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111-699: The Catholic Church in Germany ( German : Katholische Kirche in Deutschland ) or Roman Catholic Church in Germany ( German : Römisch-katholische Kirche in Deutschland ) is part of the worldwide Roman Catholic Church in communion with the Pope , assisted by the Roman Curia , and with the German bishops. The current "Speaker" (i.e., Chairman ) of the episcopal conference is Georg Bätzing , Bishop of

222-465: A de facto official language of Namibia after the end of German colonial rule alongside English and Afrikaans , and had de jure co-official status from 1984 until its independence from South Africa in 1990. However, the Namibian government perceived Afrikaans and German as symbols of apartheid and colonialism, and decided English would be the sole official language upon independence, stating that it

333-402: A second language , and 75–100   million as a foreign language . This would imply the existence of approximately 175–220   million German speakers worldwide. German sociolinguist Ulrich Ammon estimated a number of 289 million German foreign language speakers without clarifying the criteria by which he classified a speaker. As of 2012 , about 90   million people, or 16% of

444-612: A "commonly used" language and the Pan South African Language Board is obligated to promote and ensure respect for it. Cameroon was also a colony of the German Empire from the same period (1884 to 1916). However, German was replaced by French and English, the languages of the two successor colonial powers, after its loss in World War I . Nevertheless, since the 21st century, German has become

555-722: A bishop's residence, the St. Nicholas Diocese Center, costing €31 million. Details of the project were kept secret from Limburg's construction authorities to quash rumours of saunas, wine cellars, and interior decorations with precious gems, but the building was later nicknamed the "Kaaba of Limburg", as the colour and cubical shape resembled the Kaaba of Mecca. This was despite the diocese's strained budget, which often lacked funds for basic overhead and maintenance of church facilities and for services such as daycare. The "Tebartz effect" has disillusioned both Protestant and Catholic Christians. In Cologne

666-559: A greater need for regularity in written conventions. While the major changes of the MHG period were socio-cultural, High German was still undergoing significant linguistic changes in syntax, phonetics, and morphology as well (e.g. diphthongization of certain vowel sounds: hus (OHG & MHG "house") → haus (regionally in later MHG)→ Haus (NHG), and weakening of unstressed short vowels to schwa [ə]: taga (OHG "days")→ tage (MHG)). A great wealth of texts survives from

777-708: A limited group of theologians" has become the bishops' proposals, which he says "openly contradict the teaching affirmed by all the popes since the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council ." Luis Ladaria Cardinal Ferrer , prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith , warned of "reducing the mystery of the Church to a mere institution of power," and so "the greatest danger" of the proposals

888-458: A native tongue today, mostly descendants of German colonial settlers . The period of German colonialism in Namibia also led to the evolution of a Standard German-based pidgin language called " Namibian Black German ", which became a second language for parts of the indigenous population. Although it is nearly extinct today, some older Namibians still have some knowledge of it. German remained

999-671: A number of criticisms from bishops from all over the world. In February 2022, the Polish episcopate aired their concerns to Pope Francis, mentioning the impression that "the Gospel is not always the basis for reflection." In March 2022, the Scandinavian bishops also aired their deep concern of a possible "capitulation to the Zeitgeist," on the part of the German bishops. In April 2022, an international group of more than 70 bishops criticized

1110-696: A popular foreign language among pupils and students, with 300,000 people learning or speaking German in Cameroon in 2010 and over 230,000 in 2020. Today Cameroon is one of the African countries outside Namibia with the highest number of people learning German. In the United States, German is the fifth most spoken language in terms of native and second language speakers after English, Spanish , French , and Chinese (with figures for Cantonese and Mandarin combined), with over 1 million total speakers. In

1221-483: A result, the surviving texts are written in highly disparate regional dialects and exhibit significant Latin influence, particularly in vocabulary. At this point monasteries, where most written works were produced, were dominated by Latin, and German saw only occasional use in official and ecclesiastical writing. While there is no complete agreement over the dates of the Middle High German (MHG) period, it

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1332-439: A significantly larger scale (third cathedral). This building, with two transepts, already was very similar to today's cathedral. Today's crypt was built around 1100 AD. Similarly, a chapel to St. Bartholomew , connected to the cathedral, would be built after 1015 by Greek monks. Another fire in 1133 damaged the church, but its core survived. Bernhard I. von Oesede had the building strengthened and extended (fourth cathedral); it

1443-534: A survey by the Erfurt-based opinion research institute INSA a third of German Catholics are considering leaving. Older Catholics consider leaving primarily due to child abuse cases while younger Catholics primarily want to avoid paying the church tax. In 2022 522,821 people left the Church, according to figures released by the German bishops. A spate of nationwide de-registrations and protest occurred in late 2013 caused by financial corruption scandals, termed

1554-717: Is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family , mainly spoken in Western and Central Europe . It is the most spoken native language within the European Union . It is the most widely spoken and official (or co-official) language in Germany , Austria , Switzerland , Liechtenstein , and the Italian autonomous province of South Tyrol . It is also an official language of Luxembourg , Belgium and

