Luxembourg

LUXEMBOURG. - I. GEOGRAPHY. - Small independent state of 2,586 sq. km., enclosed between the frontiers of France, Belgium and Germany.

The territory consists of two clearly distinct natural regions: the southern part (Gutland), a continuation of the plains of Lorraine, crossed by the valleys of the Moselle and several of its tributaries (alt. 130-300 m.); the northern part (Eislech), formed by the eastern end of the Ardennes, with wooded hills and valleys deeply cut by several watercourses (alt. 300-560 m.). The climate is intermediate between maritime and continental, though closer to the former, with abundant rain and very pronounced temperature variations between north and south. The population, 291,000 (1950; density 114 per sq. km.), virtually stationary for twenty years, includes about 20,000 foreigners, almost exclusively industrial and agricultural workers. Agriculture and livestock raising, although practiced in advanced forms, are not sufficient for domestic consumption. Cultivated land 43.8% of the area, viticulture 0.45%, pastures 17.7%, forests 34%. The basis of Luxembourg's economy is industry: the iron and steel industry, which works local ore, alone absorbs two-thirds of the population and places the small state in fourth place among European producers (2.6 million tons of pig iron, and 2.4 of steel in 1948). The language spoken in Luxembourg is the Luxembourgish dialect. Given the country's geographical situation, the two languages, French and German, are recognized as official; they are learned by everyone from elementary school onward. Luxembourg is a constitutional grand duchy, with an elective government with unicameral representation. The capital, Luxembourg, has 62,000 inhabitants.

Giuseppe Caraci

II. HISTORY

A sandy area, a zone of transit and encounter between the populations of Gaul, then of France, and those of Germany, L. entered history with the victory of Labienus over the Treveri (54 B.C.), which sealed its acceptance into Roman civilization. Subject to the Franks in 459 A.D., it began to assume the physiognomy of an independent political and territorial entity in 963, when Sigfrid, count of the Ardennes, gathered around the castle of L. certain territories marked by the valleys of the Moselle and the Alzette, reaching northward as far as the Salm. After the usual territorial divisions inherent in the feudal regime, the Ardennes, extinct in 1136, were succeeded by the collateral branch of the counts of Namur (1136-1247), a period characterized by the development of the cities (charters, granted by Countess Ermesinda [1196-1247]) and by the expansion of L. both toward the north and, above all, toward the south (Thionville) and west, with the inclusion of the marquisate of Arlon. From this moment, as a consequence of these territorial changes, the very ethnic and cultural physiognomy of L. was modified, since, alongside the German element, hitherto predominant, the Walloon element of the western counties came to assert itself.

The house of Namur was then succeeded by the house of Limburg (1247-1443), from which came Henry VII, who, elected Emperor in 1308, went to Italy in 1310, where he was hailed by Dante as a restorer of justice, peace and liberty. Crowned at the Lateran in 1312, he died the following year on the way back from Rome (at Buonconvento, Siena). He ceded the county to his son John the Blind, king of Bohemia; the latter's son, the emperor Charles IV of Bohemia, raised it to the dignity of a duchy (1354), entrusting it to his brother Wenceslaus I, who continued to extend the Duchy greatly toward the west, incorporating the county of Chiny along the valley of the Semois. There then followed the period of greatest fortune and prosperity for L., since with Wenceslaus II (1383) there began an era of struggles among the various claimants (to whom the Duchy had been mortgaged, on various grounds), which came to an end when Philip the Good, duke of Burgundy, in 1443 succeeded in having himself recognized as sovereign. L. thus became part of the Netherlands, while still maintaining certain privileges. Over it, in chronological order, ruled the dukes of Burgundy (1443-82), the Habsburgs (1482-1553), the Habsburgs of Spain (1555-1714) except for the period 1684-1697 in which it fell under French rule, Austria (1714-95), and France (from 1795 to 1815).

With the Treaties of Vienna of 1815, L., diminished in favor of Prussia by various eastern districts, erected into a grand duchy, was given to William I, king of the Netherlands, to be possessed in perpetuity and in a personal capacity by him and his successors. Thus the autonomy and political personality of L. were recognized, though it too had to be part of the German Confederation. A Prussian garrison took up quarters in the fortress of L. The Belgian revolution of 1830, in which all of L. (except the capital) took part as though it had been a province of the Netherlands, resulted for the Grand Duchy in a new territorial division, the last after all those suffered in times past. The Treaties of 19 April 1839, in sanctioning the separation of Belgium from the Netherlands, assigned to the former the entire substantial western, Walloon part of the old grand duchy, that is the five districts: Arlon, Bastogne, Marche, Neufchâteau and Virton, while the eastern part with only three districts, mostly German-speaking, continued in personal union with the Netherlands and as part of the German Confederation, with which in 1842 a customs union agreement was concluded.

After a first constitution received in 1841 from King-Grand Duke William II, that of 1848 was more markedly liberal. Once the German Confederation ceased in 1866, L. at the London conference of 1867 was declared independent and neutral, after the tension between the France of Napoleon III, who had proposed to William III to buy back L. from him, and Prussia, which opposed it, had become bitter, almost a prelude to the crisis of 1870. In 1890, as a consequence of the extinction of the male line of Orange-Nassau, the personal union with the Netherlands came to an end, with the accession to the throne of Grand Duke Adolph of Nassau, whose descendants still sit today on the grand-ducal throne.

