The Friends of the Light was an association of German rationalists .
25-556: It originated in the Province of Saxony , in 1841. The members were also called Protestant Friends . The immediate occasion was an attempt to discipline a Magdeburg preacher who had expressed heretical views. Early leaders in the movement were Leberecht Uhlich and Gustav Adolf Wislicenus , both of whom were forced out of the Evangelical Church for expressing liberal views. In like manner, independent congregations arose in
50-568: A Christian denomination is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Province of Saxony The Province of Saxony (German: Provinz Sachsen ), also known as Prussian Saxony ( Preußisches Sachsen ), was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and later the Free State of Prussia from 1816 until 1944. Its capital was Magdeburg . It was formed by the merger of various territories ceded or returned to Prussia in 1815 by
75-564: A highly rationalistic basis. Inasmuch as the fullest individual liberty was allowed, the belief of members and congregations varied greatly. There was a tendency toward radical free thought, and some even denied the existence of a personal God . The association was strongest in Berlin , Breslau , and Magdeburg . Its numbers and influence gradually diminished. It was superseded by the Old Catholic Church . This article about
100-523: A number of places. In 1847, a union was effected between them on the basis of a simple profession of faith in God and called Free Congregations (Ger. freie Gemeinden ). By this time their gatherings, held symbolically in the open air, had come to number more than two thousand, including delegates from England and America . In 1850, they united with the German Catholics , and in the same year and
125-527: A suffragan; in 1371 he rebuilt the Burg Neuhaus at Paderborn. Simon II, Count of Sternberg (1380–89), involved the bishopric in feuds with the nobility, who after his death devastated the country. Wilhelm Heinrich van Berg , elected 1399, sought to remedy the evils which had crept in during the foregoing feuds, but when in 1414 he interested himself in the vacancy in the Archbishopric of Cologne,
150-685: The Congress of Vienna : most of the former northern territories of the Kingdom of Saxony (the remainder of which became part of Brandenburg or Silesia ), the former French Principality of Erfurt , the Duchy of Magdeburg , the Altmark , the Principality of Halberstadt , and some other districts. The province was bounded by the Electorate of Hesse (the province of Hesse-Nassau after 1866),
175-480: The Duchy of Saxony ceased to exist, the rights which the old dukedom had exercised over Paderborn were transferred to the Archbishopric-Electorate of Cologne . The claims of the archbishops of Cologne were settled in the 13th century, almost wholly in favor of Paderborn. Under Bernhard II, Bishop of Paderborn ( Bernhard of Ibbenbüren [ Wikidata ] ) (1188–1203) the bailiwick over
200-488: The Kingdom of Hanover (the province of Hanover after 1866) and the Duchy of Brunswick to the west, Hanover (again) to the north, Brandenburg to the north and east, Silesia to the south-east, and the rump kingdom of Saxony and the small Ernestine duchies to the south. Its shape was very irregular and it entirely surrounded enclaves of Brunswick and some of the Ernestine duchies. It also possessed several exclaves, and
225-735: The Province of Halle-Merseburg . In 1945, the Soviet military administration combined Magdeburg and Halle-Merseburg with the State of Anhalt into the Province of Saxony-Anhalt , with Halle as its capital. The eastern part of the Blankenburg exclave of Brunswick and the Thuringian exclave of Allstedt were also added to Saxony-Anhalt. In 1947, Saxony-Anhalt became a state. The East German states, including Thuringia and Saxony-Anhalt, were abolished in 1952, but they were recreated as part of
250-627: The Province of Hanover . On 1 July 1944, the Province of Saxony was divided along the lines of its three administrative regions. The Erfurt Regierungsbezirk was merged with the Herrschaft Schmalkalden district of the Province of Hesse-Nassau and given to the state of Thuringia . The Magdeburg Regierungsbezirk became the Province of Magdeburg , and the Merseburg Regierungsbezirk became
275-541: The Reichstag and 38 delegates to the Prussian House of Representatives ( Abgeordnetenhaus ). The province was created in 1816 out of the following territories: The Province of Saxony was one of the richest regions of Prussia, with highly developed agriculture and industry. In 1932, the province was enlarged with the addition of the regions around Ilfeld and Elbingerode , which had previously been part of
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#1732780771617300-752: The University of Paderborn in 1614. During the German Mediatisation in 1802, the bishopric became Prussian , from 1807 until 1813 it was part of the Kingdom of Westphalia , and then part of the Prussian province of Westphalia . While the bishopric as a state had been permanently dissolved, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Paderborn was recreated by Pope Pius VII in 1821. Through the Prussian Concordate , it
