Prisoner of the Vatican

by David I. Kertzer

  12. Lanza 1938, n. 2180, Fiorentini a Lanza, 21 novembre 1870.

  13. Lanza 1938, n. 2229, Fiorentini a Lanza, 17 dicembre 1870.

  14. Matteo Liberatore, "L'Unità italiana e l'intervento straniero," Civiltà Cattolica 1871, II, pp. 145–56. Many in the Vatican saw no reason why it should not happen again this time. Even before Rome was taken, some were advising the pope to follow the strategy he had successfully used back then. In late 1866, Odo Russell reported that "the Jesuit party" was urging the pope "to fly from the Vatican and seek a safe asylum abroad, from whence he would call upon the Catholic Powers to protect the Holy Church against the Revolution and go to war with Italy" (Blakiston 1962, n. 357, Odo Russell to Lord'S., 4 December 1866).

  15. DDI, series 1, vol. 13, n. 341, Il Conte Kulczycki al Segretario Generale agli Esteri, Blanc, 30 luglio 1870; n. 528, Il Conte Kulczycki al Segretario Generale agli Esteri, Blanc, 18 agosto 1870.

  16. Lanza 1938, n. 1901, Cornacchi a Lanza, 6 settembre 1870.

  17. Lanza 1938, n. 1929, Maurizio a Lanza, Genova, 9 settembre 1870. With the approach of the Italian army, Antonelli began a flurry of correspondence with his nuncios, urging them to explore the attitudes of the various foreign powers. Would they provide a refuge for the elderly pontiff? On August 22,1870, the papal nuncio in Vienna reported Austria's decision to offer the Holy Father asylum in "an Italian city of the Empire: either Trent, or Gorizia, or Zara, or some other city in Dalmatia." These lands, populated by ethnic Italians, lay in the area in the northeast of Italy, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Two days later the nuncio reported that the Austrians were prepared to send transport ships to carry off the pope and all those in his entourage (ASV, SS, EM, a. 1870, r. 165, fasc. 2, ff. 17V, 22v; 22, 24 agosto 1870).

  18. Arnim quote in Halperin 1939, pp. 59–60. A report received by Visconti four days after the taking of Rome added to the government's anxieties. Albert Blanc, secretary general of Foreign Affairs, telegraphed him with the news that, while Antonelli was urging the pope to stay in Rome, various influential cardinals were pleading with him to go (DDI, series 2, vol. 1, n. 42, 24 settembre 1870).

  19. Martina 1990a, pp. 248–49.

  20. These quotations and those that follow from the cardinals responding to the pope's request are found in AAEESS, SE, pos. 968, fasc. 318, ff. 38r ff: "1870, c. eventuale partenza del Sommo Pontefice Pio IX da Roma."

  21. Emphasis in the original letter.

  22. E.g., Cadorna 1889, pp. 369–70, Il Ministro del Re a Londra al Ministro degli Affari Esteri, 27 settembre 1870.

  23. DDI, series 2, vol. 1, n. 99, Ministro degli Affari Esteri, Visconti Venosta, al Ministro a Berlino, de Launay, 28 settembre 1870; n. 100, Ministro degli Affari Esteri, Visconti Venosta, al Ministro a Vienna, Minghetti, 28 settembre 1870.

  24. DDI, series 2, vol. 1, n. 114, Il Segretario Generale agli Esteri, Blanc, al Ministro degli Esteri, Visconti Venosta, 28 settembre 1870.

  25. DDI, series 2, vol. 1, n. 109, Il Segretario Generale agli Esteri, Blanc, al Ministro degli Esteri, Visconti Venosta, 28 settembre 1870.

  26. DDI, series 2, vol. 1, n. 113, Il Generale Masi al Presidente del Consiglio e Ministro dell'Interno, Lanza, 27–28 settembre 1870.

  27. DDI, series 2, vol. 1, n. 125, Il Ministro a Vienna, Minghetti, al Ministro degli Esteri, Visconti Venosta, 29 settembre 1870.

  28. The British documents are quoted in Wallace 1948, pp. 131–32. On Arnim, see Bagdasarian 1976, pp. 146–47.

  29. DDI, series 2, vol. 1, n. 138, Il Segretario Generale agli Esteri, Blanc, al Ministro degli Esteri, Visconti Venosta, 30 settembre 1870; Wallace 1948, p. 131.

