We're going to treat our own Commodities Pope, Gregory XVI, Gregorio Seidici. And he's a very controversial figure. We're not going to get caught up in all the controversies, but I will tongue-in-cheek allude to some of them during my talk. You will have noticed as you came in, beneath the bulletin board, the library copies of the two-volume commemorative work on Gregory XVI that was published in 1948. And I've opened it to the frontispiece in each volume so you could see what I think one is a bust and another is a painting of Gregory XVI. Anyway, he wasn't an artist. We're not treating him because he was an artist, but what he did for the arts, as a great patron of the arts with his papal power.

[01:02]

Firstly, just let me point out, there are a number of sources you can look to, but these are the ones most available to you. Firstly, this two-volume set, which was published by our own priests and brothers at San Gregorio in Rome, 1948. This first volume, a number of things that are really quite good, and I used five different works in here on Gregory XVI and antiquity and the fine arts on each of these museums and on Gregory and Christian archaeology. A number of other essays in here as well. And in the second volume, you can actually find something in English. So if you're interested in reading on something of Pope Gregory in English, on the arts you

[02:09]

won't find it, but you can find things on, for instance, Gregory XVI and Antiquity. And in England, by a historian named Rope. You familiar with him? I've run into that name before. Church historian, not? Yeah. H-E-G Rope, they have here. I've run into that name anyway. There's another one on Gregory XVI and the United States of America in here, a nice 20-page essay. And then there's some other, there's a nice one in Spanish, I don't read Spanish, but knowing Latin and French and Italian, I could pretty well make it out, on the emancipation of Spanish America and Gregory XVI. And another one, a nice one in Italian here on Gregory and the missions. He's the great Pope of the missions, and we'll get to that in just a second. Anyway, remember this is the second volume, and this is in the Comaldolese section of

[03:10]

our library. This is the most important resource for you. The second most important is our own Giuseppe Cacciamandi's work, which is in Italian. It's a little, oh, 40, 50-page booklet on the secrets of the conclave and elected Mauro as Gregory XVI, a lot of politicking going on there, of course. He's way to the right, way ultra-right, and the leftists were in there, and it's interesting what happened to the elect of Gregory XVI. Also, this is the one, Bernard, you brought to my attention. This is a nice work by Carter Wiseman, who was living during that time, and he wrote his own personal recollections of four popes at that time.

[04:10]

I think Gregory is maybe the third of the four. I think Pio Nonno, I think he treats Pio Nonno, no? I think so. Maybe not. Yes, I know, that's why I'm saying he would be the third treated in the book. I think he treated Pio Nonno also, is what I'm saying, would be the fourth pope treated. Anyway, it's in English. So if you'd like to read that, it gives you a nice little feel for some of the aspects of the private life of the man, as well as a few things about what he did as pope in his many works, including for the arts. So I got a few little things out of this. This is, I would say, the least important of your resources, but it's nice to read. It gives you a nice flavor. I'm speaking, least important, historically. Also, you can, of course, find various treatments of Gregory XVI in our church histories and

[05:16]

papal historians, whatnot, and you're going to find people on both sides of the issue. People screaming at him, about him, being an obscurantist and a stuck-in-the-mud and prevented progress and whatnot. But he's really quite a paradoxical man. He was way ahead of his time in some ways, and way behind in other ways. When it came to the railroad, what did he call it, the what from hell? He said it was an inspiration of Satan. I think he called them la macchina d'inferno, or something like that. So he wouldn't permit them in the papal states. But lots of ecologists today say maybe he was right. He was so radical to the right, that now he would be left. Although probably having trains rather than all the automobiles we have in this country would be better off for our ecology. In many ways, he was way ahead of his time. He was anti-slavery, and he came out with an actual papal document against slavery,

[06:21]

which was still going on in the United States. We're talking 1800s, huh? Which isn't all that long ago. And some other things we'll get to. Mauro Capellari. He was born in 1765, and he was born... I didn't put it on there because you had it spelled yesterday. Bartolomeo. He was born Bartolomeo Alberto. Bartholomew Albert Capellari. And he was from the town of Belluno. Do you know exactly where Belluno is? It's in the mountains somewhere. I think it's up somewhere near where Bernardino is from. So maybe northwest Italy. Have you? In Belluno. Well, actually, Belluno comes into our history a number of times. People from there, and I think we used to have a house there for a little while.

