stand a Church-Chest in the sacristy, wherein the overseers or Treasurers1 shall place the alms of their church, as follows: Memorials founded at the church, kalends, and what are called benefactorum, and all benefices shall, as they become vacant, be placed therein. The register and all that they shall receive, in whatever wise and from what source so ever, shall by the Honourable Council be handed over to the Treasurers. They shall have power over all church goods, as hitherto churchwardens have had, and shall bring them into their Common Chests. . . . To these chests shall also belong the Ember-penny. Wherefore the preachers shall from the pulpit diligently require the Ember-penny of the people, on the Sunday before the offering-day. . . . We doubt not too that the worshipful Guilds and Brotherhoods will bring into these Chests all that hitherto they have spent upon candles, memorials, vigils, and Masses for the dead in church. Item, absentee holders of benefices shall bring into these Chests all that formerly they gave in fees to the celebrant for reading Mass: and, further, whatever they provided in the way of wine and oblations for the Sacrifice shall also be placed therein. Item, whatever in any parish the council of the district may devote thereto and whatever else may be arranged with the parish priest, shall be for the good of this Chest.... For these ChurchChests four deacons or overseers shall be appointed by the Council and the members of the Commune who shall collect and demand all that is ordered, answer for everything, and give receipts for themselves and their successors. And for this purpose they shall have a ledger wherein all necessary things shall be entered and duly kept. These deacons or treasurers shall pay the stipends to the preachers of their churches every quarter, as also to the sacristans and the organists. They shall also provide and maintain a dwelling near the church for their preachers, and, where they are willing and able to do so, for their schoolmaster who is appointed in their church to sing with the children, in case he wishes to marry and to keep house. . . . They shall also keep the churches in repair and provide what is needful therein. These four persons shall have authority from the Commune in company with the Council to appoint a preacher, as is above set down, one of the four being a member of the Council.... These four treasurers shall reckon up year by year 1 lit. Cash-box keepers (Schatzkastenherren). with the Honourable Council and the Ten Men: and anything over from all the parishes shall be collected together in a particular place and in a special chest, as is provided in the case of the Poor-Chests.... XXXI PROGRESS OF REFORM IN SCANDINAVIA, 1527-8 I. Denmark.-Christian II, 1513-†59, was no sooner defeated in Sweden than he was driven from his own country, 13 April 1523. His throne was offered to the Duke of Schleswig-Holstein, his uncle, who was elected 14 April as Frederick I of Denmark, 1523-133. Concession was the price of his election. The King was personally favourable to the Lutheran opinions, such as were now being preached in the Duchies by Hermann Tast, 1490-t1551, at Husum, in Schleswig, since 1522; and in Jutland by Hans Tausen, 1494-1561, at Viborg from 1524. He was able to promote the preaching in his hereditary dominions by an edict of Aug. 1524, ensuring religious liberty (Münter, Kirchengeschichte von Dänemark, iii. 565 n.): but in Denmark he was obliged to defer to the Catholic magnates, who, spiritual and temporal, united, 28 June 1524, in a pronouncement against it (ibid. iii. 153). In 1526, however, he made Tausen his chaplain, and so exempted him from episcopal control. The bishops remonstrated: but the king contrived to break up their alliance with the nobles by supporting the latter in their attacks upon ecclesiastical property and in an [No. 100] ordinance (summary in Münter, iii. 207 sq.) based upon the Recess (ibid. Reformationsgeschichte von Dänemark, i. 556 sqq.), 20 August 1527, of the Diet of Odense, extended to reformers equality with others before the law. 1 II. Sweden. Here it was not so much the nobles as the Crown that coveted the goods of the Church. Gustavus judged that the time was ripe in 1527: and summoned a Diet which met at Westeräs, 24 June. By the threat of resignation he reduced it to subservience and by the Recess put forth in its name it was ordered by § 2 that the surplus revenues of bishops, chapters, and monasteries should be transferred to the Crown, which was also provisionally to take over the bishops' castles'; by § 3 that 'the nobility might redeem from the religious houses all the land devoted to pious uses since 1454, to which they could make good their claims' (R. N. Bain, Scandinavia, 111); and by § 4 'that God's Word might everywhere in the kingdom be purely preached' (Anjou, 'The Danish hierarchy consisted, since 1425, of the Archbishopric of Lund, with seven suffragans, Wiborg, Borglum, Roskilde, Odense, Ribe, Aarhus, and Schleswig. Holstein belonged to Lübeck, in the province of Bremen. Cf. Wiltsch, Geography and Statistics of the Church, ii. 287. History of the Reformation in Sweden, 213: cf. Weidling, Schwedische Geschichte im Zeitalter der Reformation, 207). The Diet then proceeded to adopt the regulations known as the [No. 101] Westeräs Ordinances (summarized in Watson, The Swedish Revolution, 258 sqq.; cf. Anjou, 216; Weidling, 208), the result of which was to place the Church at the mercy of the King. At his command, 5 Jan. 1528, three bishops were consecrated for Skara, Strengnäs, and Abö, by the Catholic Bishop of Westeräs, without indeed the confirmation of the Pope, but with the ancient rites. The monasteries were robbed of their property; and, sooner or later, died out (Anjou, 226 sqq.). On 2 Feb. 1529 [No. 102] a synod met at Örebro and carried changes a stage further by its programme of reforms, 7 Feb. (Baazius, Inventarium ecclesiae Sveo-Gothorum, 239 sqq.; cf. Anjou, 257 sqq., and Weidling, 241 sqq.) In 1529 there appeared a Manual, in 1530 a Hymn-book, and in 1531 the first Mass-book-all in Swedish: and, as from the hands of Olaus Petri, all Lutheran. His brother, Laurence, became Archbishop of Upsala, 1531. No. 100. In Denmark.