1665-601: Is a recognized minority language in the following countries: In France, the High German varieties of Alsatian and Moselle Franconian are identified as " regional languages ", but the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages of 1998 has not yet been ratified by the government. Namibia also was a colony of the German Empire, from 1884 to 1915. About 30,000 people still speak German as

1776-612: Is also notable for its broad spectrum of dialects , with many varieties existing in Europe and other parts of the world. Some of these non-standard varieties have become recognized and protected by regional or national governments. Since 2004, heads of state of the German-speaking countries have met every year, and the Council for German Orthography has been the main international body regulating German orthography . German

1887-679: Is also the largest religious group in Bavaria , Rhineland-Palatinate , North Rhine-Westphalia and Baden-Württemberg . The German state supports both the Catholic and Protestant churches; it collects taxes for the churches and there is religious education in the schools, taught by teachers who have to be approved by the churches. Church taxes are "automatic paycheck deductions" taken from all registered church members, "regardless of" whether, and if yes, "how often members attend services." Catholicism in Germany today faces several challenges: One of

1998-558: Is an Indo-European language that belongs to the West Germanic group of the Germanic languages . The Germanic languages are traditionally subdivided into three branches: North Germanic , East Germanic , and West Germanic . The first of these branches survives in modern Danish , Swedish , Norwegian , Faroese , and Icelandic , all of which are descended from Old Norse . The East Germanic languages are now extinct, and Gothic

2109-478: Is called the "German Sprachraum ". German is the official language of the following countries: German is a co-official language of the following countries: Although expulsions and (forced) assimilation after the two World wars greatly diminished them, minority communities of mostly bilingual German native speakers exist in areas both adjacent to and detached from the Sprachraum. Within Europe, German

2220-430: Is complicated by the existence of several varieties whose status as separate "languages" or "dialects" is disputed for political and linguistic reasons, including quantitatively strong varieties like certain forms of Alemannic and Low German . With the inclusion or exclusion of certain varieties, it is estimated that approximately 90–95 million people speak German as a first language , 10–25   million speak it as

2331-535: Is generally seen as ending when the 1346–53 Black Death decimated Europe's population. Modern High German begins with the Early New High German (ENHG) period, which Wilhelm Scherer dates 1350–1650, terminating with the end of the Thirty Years' War . This period saw the further displacement of Latin by German as the primary language of courtly proceedings and, increasingly, of literature in

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2442-611: Is generally seen as lasting from 1050 to 1350. This was a period of significant expansion of the geographical territory occupied by Germanic tribes, and consequently of the number of German speakers. Whereas during the Old High German period the Germanic tribes extended only as far east as the Elbe and Saale rivers, the MHG period saw a number of these tribes expanding beyond this eastern boundary into Slavic territory (known as

2553-565: Is less closely related to languages based on Low Franconian dialects (e.g., Dutch and Afrikaans), Low German or Low Saxon dialects (spoken in northern Germany and southern Denmark ), neither of which underwent the High German consonant shift. As has been noted, the former of these dialect types is Istvaeonic and the latter Ingvaeonic, whereas the High German dialects are all Irminonic; the differences between these languages and standard German are therefore considerable. Also related to German are

2664-435: Is one of the major languages of the world . German is the second-most widely spoken Germanic language , after English, both as a first and as a second language . German is also widely taught as a foreign language , especially in continental Europe (where it is the third most taught foreign language after English and French), and in the United States. Overall, German is the fourth most commonly learned second language, and

2775-597: Is one of the three biggest newspapers in Namibia and the only German-language daily in Africa. An estimated 12,000 people speak German or a German variety as a first language in South Africa, mostly originating from different waves of immigration during the 19th and 20th centuries. One of the largest communities consists of the speakers of "Nataler Deutsch", a variety of Low German concentrated in and around Wartburg . The South African constitution identifies German as

2886-401: Is partly derived from Latin and Greek , along with fewer words borrowed from French and Modern English . English, however, is the main source of more recent loanwords . German is a pluricentric language ; the three standardized variants are German , Austrian , and Swiss Standard German . Standard German is sometimes called High German , which refers to its regional origin. German

2997-525: Is the Sachsenspiegel , the first book of laws written in Middle Low German ( c.  1220 ). The abundance and especially the secular character of the literature of the MHG period demonstrate the beginnings of a standardized written form of German, as well as the desire of poets and authors to be understood by individuals on supra-dialectal terms. The Middle High German period

3108-578: Is the only language in this branch which survives in written texts. The West Germanic languages, however, have undergone extensive dialectal subdivision and are now represented in modern languages such as English, German, Dutch , Yiddish , Afrikaans , and others. Within the West Germanic language dialect continuum, the Benrath and Uerdingen lines (running through Düsseldorf - Benrath and Krefeld - Uerdingen , respectively) serve to distinguish

3219-402: Is to lose "one of the most important achievements" of Vatican II: "the clear teaching of the mission of the bishops and thus of the local Church." Seven popes have been from Germany. Bruno of Carinthia, who reigned as Pope Gregory V (996–999), is considered the first German pope. The 11th century saw five German popes, including Leo IX who was canonized as a saint. The most recent German pope