  30. ASV, SS, EM, a.1870, r. 165, fasc.1, ff. 28v–29r, Archevêche de Tours, 30 settembre 1870; f. 30V., Antonelli, 8 ottobre 1870.

  31. Halperin 1939, pp. 77–78; Wallace 1948, pp. 135–36.

  32. Found in Halperin 1939, p. 89, his English translation: Favre to Lefebvre de Béhaine, March 26,1871.

  33. Rothan 1885, pp. 355–58, Dépêche de M. Favre à M. Rothan. 16 mars 1871.

  34. Found in Halperin 1939, p. 89, his translation: Favre to Choiseul, April 20,1871.

  35. DDI, series 2, vol. 2, n. 377, Visconti al Ministro a Versailles, Nigra, 19 aprile 1871.

  36. Halperin 1939, p. 156, Kâlnoky to Beust, June 20,1871 (translation by Halperin).

  37. DDI, series 2, vol. 2, n. 498, Conte Kulczycki a Lanza, 11 giugno 1871; n. 554, Conte Kulczycki a Lanza, 23 giugno 1871.

  38. DDI, series 2, vol. 2, n. 574, Principe E. Ruspoli al Ministro degli Esteri, Visconti Venosta, 29 giugno 1871.

  8. The Papal Martyr

  1. Martina 1971, pp. 316–17.

  2. Quoted in Bartoccini 1985, p. 436.

  3. Thiers's enthusiasm for papal temporal power had little to do with religious commitment. Rather, he saw the unification of Italy as a threat to France. In a speech to the French legislature in 1865, for example, he had said: "As for me, I have always been convinced that Italian unity was a political idea that, sooner or later, would end up being very unfortunate for France" (d'Ideville 1875, p. 379).

  4. Quoted in Halperin 1939, p. 189.

  5. Quoted in Lecanuet 1931, p. 144. On Favre's attitude toward temporal power, see Guiral 1972, pp. 349–50.

  6. Quoted in Halperin 1939, p. 198; and Camiani 1976, p. 731, from De Franciscis 1872, vol. 1, p. 46.

  7. DDI, series 2, vol. 2, n. 428, Diomede Pantaleoni al Ministro degli Esteri, Visconti Venosta, 10 maggio 1871.

  8. Halperin 1939, pp. 202–7.

  9. Lecanuet 1931, pp. 149–51. Aubert, France's foremost historian of the Church in this period, argues that the main effect of all the French Catholic agitation on behalf of the pope in these years was to turn the Italian government away from France and into the arms of Germany (Aubert 1972, pp. 22–23).

  10. Halperin 1939, pp. 231–34.

  11. DDI, series 2, vol. 3, n. 210, L'incaricato d'affari a Parigi, Ressmann, al Ministro degli Esteri, Visconti Venosta, 10 novembre 1871.

  12. Despite all the assurances they were getting. Among others, they included the French foreign minister's assurances to the Italian ambassador, Costantino Nigra, at the beginning of December 1870, that, for the moment at least, the danger that the pope would leave had lessened. A few days later, Adolphe Thiers himself assured Nigra that the pope was getting no encouragement from the French to leave Rome (DDI, series 2, vol. 3, n. 240, 243, Il Ministro a Parigi, Nigra, al Ministro degli Esteri, Visconti Venosta, 2 dicembre 1871, 6 dicembre 1871. DDI, series 2, vol. 3, n. 245, Il Conte Kulczycki al Segretario Generale degli Affari Esteri, Artom, 5 dicembre 1871).

  13. In Halperin 1939, p. 235.

  14. Among the discussions of the Orénoque episode, see Lecanuet 1931a, pp. 165–68; Hanotaux 1925, pp. 226–27; Graham 1952, pp. 28–29; Halperin 1939, pp. 267–68.

  15. DDI, series 2, vol. 4, n. 296, Il Ministro degli Esteri Visconti Venosta, al Ministro a Parigi, Nigra, 16 gennaio 1873.

