Johannes Ronge

Johannes von Rönge.

Johannes von Rönge (also known as Ronge; 16 October 1813, Bischofswalde in Upper Silesia, now Biskupów near Glucholazy, Poland - 26 October 1887, Vienna) was an early builder of the Christian denomination of New Catholics.

Johannes von Rönge was originally a Roman Catholic priest in Silesia and a member of the Frankfurt Parliament. He was outraged by the Bishop Arnoldi of Trier's use of his Cathedral's holy artifact (der heilige Rock, "the holy skirt", - the garment which Christ supposedly wore at the crucifixion) - to increase pilgrimage and likewise church revenues. The Bishop had proclaimed that the artifact had healing powers. In response, von Rönge helped form the New Catholics. The first congregation was in Breslau and within less than a year grew to over 8,000 members.

von Rönge organized the New Catholics as a principally democratic organization. He ended the rule of celibacy for priests, excommunication, oral confessions, indulgences and other practices of the Catholic Church, and he married Berthe Meyer, sister of his friend Carl Schurz's wife, Margarethe. Many churches followed his example and the New Catholics grew rapidly. von Rönge had also garnered support from Robert Blum, a newspaper publisher in Saxony. Blum published writings of the new movement.

Johannes was heavily involved in politics. He was a member of the parliament in Worms. With his view of "rational religion", von Rönge proclaimed "that the sole basis of Christian faith was to be in the Bible, interpreted by each for himself in the light of reason".

They were later forced to change their name from New Catholics to the German Catholics. A Protestant group analogous to the New Catholics was the Friends of the Light. In 1849, these two groups combined to form the Freireligiöse ("free-thinkers") communities.

After the failed revolts, many Freireligiöse went to the United States (where they were known as "Freethinkers") or moved to Canada and South Africa where they acted as missionaries. In 1852, Wisconsin had 32 congregations. Their influence lasted into the early part of the 20th century, but then began to falter. The influence and lasting effect of this German movement remains in the Midwest.

For his actions, von Rönge was excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church and lived in exile in London.

While in London, Johannes von Rönge was subject to surveillance by The Police Union of German States. They were also interested in Bertha von Rönge who had returned to Germany in 1858 because her sister, Margarethe Meyer was married to Carl Schurz whom they described as "the keen emissary of the communist connection".

In 1852, Marx and Engels wrote an account of the "forty-eighters", refugees from the failed revolution in Germany, which they entitled, Heroes of the Exile. In it they lampooned and satirised von Rönge of whom they wrote, "he is banal, hackneyed, as insipid as water, luke-warm dish-water" and described him as an "ungainly, sallow, tedious village parson". When not satirising the internecine struggles of the German émigrés they chronicle the establishment of a 'provisional government' which included von Rönge, and their attempts to raise money to overthrow the governments of the German states.

In 1859, the von Rönges moved to Manchester where they opened a kindergarten at which they were joined by Maria Kraus Boelte who later founded with her husband the New York Seminary for Kindergartners. The von Rönge's stay in Manchester was short-lived as they soon encountered hostility from other supporters of the kindergarten who seem to have been hostile to Johannes' unorthodoxy in religious matters. In 1860 they handed over their kindergarten in Manchester to Mrs Fretwell, a Unitarian, and went to Leeds to open another kindergarten.

von Rönge's Religion of Humanity described by Stewart and McCann was close to Unitarianism, a religion which appealed to many supporters of the kindergarten in England. He is listed in a biographical dictionary of Unitarians and Universalists.

In 1861, following the granting of an amnesty, Johannes von Rönge returned to Germany where he joined his wife who died in 1863.

The bold movement of the young Catholic priest of Prussian Silesia at one time seemed to promise greater political and religious liberty in Europe. That it failed was due partly to the faults of the reformer, but mainly to the disagreement of the Liberals of Germany upon a matter of dogma, which prevented them from unity of action. von Rönge died in October, 1887.

John Greenleaf Whittier wrote a poem, "To Rönge", commemorating von Rönge. Dante Gabriel Rossetti wrote a poem, "Johannes von Rönge", commemorating von Rönge.

Works in English

• A practical guide to the English kindergarten with Berthe von Rönge (London 1875)
• The autobiography and justification of Johannes von Rönge translated into English by John Lord and (London 1846)
• The holy coat of Treves, and the new German-Catholic church (Edinburgh 1845)

External links

• Johannes von Rönge (1813-1887.)
• German-Americans at hermannmonument.com