Piusverein

The Pius Associations for religious freedom were the first organized forms of political Catholicism during the revolution of 1848/ 49 in Germany. Not to be confused with the Pius Associations, which was founded in Austria in 1905 Pius club in Austria and also not founded in Switzerland in 1857 with the Pius Association, a forerunner of the Swiss Catholic People's Association.

Prehistory

The politicization within the Catholic population began in the pre-March period. Here, the mixed marriage dispute between the Church and the Prussian state and the resulting expressions of displeasure of the Catholic population presented represents an important step during the Cologne turmoil in the 1830s

The memory of these events led in 1848 to the demand for ecclesiastical freedom from the state, while the Catholic activists wanted to preserve the Church's influence in society at the same time. The March achievements also opened confessional associations unrestricted freedom of action. These were the conditions for the emergence of a Catholic mass movement with strong especially extra-parliamentary action. Numerous petitions were directed to advertise from the state to the Frankfurt National Assembly to in connection with the basic legal advice for anchoring ecclesiastical rights and independence.

Organization

In many places emerged Catholic clubs, of which Pius Associations acquired the greatest importance. Named after Pope Pius IX they were. , Who was at the beginning of his term (1846 ) as a supporter of liberal ideas, but later in the wake of the revolution bitter opponent of liberalism and modern society was total. The first association of this kind was constituted in Mainz. On March 23, 1848, the Mainz canon Adam Franz Lennig called the " Pius Association for Religious Freedom " to life. Other companies were established in the Rhineland, Westphalia, in Nassau, Silesia, Bavaria, Württemberg, and especially in Baden. There was at home with Franz Joseph Buß the main propagandist of the movement. A certain parliamentary feedback was the " Catholic club", a loose alliance of Catholic intergroup deputy. End of October 1848, there were, according to Siemann alone in Baden 400 local clubs with about 100,000 members. These numbers are based on older research however, questioned by recent research in question. So Hippel estimates in his work on the revolution in the southwest of Germany, the impact force of the Pius Associations considerably lower one. After that there were only about 230 clubs in over 800 Baden parishes, which are also often been a " one-man operation" of the local priest and had very often consisted of only a very short time. Overall, it would have then placed in Baden only 50,000 members in the Pius Associations, which still have complied with 15 % of the adult Catholic men. Above all, the assertiveness of Catholic associations in the highly radicalized region was relatively low, partly because the Church had cherished even reservations about the poorly controllable grassroots organization. How the Democrats and the Liberals also aspired to the Catholics a pan-German federation. This formed the " General Assembly" in early October 1848 in Mainz. This meeting was the origin of the existing up to the present day Catholics.

Political orientation and objectives

The political orientation of the organization was not unique. However, part of the clubs was the March movement suggests the vast majority was characterized Catholic- conservative. For this wing also Buss, who was in Frankfurt, the right-wing faction Café Milani belonged. Overall, they were opponents of the democratic movement that aimed to limit the Church's influence on society as by a state education system. The first General Assembly of the Catholics decided on 6 October 1848 so-called " custody of the German National Assembly. " Main criticisms were the guarantee of the State School and the prohibition of the Jesuit order by the Parliament. With their protest, the Assembly had success, the Jesuits ban was removed from the fundamental rights and confirmed the Church's right of supervision over the religious instruction.