  16. DDI, series 2, vol. 5, n. 220, Il Ministro degli Esteri Visconti Venosta, al Ministro a Parigi, Nigra, 15 gennaio 1874. Lecanuet 1931a, pp. 177–78.

  17. Pelczar 1911, v. 3, pp. 8–9.

  18. Raffaele Ballerini, "Il nodo romano," Civiltà Cattolica 1871,1, pp. 30–31.

  19. The story of the straw is told by Salvemini, cited by Valenti 1977, p. 14n13; Launay 1997. P. 14.

  20. Quoted in Pelczar 1911, p. 54, and translated back from his Italian into English.

  21. Pirri 1951, part 2, n. 139, Pio IX a Sua Maestà il Re Vittorio Emanuele, 21 agosto 1871.

  22. De Franciscis 1872, v. 3, Discorso CCCIII ai Capi degli Ordini Religiosi, 15 dicembre 1873; Discorso CCCVII. Alla Deputazione Belga, 25 dicembre 1873. Pursuing the same theme in an address in December 1872, the pope called attention to a rash of catastrophic fires and volcanos from Asia to America, claiming that they were clear signs of God's wrath at what had happened on September 20,1870 (Camiani 1976, p. 708).

  23. Cited in Gullo 1971, p. 128. Civiltà Cattolica, in late 18
71 and again the following year, put the matter this way: "Is it possible that God would allow His Church to define the necessity for the pope to have temporal power in such a solemn way when He actually desired such power to permanently or even for a long time to cease to exist?...To intend the abolition of temporal power, and at the same time have the infallible organ of Christian belief declare that such power is necessary to the regular workings of the Church ... What reason could God have to do such a thing?" (Matteo Liberatore, "Gli intendimenti divini sopra il potere temporale del papa nel tempo presente," Civiltà Cattolica 1871, IV, pp. 641–58).

  24. Gregorovius 1907, p. 437. But Pius did have various diversions to cheer him up. He delighted in receiving groups of small schoolchildren and was especially tickled, according to Perodi's unconfirmed report (1980, pp. 148–49), to hear them sing a song that their Catholic school teachers taught them for such visits:

  La bandiera tricolore The tricolored flag

  Sempre è stata la più brutta Has always been the ugliest

  La vogliamo stracciar tutta We want to tear it to pieces

  Calpestarla con i pié. Trample it under our feet.

  9. Anticlericalism in Rome

  1. Quoted in Chabod 1951, pp. 232–33, the last of which dates from 1875.

  2. Quotes from Garibaldi 1874, pp. 55,195,231, 298.

  3. Quotes from Garibaldi 1874, pp. 35, no, 156.

  4. Verucci 1996, pp. 296–97, 301–2. See Verucci 1996 more generally for this history of anticlericalism. The deputy's remarks are taken from Atti Ufficiali della Camera, p. 366, 24 gennaio 1871. On July 6,1871, at the pope's request, the cardinal vicar of Rome issued a prohibition, forbidding Catholics from reading any of a list of eleven newspapers, including La Capitale, on the grounds that reading them risked undermining their faith (Martina 1971, p. 356).

  5. Scholars have uncovered over 215 documents of Leo XIII containing condemnations of the Freemasons (Isastia 1989, p. 51).

  6. ASR, Questura di Roma, b.1, f.9 (1870), Frascati, n. 44,116, 134. Similar cases saw a conflict over priests refusing to baptize a child with the name Vittorio—the name of the Italian king—or accompanying a funeral procession in which someone was carrying an Italian flag (Gallon 1971, p. 92). Such incidents were innumerable.

  7. ASR, Questura di Roma, b.1, f.9 (1870), Roma—Presidenza del Rione III Colonna, Li 6 dicembre 1870, Oggetto: Progetto di dimostrazione politica.

  8. ASR, Questura di Roma, b. 1, f. 9 (1870), Presidenza del Rione Borgo—Roma. Protocollo N. 42, Roma li 6 dicembre 1870, Al IU.mo Signore Questore di Roma.

