1 Foundations and Organization, Public Charges » 16 Church and State

Papal Bull concerning the Union of the Canton of Schwyz with the Diocese of Chur

(December 16, 1824)

Leo, Bishop, Servant of the Servants of God, for an everlasting remembrance.

The care for the welfare of all Christendom, incumbent upon Our Lowliness, moves Us to apply the bestowal of apostolic benevolence to the achievement of that through which, in Our conviction, the benefit of the Christian flock can best be promoted. With this intention, We believe We ought to lend the most support to those detachments and new divisions of the old bishoprics, by which spiritual administration can be made easier and more convenient for the faithful people. Since Pope Pius VII, of blessed memory, Our predecessor, many years ago, for legitimate and weighty reasons, detached and separated the territory of the Canton of Schwyz from the ancient, large Diocese of Constance, and thereupon, by an apostolic letter in the form of a breve dated the ninth of October, one thousand eight hundred and nineteen, transferred the spiritual administration of the said territory to the venerable Brother Karl Rudolph, Bishop of Chur, at the discretion of the Apostolic See, and currently the Government of the said Canton of Schwyz has presented to Us the humble petition to permanently unite and incorporate the aforesaid territory with the Diocese of Chur, with the simultaneous allocation of sufficient endowment for these purposes, We have therefore entered into agreement with the aforementioned Bishop, as well as the Government, through the mediation of the Apostolic Nunciature to the Swiss Confederation, and after mature deliberation of all circumstances, deemed it good to favorably accede to the presented petition in the Lord. With reliable knowledge and mature deliberation, by virtue of Our and the Apostolic See's plenitude of power, We unite and attach, and therefore We incorporate the entire territory of the Canton of Schwyz, which was formerly detached, separated, and severed from the said Diocese of Constance and consists of thirty localities or parishes, namely, Schwyz, Arth, Steinen, Muotathal, Morschach, Iberg, Sattel, Illgau, Lauerz, Ingenbohl, Steinerberg, Rothenthurm, Riemenstalden, Alpthal, Gersau, Lachen, Altendorf, Galgenen, Schübelbach, Reichenburg, Tuggen, Wangen, Nuolen, Vorder-Wägithal, Hinter-Wägithal, Einsiedeln, Küssnacht, Wollerau, Freienbach, and Feusisberg, entirely and forever with the Diocese of Chur, with all and every church, benefice, clergy, and people, secular and regular clergy (with reservation of the exempted) of every status, degree, and profession, situated within the boundaries of the said localities and parishes of the Canton of Schwyz, and We subject and submit the said territory to the ordinary jurisdiction, government, and power of the present and future Bishop of Chur for all future times.

We likewise decree that in the Chapter of the Cathedral Church of Chur, for the Canton of Schwyz, two non-resident, so-called external canons shall be appointed, who shall be inhabitants and citizens of the Canton of Schwyz, distinguished by learning, prudence, purity of morals, laudable exercise of ecclesiastical functions, and other canonical qualities according to the testimony of the Bishop, who shall enjoy the same rights and privileges as the existing external canons of the same Chapter, and particularly shall be summoned to the election of the Bishop with equal seat and voting right, and shall form an integral and constitutional part of those fifteen canons of which the Chur Cathedral Chapter shall consist in the future. Concerning the bestowal of these canonries, which We reserve to Ourselves and the Apostolic See for this first time, We permit that in future vacancies, the appointment shall alternate monthly between the Government of the Canton of Schwyz and the Cathedral Chapter of Chur, and accordingly, in the months of January, March, May, July, September, and November, it shall pertain to the Chapter, whereas in the remaining months, namely, February, April, June, August, October, and December, it shall pertain to the Government, provided, however, that the Chapter, while observing the recommendations of the Government, and the Government itself, in turn, shall choose no others than inhabitants and citizens of the Canton of Schwyz, who, as stated above, are distinguished by purity of morals, prudence, learning, laudable exercise of spiritual functions, and other canonical qualities. Furthermore, every person chosen by the Chapter must receive canonical institution to his benefice from the respective Bishop of Chur, and every person chosen by the Cantonal Government must seek the apostolic letter of collation from the Datary before he can take possession of the benefice or receive the revenues therefrom, while, however, the legal and currently valid practice regarding the election of the previous canons of the Chapter of Chur remains in full force in all parts.

