August 2008 Print

Heraldry, Pt. 2

Dwyer Quentin Wedvick

The Heraldry and History of Six Pontiffs before and after St. Pius X

St. Pius X did not live in a vacuum, but was part of the pontifical environment of his times, an era from 1832-1958. I have picked six popes who included in their various agenda the priority to hand down the Tradition of the Roman Catholic Church intact. These were Popes Gregory XVI, Pius IX, Leo XIII, St. Pius X, Benedict XV, Pius XI, and Pius XII.

Pope Gregory XVI (1831-46)

Bartolomeo Alberto Mauro Cappellari was born on September 8, 1765, at Belluno, Italy (then in Venetian territory), to a noble family, his parents deciding on the nickname Mauro for him. In 1783, at age 18, having displayed evidence of a religious vocation but with some opposition from his parents, Mauro joined the Benedictine Camaldolese order, amongst whom he rapidly gained distinction for his theological and linguistic achievements, and was ordained a priest in 1787. His thinking was consistently ultramontane throughout his life; this became evident publicly when in 1799 he published the book Il Trionfo della Santa Sede, which upheld papal infallibility and temporal sovereignty. Dom Mauro was named Abbot Vicar of the Monastery of San Gregorio in 1800. He survived the difficult Napoleonic times to be named Cardinal "in petto" by Leo XII in 1825 with the creation published the following year. In 1831 he was elected pope after a conclave lasting seven weeks. Pope Gregory immediately faced revolution on two fronts. The first was spiritual, with the ideas of the Enlightenment entering the minds of intellectually-minded clergy all over Europe. The Pope's response was his encyclical Mirari Vos, which concerns liberalism and religious indifferentism. This encyclical, of course, upset the liberal thinkers of his day.

The other revolution was temporal: the Papal States exploded into flaming rebellion on February 4, 1831, mere days after Gregory's election. He could only put the revolution down with military assistance from Austria, who quickly sent troops. Order was restored by April 3rd. The Pope, listening to an international commission, instituted widespread reforms in an effort to set his peoples' minds at ease politically. The revolutionaries were unsatisfied and started another rebellion in July; again the Austrians intervened with troops, and because the Austrians did, the French did too.

This time the rebellion remained quelled, but the Pope now couldn't get rid of the French till 1838. Pope Gregory was typical of the rulers of his times, believing in autocratic rule.

As an amusing example: The Papal States geographically looked like a sinister band across Italy. Pope Gregory decided at one point to ban railways in his territories, saying they were chemins d'enfer (ways of the devil), the French word for railroad being chemins de fer (iron ways). Thus, for a time, going north or south from Rome one had to take the stagecoach in the Papal States and could only board trains at the border.

Pope Gregory was the last priest (not bishop) elected Pope, ruling till his death on June 1, 1846, leaving the treasury about empty, the temporal revolutionary problems shoved under the rug, and the spiritual revolution to be further dealt with by his successor.

The arms of Pope Gregory are of interest for the fact that early on he combined his family arms with that of the Benedictine Camaldolese order of which he was a member and later leader, and kept them impaled as Pope. The blazon (see color plates on p. 43): Dexter: OSB Cam: Azure, a chalice surmounted by a comet tail in pale, or, two doves facing each other to either side of the chalice, argent, impaling to Sinister, Per fess azure and argent, a fess gules with three stars or, in chief an ecclesiastical hat with one tassel to each side Proper.

Blessed Pope Pius IX (1846-78)

Born Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti into a noble family, the dei Conti Ferretti, on May 13, 1792, in Senigallia, Italy, studied for the priesthood at the Roman Seminary and was ordained in April 1819. He worked as rector of the San Giovanni Institute in Rome, then assisted the Papal Nuncio in Chile and Peru, returning to Rome to head the hospital of San Michele. He was consecrated Archbishop of Spoleto in 1827 at age 35 and was named a cardinal in 1840. The Archbishop was considered liberal during his episcopate in Spoleto and Imola as he supported administrative changes in the Papal States and sympathized with the nationalist movement in Italy. Elected pope on June 16, 1846, his first political act was a general amnesty, which gave the wrong signal and provoked greater demands from the revolutionaries. He was faced with the same twin difficulties of spiritual challenges from the liberal clergy and temporal challenges from the political radicals as his predecessor.

When he realized what was going on, he pulled no punches. Starting with spiritual liberalism he issued the important encyclical Qui Pluribus on November 9, 1846, which dealt with faith and religion in relation to liberalism, rationalism, pantheism, naturalism, communism, secret societies, and so on. He said these forces were "linked in guilty fellowship." The liberal clergy of the Enlightenment cringed.

His Syllabus of Errors, issued in 1864, condemned 80 propositions and firmly established his pontificate as the enemy of secularism, rationalism, and modernism in all its forms. This made it clear he was the enemy of liberalism and a leading conservative.