-The Ordinance of the Diet of Odense, 1527. (1) Henceforth every man shall enjoy freedom of conscience. No one shall be at liberty to ask whether a man is Lutheran or Catholic. Every man shall answer for his own soul. (2) The King extends his protection to the Lutherans, who hitherto have not enjoyed such full security and safe-conduct as the Catholics. (3) The marriage of ecclesiastics, canons, monks, and other spiritual persons which for several centuries has been forbidden, is now allowed; and every one is free to choose whether he will marry or remain celibate. (4) In future, bishops shall no more fetch the pall from Rome: but after they have been duly elected by the chapters possessed of the right, they shall seek confirmation from the Crown. No. 101. In Sweden.--The Ordinances of (1) Vacancies in the parish churches are to be filled up by the bishop of the diocese. If, however, he appoints murderers, drunkards, or persons who cannot or will not preach the Word of God, the King may expel them and appoint other persons who are more fit. (2) Where a parish is poor, two of them may be joined together, though not if such a step would be an injury to the Word of God. (3) All bishops shall furnish the King with a schedule of their rents and income of every kind. From these schedules he shall determine the relative proportions for them to keep and to hand over to the Crown. (4) A similar course shall be pursued with regard to the cathedrals and chapters. (5) Auricular confession must be given up as already commanded, and an account must be rendered to the King of all fines imposed. (6) An account must also be rendered to the King of all fees received for remitting the ban, and bishops with their officers must not inflict the ban for petty offences, as has been often done hitherto. (7) Bishops shall have authority to determine as to the legality of marriages, and may grant divorces; but an account shall be rendered to the King of all fees therefor. (8) Fees for weddings, funerals, and churchings may be taken as provided in the Church Ordinances, but no more. (9) Since it has been decreed that the King, and not the bishop, is to receive all fines imposed in cases within ecclesiastical jurisdiction, the provosts may hereafter hold court just as the bishops have done hitherto, and shall render an account of their doings to the King. (10) For desecration of holy days, no penalty is to be imposed on those who have been tilling the ground, or fishing, or catching birds; but persons discovered hunting or quarrelling shall be fined. (11) Priests shall be subject to temporal laws, and temporal courts, in all disputes of their own or of their churches, concerning property, torts, or contracts, and shall pay to the King the same penalties as laymen. But all complaints against the clergy for non-fulfilment of their priestly duties shall be laid before the bishop. (12) If a priest and a layman come to blows, one shall not be placed under a ban any more than the other, for God has forbidden priests to quarrel as well as laymen. Both shall suffer for their acts according to the laws of the land. (13) Since it has been found that mendicant friars spread lies and deceit about the country, the royal stewards are to see that they do not remain away from their monasteries more than five weeks every summer and five weeks every winter. Every friar must get a license from the steward or burgomaster before he goes out, and return it when he comes back. (14) Monks who receive rents shall not go out to beg at all. (15) When a priest dies the bishop is not to defraud the priest's heirs of their inheritance. Priests shall be bound, in regard to their wills, by the same law as other people. (16) If a man has sexual intercourse with a woman to whom he is engaged he shall not be punished, since they are already married in the eye of God. (17) No person who is infirm shall be compelled by priests to make a will. (18) The sacrament shall not be withheld from any one for debt or other reason. The church or priest has a remedy in court. (19) Fines for adultery and fornication belong to the King, not to the bishop. (20) The Gospel shall hereafter be taught in every school. (21) Bishops shall consecrate no priest who is incompetent to preach the Word of God. (22) No one shall be made a prelate, canon, or prebendary unless he has been recommended by the King, or his name submitted to the King. No. 102. The reforms of the Synod of Örebro, 7 Feb. 1529. Nos infra scripti Laurentius Andreae Archidiaconus Upsalensis, praeses sedis Archiepiscopalis et Regius nuncius; Magnus Haraldi Scarensis, Magnus Sommar Strengnensis, Petrus Magni Arosiensis, Episcopi et ex omnibus dioecesibus Sveciae clerici1. . . qui sumus in concilio Orebrogensi congregati. I. Fatemur nostri esse officii praedicare purum Dei verbum, et summo studio anniti ut voluntas Dei in verbo eius revelato patefiat auditoribus nostris, per institutam diligenter in omnibus templis tam urbanis quam ruralibus praedicationem. Quare promittimus nos in posterum id serio facturos. Nos episcopi habebimus fidelem inspectionem, ut pastores ecclesiarum in singulis dioecesibus recte doceant verbum Dei, modo velint suo officio praeesse; et curabimus ut quotidie in templis cathedralibus habeatur lectio e S. Scriptura orthodoxe explicata, cui attendant non soli scholares, studiis ibidem invigilantes, . i. e. besides the three bishops, nineteen canons, eleven pastors, one preacher, five friars, and three monks. |