German Catholics - Leipzig Council

Leipzig Council

A council convened at Leipzig at Easter (March) 1845 to deliberate on the affairs of the body. Twenty-seven congregations were represented by delegates, of whom only two or at most three were in clerical orders. The council proceeded under the presidency of Professor Wigard to arrange a system of doctrine and practice which was to form the basis of union for the whole Church. The Bible was recognized as the sole standard of faith and its interpretation was left to reason, “penetrated and animated” by the Christian idea. Only two sacraments were admitted: baptism and the Lord's Supper. In matters of ritual, each congregation was left free to carry into practice its own views. Each congregation was to choose its own pastor and elders. Affairs of a general interest were entrusted to the management of a general council to meet every five years, but the decisions of this council were to be ratified by a majority of the congregations before they came valid. The authority of the Pope was not recognized.

The constitution of the new Church was thus democratic and Protestant, but in some respects the German Catholics went even further than the majority of Protestants in a liberal direction, inasmuch as they claimed for all complete religious liberty and declared their religion to be capable of development and modification with the progress of the human mind.

The confession of sins, indulgences, canonization and invocation of saints, use of the Latin language in divine service, prohibition of mixed marriages, the hierarchy of the clergy and the celibacy of the priests were abolished. Nothing was declared either for or against the subject of purgatory.

Czerski was at some of the sittings of the council of Leipzig, but when a formula somewhat similar to that of Breslau had been adopted, he refused his signature because the divinity of Christ had been ignored, and he and his congregation continued to retain by preference the name of "Christian Catholics", which they had originally assumed.