3330-485: Is understood in all areas where German is spoken. Approximate distribution of native German speakers (assuming a rounded total of 95 million) worldwide: As a result of the German diaspora , as well as the popularity of German taught as a foreign language , the geographical distribution of German speakers (or "Germanophones") spans all inhabited continents. However, an exact, global number of native German speakers

3441-689: The Ostsiedlung ). With the increasing wealth and geographic spread of the Germanic groups came greater use of German in the courts of nobles as the standard language of official proceedings and literature. A clear example of this is the mittelhochdeutsche Dichtersprache employed in the Hohenstaufen court in Swabia as a standardized supra-dialectal written language. While these efforts were still regionally bound, German began to be used in place of Latin for certain official purposes, leading to

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3552-639: The Alamanni , Bavarian, and Thuringian groups, all belonging to the Elbe Germanic group ( Irminones ), which had settled in what is now southern-central Germany and Austria between the second and sixth centuries, during the great migration. In general, the surviving texts of Old High German (OHG) show a wide range of dialectal diversity with very little written uniformity. The early written tradition of OHG survived mostly through monasteries and scriptoria as local translations of Latin originals; as

3663-537: The Early Middle Ages . German is an inflected language , with four cases for nouns, pronouns, and adjectives (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative); three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter) and two numbers (singular, plural). It has strong and weak verbs . The majority of its vocabulary derives from the ancient Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family, while a smaller share

3774-417: The European Union 's population, spoke German as their mother tongue, making it the second most widely spoken language on the continent after Russian and the second biggest language in terms of overall speakers (after English), as well as the most spoken native language. The area in central Europe where the majority of the population speaks German as a first language and has German as a (co-)official language

3885-522: The German states . While these states were still part of the Holy Roman Empire , and far from any form of unification, the desire for a cohesive written language that would be understandable across the many German-speaking principalities and kingdoms was stronger than ever. As a spoken language German remained highly fractured throughout this period, with a vast number of often mutually incomprehensible regional dialects being spoken throughout

3996-746: The Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I , and the other being Meißner Deutsch , used in the Electorate of Saxony in the Duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg . Alongside these courtly written standards, the invention of the printing press led to the development of a number of printers' languages ( Druckersprachen ) aimed at making printed material readable and understandable across as many diverse dialects of German as possible. The greater ease of production and increased availability of written texts brought about increased standardisation in

4107-666: The Old High German language in several Elder Futhark inscriptions from as early as the sixth century AD (such as the Pforzen buckle ), the Old High German period is generally seen as beginning with the Abrogans (written c.  765–775 ), a Latin-German glossary supplying over 3,000 Old High German words with their Latin equivalents. After the Abrogans , the first coherent works written in Old High German appear in

4218-712: The Protestant Church encountered an 80% increase in absences, with 228 de-registrations. Also, 1,250 Bavarians left the church in October 2013, doubling from 602 in September. Throughout Germany the cities of Bremen , Osnabrück , Paderborn , Passau and Regensburg reported three-fold increases of Catholic resignations. Starting on 1 December 2019, the German Catholic Church held a Synodal Path convocation discussing: The synodal path faced

4329-586: The Roman Catholic Diocese of Limburg . It is divided into 27 dioceses , 7 of them with the rank of metropolitan sees . Growing rejection of the Church has had its impact in Germany; nevertheless, 28.5% of the total population remain Roman Catholic (23.9 million people as of December 2022). Before the 1990 reunification of the Germany by accession of the former German Democratic Republic (or East Germany), Roman Catholics were 42% of

4440-676: The Sprachraum in Europe. German is used in a wide variety of spheres throughout the country, especially in business, tourism, and public signage, as well as in education, churches (most notably the German-speaking Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia (GELK) ), other cultural spheres such as music, and media (such as German language radio programs by the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation ). The Allgemeine Zeitung

4551-550: The Standard German language in its written form, and the Duden Handbook was declared its standard definition. Punctuation and compound spelling (joined or isolated compounds) were not standardized in the process. The Deutsche Bühnensprache ( lit.   ' German stage language ' ) by Theodor Siebs had established conventions for German pronunciation in theatres , three years earlier; however, this

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4662-672: The Treaty of Basel in 1795. Six years later, the Concordat of 1801 , an agreement between Napoleon and Pope Pius VII , was signed on 15 July 1801. Another two years later, in 1803, to compensate the princes of the annexed territories, a set of mediatizations was carried out, which brought about a major redistribution of territorial sovereignty within the Empire. At that time, large parts of Germany were still ruled by Catholic bishops (95.000 km with more than three million inhabitants). In

4773-513: The Upper German dialects spoken in the southern German-speaking countries , such as Swiss German ( Alemannic dialects ) and the various Germanic dialects spoken in the French region of Grand Est , such as Alsatian (mainly Alemannic, but also Central–and   Upper Franconian dialects) and Lorraine Franconian (Central Franconian). After these High German dialects, standard German

