CONCORDAT (Fr., agreement). A term used to designate a compact dealing with eccle siastical affairs between the Pope. as bead of the Roman Catholic Church, and the temporal ruler of a State. Concordats commonly relate to things which are neither purely spiritual nor purely temporal, but mixed matters, in regard to which the action of the two powers can with difficulty be dissociated. Concordats may be framed either in the form of a treaty, to which both the contracting powers are consenting par ties, or enacted by proclamation issued only by one party, most commonly by the Pope, embody ing in the form of a decree the regulations result ing from the terms of agreement previously arrived at. The difference is only in form. It is a settled doctrine of Roman Catholic canon ista, and especially of those of the Ultramon tane (q.v.) school, that the Pope never abso lutely cedes purely spiritual powers. Thus, in the presentation to bishoprics, while the King `nominated' or 'elected,' the Pope always re served to himself the power of 'canonical insti tution.' There have been many famous con cordats, of which the following are the most important: (1) Concordats with Germany.— The well-known Concordat of Worms in 1122, respecting investitures, is commonly regarded as the first concordat strictly so called. Similar agreements took place on the question of the Regalia (q.v.), between the Roman See and the emperors Otho IV.. Frederick 11.. and Rudolph of Hapsburg. A more comprehensive compact on Church matters is that of which the foundation was laid at Constance in 1418, and which was subsequently modified by the `Frankfort' or Princes' Concordat,' by the Concordat of Aschaf fenburg, and by that of Vienna, which last, although practically disregarded by Joseph II. and his successor, Leopold II., continued in use till the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806. Its place was supplied, under Pius VII. and his immediate successors, by separate con cordats with Bavaria, 1817; Prussia, 1821; Baden, Wiirttemberg, and other minor States, 1818; Hanover, IS24; and Saxony. 1S27. The last German concordat was that concluded at Vienna. August IS, 1855. This provided for the fullest. Papal authority in the Austrian dominions. The Church was to control education and to exercise a censorship over the press. The ecclesiastical courts were accorded special privileges. The Emperor was to nominate bishops, hut only with the advice of the existing bishops and arch bishops. The Church might acquire new prop
erty. but once acquired. it could not he sold or mortgaged without the consent of both Pope and Emperor. This concordat, so favorable to the Papacy, was set aside in 1868 in all the dominions of the Emperor of Austria. (2) With France.—The Pragmatic Sanetion, ascribed to Saint Louis, but really of later date, has some of the characteristics of a concordat ; but the first proper concordat is that of Bologna, concluded by Francis I. with Leo X. in 1515 and 1516, which continued in force, although with more than one conflict of the two powers. till the Revo lution. In reestablishing the Church in France. Napoleon Bonaparte, as First Consul, concluded with Pius VII. the celebrated Concordat of I801, which be afterwards compelled the Pope, then a captive at Fontainebleau, to modify by a new act in 1814 Both were ignored at the Restoration; but an attempt to produce a substitute in 1817, and again in IS19, led to no result. (3) With Italy.—In Italy, an agreement regulating the election of bishops was concluded with Nice and Savoy by Nicholas V. in 1415; and a formal con cordat was made with Sardinia by Benedict X1V. in 1740. The ecclesiastical affairs of Naples were anciently regulated by the terms of what was called the Monarehia Sicilia; but a formal concordat was made by Pius VII. in 1818. (4) With Spain.—Charles I. concluded a concordat for his Spanish kingdom with Adrian VI. and Clement VII.; and a further concordat was made by Clement XfI. and Philip V. in 1737. (5) With Portugal.—Benedict XIV. made a con cordat with Portugal in 1741. Besides these, the Papacy has from time to time made many similar concordats with various small powers, especially with South American States in the nineteenth century. The age of concordats has passed away with the establishment of the pre ponderance of the State over the Church, and no great power to-day would bind itself as Austria did in 1855.
Consult: Phillimore, Commentaries on Inter national Law (London, 1889) ; Seche, Les ori pines du Concordat (Paris, 1S94). The texts of the various concordats will be found in the col lections of Munch (Leipzig, 1830) ; Nussi (Mainz, 1870) ; Walter (Bonn, 1862) ; Balve (Munich, 1863) ; often with extensive commen taries. See AUSTRIA-HUNGARY; CONSTANCE, COUNCIL OP; GERMANY ; HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE; INVESTITURE; NAPOLEON I.; Pius VII.