  9. ASR, Questura di Roma, b. 1, f. 9 (1870), N. 1894 Gab.to, Sig. Procuratore Generale del Re. Roma, Roma 9 dicembre 1870. On the part of the anticlerics, all of the arrested men were from Rome, three in their early twenties and one thirty-seven. They were charged with promoting disorders and inflicting bodily injury on others, although it was difficult to prove given the chaos. The three papal defenders arrested were even younger, and also from Rome, ranging from eighteen to twenty-two.

  10. ASR, Questura di Roma b. 1 f. 9, Presidenza del Rione Borgo, Roma li 11 dicembre 1870, Roma Protocollo N. 338, Oggetto: Assembramenti in Piazza di San Pietro della sera delli 11 dicembre; ASR, Questura di Roma, b. 1, f. 9, Presidenza del Rione Borgo, Protocollo N. 55, Roma li 12 dicembre 1870. For the Vatican view of the derogatory use of the term caccialepri, see "I caccialepri," L'Osservatore Romano, 25 ottobre 1870, p. 1.

  11. Matteo Liberatore, "I disordini di Roma nella mattina del 10 marzo," Civiltà Cattolica 1871, II, pp. 39–51.

  12. DDI, series 2, vol. 2, n. 276, Il Ministro degli Esteri, Visconti Venosta, ai Rappresentanti Diplomatici all'Estero, Circolare 91, Firenze, 19 marzo 1871.

  13. Civiltà Cattolica 1871, II, Cronaca contemporanea, pp. 365–68. A year later, anticlerics got to stage their largest and most intricate series of funeral observances on the occasion of the death of Giuseppe Mazzini. An ambitious attempt to embalm his body for permanent display—against his wishes—ended in putrefying failure. Luzzatto (2001) tells the story of the "mummy of the Republic" with great verve and insight.

  14. Verucci 1996, pp. 138–39.

  15. Halperin 1939, pp. 291–2. The Jesuit's remarks are quoted in Martina 1973, p. 249.

  16. Fiorentino 1996, p. 250; Perodi 1980, p. 154.

  17. Pelczar 1911, v. 3, pp. 26–27.

  18. L'Unità Cattolica, 28 settembre 1876, quoted in Mellano 1982, p. 39.

  19. Quoted in Halperin 1939, p. 408. For Depretis's family background and his earlier years, see Talamo 1970.

  20. Just a few days before his death, Antonelli told a colleague: "I see that my days are growing ever shorter. The only thing that I am sorry about is that I am leaving this poor old pope alone, and God only knows where these insatiable wolves of the revolution will drag him next."

  21. Negro 1977, p. 162; Coppa 1990,179; Martina 1990a, pp. 297–98. The woman lost her case, although many believed she deserved to win. For more on the case, see Pirri 1958, pp. 105–17. Coppa (1990, p. 181) disputes the claim that Antonelli had acquired a fortune through illicit means while secretary of state and also disputes the claim that he left little to the Church in his will.

  22. Jemolo 1965, pp. 40–41.

  23. Halperin 1939, p. 424.

  24. Mancini's circular is reproduced in De Franciscis 1872, p. 695: Circolare del M. Mancini sull'Allocuzione Pontifìcia del 12 marzo 1877, Roma, 17 marzo 1877.

  25. The Senate vote was 92 in favor, 105 against. In reporting this result to Paris, the French ambassador to the Holy See explained what had happened: "Monsieur Mancini's efforts have failed despite the extreme confidence that he seemed to have in his success. No other Minister spoke out in favor of his project. His colleagues left him to carry all the weight and responsibility in the debate." Had just a handful of votes gone the other way, the results would have been disastrous. "The Senate in its wisdom and by its firmness in this circumstance has rendered a great service to Italy. It recognized the danger of taking the path of religious persecution that inevitably leads to civil strife." The French ambassador also reported that the new Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Giovanni Simeoni, had been using the proposed clerical abuses bill to rally support for foreign intervention. When the ambassador suggested that the pope would be wise to face reality and give up the idea that he would ever regain Rome, Simeoni had a ready reply. The pope's dreams of a return of papal rule were far from naive. Was it not true, he asked, that when the French had demanded Nice and Savoy from Victor Emmanuel as the price for its support against the Austrians in 1859, the king had immediately handed over these two lands, which until then were seen as absolutely central to the Savoyard Kingdom? Was it so unrealistic, then, to think that, given sufficient diplomatic pressure, the Italian government would conclude that giving Rome back to the pope was the wiser course? (MAES, CP, Rome, vol. 1061, ff. 360r–363v).

