CHAPTER XVII

CARDINAL GIZZI

Outside on the square the Romans stood and looked up with excitement at the little chimney through which the smoke of the burned voting papers was to mount. The marshal of the Conclave informed the diplomatists that the papal apparel had been sent for, and it was also rumored amongst the waiting crowd. When they further heard that the messenger was to ask for very small shoes for the new Pope, it was believed that Gizzi, who was short of stature and had small feet, had been chosen, and the enthusiasm was great amongst all the friends of Roman liberty; the words of Massimo d'Azeglio in his Cast di Romagna about this able and honest prelate, who abhorred police measures and maintained order by moderation, had made Gizzi the favorite of the people. The rumor was so far believed that Gizzi's family in Rome received congratulations, and people were already on the road to Ceccano, who wished to be the first to carry the glad tidings to the popular cardinal's native town. At home, in Gizzi's palace, the servants broke everything they laid their hands on, according to a time-honored custom, because their master was hereafter to live in the Quirinal or the Vatican. The false rumor was so widely accepted that Giuseppe Spada found it very difficult to make even "distinguished persons" believe that Cardinal Mastai was really the fortunate man.

13 May 1792 – 7 February 1878

Early on 17th June the Quirinal was again surrounded by a swaying crowd. At seven o'clock the Loggia was opened, and a little later the Camerlengo, Cardinal Riario Sforza, accompanied by the master of ceremonies of the Conclave, who carried a lance with a cross, stood forward to inform the people that the Cardinal of Imola had been elected as St Peter's successor, and had assumed the name of Pius IX. This communication was a disappointment to many who had expected to hear of Gizzi's election, and when Pius IX appeared himself to bless the people he was received somewhat coldly. The enthusiasm was greater when the new Pope, in a state carriage, drawn by six horses, followed by sixty carriages with the cardinals and highest officials of the Papal States, afterwards drove from the Quirinal to the Vatican to be enthroned. The charm and gentleness which stamped the appearance of the new Pope impressed all, especially the women, who vied with each other in exclaiming: Ah, ch'e bello! A less sentimental nature, in the person of Count Helmuth von Moltke, who was then at Rome as adjutant to Prince Henry of Prussia, long remembered "the beautiful countenance" of the new Pope as he had seen him passing in the glass chariot on his way from the Quirinal to the Vatican. The common people knew enough of him to call him their Pope. A story goes that when Lambruschini entered the Conclave, he said to Micara: "Now, which of us two will be Pope?" to which the bold Capucin General answered : "If the devil inspires the cardinals' it will certainly be one of us two, but if the Holy Spirit inspires them the good Mastai will be Pope". In order to make the new Pope better liked, the rumor was spread abroad that Archbishop Gaysruck of Milan, who was to have been the agent of Austria at this Conclave, but arrived two days too late, brought with him the veto of the Austrian government against Cardinal Mastai. From the Memoirs of Metternich, however, we see that this rumour had no foundation. The Austrian chancellor, on the contrary, in a private letter to his ambassador at Rome calls the news of the election: une bonne nouvelle.

Who was this Cardinal Mastai who succeeded to the heritage of St Peter in such difficult circumstances?

ORIGIN OF PIUS IX

The Mastai family came originally from Crema; but about 1550 a Francesco Mastai settled at Venice, and his son, Giovanni Maria Mastai, moved to Sinigaglia. Under Pope Urban VIII a Mastai defended this town against the Venetian fleet, and half a century afterwards the Duke of Parma and Piacenza elevated the family to the rank of Counts. After this one of the Counts Mastai married an heiress to the fortune of the house of Ferretti, and the descendants of this couple called themselves Mastai-Ferretti. Count Girolamo Mastai-Ferretti, who was Gonfaloniere of Sinigaglia, married the beautiful Caterina Sollazzi, and their son was Giovanni Maria Giovanni Battista Pietro Pellegrino Isidoro, who was born 13th May 1792.