[07:24]

It's picturesque, no? Yeah. He was born on September 18th. He did his studies with a private tutor who was a canon named Giovanni Correra. The reason I mention this is because this man was still living when they enthroned him as Gregory XVI, and so he was there at the papal enthronement, and it was a great thrill for him to hobble in and see his former pupil become pope. In the year 1780, so when he's 15 years old, his only sister, his only sibling, became a Cistercian nun. Left the family and became a Cistercian nun and enclosed at the convent the San Gervasio di Mussoi. I mention this because there are a number of people who allude to this

[08:31]

spurring him on to a religious vocation. That's the only reason I mention it. More than one person alluded to this fact, that he intonated, that it had an effect on him too at the age of 15 to go to the monastic life. Three years later, he did. He was 18, he entered our famous monastery in Venice, St. Michael of Murano, on the August 23rd of that year. And then he studied science and philosophy. They had a great school, a great school at our monastery there, St. Michael. And they could do a lot of their own studies, unless they were going on for their doctorates or not. They were doing their main studies, the arts, sciences, philosophy, and some theology, right there at San Michele. So, they must have had the Venice House create them.

[09:35]

Went all the way to the suppressions in the, what, 18, maybe 1810, 1813, it lasted that long? So they were in line with the French suppression? Yeah, all of Europe. And there were two waves of suppressions. The later suppressions in Italy came in the 1860s, 1870s, but this one never, this house was never given back to us. So, the first suppression, wave of suppressions, Napoleon did them in, and we never got them back. Oh, so he instigated the repression all over Europe. Right, and he, certainly the instigator, he wasn't personally involved in this suppression, but the Republic of Venice and other republics which were aligned with the Republican movement hot-footed it to close everything down, like Napoleon wanted. Some of our houses were literally closed down

[10:36]

by Napoleon's soldiers, some of them destroyed. We, one of our abbots jumped out of a window and killed himself, a suicide, as the Napoleon's soldiers were firing on the house and breaking in, and so he went a little crazy. We had another monk who was killed by Napoleon's soldiers trying to protect someone, I forget the extra details, but a number of our people were, went through horrible experiences with the soldiers of Napoleon. Anyway, this house lasts until that time. Bartolomeo was clothed as a novice in 1785, so he was there for two years studying. He had entered the school at San Michele, but he hadn't actually become a monk there yet until after a couple years of science and philosophy.

[11:39]

So in 1785 he was clothed by an abbot named after our great Romualdian saint, the ex-duche Pietro Osseolo da Ponte, Abbot da Ponte in 1785. He was given the name Mauro, Maor, or Maorus. And the next year he professed. He had an 18-month novitiate. I don't know what that's all about. He was professed in September, September 21st, actually, under another abbot. There was a new abbot at San Michele. They changed rather quickly by this time. When we're talking 1700s, it could be every two years, every other year, every three years in the seven big houses. Excuse me. And his name was Giacomo James Cerulli. And then he studied theology.

[12:42]

This is Mauro. Mauro studied theology. The following year, 1787, he was ordained. He was ordained in December. Things were sped up in those days. The exact date cannot be found because the archives of the bishop who ordained him, and in those years we used Torcellio, another island in the lagoon, a very famous cathedral. That's the one thing I wish I didn't have. If I had another day in Venice, I would have gone there, but it would be a whole day trip. It has those wonderful mosaics there, the Cathedral of Torcellio. Anyway, they would have the bishop of Torcellio float over to Murano and ordain our people there, or they would go to Torcellio. There were quite a few bishops around Venice at that time, and we aligned with Torcellio.

[13:45]

Anyway, their archives, to a great extent, burnt in a fire, so we don't have the exact details on the date regarding ordination. Three years later, Mauro holds the chair of theology at San Michele, and he begins work on his doctoral dissertation or thesis on the Church Triumphant. Does that mean he's a dean or he's just an instructor? I mean a chairman of the department. He's the chairman of the department. He begins a work which takes him years, which he finally takes to Rome, and it is accepted later on down the line, on the Church Triumphant. Five years later, 1795, we find him in Rome. He's doing the final touches on this thesis. This thesis is rather important,

