Limitations of Enlightened Despotism 283
the Catholic Church. Joseph in these actions was typical of the day, when the
prestige of Rome was at a low ebb among Catholics, with Jansenism a significant
force in France, Italy, and even Spain, and Febronianism favored by archbishops in
Germany. Much of Joseph’s program was in fact reminiscent of sixteenth- century
Protestantism (as Catholic writers, more than Protestants, take pleasure in point-
ing out), a negative Protestantism, to be sure, without positive religious message,
but full of the old objections to the Roman church. Candidates in theology were
required to favor the religion of Jesus over “jejune scholastics.”^3 Latin gave way to
popular languages in the liturgy. The use of music and incense was restricted, and
pilgrimages were forbidden. Contemplative religious orders were abolished as
merely idle, and some 700 monastic houses (almost two- thirds) were suppressed,
over 80,000,000 florins’ worth of church property being confiscated. The state took
on the responsibility of poor relief and care of the sick. Magic, apostasy, and mar-
riage with non- Christians disappeared as crimes from the penal code. Protestants
were freely tolerated, and the rights of Jews, as to place of residence and taxation,
were extended. Marriage was recognized as a civil contract, and the validity of
contested marriages was put under jurisdiction of civil courts. Husbands were al-
lowed to keep illegitimate children in the home even against the wife’s disapproval.
And, as if to anticipate the French Revolution in laughable detail, illegitimate chil-
dren received the right to the legal proceedings which the French called recherche
de la paternité.
Parish priests were required to put civil above canon law in giving burial to
Protestants, atheists, and suicides. They were also instructed to preach good citi-
zenship in their sermons, including the acceptance of military conscription. Regu-
lar clergy were forbidden to recognize religious superiors outside the empire. Bish-
ops were obliged to take an oath to the Emperor, and to obtain approval from the
civil authorities before issuing pastoral letters to their dioceses. Boundaries of dio-
ceses were redrawn, to correspond with administrative divisions of the civil gov-
ernment. Bishops and parish clergy received salaries payable by the state. As a be-
ginning of democratization of the hierarchy, Joseph appointed a non- noble to be
bishop of Olmütz, over the unanimous objection of the cathedral chapter. The
canons were afraid, according to one observer, that Joseph would find too many
“mere energetic common men” willing to accept bishoprics at only 12,000 florins a
year.^4
Joseph maintained the censorship of the press, but he used it to silence clerical
opposition, and to favor all kinds of spokesmen of Jansenism and the Enlighten-
ment. Never since the days of Luther had there been such an inundation of anti-
Catholic writings. Clerics were travestied on the stage. Training schools for Cath-
olic clergy were set up under government auspices. The universities were opened to
Protestants. Their role, for Joseph, was the preparation of enlightened government
officials; their textbooks were controlled, with a view to instilling love of country
and usefulness to society.
3 Valsecchi, I, 108. F. Maass, Der Josephinismus, in Fontess rerum austriacarum, vols. 71 and 72
(Vienna, 1951–1953), is a collection of documents on church affairs.
4 Mitrofanov, 684 n. 2.