4884-566: The crypt of Bernhard Lichtenberg , Dresden , proto-Romanesque Hildesheim , Frankfurt with the coronation church of the old Reich 's Emperors (superseding Aachen), Freiburg , Freising , Fulda , Limburg which was depicted on the reverse of the old 500 Deutschmark banknote, Mainz with St. Martin's Cathedral ) (the only Holy see other than Rome and Jerusalem ), Munich Frauenkirche with its onion domes and giant single roof, Münster , Paderborn , Passau , Regensburg , Speyer with its Rhenish Imperial cathedral , and Trier with

4995-469: The pagan Germanic tradition. Of particular interest to scholars, however, has been the Hildebrandslied , a secular epic poem telling the tale of an estranged father and son unknowingly meeting each other in battle. Linguistically, this text is highly interesting due to the mixed use of Old Saxon and Old High German dialects in its composition. The written works of this period stem mainly from

5106-590: The "Apostle of Germany" and the first Archbishop of Mainz , buried in Fulda, and to Charlemagne , buried at Aachen Cathedral . Notable religious sites include structures from the Carolingian era to modern buildings. A cursory list may name Quedlinburg , Maria Laach , Erfurt Cathedral , Eberbach , Lorsch Abbey with its remnant 'Torhalle' (gate hall), one of the oldest structures in Germany, Reichenau , Maulbronn , Weingarten , Banz and Vierzehnheiligen on

5217-543: The 'Tebartz-effect'. Investigations alleged misappropriation of church funds by Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst of Limburg over several years. Nicknamed the "Protzbischof" ("bling-bishop" or "splurge-bishop"), he provoked outrage for the hypocrisy of preaching poverty while living extravagantly. His excesses included travelling first class on humanitarian missions to India on flights costing €7,000 each. Tebartz and his Vice-Vicar Franz Kaspar both qualified for Lufthansa 's luxury frequent flyer program. Tebartz commissioned

5328-623: The Arch-chancellor of Italy ( archbishop of Cologne ), and the Arch-chancellor of Germany (archbishop of Mainz). The Holy Roman Emperor could only become such through coronation by the Pope . Burghers and monarchs were united in their frustration at the Catholic Church not paying any taxes to secular states while itself collecting taxes from subjects and sending the revenues disproportionately to Italy. Martin Luther denounced

5439-482: The Catholic population and more resistance by the Church. During the Kulturkampf, four bishops and 185 priests in defiance of the laws were tried and imprisoned and many more were fined or went into exile. After the death of Pope Pius IX in 1878, Bismarck took up negotiations with more conciliatory Pope Leo XIII who proclaimed the end of the Kulturkampf on 23 May 1887. The Catholic Church denounced Nazism in

5550-670: The Empire. Its use indicated that the speaker was a merchant or someone from an urban area, regardless of nationality. Prague (German: Prag ) and Budapest ( Buda , German: Ofen ), to name two examples, were gradually Germanized in the years after their incorporation into the Habsburg domain; others, like Pressburg ( Pozsony , now Bratislava), were originally settled during the Habsburg period and were primarily German at that time. Prague, Budapest, Bratislava, and cities like Zagreb (German: Agram ) or Ljubljana (German: Laibach ), contained significant German minorities. In

5661-748: The Frisian languages— North Frisian (spoken in Nordfriesland ), Saterland Frisian (spoken in Saterland ), and West Frisian (spoken in Friesland )—as well as the Anglic languages of English and Scots. These Anglo-Frisian dialects did not take part in the High German consonant shift, and the Anglic languages also adopted much vocabulary from both Old Norse and the Norman language . The history of

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5772-417: The German language begins with the High German consonant shift during the Migration Period , which separated Old High German dialects from Old Saxon . This sound shift involved a drastic change in the pronunciation of both voiced and voiceless stop consonants ( b , d , g , and p , t , k , respectively). The primary effects of the shift were the following below. While there is written evidence of

5883-755: The German state from registered churchgoers (of Catholic and Protestant communities). Although the tax provides the Catholic and Lutheran churches with an exact membership count and a net income of 5.6 billion euros (in 2008) which has helped make the German Catholic Church one of the wealthiest in the world. A poll from universities in Berlin and Münster, advises that 70% of German Catholics approve of blessings for same-sex couples, 80% accept unmarried couples living together and 85% believe priests should be allowed to marry. 70% of German Catholics support same-sex marriage and 29% oppose it. 93% of German Catholics believe society should accept homosexuality while 6% believe society should not accept homosexuality. According to

5994-399: The German states; the invention of the printing press c.  1440 and the publication of Luther's vernacular translation of the Bible in 1534, however, had an immense effect on standardizing German as a supra-dialectal written language. The ENHG period saw the rise of several important cross-regional forms of chancery German, one being gemeine tiutsch , used in the court of

6105-623: The Germanic dialects that were affected by the High German consonant shift (south of Benrath) from those that were not (north of Uerdingen). The various regional dialects spoken south of these lines are grouped as High German dialects, while those spoken to the north comprise the Low German and Low Franconian dialects. As members of the West Germanic language family, High German, Low German, and Low Franconian have been proposed to be further distinguished historically as Irminonic , Ingvaeonic , and Istvaeonic , respectively. This classification indicates their historical descent from dialects spoken by

