THE HISTORY OF THE PAPACY IN THE XIXth CENTURY

XIX

THE SEPTEMBER CONVENTION

AND THE ENCYCLICAL OF 8TH DECEMBER 1864

 

THE debate in the Italian Chamber upon the interpellation which has been mentioned above ended with the almost unanimous passing of an order of the day, in which the Chamber expressed its conviction that France with due regard to the Pope’s dignity, honor, and independence, and to the perfect freedom of the Church would adhere to the principle of non-intervention, and that Rome, which had been chosen as capital by the nation, would be united to Italy.

By accepting this order of the day, the Italian government solemnly recognized the watchword of the Mazzinians, Roma capitale, and it was now repeated from one end of the peninsula to the other. Opposition, however, was not wanting. Some weeks before the interpellation Massimo d’Azeglio, in the pamphlet called Questioni urgenti, had expressed his fear lest the “rage for Rome” should become a snare to Piedmont. Italy ought to have not one, but several capitals, a military, a commercial, an artistic, a scientific, a religious, an industrial capital. It mattered less where the government took up its seat, for the town where the government was would only be one of the many Italian capitals. But it was clear to D’Azeglio that Florence, both on account of the intellectual pre-eminence of the town, its pure language, its position in the middle of the peninsula, its healthy climate, and its secure strategic position, was obviously entitled to become the seat of government.  He condemned the programme, Roma capitale, because it was partly an expression of the hatred of the Italians for the Pope’s temporal power, partly a concealed attack on the monarchy. It was really the old watchword of the political clubs, which Cavour had borrowed in order to outdo Mazzini and his gang. The Roman question was really, in the opinion of D’Azeglio, “the great danger”. Apart from the religious difficulties involved in making Rome the capital of Italy, it was to be feared that, when the residence of the government had been transferred to that city, Mazzini would triumph over both the monarchy and the Papacy at once. On St Joseph’s Day, 1861, festival had been held at Rome, with volleys of musketry in the street, and illuminations in the windows, for the two prophets, Joseph Mazzini and Joseph Garibaldi. What might not then happen, when the city had become the capital of Italy?

Massimo d'Azeglio was not alone in this opinion. Enrico Cernuschi, who had formerly been enthusiastic for the idea of the incorporation of Rome with the kingdom of Italy, now declared openly that he had learned that there was no room for tribunes, and still less for a king, above the catacombs, between the churches, and beside the Vatican. But Cavour’s successors, Ricasoli, and after him Rattazzi, did not share these scruples, and it was impossible to stop the cry of Roma capitale. It was now asserted that it was not only the right of the Italians to go to Rome, but that there was urgent need for them to do so, because that city, if it continued to be politically separated from the rest of Italy, would be a centre for reactionary intrigues and conspiracies. The more cautious, however, adhered to the view that the Italians ought only to go to Rome with the consent of France; and it was at present impossible to obtain it. Napoleon was obliged to go carefully in his dealings with the Papacy, not only on account of the Empress Eugenie and her ultramontane camarilla, but also because he did not dare to offend the French Catholics. The bishops were again busy drawing biblical and historical comparisons of a pointed character, so that Thouvenel had to complain to Rome, and ask Pius IX to damp the ardor of the ecclesiastical hotspurs, especially of Bishop Pie, who represented the Emperor as a new edition of the persecutors of the Primitive Church. But Rome naturally would not disavow such an energetic champion as the Bishop of Poitiers, and in the French Senate the bold controversialist found both defenders and adherents.

The Roman question became, therefore, more and more burdensome to the French statesmen. “This unhappy question affects both my health and my intellect”, wrote Thouvenel on 21st March 1862 to the Duke of Gramont, and he could see no solution of it. France could certainly say to Victor Emmanuel, “If your Majesty does not comply with our wishes, then we remain at Rome”; and to Pius IX, “If the see of St Peter will not be content with this, we will quit Rome”. But in case the King should not agree to the French proposals, the occupation, which was in many ways so irksome, must needs be continued, and if the Pope should be refractory, it would be very questionable policy all the same, when it came to the point, to leave him to his fate.

Napoleon III, however, seemed himself at that time to have hopes. On 2Oth May 1862, in a letter to Thouvenel, which was afterwards inserted in the Moniteur, he wrote that he believed that he should succeed in inaugurating a compact between religion and liberty by supporting the national wishes of the Italians, and by converting the Pope from an opponent into a supporter of these wishes. But Rome must, in that case, be “Italianised”, and a modus vivendi must be found, by which the Pope should continue to be master in St Peter’s city; only he must make lower the barriers which separated his own territories from the rest of Italy. In order to find, if possible, a precedent for the adjustment of the difficulties in Rome itself, the Emperor asked for accurate information as to the position of the Lord Mayor and the Corporation of London.