His son, William IV, married the duchess Maria Anna of Bragança, and subsequently the dynasty of L. became Catholic, to the satisfaction of the entirely Catholic people. As no male heir had been born from this marriage, the family statute was changed and, in 1912, the eldest daughter, Marie-Adélaïde, ascended the throne.

On 1 August 1914 Germany violated the neutrality of L. by invading and occupying the country for the entire duration of the war of 1914-18, which, by virtue of the treaty of 1867, could not defend itself. After the war, having recovered its independence, Grand Duchess Marie-Adélaïde, following internal difficulties, freely renounced the throne (9 January 1919) in favor of her sister Charlotte. The latter, given a certain tendency to unite L. with Belgium, consented to submit the institutional question to a plebiscite (28 September 1919): 80% of the voters pronounced in favor of Grand Duchess Charlotte and the reigning dynasty. In November 1919 Charlotte married Prince Felix of Bourbon-Parma (six children: hereditary Grand Duke Prince Jean, b. 1921).

In the Second World War, on 10 May 1940, L. was again invaded by the Germans, while the Grand Duchess and her government placed themselves alongside the Allies to defend the interests of the country. Shortly after the occupation a civil government (Gauleiter) was instituted there, which, faced with the open opposition of the people, distinguished itself with oppressive measures against the population (conscription of young men for the German army, forced labor, political deportations [15% of the population], internment in concentration camps, capital sentences) and against the Church (suppression of convents, cancellation of the clergy's stipend, imprisonment and expulsion of priests and religious).

After the liberation (10 September 1944), the neutrality of L., twice violated, was declared lapsed. At present L., which was among the founding members of the U.N., maintains an army, is part of the Western Union and is among the countries adhering to the Atlantic Pact.

III. DIOCESE

From the point of view of religious administration, Luxembourg was divided mainly between the dioceses of Trier and Liège, while some minor territories belonged to three other dioceses. Philip II, king of Spain, was the first to open negotiations in 1579 to create the diocese of Luxembourg, which failed following the opposition raised by two of the Ordinaries concerned. During the second French domination, after Napoleon's Concordat (1801) Luxembourg was united to the diocese of Metz and, from 1823, assigned to that of Namur. Established as an apostolic vicariate by a brief of Gregory XVI in 1840, it was erected as a diocese by a motu proprio of Pius IX in 1870, and recognized by the government in 1873. Since 1908 it is immediately subject to the Holy See. It comprises the territory of the Grand Duchy. It has a Chapter with 8 non-residential canons; a major seminary of philosophy and theology; 14 deaneries, 267 parishes, 112 vicariates, 363 churches, 495 priests; of its 291,000 inhabitants, 289,500 are Catholics (1950).

Most famous above all are the dancing procession at Echternach, where the tomb of St. Willibrord, apostle of the Netherlands (d. 739), is located, and the national feasts in honor of the Madonna under the title Consolatrix afflictorum, patroness of the homeland and of the city. From the third to the fifth Sunday after Easter, very numerous pilgrimages are made by all the neighboring parishes and provinces.

In the diocese there are Benedictines, Franciscans, Jesuits, Redemptorists, White Fathers, Priests of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Brothers of Mercy of St. Mary Help of Christians, Brothers of the Christian Schools, Canonesses of St. Augustine, Benedictines, Dominicans, Carmelites, Sisters of the Poor Child Jesus, of the Poverelle of Bergamo, Hospitallers of St. Elizabeth, of the Mercy of the Third Order of St. Francis, of St. Zita, of the Christian Doctrine, of the Divine Savior, of Charity.

The Catholic press, Catholic Action and the missionary works are very flourishing. In the missions Luxembourg occupies a place of honor.

Emilio Donckel

IV. LEGAL STATUS OF THE CHURCH

There is no concordat between the Holy See and Luxembourg. The position of the Church is established, in substance, by Napoleon I's Concordat of 1801, with the exception, however, of the so-called "organic articles." It is regulated by the Constitution of 1868 and by a law of 1873, the latter of which establishes that the bishop of Luxembourg must have Luxembourgish nationality and take an oath; and that, moreover, his appointment must receive, in order to produce civil effects, among them financial treatment, the approval of the sovereign.

Article 26 of the Constitution provides that the establishment in Luxembourgish territory of a religious corporation must be authorized by law. In fact many religious congregations have established themselves there without authorization, and since difficulties have never arisen, it may be said that the constant practice of nearly a century has interpreted Article 26 in the sense that legal authorization is necessary only in order to obtain civil legal personality, which is then granted, in part, by assimilating religious congregations to public charitable institutions, that is, to private institutions that provide a service of general interest.

In addition to civil marriage, sanctioned by the Constitution, the Civil Code has maintained the institution of divorce, established by decree of 1791, though placing considerable limits upon it.

The principle of freedom of teaching is not established in the Constitution, and the provisions contained in it concerning that matter (Article 23) are interpreted and applied by the government in the sense of claiming for itself the monopoly of teaching, with a few rare exceptions of little importance. Religious instruction, however, is compulsory in state schools.

The Holy See is represented in Luxembourg by an apostolic internuncio, whose mission is exercised by the apostolic nuncio in Belgium. - See plate CXVIII.

Ippolito Rotoli