Pope Pius IX's temporal problems with the Papal States became exacerbated and a political disaster. He conceded to having a lay minister and a constitution in 1848. But revolution broke out that year anyway, his Prime Minister was murdered, and he was run out of town to seek sanctuary in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies ruled by his friend Ferdinand II, a devout and loyal Catholic and family man. The revolutionaries set up a Roman republic. However, the wheels were set in motion for him to return to the Papal States. Louis Napoleon, President of France, sent troops which crushed the republic and restored order so that Pius IX could return safely in April 1850. Then the (now) Emperor Napoleon III kept Imperial troops–as did Emperor Francis Joseph II of Austria–in the Papal States to keep order permanently and the Pope safe until 1870. Meanwhile Victor Emmanuel II and the Garabaldi crowd started the Risorgimento, aiming to unite Italy whilst giving the boot to King Francis II of the Two Sicilies along the way.

In 1870, France had to withdraw her troops for the Franco-Prussian War, never to return. The Austrian forces left also. Victor Emmanuel then grabbed the Papal States, less the Vatican, and granted the Pope 3.25 million lira per year. The Pope rejected this in his encyclical Ubi Nos of May 15, 1871, and called himself "a prisoner in the Vatican."

Other matters of note in the reign of Pius IX include the restoration of a Roman Catholic hierarchy in England. In 1854, he defined the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, which pronouncement is considered infallible, and organized the first Vatican Council of 1869-70. He died on February 7, 1878, with the longest papal reign to date (excepting St. Peter) of over 31 years. Pope Pius IX was raised to the altars first as a venerable in 1985, then as beatified in 2000, both by Pope John Paul II. The blazon: Quarterly, 1st & 4th, Azure, a lion rampant crowned standing on a ball or; 2nd & 3rd, bendy argent and gules.

Pope Leo XIII (1878-1903)

Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffsele Luigi Pecci was born on March 2, 1810, at Carpineto, Italy, to a noble family as the sixth son of Count Lodovico Pecci and his wife Anna Prosperi Buzi.

Unusually, Pecci was appointed a domestic prelate (Monsignor) whilst still in minor orders in January 1837 by Gregory XVI and was ordained a priest on December 31, 1837. Named Archbishop of Perugia in 1846, he achieved note as a popular and successful prelate, looking out for the welfare, both spiritual and temporal, of his diocesan flock as well as his clergy for 31 years. As Bishop of Perugia he sought chiefly to inculcate piety and knowledge of the truths of faith. He took particular interest in the formation of his priests, how they preached to the laity of their parishes and insisted they catechize all their parishioners, adults as well as children. He supported the popes in their temporal polices but was not strident about it, preferring to coexist with whomever the civil authorities were. He was named cardinal in 1853 and Camerlengo in 1877 and was elected pope as Leo XIII on February 20, 1878.

One of Leo's early acts was the restoration the Roman Catholic hierarchy in Scotland in 1878.

As pope he is well known for his encyclicals, particularly on his social teaching, in which he argued against the flaws of both capitalism and communism. His encyclical Aeterni Patris of 1880 recommended the study of scholastic philosophy, especially that of St. Thomas Aquinas. His encyclical Rerum Novarum of 1891 focused on the rights and duties of capital and labor towards each other. And in his 1893 encyclical Providentissimus Deus, Leo gave new encouragement to Biblical study. There are many other encyclicals and letters which could be mentioned. In 1887, Leo approved the foundation of what came to be Catholic University in America. Other information indicates he was the first pope of which there is a sound recording and the first to be filmed. Leo held the record for being the oldest pope when he died at age 93 on July 20, 1903. The blazon: Azure, from a mount vert, a pine tree issuant, proper, between in dexter chief a comet, or, and in base two fleur-de-lis or, overall a fess argent.

Pope St. Pius X (1903-1914)

For the biography and arms of, see Part 1 of this article, The Angelus, July 2008.

Pope Benedict XV (1914-22)

Giacomo Giambattista della Chiesa, Marchese della Chiesa, was born in Pegli, Italy, on November 21, 1854, the son of Marchese Giuseppe della Chiesa, who came from the nobility of Genoa. He earned a Doctorate of Laws in 1875 was ordained a priest in 1878. He was brought into and served in the Vatican diplomatic service until his appointment as Archbishop of Bologna in 1907. He was made a cardinal in 1914 and elected pope a few months later as Benedict XV on September 1, 1914. He decided the Vatican would take a neutral stance in the War, and he continued the ideas of social thought started by Leo XIII and the traditional moral and doctrinal policies of his predecessors but in a muted way. He instituted a Vatican bureau to help prisoners of war (run by Eugenio Pacelli) but was frustrated by both sides, who both distrusted him, and thus Benedict made many unsuccessful attempts to negotiate peace. His effectiveness, even in Italy, was undermined by his pacifist stance. This led to his being uninvited to and ignored by the Paris Peace Conference of 1919.

