Father Nicholas Diessbach sent a 1790 message to Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II.1 It first mentions the political difficulties Leopold encountered when ascending to the throne of Austria. These challenges threatened the very existence of the Holy Roman German Empire. Father Diessbach enumerates these difficulties, which we will see in greater detail for better understanding.
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Revolutionary ideas had taken hold in Hungary and the Netherlands, especially after the events that erupted in France in 1789. These provinces threatened to break away from the Austrian crown. At the same time, Austria was engaged in a war against the Turks. Meanwhile, the prestige of Prussia, with its systematic hostility to the Habsburgs, was increasing. All these factors made the Holy Roman Empire’s situation extremely delicate and reduced Leopold’s chances of being elected emperor.
However, these challenges also prevented this revolutionary prince from implementing in Austria the Jansenist policies he had followed in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany.2 Under these circumstances, he was forced to be cautious, at least in the beginning.
In Italy, the clergy and nobility led the opposition to his actions.
In Austria, however, the errors of Josephism and Phebronianism were widespread, so its clergy posed no problem for the new sovereign. Indeed, the Austrian episcopate openly fought with the Holy See. They saw an alliance with the throne as their only chance of victory. Leopold II prudently avoided favoring the Jansenism he favored in Tuscany. He hid his adherence to this heresy to curry favor from the hierarchy. As for the nobility, he managed to win them over with good manners. This development led Father Diessbach to say, “You have already conquered the nobility, the monarchy’s main support, so wilfully ignored and despised.”
Father Diessbach’s message explained these difficulties and stated the conviction that the sovereign’s talent and ability could overcome them. However, they would not be solved if Leopold II did not become an authentic Catholic prince by fighting the heresies swarming in his states. He must be guided by the Gospel’s principles and become a faithful defender of the Holy See.
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Father Diessbach listed and refuted the errors preventing Leopold from becoming a great prince. He recalled Leopold’s sad connivance with Scipione de’ Ricci3 and Pietro Tamburini4 during his reign as Grand Duke of Tuscany.
Father Diessbach naturally began with Jansenism, asking: “Will you protect Jansenism in your new States? Will you heal the wounds that have opened up in the Church?” He then answered his questions. “I doubt it, and below are the reasons why my doubt is reasonable; their importance will emerge as I explain them.”
Father Deissbach exposed Leopold’s connection with Scipione de’ Ricci and Pietro Tamburini and then concluded:
“Yet, these evils persist; they appeared and multiplied under your eyes, and you did nothing to stop them. You seem to have done so convinced that their opinions are correct—a frightful conviction in a person as estimable as yours. You are protecting the authors of these evils in the face of all of Europe. What should we expect? Will you, Sir, protect Jansenism in your kingdom?”
Father Diessbach then gave a history of Jansenism and showed how the organization and conduct of its propaganda unveiled the existence of a program, party, or sect. The message observed: “It is a sect like all others, with this difference: Although it is the Church’s mortal enemy and has been condemned, it has so far succeeded in appearing united to the Church.”
Father Deissbach then refuted Jansenist doctrine, showed its errors, listed the acts of the Holy See denouncing them and highlighted the sectarians’ subterfuges to escape the Pope’s condemnations. The message ends with an appeal to Leopold II:
“Please deign to preserve us, great monarch, from such a pernicious heresy! Mind the precious souls of your subjects, redeemed by the blood of God. Do not burden your soul with the severe account you will have to render at God’s tribunal for supporting men refractory to His Church, who preach intrinsically criminal doctrines it has irrevocably condemned. O monarch: despite the great cares besetting you from all sides but unable to shake you, may you lively feel that matters concerning Religion supersede all others just as eternity rises above all passing things. May you see that strongly supporting the Catholic Church is your only choice in these sacred questions.”
Perhaps Father Diessbach dwelt a bit too much on the literary value of Jansenist books in this first part of his thorough refutation of Jansenism. He knew the Revolution in ideas well and sought to counter it with true Catholic doctrine. At any rate, he showed great strength in attacking Jansenism head-on and particularly Leopold II’s great friends, Scipione de’ Ricci and Pietro Tamburini, who shared his ideas and were mainstays of his revolutionary government in Tuscany.
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Footnotes
- Unfortunately, this document – written in German – is (as of this writing) unavailable in English. A copy of the original exists in the archives of the Oblates of the Virgin Mary. Dr. Roberto de Mattei discusses it briefly in a 2021 article in Rarate Caeli about the “Minoritenkirche” in Vienna.
“In the winter of 1790, when Joseph II died, Diessbach presented the new Emperor Leopold II with a Memorial that constitutes a true “manifesto” of cultural and political action. The historian Ernst Karl Winter (1895-1859), who was the first to perceive its importance, wanted to see in it the lines of that Staats Romantik which would constitute the model of Austrian political Catholicism in the nineteenth century (Romantik, ” Zeitschrift für Schweizerische Kirchengeschichte,” 21 (1927), pp. 81-102).”
- Leopold ruled the Duchy of Tuscany from 1765 until his accession to the Austrian throne at the death of his brother, Joseph II.
- Scipione de’ Ricci (1741-1810) was the Bishop of Pistoria. He was sympathetic to Jansenism and convened the Synod of Pistoia in 1786. Pope Pius VI condemned the decisions of that Synod in 1794. Ricci resigned as bishop in 1791.