For some compensation, however, to the present and future Bishop of Chur, whose burden of pastoral office is significantly increased by this union, We decree that annually, on the Feast of Saint Martin, in his episcopal residence, as the Canton of Schwyz has committed itself to do, one thousand and five Swiss francs shall be paid to him in cash and without the slightest deduction, which We permanently assign and appropriate to the episcopal table; likewise, We decree that the aforesaid two external canons shall be paid four hundred and eighty Swiss francs annually, free of charge, in accordance with the commitment issued by the aforementioned Canton. And since the clerics of the said Canton of Schwyz are to be admitted to the episcopal seminary in Chur (which, according to the express acknowledgment and promise of the Cantonal Government, shall remain, as hitherto, so also in the future, under the immediate direction of the Bishop), to be educated and instructed therein, We allocate to the same seminary an annual sum of four hundred and eighty francs, which the Canton of Schwyz has promised to pay each year for its poorer clerics residing in the episcopal seminary. However, in order to ensure the payment and security of the said sums allocated each year to the Bishop, the two external canons of the Canton of Schwyz, and the seminary in Chur, in a permanent manner, the Canton of Schwyz is obligated to allocate good, entirely free, and unencumbered funds corresponding to the capital value of thirty-five thousand Schwyzer Gulden, which shall remain the property of the Church. The Government of the Canton of Schwyz may, however, at the request of the respective Bishop, take over and manage these foundations, but under the following conditions and prerequisites, namely: that these foundations be the real property of the Church and that they permanently be at the disposal of the Church, that the annual revenues therefrom be used for the purposes and endowments indicated above, as for the benefit of the episcopal table in Chur, the two external canons of the Canton of Schwyz, and the poorer Schwyzer clerics residing in the seminary of Chur, that the respective Bishop of Chur be entitled, either personally or through his delegate, to supervise the administration of the aforementioned foundations and the distribution of the funds, and that the foundations themselves may not at any time or under any pretext be removed from the place or transferred outside the borders of the Canton of Schwyz, and finally, that if, in the course of time, the yield of these foundations should prove insufficient, the Government of the Canton shall nevertheless be obliged to pay in full the relevant annual sums promised for the episcopal table, the two external canons, and the poorer Schwyzer seminarians. In the same way, the Canton of Schwyz shall not participate in the existing endowment of the episcopal see and the Chur seminary, nor in the former conditions and state in which those endowments were found, so that in this respect it incurs neither obligations nor consequences for the future, nor is it obligated to any other burden than insofar as it has taken such upon itself according to the above.

Finally, concerning the election of the Bishop of Chur, We decree that it shall be carried out by the Cathedral Chapter according to the legal and hitherto customary practice, whereby the new Schwyzer external canons shall enjoy equal rights with the existing canons of Chur, with reservation and acknowledgment, however, of the right granted to the St. Gall Cathedral Chapter to participate with the Chapter of Chur in the election of the Bishop of Chur and St. Gall, in accordance with the apostolic bull of Pope Pius VII, of blessed memory, Our predecessor, issued on the second of July, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-three.

Concerning this, We grant to the venerable Brother Ignatius, Bishop of Cyrus, Our and the Holy See's Nuncio to the Swiss Confederation, and in his absence to the beloved son Paschal Gizzi, Auditor of the Apostolic Nunciature in Lucerne, whom We choose and commission as the executor of this apostolic bull, all powers necessary and suitable for the complete achievement of the foregoing purpose, including the power to delegate any other person holding ecclesiastical dignity in his place, and to finally and without any appeal decide freely and competently on any objection that may arise in any way during the act of execution, with due observance of legal reservations. We also entrust to the same executor to send authentic copies of all acts to be drawn up for the purpose of executing the above, in due course, to Rome, so that they may be preserved in the archives of this sacred Consistorial Congregation, as is customary.

We also wish and decree that the present Bull cannot be challenged or contested either under the pretext that those involved or claiming to be involved were not summoned and heard and did not consent to its provisions, nor by the objection of surreptitious obtainment, or nullity, or the absence of Our will, but shall always be and remain valid and effective and shall obtain and retain its full and undiminished effects, and shall be inviolably observed by all whom it concerns, without the rule that an acquired right may not be abrogated, nor any rule existing with Us or the Apostolic Chancery, nor any special or general apostolic constitutions and ordinances issued in synodal, provincial, or general councils of the aforesaid Church of Chur, even if they are based on apostolic confirmation or any other corroboration by statutes and customs and other contrary reasons, standing in the way in this matter. Let no one, therefore, presume to infringe upon this Our decree of detachment, separation, union, incorporation, subjection, endowment, allocation, ordinance, commission, authorization, decision, mandate, derogation, and declaration of will, or to act presumptuously against it. Whoever, however, should undertake this, let him know that he will incur the displeasure of Almighty God and of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul.

Given in Rome at Saint Peter's in the year of the Incarnation of the Lord one thousand eight hundred and twenty-four, on the sixteenth day of December, in the second year of Our Pontificate.

1 RGS I-88 with Latin text.

2 Rendered obsolete since the founding of the Diocese of St. Gall.