6216-403: The Germanic nobility, who were expected to impose their new faith on the general population. This expectation was consistent with the sacral position of the king in Germanic paganism : the king is charged with interacting with the divine on behalf of his people. Hence the general population saw nothing wrong with their kings choosing their preferred mode of worship. The favoured method of showing

6327-550: The Germans for allegedly viewing these issues through "the lens of the world rather than through the lens of the truths revealed in Scripture and the Church's authoritative Tradition." On Nov 24, 2022, the Vatican published the critique of two curial cardinals. Cardinal Marc Ouellet , prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops , after praising the seriousness of the Germans in tackling sexual abuse, said that this has been "exploited" to push unrelated ideas, and they seem to be making "concessions" to cultural and media pressure. "The agenda of

6438-410: The Holy Roman Empire were one of the reasons for the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648), which devastated most of Germany and killed eight million people, many of those within the Empire dying from disease and famine. In the war of the First Coalition , revolutionary France defeated the coalition of Prussia , Austria , Spain , and Britain . One result was the cession of the Rhineland to France by

6549-547: The Irminones (also known as the Elbe group), Ingvaeones (or North Sea Germanic group), and Istvaeones (or Weser–Rhine group). Standard German is based on a combination of Thuringian - Upper Saxon and Upper Franconian dialects, which are Central German and Upper German dialects belonging to the High German dialect group. German is therefore closely related to the other languages based on High German dialects, such as Luxembourgish (based on Central Franconian dialects ) and Yiddish . Also closely related to Standard German are

6660-644: The Italian autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia , as well as a recognized national language in Namibia . There are also notable German-speaking communities in France ( Alsace ), the Czech Republic ( North Bohemia ), Poland ( Upper Silesia ), Slovakia ( Košice Region , Spiš , and Hauerland ), Denmark ( North Schleswig ), Romania and Hungary ( Sopron ). Overseas, sizeable communities of German-speakers are found in Brazil ( Blumenau and Pomerode ), South Africa ( Kroondal ), Namibia , among others, some communities have decidedly Austrian German or Swiss German characters (e.g. Pozuzo , Peru). German

6771-408: The MHG period. Significantly, these texts include a number of impressive secular works, such as the Nibelungenlied , an epic poem telling the story of the dragon -slayer Siegfried ( c.  thirteenth century ), and the Iwein , an Arthurian verse poem by Hartmann von Aue ( c.  1203 ), lyric poems , and courtly romances such as Parzival and Tristan . Also noteworthy

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6882-410: The Pope for involvement in politics, and instigated the Protestant Reformation . Luther's doctrine of the two kingdoms justified the confiscation of church property and the crushing of the Great Peasant Revolt of 1525 by the German nobles. This explains the attraction of some territorial princes to Lutheranism. Along with confiscated Catholic church property, ecclesiastical (Catholic) dominions became

6993-416: The Roman Empire. Aspects of primæval pagan religion have persisted to this day, including the names of the days of the week. As Roman rule crumbled in Germany in the 5th century, this phase of Catholicism in Germany came to an end with it. At first, the Gallo-Roman or Germano-Roman populations were able to retain control over big cities such as Cologne and Trier , but in 459 these too were overwhelmed by

7104-407: The attacks of Frankish tribes. Most of the Gallo-Romans or Germano-Romans were killed or exiled. The newcomers to the towns reestablished the observance of the pagan rites. The small remaining Catholic population was powerless to protect its faith against the new ruling Frankish lords. But as soon as 496, Frankish King Clovis I was baptized together with many members of his household. In contrast to

7215-419: The biggest challenges facing the church is to retain the registered, tax-paying members (regardless of how often they attend services) to fund parishes and church agencies, especially its international relief organizations like Adveniat. German Catholics, however, are divided over the issue of a compulsory church tax. Under the tax an additional 8 percent to 9 percent of personal income tax is deducted at source by

7326-438: The cathedral and the loss of irreplaceable works of art, including all the historic glass windows. On 22 March 1945, fourteen people were killed by a blockbuster bomb in the cloister . Reconstruction took until the 1950s. From 1978 to 1981, a major restoration was undertaken. The relics of Saint Liborius are kept in the three-aisled crypt , which is (with a length of 32 m) one of Germany's largest crypts. Towards

7437-422: The cathedral. A fire destroyed the first cathedral in 1000 AD. Bishop Ratherius began with rebuilding, but his successor Meinwerk had the previous work destroyed and started over, building a three-aisled church with a transept and crypt in the east. This (second) cathedral was consecrated in 1015, but destroyed in a city fire in 1058. Meinwerk's nephew, Imad  [ de ] had the cathedral rebuilt on

7548-413: The coming season would be like. Similar events had sometimes been convened in times of crisis, for much the same reasons. The sacrifices, consisting of gold, weapons, animals, and even human beings, were hung on the branches of a holy tree. The Hiberno-Scottish mission ended in the 13th century. Supported by native Christians, they succeeded in Christianizing all of Germany. In medieval times, Catholicism

7659-402: The court as well as a basis for missionary work among the Pagan Saxons . Rebellious Saxons repeatedly destroyed this first church. After the locals converted to Christianity, the first cathedral was built. Pope Leo III met Charlemagne at Paderborn in 799 and consecrated an altar to Saint Stephen , depositing some relics of that saint in it. The first cathedral of the newly established bishopric

