Deduction Concerning the Free Exercise of the Augsburg Confession in Silesia

...taken by His Serene Highness of Saxony John George I, Elector of Saxony, who briefly intervened in Silesia during the Thirty Years' War; but when they saw that the moving intercessions obtained by him from the Imperial court original: ad lam Imperatoriam bore little fruit, they either left all their property behind and went into exile with heartfelt mourning for their forced defection, or they waited under heavy and manifold spiritual anguish, in hope and silence original: in spe & silentio, for divine help and rescue. Subsequently, when the Elective-Saxon and other allied troops moved in, the new mercenaries A derogatory reference to the newly installed Catholic clergy and officials quickly cleared out, and the people brought back their former clergy and their banished council and school servants, re-introducing the practice term: Exercitium — the formal performance of religious rites of their religion with great joy and thanksgiving.

However, this remained so for only a short time. As soon as the Evangelical Protestant army vacated the land upon the signing of the Peace of Prague term: Prager Accord — The 1635 treaty between the Holy Roman Emperor and the Elector of Saxony, which failed to secure permanent rights for Silesian Protestants, the coercion of conscience began anew. The churches were "reformed" returned to Catholic control once again, and the Evangelical religion was abolished and banned under the pretext that His Imperial and Royal Majesty wished to graciously restore the hereditary principalities to their previous religious status as it had been in the year 1631. Yet, such a preceding status and its alleged de facto possession original: quasi Possession was already tainted and burdened by the violence and previously unheard-of actions known to the whole land and world. People were pinned and harassed no less than before; they were forced to attend confession, mass, processions, and pilgrimages through imprisonment, monetary fines, the threat of the tax register original: Steckung des Urbars, and the denial of citizenship rights and marriage term: Copulation — the legal and religious act of joining a couple in wedlock. Hearing the Divine Word in the villages was strictly forbidden by locking the city gates on Sundays and imposing heavy fines original: mulctas. Specifically, the country people were strictly original: districtè prohibited—even under penalty of 500 Thalers—from housing, sheltering, or providing any assistance on their land to the banished and expelled preachers term: Prædicanten — the standard term for Protestant ministers at the time (for so they call the Evangelical preachers and servants of God's Word). Even the deceased Christian bodies were not spared; they were practically ransomed through unusual demands for money, and yet had to be carried to unhallowed places without bells or singing, and without light or cross original: sine lux & crux — a "quiet" burial denied the traditional honors of candles or a processional cross.

Indeed, in one notable city, it went so far, and the Evangelical religion and its adherents were treated so shamefully, that the executioner was sent along with the jailer into the neighboring Evangelical villages to catch the townspeople who were going to church in those villages. This indeed happened, and at one time about thirty persons—mostly poor village folk—were caught and brought into the city by this "honorable" company. Each of them, whether they were rich or poor, had to pay a certain ransom term: Ranzion — a fee paid to secure release from custody, of which one half went to the executioner and the jailer, and the other half was to go to the Catholic priest.