Johannes Ronge

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

Johannes Ronge 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, Ronge helped form the New Catholics. The first congregation was in Breslau and within less than a year grew to over 8,000 members.

Ronge 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 Mayer, sister of Carl Schurz's wife, Margarethe. Many churches followed his example and the New Catholics grew rapidly. Ronge 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", Ronge 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, Ronge was excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church and lived in exile in London.

While in London, Johannes Ronge was subject to surveillance by The Police Union of German States. They were also interested in Bertha Ronge 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 Ronge 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 Ronge, and their attempts to raise money to overthrow the governments of the German states.

In 1859, the Ronges 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 Ronge'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.

Ronge'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 Ronge 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. Fact|date=February 2007 Ronge died in October, 1887.

John Greenleaf Whittier wrote a poem, "", commemorating Ronge.

Works in English

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

External links

* [http://www.roehampton.ac.uk/staff/kevin%20j.brehony/web/Johannes_Ronge.html Johannes Ronge (1813-1887.)]