A Tour in Catholic Teutonia, Part III [pp. 11-22]

makes the road by the much larger lake of Zurich seem tame and
tedious. t
At that great commercial Swiss city we put up at the H6tel
Baur au Lac, which is admirably situated, very comfortable,
and not extravagant in its charges. Here for the first time we
found a comfortable reading-room, well supplied with books and
papers. The day after our arrival being Sunday, and Zurich
being the headquarters of the new sect of Old Catholics, we were
anxious to see something of their doings, and also to get a peep
at the very venerable " minster"-the chief Protestant churchbefore service commenced. This involved early rising, as we
were told that all the churches except the Anglican church begin service at half-past eight. The minster is a very solemn
and early Romanesque church, square at either end. It was the
scene of Zwingli's preachings. A smaller church of the fourteenth
century was formerly assigned to the Catholics, but we found it in
the possession of the "Old Catholics." It was filled by a very
respectable-looking congregation, with a number of children of
both sexes. The seats being full, many men stood around them,
serious and devout in aspect, listening to a preacher who was
eloquent and seemed earnest. His subject was the small num-
ber of true believers in the days of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
WVe hastily left, expecting to be able to drive to the Catholic church in time for Mass, but on our arrival found it impossible to effect an entrance into it, each open door being
blocked by a crowd of devout Catholics, mostly of the peasant
class, bare-headed and very reverent. The church was a newly- *
erected structure, and the Bishop of Coire was then engaged in
consecrating it. After waiting some time we were able to ob-
tain a glimpse of the interior, which appeared to be in very good
taste. The bishop wore a Gothic mitre and was of a noble aspect. We then returned to witness what we could of the "Old
Catholic" Mass, and found the priest singing the Rater Noster in
German in the ordinary well-known tones. He wore a Roman A
chasuble. The genuflections before the Pax Domiizi sit semper
zobiscum and before the Domine inon sum dignus were omitted, but
the bell was rung three times at the latter. He sang one postcommunion only, omitted the Ite missa est, and left the altar immediately after the blessing. When the congregation had left
we walked round the church and noticed Latin altar-cards-this
on two side-altars. We asked a schoolmaster —who had been
conspicuous during the service-the reason of this, seeing that
the Mass itself was in German. He replied that they had been
A To &R IN CA THOLtC TE U7ONvi.
I4
[April,