7770-430: The development of non-local forms of language and exposed all speakers to forms of German from outside their own area. With Luther's rendering of the Bible in the vernacular, German asserted itself against the dominance of Latin as a legitimate language for courtly, literary, and now ecclesiastical subject-matter. His Bible was ubiquitous in the German states: nearly every household possessed a copy. Nevertheless, even with

7881-404: The dialect so as to make the work as natural and accessible to German speakers as possible. Copies of Luther's Bible featured a long list of glosses for each region, translating words which were unknown in the region into the regional dialect. Luther said the following concerning his translation method: One who would talk German does not ask the Latin how he shall do it; he must ask the mother in

7992-517: The discriminated Polish minority. Laws enacted in the state of Prussia and in the empire in the early 1870s discriminated against Catholics. These laws were resisted by the Church, leading to heated public debates in the media and in the parliaments, during which the term " Kulturkampf " gained widespread currency. Diplomatic ties with the Vatican were cut and additional laws were passed to quell Catholic opposition. This only resulted in more support by

8103-538: The early 1920s) attacked a leading bishop for his defense of Jews. Some bishops prohibited Catholics in their dioceses from joining the Nazi Party . This ban was modified after Hitler's 23 March 1933 speech to the Reichstag in which he described Christianity as the foundation for German values. The Nazis did not formally advocate Catholicism but rather an apostate "Christian" sect known as Positive Christianity that

8214-510: The eastern German tribes, who became Arian Christians, he became a Catholic. Following the example of their king, many Franks were baptized too, but their Catholicism was intermixed with pagan rites. Over the next eight centuries, Irish, Scottish , and English missionaries reintroduced Christianity into the German territories. During the period of the Frankish Empire , the two most important of these missionaries were Columbanus , who

8325-519: The eastern provinces of Banat , Bukovina , and Transylvania (German: Banat, Buchenland, Siebenbürgen ), German was the predominant language not only in the larger towns—like Temeschburg ( Timișoara ), Hermannstadt ( Sibiu ), and Kronstadt ( Brașov )—but also in many smaller localities in the surrounding areas. In 1901, the Second Orthographic Conference ended with a (nearly) complete standardization of

8436-435: The home, the children on the streets, the common man in the market-place and note carefully how they talk, then translate accordingly. They will then understand what is said to them because it is German. When Christ says ' ex abundantia cordis os loquitur ,' I would translate, if I followed the papists, aus dem Überflusz des Herzens redet der Mund . But tell me is this talking German? What German understands such stuff? No,

8547-481: The influence of Luther's Bible as an unofficial written standard, a widely accepted standard for written German did not appear until the middle of the eighteenth century. German was the language of commerce and government in the Habsburg Empire , which encompassed a large area of Central and Eastern Europe . Until the mid-nineteenth century, it was essentially the language of townspeople throughout most of

8658-622: The largest concentrations of German speakers are in the states of Rio Grande do Sul (where Riograndenser Hunsrückisch developed), Santa Catarina , and Espírito Santo . Paderborn Cathedral Today's cathedral is located in a position that has been occupied by churches for hundreds of years. Charlemagne had a Kaiserpfalz built near the sources of the Pader river . As early as 777 this palace had an attached church, dedicated to Christ (Salvator Mundi) and Brigit of Kildare . This church, located north of today's cathedral, served as chapel to

8769-436: The losses in church land and property made the national or local churches in Germany (as well as in the former Holy Roman Empire, France, Switzerland , and Austria) more dependent on Rome ( ultramontane ). This shift in the 1850s was sustained by a more zealous clergy, the revival of old teaching orders, the emergence of Marian confraternities, new religious congregations of men and women, and the holding of popular missions. In

8880-613: The mediatizations, the ecclesiastical states were by and large annexed to neighbouring secular principalities. Only three survived a tide of secularization as theocracies : the Archbishopric of Regensburg , which was raised from a bishopric with the incorporation of the Archbishopric of Mainz , and the lands of the Teutonic Knights and Knights of Saint John . Monasteries and abbeys lost their means of existence as they had to abandon their lands. Paradoxically,

8991-682: The mid-19th century, the Catholic Church was also seen as a political power, even in Protestant Prussia , exerting a strong influence on many parts of life. However, from the Catholics' point of view (especially where Catholics were the majority as in the Rhineland Province, the Saar, Alsace and Loraine, and Silesia), Catholics often felt intimidated by self-consciously Protestant rulers, especially when an anti-Catholic campaign

9102-454: The mother in the home and the plain man would say, Wesz das Herz voll ist, des gehet der Mund über . Luther's translation of the Bible into High German was also decisive for the German language and its evolution from Early New High German to modern Standard German. The publication of Luther's Bible was a decisive moment in the spread of literacy in early modern Germany , and promoted

9213-653: The ninth century, chief among them being the Muspilli , Merseburg charms , and Hildebrandslied , and other religious texts (the Georgslied , Ludwigslied , Evangelienbuch , and translated hymns and prayers). The Muspilli is a Christian poem written in a Bavarian dialect offering an account of the soul after the Last Judgment , and the Merseburg charms are transcriptions of spells and charms from