[14:48]

and it is in three parts. The first part is on the immutability of church government, unchanging church. The second part is on papal infallibility, ex cate tra. So this leads up to what happens at the end of the century. That is the end of the 19th century. With that, it becomes one with the dogma on papal infallibility. And the third section deals with Jansenism and Protestantism, and Mauro is against them. It is at this time that Napoleon's forces and Napoleon-like philosophies and struggles and whatnot, republican problems, are surfacing and going on

[15:48]

all throughout Europe. And it's at that time that he publishes his thesis. He becomes, therefore, the archenemy of republicans, of republicanism and liberalism. He's the archenemy of liberalism. He's coming out with this major past the right, ultra-right dissertation. Four years later, Pope Pius VI dies in prison on August 29th. I'm just including this because this gives you a feel for what's going on at that time. Imprisoned by Napoleon's forces. 1800, in this year, Pius VII was elected on March 14th in a renegade conclave of cardinals who were scattered out of Rome and collected themselves at the Benedictine Abbey of San Giorgio Maggiore. You saw it right from the Piazza di San Marco in Venice.

[16:51]

And they elected Pius VII there. In 1805, so five years down the road, Mauro Capidari is named titular abbot of San Michele, so he returns to Venice. He's named titular abbot. He holds the title. And he goes back there to teach. But the next year, he's called back to Rome because he's elected procurator general of the order. In those years, in these centuries, that is the number two man in the order. There's the general, and the office below the general, so like the vice president, would be the procurator general. And that was true in all the monastic congregations at this time, and other orders, in fact. Most of them even used that same term. The following year, 1807, he was named the abbot

[17:53]

of San Gregorio in Rome. You see, they're changing every year in these years. Of course, horrible things are going on in the early 1800s regarding politics, politically. In 1808, the very next year, he returns to Venice to fight against the coming suppressions. There's all kinds of pressures in Venice. They're slowly taking this, taking that, closing the little house down, and the monks have to run to the bigger houses. There's all kinds of crap that went on for years in all of our houses, big houses especially, because they had to carry the load when the smaller houses were suppressed. Anyway, that next year, he's back there fighting that. This is the year after he's appointed or elected abbot of San Gregorio, and then he's elected abbot of San Michele,

[18:56]

St. Michael, in Venice, on June 21st. So he's really the last abbot, the last reigning abbot of San Michele. That is the mother house of this great congregation. Two years later, San Michele is suppressed. May 13th, 1810. 1810 was a horrible year for our order, well, for all the orders, actually. However, they allowed the school to continue, and the school is a very prestigious school, and educating most of the high officials and children, but despite that, even that won't last long. At this time, Mauro's holding down the chair of philosophy at the school. Four years later, in 1814, he is recalled to Rome to help pick up the pieces at San Gregorio, which had basically fallen apart and was horribly unorganized,

[19:57]

and just on its last strings at this time. And he does so, and at this time, he also has offered his first bishopric, which he flatly refuses. The next year, so he's in Rome now, the next year, 1815, he's made a consulter to the Hobie See. Three years later, he's made procurator general again, so he's number two in the entire order again. And two years later, he refuses his second bishopric. This one is Tivoli, which would have been still a rather prestigious bishopric to have. That and Ostia historically were close to Rome. Both had great ritualistic rites regarding certain, for instance, just parenthetically, when Peter Damian was named

[21:00]

cardinal archbishop of Ostia. That meant that Peter Damian had the right, the position as bishop, to enthrone a pope. And at that time, Peter Damian actually had to run and hide at one point because they had three popes. And then there was another one brought in and he just ran and hid so he wouldn't have to enthrone yet another one. But Tivoli is another one of these important seats that way. There were certain attachments that went along with the certain, what is the word? Well, even duties, but certainly prolatial prerogatives that went along exactly. And he said, no, you don't want that either. Just to backtrack a little bit, all during this time, his best friend is Placido Zula, another monk of San Michele who is a scientist,

[22:02]

very intelligent man, good teacher. He goes to Rome before Mauro and he's made a cardinal. He's made a cardinal there in what most people thought was a mistake, that the pope gave the red hat to the wrong man. Even Placido demonstrated. He said, you don't mean me, you mean Mauro, who was the abbot at the time at San Gregorio. But they're both really good men, good, capable men. But the pope stood by his valium, his mistake, or maybe it wasn't, they think it was. It wouldn't be the first time the wrong person was given the red hat. And Zula was a fine churchman, fine bishop. He was the vicar of Rome, in fact, for a number of people, including our own Mauro.