Benedict also promulgated a new Code of Canon Law in 1917 initiated by his predecessor, St. Pius X, and in his first encyclical, Ad Beatissimi Apostolorum, repeated St. Pius X's condemnation of modernist scholars and the errors in modern philosophical systems. Other items of interest are his promotion of Eugenio Pacelli to Archbishop on May 13, 1917, and his canonizations in 1920 of St. Joan of Arc and St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. He died on January 22, 1922, at the age of 67. The blazon: Per Bend azure and or, overall a church with a tower to sinister argent, roofed, gules, a chief, or, an eagle displayed issuant sable, membered, gules.

Of interest here is that Pope Benedict XV's surname translates as "of the Church," so the charge of a church makes them canting arms. Benedict himself added the chief, which could be mistaken for a Capo Dell' Imperio but is not.

Pope Pius XI (1922-39)

Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti was born on May 13, 1857, to a family armigerous (that is, having a coat of arms) since the thirteenth century and was the son of a prosperous silk factory owner in Desio, Milan.

Ordained a priest in 1879, he earned triple doctorates in philosophy, canon law, and theology and proceeded to work as a scholar (in libraries and museums) for decades. As a hobby, he was a mountain climber, climbing Monte Rossa, the Matterhorn, and Mont Blanc. With his gift for languages, Benedict XV asked him to enter diplomatic service in 1918 and sent him to Poland, where he did so well that the pope consecrated him as titular archbishop in 1919. In June 1921, he was named archbishop of Milan and simultaneously was named a cardinal. On February 6, 1922, Ratti was elected pope as Pius XI.

His first act was to revive the traditional public blessing given from the balcony urbi et orbi, "to the city and to the world," discontinued since 1870.

Some of his notable encyclicals were: Miserentissimus Redemptor of 1928, strongly encouraging devotion to the Sacred Heart; Divini Illius Magistri of 1929, stating the need for Christian over secular education; Casti Connubii of 1930, praising Christian marriage and family life as the basis for any good society and condemning contraception; Quadragesimo Anno of 1931, on the 40th anniversary of Rerum Novarum, reiterating its statements of distaste for socialism and unrestrained capitalism; and Mit Brennender Sorge of 1937, roundly condemning Nazism and its anti-Semitic racism.

In 1929 the Lateran treaty between the Vatican and Italy was signed, which settled their differences, but now the Pope had to face the difficulties of dealing with socialist, fascist, and Nazi governments. He established the Vatican Radio in 1931, and was the first pope to broadcast. Pius XI canonized some important saints: St. Bernadette Soubirous, St. Theresa of Lisieux, St. John Vianney, and St. John Bosco, and named new Doctors of the Church: St. John of the Cross, St. Albert the Great, and St. Robert Bellarmine.

Pius XI, in declining health, died on February 10, 1939. The blazon: Per fess, a Capo Dell' Imperio (Or, an eagle displayed, sable, membered, gules) and argent, three torteaux, two and one, gules.

Of interest here is the Capo Dell' Imperio (Chief of the Empire) indicating allegiance to the Holy Roman Emperor (SRE ). The family motto, which Pius XI changed from "Omnia cum Tempore" (everything comes with time) to "Raptim Transit" (everything happens quickly), relates directly to his phenomenally quick rise in the Church to Pope.

Pope Pius XII (1939-58)

Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli was born on March 2, 1876, to a noble Roman family. His father, Filippo Pacelli, was made a Papal Marquis and also an Italian Prince by Victor Emmanuel III, both in 1929 for the part he played in the Lateran treaty. Pacelli's grandfather, Marcantonio Pacelli, was founder of the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano. Ordained a priest in 1899, he first served as a curate at Chiesa Nuova, where he had served as an altar boy.

Made a Papal Chamberlain in 1904, Pacelli became in 1905 a domestic prelate. From 1904 until 1916, Msgr. Pacelli assisted Cardinal Gasparri in his codification of canon law. In 1914 Pacelli also started serving in the Vatican diplomatic service, and immediately had success with a concordat with Serbia. Appointed Nuncio to Bavaria in April 1917, he was consecrated as a bishop in the Sistine Chapel. The following month Pacelli was promoted to Archbishop. Archbishop Pacelli served as de facto nuncio to the German Empire for the rest of WWI and to the German Republic in 1920 and Prussia in 1925. He was named cardinal on December 16, 1929, and named as secretary of state on February 7, 1930. In the 1930's Cardinal Pacelli was extremely active in securing concordats and visiting countries around the world in pursuance of the Church's affairs.