  10. Two Deaths

  1. Pirri 1951, part 2, n. 190c. Notizie sull'ultima malattia del Re.

  2. Bishop Marinelli's account is found in AAEESS, Italia, pos. 631, fasc. 402, Documenti relative alla morte e funerali di Vittorio Emanuele. Relazione di Monsig. Marinelli sulla sua visita al Quirinale. Vaticano 12 Gennaio 1878.

  3. AAEESS, Italia, pos. 631, fasc. 402, Documenti relativi alla morte e funerali di Vittorio Emanuele, n. 3. Dichiarazione di Mons. Vicegerente sul permesso da Lui dato di amministrare a Vittorio Emanuele gli ultimi Ssmi sacramenti—14 Gennaio 1878.

  4. AAEESS, Italia, pos. 631, fasc. 402, Documenti relativi alla morte e funerali di Vittorio Emanuele, n. 4. Relazione dettagliata del Parroco de' SS. Vincenzo ed Anastasio dell'amministrazione del Ssmo Viatico al Re Vittorio Emanuele e della di lui morte—13 Gennaio 1878.

  5. MAES, CP, Rome, vol. 1063, f. 24r, Ambassade de France près de Saint Siège DP no. 4 à M. Waddington, le 9 Janvier 1878, Mort de S. M. le Roi Victor Emmanuel.

  6. Civiltà Cattolica 1878,1, Cronaca contemporanea, p. 250.

  7. Quotations found in Mart
ina 1990b, pp. 855–57.

  8. Pirri 1951, part 2, n. 190b, Dichiarazioni ufficiose diramate dall'Agenzia Stefani.

  9. Quazza 1999, n. 3891, Sella a Clotilde Sella, Roma, 16 gennaio 1878.

  10. Pasztor 1968, p. 197.

  11. Pirri 1951, part 2, n. 187.

  12. Martina 1990a, pp. 516–517.

  13. AAEESS, Italia, pos. 631, fasc. 402, pp. 17–18, Documenti relativi alla morte e funerali di Vittorio Emanuele, n. 5. Circolari Segrete ai Vescovi del Regno in ordine ai funerali pel defunto Re, Roma dalla Segreteria di Stato, Li 10 Gennaio 1878; and Roma, 12 Gennaio 1878.

  14. Civiltà Cattolica 1878,1, Cronaca contemporanea, p. 376.

  15. Civiltà Cattolica 1878, II, Cronaca contemporanea, pp. 104–5. The French ambassador to Italy reported on January 19,1878, that the pope did allow bishops to perform funeral services in the lands that the Vatican considered to be legitimately ruled by the Savoyards, which included both Piedmont and Lombardy. MAES, CP, Rome, vol. 1063, f. 45r, AF SS DP no.7, à M. Waddington, MAE, le 19 janvier 1878.

  16. Civiltà Cattolica 1878, I, Cronaca contemporanea, pp. 364–79; Martina 1990a, pp. 518–19. Duggan 2000, pp. 452–53.

  17. The French ambassador to the Holy See, who was close to Pius in his last year, observed that the older he got, the more mystical he became. As he despaired of gaining help from the mighty of this world, he became ever more convinced that God would intervene directly to ensure the Church's triumph. (MAES, CP, Rome, vol. 1061, ff. 17r–23r, Ambassade de France, M. le Due Decazes près le St. Siège, Ministre des Affaires Etrangères, le 10 janvier 1877; ff. 69r–70v, 9 février 1877.)

  18. Matteo Liberatore, "La conclusione dell'Enciclica di Leone XIII," Civiltà Cattolica 1878, III, p. 11; Ignesti 1988, pp. 81–82.

  19. Pelczar 1911, v. 3, p. 391; Manfroni 1920, p. 331; Soderini 1934, p. 3; ASR, Questura di Roma, b. 15, f. 104,7/2/78 ore 13, Crispi a Comm. Bolis; MAES, CP, Rome, vol. 1063, f. 104r; Pflanze 1990, p. 410.