9324-403: The oldest church in the country. The country has a total of about 24,500 Church buildings including many additional religious landmarks: abbeys, minsters, basilicas, pilgrimage churches, chapels, and converted former cathedrals, built in a profusion of different layouts and styles, from Romanesque to post-modern. Many are listed as World Heritage Sites . The earliest stage of the conversion of

9435-705: The opposite hill, the Wieskirche , Ettal , Fürstenfeld , Sacred Heart in Munich (finished in 2000), Altötting and many more. Oberammergau is famous for the Passion Play staged every ten years. The Catholic Church in Germany also boasts one of the country's most recognizable landmarks, Cologne Cathedral . Other notable Roman Catholic cathedrals are in Aachen with the throne and tomb of Charlemagne , Augsburg , Bamberg , Berlin ( St. Hedwig's Cathedral ) with

9546-627: The personal property of the holder of the formerly religious office, for the right to rule was attached to this office. On 25 September 1555, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and the forces of the Schmalkaldic League signed the Peace of Augsburg to officially end the religious wars between the Catholics and the Protestants . This treaty legalized the partitioning of the Holy Roman Empire into Catholic and Protestant territories. Under

9657-463: The population of West Germany. Religious demographic data is relatively accessible in Germany because, by law, all Christian taxpayers must declare their religious affiliation so that the church tax can be deducted by the state and passed on to the relevant church in the state where the taxpayer lives. Apart from its demographic weight, the Catholic Church in Germany has an old religious and cultural heritage, which reaches back to both Saint Boniface ,

9768-462: The pronunciation of the ending -ig as [ɪk] instead of [ɪç]. In Northern Germany, High German was a foreign language to most inhabitants, whose native dialects were subsets of Low German. It was usually encountered only in writing or formal speech; in fact, most of High German was a written language, not identical to any spoken dialect, throughout the German-speaking area until well into the 19th century. However, wider standardization of pronunciation

9879-546: The states of North Dakota and South Dakota , German is the most common language spoken at home after English. As a legacy of significant German immigration to the country , German geographical names can be found throughout the Midwest region , such as New Ulm and Bismarck (North Dakota's state capital), plus many other regions. A number of German varieties have developed in the country and are still spoken today, such as Pennsylvania Dutch and Texas German . In Brazil,

9990-561: The supremacy of the Christian belief was the destruction of the holy trees of the Germans . These were trees, usually old oaks or elm trees, dedicated to the gods. Because the missionary was able to destroy the trees without being slain by the gods, his Christian god had to be stronger. The pagan sacrifices, known as blót , had been seasonal celebrations where gifts were offered to appropriate gods and attempts were made to forecast what

10101-500: The third most commonly learned second language in the United States in K-12 education. The language has been influential in the fields of philosophy, theology, science, and technology. It is the second most commonly used language in science and the third most widely used language on websites . The German-speaking countries are ranked fifth in terms of annual publication of new books, with one-tenth of all books (including e-books) in

10212-502: The treaty, the religion of the ruler (either Lutheranism or Catholicism ) determined the religion of his subjects. This policy is widely referred to by the Latin phrase, cuius regio, eius religio ("whose reign, his religion", or "in the prince's land, the prince's religion"). Families were given a period in which they were free to emigrate to regions where their desired religion prevailed. The religious intolerance and tensions within

10323-542: The various Celtic people and Germanic people to Christianity occurred only in the western part of Germany, the part controlled by the Roman Empire . Christianization was facilitated by the prestige of the Christian Roman Empire amongst its pagan subjects and was achieved gradually by various means. The rise of Germanic Christianity was at times voluntary, particularly among groups associated with

10434-532: The west are the tombs of the Archbishops of Paderborn. An antechamber features a 1935 mosaic on the walls and ceiling and in the centre of the floor the tombstone for Bishop Meinwerk, dating to the 13th century. One of the cathedral's, and the city's, most recognisable features is the Dreihasenfenster ("Window of Three Hares"). It depicts three hares in motion, arranged in a triangle. Each hare

10545-555: The world being published in German. German is most closely related to other West Germanic languages, namely Afrikaans , Dutch , English , the Frisian languages , and Scots . It also contains close similarities in vocabulary to some languages in the North Germanic group , such as Danish , Norwegian , and Swedish . Modern German gradually developed from Old High German , which in turn developed from Proto-Germanic during

10656-600: The written form of German. One of the central events in the development of ENHG was the publication of Luther's translation of the Bible into High German (the New Testament was published in 1522; the Old Testament was published in parts and completed in 1534). Luther based his translation primarily on the Meißner Deutsch of Saxony , spending much time among the population of Saxony researching

10767-513: The years leading up to its rise to power in 1933–34. It believed its primary duty was to protect German Catholics and the Church. Popes Pius XI and Pius XII publicly denounced racism and the murder of innocents. Many Jews were offered baptismal certificates by local parishes and priests in Germany, and some actually converted to escape deportation, arrest or execution, though the Nazi policy of anti-semitism did not exempt "converts" as their philosophy

