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

Brief of Pope Gregory XVI concerning the Grant of a Free Place in the Collegium Germanicum in Rome to the Canton of Schwyz

**(Dated September 23, 1842)**

To Our Beloved Sons, the Landammann and Councillors of the Canton of Schwyz, in Schwyz.

Beloved Sons, Greetings and Apostolic Blessing. We address this letter to you, Beloved Sons, and to the entire people of the Canton of Schwyz, to attest to the sentiments of Our paternal and extraordinary love, and above all, to express Our gratitude for the kindness, honour, reverence, esteem, and very special goodwill with which Our apostolic Nuncio was received there seven years ago and has been treated ever since. When, recently, due to changed circumstances, the relocation of the seat of Our Nuncio to Lucerne had to be considered, We saw, to Our no small sorrow, that his departure from your city would be painful to all classes. Although exceedingly weighty reasons regarding the welfare of religion did not permit Us to desist from this intention, We have nevertheless decided, on this occasion, to manifest Our goodwill through other proofs, through which the memory of the merit of the Canton of Schwyz towards this Holy See shall be indelibly passed down to posterity.

Therefore, besides the special honours which We found Ourselves moved to bestow upon the present heads of state and their immediate predecessors, We have granted to your principal church the privilege of a plenary indulgence, which the faithful, when they perform a pious prayer there, can gain twice annually, according to the explanations of the enclosed apostolic brief issued under the Fisherman's Ring. Furthermore, with this Our letter, We make known Our decision that a free place in the Collegium Germanicum in Our city shall be allotted to a youth from your canton, who wishes to dedicate himself to the service of the Church and is found to be endowed with the necessary aptitudes according to the provisions of the apostolic statutes for the said College. In this way, there will truly be someone in Rome for all future generations who will also bear witness to Our successors of the goodwill that the Canton of Schwyz has earned from Us; and thus, there will never be a lack of clerics, introduced to ecclesiastical sciences in this College, who can say that they owe their education to the merit of their ancestors. We would have wished, moreover, Beloved Sons, to be able to express the sentiment of Our gratitude to you and your fellow citizens in other ways, had it been within Our power. To the aforementioned proofs given according to Our means, We add the apostolic blessing, which We impart with full love from the depths of Our heart and united with the wish of true happiness to yourselves and the entire people of Schwyz.

Given in Rome at Santa Maria Maggiore, on September 23, 1842, in the twelfth year of Our Pontificate.

1 RGS I 783 with Latin text.