Fraternity-Testvériség, 1960 (38. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1960-11-01 / 11. szám
10 FRATERNITY Catholicism himself. The result was that the Roman Church seized every opportunity it could to enforce “reversal”, and put every possible hindrance in the way of a Roman Catholic becoming a Protestant, one means being the charging of a huge sum of money for the necessary permit. Still another insult cast at the Reformed Church was a new Roman Catholic enactment that any Protestant couple becoming Catholic had to be remarried before a Roman priest. Towards the end of the 18th century Reformed theological students were once again refused permission to study in Holland, Switzerland or Prussia. In 1809 a general prohibition, at the instigation of the Roman Church, was made against all foreign travel whatsoever by members of the Protestant Churches unless with express personal permission from the Sovereign. In 1819' even this privilege was withdrawn, and the King- refused to make any exceptions whatsoever. In place of foreign study, Francis had previously invited all Hungarian students to study in an institution which the Court had set up in Vienna; but since its academic level was much inferior to the seminaries run by the Reformed Church in Hungary itself, few students had availed themselves of the privilege offered them. Rut with the thirties of the 19th century a crisis was developing in Hungarian feudalism, one evidence of which was the constant appearance of the “religious question” on the agenda of the national parliament. One reason for this persistence on the part of the Reformed Church was the growing discontent in Hungary with the idea that any self-respecting country must needs incorporate in its legal statute books the dogmas of an alien power. Throughout this whole decade there were many stormy scenes in the Hungarian parliament. Popular opinion was now becoming a real factor in a country whose peasantry was awaking from centuries of virtual serfdom, and popular opinion was on the side of the claims of the Protestant Churches. The leaders of these Churches felt sure that the time was now close