[23:03]

Anyway, Placido becomes a cardinal and he is named protector of the order. We always have a cardinal protector during these years. Do we still have them? Do you know since Vatican II? I don't know. Maybe, yeah, I think they probably have. But until then, every order had its own cardinal protector. We had a number of Englishmen, in fact, English cardinals who were our protectors, and some Americans. Just a little story, we had just arrived from Bruno 9 Rome, and our protector visited. He was this old Italian cardinal and they could hardly get enough of Stetson inside, so there were some witty comments about how he was this manly protector. Then, he put his magnificent cloak and hat in the waiting room, and he went off. And the monk snuck into the waiting room and put on his cloak and hat and took the pictures. Of course, there was a time

[24:10]

in fact, some centuries when it was very, very important who your protector was. And it meant a lot what you got done for your congregations. example would have been even in the time of Trump Assange, for instance. Had he not had had we not had a good cardinal protector at that time, we probably wouldn't have been able to pull off the reform that was badly needed in our congregation, and then Ambrogio's election and then enacting the whole thing. A lot of it depended on the cardinal protector, yeah. I don't even know when they started that particular...

[25:13]

And I think there was a time when more than anything else, the protector was just yet another commandant type person. There were times when it wasn't so good to have a protector, and then there were times when it wasn't. Anyway, when Placido was named cardinal protector of the order, he immediately was the general of the order, also being Camaldolese. They just named him general. Well, he had Mauro at San Gregorio running the order for him. He was just, you know, vicariously for him. Placido was doing other things at the Holy See, and he was the vicar of Rome. So basically, as vicar general vicar general, number two man because the general is actually not the general as we usually have him. Mauro was technically running the order, even though he was only the vicar. At this time, again, we have Mauro

[26:15]

involved in the Holy See, and he's made a consultant to the Holy Office, the Propagation of the Faith, the committee for who's going to be appointed bishops throughout the world. So he's busy in the Holy See at this time also. And then in the year 1824, he's named a cardinal, excuse me, apostolic visitator to four rather minor, actually, universities in these cities, these universities papal universities within the papal territories. But even though it wasn't there, not all that important, it was an important step for him because people saw him slowly. It was another step along the way. In 1825, the next year, he was created cardinal. What they didn't know was when he was made apostolic visitator to the universities, he actually was already cardinal, but the Pope held it off for one year for reasons that are not fully known.

[27:18]

It was so in pectora for one year, and then on the feast of St. Benedict's, Transitus, first he was given the red hat, 1825, and Zurla was just beaming, announced to everyone now, finally, things were made right. Well, they were best friends too for years and years and years. So we have two cardinals at one time. I don't know if there's another period in our history where we have two of our men as cardinals. We've had a lot of cardinals, but I don't think more than two. In 1831, six years down the road, lo and behold, Mauro Cappellari is elected Pope. He takes the name in deference to his favorite saint and in deference to the actual abbey of San Gregorio, he takes the name Gregory, Gregory XVI. He was elected

[28:22]

through a coalition, a coalition of ultra-right, various ultra-right bands, including, and still important at this time in history, Austria. So Metternich was politicking and running things in the Austrian sphere of influence, and he became very pro- Cappellari because he was pro-absolutist. And that's what Cappellari, remember his thesis? That's what he stood for. Had he not written that thesis, I wonder if he would have. I mean, things point to his not being elected, but he had already for years now, he's had that reputation. The Zellante party, an ongoing party these years against republicanism, against liberal views. We're talking now

[29:23]

of a situation where various parties are killing one another in Italy. And we have assassinations of, including clergy and prelates by various parties within the right and left. I mean, Italy is in its time of real struggle, political struggle, becoming a country, let's say, at this time, rather than a collection of vying city-states. Which, I mean, that's a broad statement, but over the centuries basically it's that, but in different forms all along. And so now you have it coming close to being a republic, and it's a long struggle and many, many lives are lost in that struggle. The Zellante align themselves with Capillary, he's elected. He's elected because they feel he will be against all

[30:23]

changes, all modern trends, all nationalism. That's why he's elected. And they're right in some ways. He was against those things. The very next year, he promulgates this papal document, Mirali Vos, which is on August 15th, which is against all kinds of things. Notably against the freedom of conscience, the freedom of the press, and very pro-church and state separation. Did I say that? I mean just the opposite. He's very much in favor of church and state being aligned. He's against the separation of church and state, which the liberals are pushing. Get religion out of the