JAPANESE MARTYRS CANONISED

Thouvenel could not share the sanguine hopes of his Emperor. The compact of which Napoleon III dreamt was, and in his opinion continued to be, nothing but un marriage impossible. He was convinced that there was not the least prospect of Rome’s giving way. And in this he was not mistaken. On 25th March Pius IX delivered a speech to the priests of Rome in Sta. Maria sopra Minerva in which he declared that the temporal power was not indeed an article of the faith, but was absolutely necessary for the independence of the Holy See. Shortly afterwards, bishops and priests from all countries began to stream to Rome to assist at a great canonization. Twenty-three Franciscan missionaries, who had suffered martyrdom in 594 at Nagasaki, three Jesuit missionaries in Japan, and the Trinitarian, Michael de Sanctis, after a successfully concluded examination of their qualifications, were to have the place of honor upon the altars. Everybody expected that Pius IX would again on that occasion speak on the burning question, and nobody doubted in what direction his words would tend. In an allocution to the cardinals on 23rd December 1861, he had let fall some remarks to the effect that he wished to procure for the Church new advocates with God, because its liberty, its privileges, and its doctrines were attacked in such a deplorable way. When on Ascension Day, 1862, he blessed the urbs et orbis from the loggia of the Vatican, he had Bishop Dupanloup by his side, and amidst the confluence of bishops which was taking place this indefatigable champion of the temporal power was the lion of the day both at the Vatican and in the streets of Rome.

 On Whitsunday, 8th June, the canonization took place. Columns were erected in St Peter’s for the pictures representing the miracles of the saints-designate, and the enormous pilasters of the church were pasted over with yellow marble paper. “The Pope will soon leave us”, said Pasquino; “he is already packing up St Peter’s”. In spite of the low state of the treasury Pius IX sacrificed 10,000 scudi to the illumination of St Peter’s; 13,000 candles were lighted, of which the tallest were eight feet high. In accordance with the ritual of such occasions a petition was thrice addressed to Pius IX to grant to the Church the new intercessors. Then followed the proclamation of the new saints, and when it was ended, the Pope intoned the Te Deum, whereupon the 50,000 men and women who were present took it up; the guns boomed from St Angelo, and the bells of the 300 churches of Rome rang out. Pius IX delivered a speech at the canonization which ended with a prayer from which the following is an extract: “Almighty and merciful God ... Turn not Thy mercy away from us for the sake of these saints, and let Thy church by their merits, having triumphed over all errors, and overcome all difficulties, day by day flourish more mightily, and let it rule from the rising of the sun to the going down thereof”. The whole solemnity lasted five hours.

 On Whit Monday Pius IX gathered the cardinals and bishops to a secret consistory, and delivered a speech in which he poured out the vials of his wrath upon the leaders of the Italian revolution, who said that they wished the Church to be free, but who daily, with sacrilegious audacity, robbed the Church of its goods, and persecuted its ministers; and he expressed his special regret that neither the Italian nor the Portuguese bishops, on account of the prohibition of their respective governments, could be present at this great festival. But concerning the impious conspiracy which desired utterly to destroy the temporal power of the Apostolic See, he preferred to remain silent. The 300 foreign bishops who were on the spot then presented an address in which they declared that the temporal power was a necessity for the successor of St Peter. The address had had a little previous history, which showed that worldly politics could make their influence felt even at such a solemn moment. Both Wiseman and Dupanloup had made drafts of an address, but the English archbishop’s draft was, in the opinion of the French, “not sufficiently friendly towards France”. The matter was therefore referred to a committee, which fused the two addresses into one. The biographer of the Bishop of Orleans remarks, however, with evident satisfaction, that the sentence about the Pope’s temporal sovereignty that is to say, the chief point of the address was taken from the proposal of the French bishop.  “The Bishop of Orleans has won his spurs”, Napoleon III remarked, when he heard of Dupanloup’s “patriotic” behaviour at Rome; and after his return the Bishop of Orleans received a semi-official expression of thanks from the French Minister of Public Worship.

Whilst the diplomatists were wearying themselves with pondering over the Roman question, and Pius IX was multiplying the heavenly host which was to defend the patrimony of St Peter, Garibaldi and his friends were taking evil counsel against Rome. Victor Emmanuel had in vain tried to turn the thoughts of the bold condottiere towards Venice; he was determined to go to Rome. Roma o morte! Roma capitale! The Russian and Prussian recognition of the Italian kingdom, which arrived in the middle of July, gave fresh impetus to the desires of the Italians, and in the city of St Peter, at the end of July, people feared that a new adventurous attack on the part of the Garibaldians was imminent.

 In order to warn these latter, Victor Emmanuel, in an appeal to the Italian nation, dissociated himself altogether from the policy of the free corps. He even made use of the harsh statement that every appeal which did not originate from himself was an appeal to revolt and civil war; and he added that those who did not obey his admonition would be held responsible. In spite of this warning Garibaldi with 3,000 men made an unsuccessful expedition against Catania, and when his corps had dwindled down to 2,000 men, he crossed to Calabria and turned towards Reggio. But General Cialdini marched against him with an army of Italian troops, and on 27th August Colonel Pallavicini took him prisoner on the hills by Aspromonte. The wounded chief was taken to Spezzia, and from thence back to Caprera. The Italian soldiers  and Pallavicini treated him with the greatest respect, and some of the most zealous adherents of the Papacy grieved over his defeat. The papal nuncio at Paris, Mgr. Chigi, had even offered prayers for Garibaldi’s enterprise in the hope that the victory of the revolution in Italy might be a good means of getting order restored, because it would probably cause France and Austria to intervene conjointly.

FRENCH PROPOSALS TO ROME