The childhood of Giovanni Maria Mastai was passed during the years when the waves of revolution were passing over France and Italy, and the little boy was early taught to pray for the much-tried Pius VI, who seemed likely to be the last of St Peter's successors. Giovanni Maria was a weakly child, who suffered from attacks of epilepsy. In 1803 his father took him to Volterra, where he was to attend the school of the Scolopii, and there the astronomer, Inghirami, amongst others, was his—and some years later also Felix Orsini's—teacher. It was his mother's wish that he should enter the service of the Church, but his health seemed at first to render the fulfilment of this wish impossible.

In 1808 he was sent to Rome, to his uncle, Paolino Mastai, who was a canon of St Peter's; but the next year he returned to Sinigaglia, as his uncle considered it best to leave Rome after the carrying away of Pius VII. He then remained at his parents' house until the Restoration. On his way back to Rome Pius VII passed through Sinigaglia. The Gonfaloniere presented his son to him, and shortly afterwards Giovanni Maria returned with his uncle to the Eternal City. About his early life at Sinigaglia, and his first years after the return to Rome, some of his Italian biographers relate certain things based upon stories told by friends of his youth, which are supposed to cast a reflexion upon his character. Sometimes he is represented as an attempt at a modern Alexander Borgia; sometimes it is related that he had been initiated into the mysteries of the secret societies. This is scarcely credible; and the stories of his youthful excesses evidently bear the appearance of having originated in a hatred of the Papacy, and especially of Pius IX. Probably the truth is that the good-looking young Count Mastai made an impression upon the hearts of the ladies, and that he himself was not insensible to female beauty. Several witnesses testify that he was enamoured of the beautiful Elena Albani, who married Count Litta, and that he thought of marrying Teodora Valle, who afterwards became the mother of the engineer Luigi Gabet.

After the return to Rome he wished to become an officer; perhaps the desire for a soldier's life was awakened in him while he lived amongst the officers of Murat's army at Sinigaglia. The canon of St Peter's applied to Prince Barberini to get his nephew a place in the papal Guardia Nobile, which was to be formed, but Consalvi gave a decided refusal; an epileptic could not possibly be an officer. This rejection pained the young Count, and when a hope of becoming assistant to one of the canons of St Peter's also failed, perhaps for the same reason, he was near to desperation. Some say that in his distress he opened his heart to Cardinal Annibale della Genga (Leo XII) and to Falconieri, who afterwards became cardinal; others relate that it was one of his youthful friends, the advocate Cattabene of Ancona, who saved him from despair. In great dejection over the disappointments which seemed to destroy all prospects of a position in the army and the hierarchy, and perhaps weighed down also by heartache, Giovanni Mastai walked out of Rome along the Tiber, and the yellow-gray waters of the river had for him that day something tempting in them. On his way he met with Cattabene, and when the latter perceived how it fared with his friend, he took him to the charity school of Tata Giovanni, where his confessor, Storaci, lived. Storaci, who was a practical person, gave the depressed young man a situation as a teacher at Tata Giovanni, and by employing him and taking good care of his health, he succeeded in getting rid of both his melancholy and his epilepsy.

During his work at Tata Giovanni, so called from the children's friend, Tata (that is, Papa) Giovanni Borghi, who died in 1798, Mastai was more and more strongly drawn to an ecclesiastical career, and when he had gathered some imperfect theological knowledge at the Roman Academy, he was ordained priest by Bishop Incontri of Volterra, and said his first Mass on Easter Day 1819 in the little chapel of Sant' Anna dei Falignami, where the children from Tata Giovanni worshipped. At first, on account of his ailment, he was only allowed to celebrate in the presence of another priest, but after he had been free from epileptic fits for a good while this restriction was removed. His kindness of heart was often shown during his life with the orphans. It was especially the memories of Tata Giovanni, which made the common people of Rome call him at once their Pope. Afterwards he came to Sinigaglia on Home Mission service, and there he gathered great crowds around him when he preached in the church or in the lighted market place. After his activities at Sinigaglia, he was sent on a long voyage. The Bishop of Citta di Castello, Mgr. Muzzi, had to go to Chili in 1822 to put church matters on a proper footing after the civil war. In spite of Consalvi's anxieties, Giovanni Mastai was chosen to be his companion, and although the journey was in many respects troublesome, and without result, it was very beneficial to the young priest from Tata Giovanni. His health was improved by the long sea voyage, and he showed such courage and so much presence of mind on the way that Leo XII, immediately after his return (1825), appointed him Canon of Santa Maria in Via Lata, and afterwards head of the great benevolent institution of San Michele in Ripa Grande, with which were connected various extensive charities.