325-493: The reunification of Germany in 1990 (with some slight border changes; in particular territories around Torgau , which were part of Saxony-Anhalt between 1945 and 1952, passed to Saxony ) as modern states of Germany . The borders of the old province of Saxony endured longest in the ecclesiastical sphere, since the Church Province of Saxony in the Evangelical Church remained in existence until 2008. Prior to 1944,
350-566: The Church. Hermann von Wied (1532–47), also Archbishop of Cologne, sought to introduce the new teaching at Paderborn as well as Cologne, but he was opposed by all classes. The countships of Lippe , Waldeck , and Pyrmont , the part of the diocese in the County of Ravensberg , and most of the parishes on the right bank of the Weser became Protestant. Heinrich IV, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg (1577–85),
375-399: The bishops of Paderborn became increasingly sovereigns, though not over the whole of their diocese. Bernhard V of Lippe (1321–41) established a first territorial constitution (" Privilegium Bernhardi "). However he had to acknowledge the city of Paderborn as free from his judicial supremacy. Heinrich III Spiegel zum Desenberg (1361–80), also Abbot of Corvey , left his spiritual functions to
400-493: The cathedral chapter in his absence chose Dietrich III of Moers (1415–63). The wars of Dietrich, also Archbishop of Cologne, brought heavy debts upon the bishopric; during the feuds of the bishop with the city of Soest (1444–49) Paderborn was devastated. Under Eric, Duke of Brunswick-Grubenhagen (1502–32), the Protestant Reformation obtained a foothold in the diocese, although the bishop remained loyal to
425-484: The diocese, which since the middle of the 11th century had been held as a fief by the Counts of Arnsberg, returned to the bishops. This was an important advance in the development of the bishops' position as a secular ruler in his temporalities , forming a Hochstift of imperial immediacy since. From this time on the bishops did not grant the bailiwick as a fief, but managed it themselves, and had themselves represented in
450-524: The government by one of their clergy. They strove successfully to obtain the bailiwicks over the abbeys and monasteries situated in their diocese. Bishop Otto von Rietberg had to contend with Cologne; in 1281, when only bishop-elect, he received the regalia from Rudolph of Habsburg , and full judicial power (except penal judicature). After the defeat of the Cologne arch bishop at the Battle of Worringen 1288
475-514: The part of its district located in the former East Germany to the newly created Diocese of Magdeburg . Both Magdeburg and the Diocese of Erfurt were made subordinate to Paderborn. At the same time, Hildesheim was made subordinate to the Archdiocese of Hamburg . In the 1990s, the conflict between the archdiocese and renegade priest Eugen Drewermann made headlines. The current archbishop
500-508: The province of Saxony was divided into three Regierungsbezirke . In 1945, only the provinces of Magdeburg and Halle-Merseburg were re-merged. Urban districts ( Stadtkreise ) Rural districts ( Landkreise ) Urban districts ( Stadtkreise ) Rural districts ( Landkreise ) Urban districts ( Stadtkreise ) Rural districts ( Landkreise ) Diocese of Paderborn The Prince-Bishopric of Paderborn ( German : Fürstbistum Paderborn; Hochstift Paderborn )
525-653: The years immediately following some forty congregations were established in the United States , but had a short existence. After the Revolutions of 1848 , several of the German governments undertook to suppress them, partly for political reasons. Many congregations were broken up. Those still in existence in 1859, about fifty in number, under Uhlich's leadership, formed a “Union of Free Congregations in Germany,” upon
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#1732780771617550-708: Was a Lutheran; he permitted the adoption of the Augsburg Confession by his subjects. In the city of Paderborn only the cathedral and the Monastery of Abdinghof remained faithful. To save the Catholic cause, the cathedral chapter summoned the Jesuits to Paderborn in 1580. Dietrich IV of Fürstenberg (1585–1618) restored the practice of the Catholic religion, built a gymnasium for the Jesuits, and founded
575-442: Was almost entirely bisected by the Duchy of Anhalt save for a small corridor of land around Aschersleben (which itself bisected Anhalt). The river Havel ran along the north-eastern border with Brandenburg north of Plaue but did not follow the border exactly. The majority of the population was Protestant, with a Catholic minority (about 8% as of 1905) considered part of the diocese of Paderborn . The province sent 20 members to
600-472: Was an ecclesiastical principality ( Hochstift ) of the Holy Roman Empire from 1281 to 1802. The Diocese of Paderborn was founded in 799 by Pope Leo III . In the early years it was subordinated to the bishop of Würzburg . Since 855 the clergy had the right to elect the bishop. The diocese included the larger part of Lippe , Waldeck , and nearly half of the County of Ravensberg . In 1180 when
625-404: Was promoted to an archdiocese in 1930; at the same time, Paderborn lost its districts around Erfurt and Heiligenstadt to the Diocese of Fulda , and two small areas to the Archdiocese of Cologne . The dioceses of Fulda and Hildesheim were made subordinate to it. When the Diocese of Essen was created in 1958, Paderborn lost a significant portion of its district to it. In 1994 Paderborn lost
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