10878-627: Was Benedict XVI , previously Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, reigned from 2005 until his retirement in 2013. Burleigh, Michael, and Wolfgang Wippermann. The Racial State: Germany 1933-1945 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991). Zalar, Jeffery T. Reading and Rebellion in Catholic Germany, 1770-1914 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018). [REDACTED] Media related to Roman Catholic Church in Germany at Wikimedia Commons German language German (German: Deutsch , pronounced [dɔʏtʃ] )

10989-429: Was a "neutral" language as there were virtually no English native speakers in Namibia at that time. German, Afrikaans, and several indigenous languages thus became "national languages" by law, identifying them as elements of the cultural heritage of the nation and ensuring that the state acknowledged and supported their presence in the country. Today, Namibia is considered to be the only German-speaking country outside of

11100-552: Was a three-aisled basilica , dedicated to Mary and Saint Kilian . After the See was initially administered from Würzburg , in 806 Hathumar became the first Bishop of Paderborn. The second bishop, Badurad , asked the Bishop of Le Mans for the remains of a saint, to help with consolidating the faith of the local Saxons. In 836, the remains of Liborius of Le Mans were handed over to a delegation from Paderborn and translated back to

11211-648: Was active in the Frankish Empire from 590, and St. Boniface, who was active from 716. The missionaries, particularly the Scottish Benedictines , founded monasteries ( Schottenklöster , Scottish monasteries) in Germany, which were later combined into a single congregation governed by the Abbot of the Scots monastery at Regensburg . The conversion of the Germanic peoples began with the conversion of

11322-547: Was an artificial standard that did not correspond to any traditional spoken dialect. Rather, it was based on the pronunciation of German in Northern Germany, although it was subsequently regarded often as a general prescriptive norm, despite differing pronunciation traditions especially in the Upper-German-speaking regions that still characterise the dialect of the area today – especially

11433-636: Was based on race as pointed out in its National Socialist Program – not on religion. The Vatican knew of the murder of the Jews very early on during the Third Reich , as it had religious representatives in all of the occupied countries. Many individual priests, religious and lay Catholics attempted to save Jews in Germany. Adolf Hitler was raised as a Catholic in Austria but no longer practised his faith as an adult and as he rose to power. The Catholic Church

11544-410: Was carried on at many levels and would involve "the banishing of priests and nuns from the country, the driving of bishops from their chairs, the closing of schools, the confiscation of church property, the disruption of church gatherings, the disbanding of Catholic associations, and an open feud with the Vatican. Chancellor Bismarck regarded the Church as a threat, especially in view of its defense of

11655-510: Was completed in the late 13th century with High Gothic elements. In the 17th century, Prince-Bishops Dietrich Adolf von der Recke (1601-1661) and Ferdinand von Fürstenberg (1626–1683) replaced the Gothic interior features with Baroque artworks. In 1930, the Diocese of Paderborn was promoted to Archdiocese . Repeated Allied bombing of Paderborn in 1945 resulted in severe damage to

11766-492: Was established on the basis of public speaking in theatres and the media during the 20th century and documented in pronouncing dictionaries. Official revisions of some of the rules from 1901 were not issued until the controversial German orthography reform of 1996 was made the official standard by governments of all German-speaking countries. Media and written works are now almost all produced in Standard German which

11877-597: Was historically majority Protestant, and only 11% of the people were Catholic. There were only two, small, majority-Catholic regions in the GDR: a part of the Eichsfeld region and the region in the southeast inhabited by Sorbs . 28.5% of the total population is Catholic (23.9 million people as of December 2022). Only one of Germany's Bundesländer (federal states), the Saarland has a Catholic absolute majority: Catholicism

11988-518: Was in direct opposition to Catholic dogma and doctrine. After World War II the Catholics in the zone occupied by the Soviet army found themselves under a militantly atheist government. Many parishes were cut off from their dioceses in the western part of Germany. German Catholicism was comparatively less affected than Protestantism by the establishment of the GDR, as nearly all of the Soviet zone's territory

12099-572: Was in opposition to other ideologies like Communism , because these ideologies were deemed incompatible with Christian morals. Some German bishops expected their priests to promote the Catholic political Centre Party . The majority of Catholic-sponsored newspapers supported the Centre Party over the Nazi Party. In Munich there were some Catholics, both lay and clerics, who supported Hitler, and, on occasion and contrary to Catholic doctrine, (in

12210-427: Was reconsecrated in 1144/45. In the 13th century, the cathedral was reconstructed, not due to damage but to bring it up to then current artistic and ecclesial standards. Construction likely began at the western end of the building (late Romanesque basilika, before 1220). The nave followed in the form of a hall church (i.e. with three aisles all reaching to the height of the central roof) in early Gothic style . It

12321-581: Was the only official religion within the Holy Roman Empire . (There were resident Jews , but they were not considered citizens of the empire.) Within the empire the Catholic Church was a major power. Large parts of the territory were ruled by ecclesiastical lords. Three of the seven seats in the council of electors of the Holy Roman Emperors were occupied by Catholic archbishops: the Arch-chancellor of Burgundy ( archbishop of Trier ),

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