constitution of 1867. Article 17 of the constitution designated that "The state shall have the right to superior direction and superintendence over the entire system of education and instruction."[2] The abolishment of the Concordat was formalised in 1870.[3]:13 Originally there were plans to extend the Concordat to Hungary (the largest part of Transleithania), but these never materialised.[4]

References
  1. Evans, Ellen Lovell (1999). The Cross and the Ballot: Catholic Political Parties in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium and the Netherlands, 1785-1985. Boston: Humanities Press International Inc.
  2. Fundamental Law Concerning the General Rights of Citizens (PDF)
  3. Aleksov, Bojan (2015). Habsburg Confessionalism and Confessional Policies in Bosnia Herzegovina. New York: Peter Lang Publishing.
  4. Schanda, Balazs (2006). "Religion and Law in Dialogue: Covenental and Non-Covenental Cooperation of State and Religions in Hungary". Religion and Law in Dialogue: Convenantal and Non-convenantal Cooperation Between State and Religion in Europe. Leuven: Peeters Publishers: 79.
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