In 1935, Cardinal Pacelli was named as the Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church.

He came to America in 1936 and met Joseph P. Kennedy (Senator Ted Kennedy, as a four year old, got to sit on the Cardinal's lap and was observed playing with the Cardinal's pectoral cross.). He also met Fr. Charles Coughlin and had a private meeting with President Franklin D. Roosevelt at Hyde Park. (On the way there he was seen to stop his motorcade to get out and speak with, pat the heads of, and to make the sign of the cross over the parochial school children who had been cued to line the roads on the way to Hyde Park to see the Papal Secretary of State pass by. Additionally, the Cardinal addressed Fordham University (in English), then left for Rome (all this, we believe, in about a 48-hour period).

Pius XI died suddenly on February 10, 1939, and Pacelli was elected pope as Pius XII on March 2, 1939, his 63rd birthday. The German government quickly issued statements such as that of Das Schwarze Korps (the SS newspaper): "As nuncio and secretary of state, Eugenio Pacelli had little understanding of us; little hope is placed in him. We do not believe that as Pius XII he will follow a different path."

Events proved them right!

During World War II the Vatican was officially neutral. Pius XII repeatedly issued statements denouncing Nazi acts. According to Pinchas Lapide, Jewish author of Three Popes and the Jews, he declared that the Church under Pius XII "was instrumental in saving at least 700,000, but probably as many as 860,000 Jews from certain death at Nazi hands." The Vatican hid and moved Jews around anywhere to save them, issuing passports to those seeking asylum abroad. We suspect not one other major government saved anything like so many Jews as the Vatican State did under Pope Pius XII.

Some of his encyclicals include Summi Pontificatus (1939), a condemnation of the "ever-increasing host of Christ's enemies"; and Humani Generis, in 1950, criticized those who "imprudently and indiscreetly hold that evolution...explains the origin of all things."

His canonizations included: St. Pius X, St. Catherine Labouré, St. Louis de Montfort, St. Maria Goretti, and St. Dominic Savio. Between 1949 and 1955, Pius XII revised the Roman Missal, making it a bit simpler to use. Pope Pius XII died October 9, 1958, and was declared venerable by Pope John Paul II. The blazon: Azure, a base barry wavy, argent, and, azure, issuant therefrom on a grassy mount with thereon three colle, argent, with perched thereon a dove of peace regardant, proper, holding in its beak an olive branch vert.

Of interest here is that Pius XII somewhat changed his arms from those he used as a cardinal. A rainbow was dropped, the dove went from displayed to perching, and the grassy mount was added over water.

Dwyer Quentin Wedvick was born in 1940 and has been a soldier, a sometime Captain in the US Army, a stockbroker, a yacht restorer, and owner of a contract delivery business. In his semi-retirement he pursues his ambition to be a student of heraldry. A Catholic and parishioner at Christ the King Church in Ridgefield, CT, he is a Knight of the Constantinian of St. George (Madrid). Angelus Press is acknowledged for permission to include quotations from the biography of Pius X (Yves Chiron, 2002).

REFERENCES

Bottum, Joseph & David G. Dalin. The Pius War: Responses to the Critics of Pius XII. New York: Lexington Books, 2004. (For background on Pius XII.)

The Catholic Encyclopaedia, 1907-1914, for Gregory XVI, Pius IX, Leo XIII, for background and quotations.

Kennedy, Rose Fitzgerald. Times to Remember. New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1974. (For background information on the Kennedys' relations with Pope Pius XII.)

Martin, Cardinal Jacques. Heraldry in the Vatican. Gerrards Cross: Van Duren Publishers, 1987. (For ecclesiastical heraldic background and blazons.)

McCarthy, Michael Francis. Heraldica Collegii Cardinalium, 1800-2000. Darlinghurst, Australia: Thylacine Press, 2000. (For ecclesiastical heraldic background and blazons.)

McCarthy, Michael Francis. A Manual of Ecclesiastical Heraldry. Darlinghurst, Australia: Thylacine Press, 2005. (For ecclesiastical heraldic background and blazons.)

The late Michael Francis McCarthy, of Darlinghurst, Australia, well known Catholic heraldic artist for blazon input and for rendering the arms in color.

Papal arms blazons used were drawn primarily from Michael Francis McCarthy's Heraldica Collegii Cardinalium, 1800-2000 with input from A Manual of Ecclesiastical Heraldry and Heraldry in the Vatican, see above.

Sainty, Guy Stair. The Orders of Chivalry and Merit of the Bourbon Two Sicilies Dynasty. Madrid: Sacred and Military Order of Constantine St. George ( SMOCSG), 1987. (Background for Ferdinand II, King of the Two Sicilies.)

Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia, http://en.wikipedia.org. (Information scoped and quoted on all the popes particularly on Benedict XV, Pius XI and Pius XII.)