HIS LIBERALISM

Two years afterwards, when the Archbishopric of Spoleto, to which Sinigaglia belonged, became vacant, Leo XII entrusted him with that see, and on 24th May he was consecrated in St Pietro in Vincoli by Cardinal Castiglioni, afterwards Pius VIII. Of his pastoral life at Spoleto many incidents are related worthy of a Fenelon, and when the Revolution broke out in 1831 the Archbishop of Spoleto endeavored to mitigate the disasters of war by a large beneficence. His brothers were implicated in the revolt, and one of them was even exiled. This was well known, and part of the halo, which in the eyes of many surrounded the revolutionaries, was reflected upon Archbishop Mastai, who was always gentle and kind even to the Liberals. Gregory XVI did not at first look with favor upon the Archbishop of Spoleto, who, in his opinion, was too lenient towards Liberalism. When it was suggested to him that he should make Mastai a cardinal, he dismissed the proposal with the bitter remark, that in the house of Mastai even the cats were Liberal. Nevertheless he appointed him Bishop of Imola, a bishopric which was a vescovado cardinalizio, and a sure promise that its occupant should have the hat; but it was not until 1840 that Mastai received the cardinal's purple.

At Imola Mastai continued his charitable activity, but there he had also a good opportunity of seeing Italian Liberalism at close quarters. He often met with the young Count Giuseppe Pasolini, who lived at Montericco near Imola. Pasolini praises the Cardinal's economy, his goodness, and his zeal for elevating the morals of the clergy, and he relates that the books of Massimo d'Azeglio, Gioberti, and Balbo, and the reports of the scientific congresses, so hated by Gregory XVI, found their way to the episcopal palace at Imola. Indeed, when the Cardinal of Imola left for the Conclave in 1846, he packed in his trunks several of the books which had been issued by the New Guelphists in order to direct the new Pope's attention to this literature. It is no wonder therefore that a friend of liberty like Pasolini bade him farewell with the wish that he might himself be elected Pope, so that he might proclaim and bless from the chair of St Peter the principles they had so often discussed together, to the happiness of the Church and of their unfortunate country. Such vain desires were, however, undoubtedly foreign to the mind of Cardinal Mastai. He took but little money with him to the Conclave, for he was convinced that he would soon be able to return to his bishopric. But in one of the legends which have encircled Pius IX it is related that at a place on his way to Rome a white dove alighted on his carriage, and when the people heard who it was that sat in the carriage, they broke out in shouts of joy, and greeted him as il papa della colomba.

He was one of the seven or eight candidates who were mentioned before the Conclave as possible. On 16th June the Sardinian envoy, Count di Broglia, wrote to his government before the election was made known, in a description of the different Papeggianti: "Mastai is a man with a good sound understanding, and he uses his money to do good. Some blame him for watching over the duties and the morals of the Church with too great zeal; but he has genial manners, and he is both conciliatory and moderate. He is at home in all ecclesiastical matters, but he does not understand the art of governing. He will soon, however, make up for that by his common sense, and with the help of able ministers". On the day following the election Pellegrino Rossi wrote to Guizot: "The new Pope belongs to a theological school, well known at Rome, which unites much piety to high ideas and tolerance. He is beloved in the Legations, and is said to be good". And he also related, that Pius IX had said to him that he would "with the greatest satisfaction" see him as French ambassador at Rome. Although Metternich was closely connected with Lambruschini and the Gregorians, even he, as we have seen, felt satisfied with the new Pope, of whose excellent qualities he heard so much. The Conclave which was so quickly ended was to his mind a witness of the power of the religious spirit to cause all differences of opinion to disappear; and he had the best hope that Pius IX would succeed in frustrating all evil designs on the part of the enemies of civil order, and in infusing new courage into those who consecrated their lives to the defence of the unshakable principles which make empires to live and prosper.

GENERAL SATISFACTION