Ebook The Catholic World. Volume II

The Catholic Congresses in Belgium are of more recent date than the general conventions of all Catholic societies in Germany. The political commotions of 1848 burst the chains which had fettered the German Church, and ushered in a period of renewed religious life and activity. This new and glorious era was inaugurated by the council of twenty-six German bishops at Würzburg, which lasted from Oct 22 to Nov. 16, 1848. There it was that our prelates boldly seized the serpent of German revolution, and in their hands the serpent was turned into a budding rod, the stay alike of Church and state.