[31:23]

government, out of the influence. He's against various reforms. All of this is coming through Mirali Vos and other statements he makes during this time. He's against, just in general, various reforms, any kind of revolt, liberal ideas in general. He's against Protestants. He does begin a reorganization of the hierarchy, a reform of all the religious orders. He is very much involved in the development of missions worldwide. He creates 70 missionary dioceses. He creates 200 missionary bishops during his time. He's very much in favor of native clergy, native bishops. He creates 80 cardinals during his time. It's a good thing he did because those of you who have been

[32:26]

in St. Peter's and have seen his marble effigy at his place of entombment in the church, it's this immense, very much like his thesis, the church triumphant comes across as. Well, those cardinals that he created paid for that. I don't know if he knew they were going to do that, but he created 80 of them and they got a magnificent monument done in the end. He's very pro-Immaculate Conception. This is before Immaculate Conception is defined as dogma. He's also, interestingly enough, and that's why we're getting to this point, very pro-arts and archaeology. What was the date that he ascended to the papacy? 1831. So, 31 to 46. So, 15 years.

[33:27]

But before we discuss the arts and the work he did there then, in general, I have just a few more things. 1839, he came out with this document for which he should be more famous than he is. It's against slavery. Way ahead of his time in this sense. What was the date of that? 1839. I don't have the exact date of promulgation. I can find it for you. 1844, five years later, he comes out with this. This is just sort of parenthetically included. This is not against trains, planes, or automobiles. It is against the New York Christian Alliance and the London Bible Society, rather than various liberal ideas they're bringing out regarding scriptures. The next year, 1845, the year before he died,

[34:31]

he created a whole new way of native clergy throughout the world and then established ten new dioceses in the United States of America. The next year he died on June 1st, 1846. His rather impressive monument in St. Peter's was done by this sculptor, Luigi Amici. And busts of Gregorio Sedici can be found at Murano, where he was originally a monk. Fabriano, did you see it there down by the tomb? San Gregorio, I thought I saw one there. In fact, this volume two has a picture of the one from San Gregorio, but I didn't see it my last time. I didn't know where I ran across it the first time.

[35:35]

Are you familiar with that bust? And then also at this particular museum, at the Labyrinth Palatial, Labyrinth Palace Museum, they have a bust of our Commodities Pope there. Okay, yes. You've mentioned three right-wing extremist organizations I have the Austrian, the Zlatin, who's the third? Is that Metternich? No, Metternich would be aligned with Austria. I remember saying three. There are more than three groups. A whole coalition. Anyone against modern trends and nationalism would have voted for him. So, just regarding the art, before we discuss these three museums, which are his mark on the arts, let's just talk about it in general. This is a quote from Cardinal Wiseman.

[36:36]

He did not confine himself to any one department of art, but his attention was comprehensive and generous, not guided by caprice, but directed by a discerning taste. It sounds very British, doesn't it? Directed by a discerning taste, unquote. He instigated, he helped, and he continued to help some that were already in process, various excavations and restorations going on in and about Rome. If you go to Rome now and you walk through the Forum area and you go to various sites where temples have been excavated and whatnot, he is responsible for a lot of them. I'll name some of them. He's certainly responsible for the Domus Aurea, the golden house. I don't know if I've seen that or not. Various parts of the Forum. The Flavian amphitheater

[37:41]

he excavated, had excavated. He had the Arch of Titus restored. You may recognize some of these things that you've seen if you've been in Rome. This one I have, the portico, so the porch area to the temple of Antoninus and Faustina he had excavated. They didn't even know it was there. There was a hypothesis that this portico was also connected with that temple and he went with it and they excavated it. The Column of Phoka was excavated. The Arch of Septimius Severus was excavated. Imagine the whole arch was underground and whatnot. Imagine the layers of stuff on top of these things and what's still under there that hasn't been excavated. The Temple of Concordia, the Temple of Vespasian were both excavated thanks to the

[38:41]

command of his Pope. The Piazza di San Gregorio once he was Pope he had a nice piazza built in front of San Gregorio there and the street paved, street made. The Via di San Gregorio. There's also Viale. Is that another name for the same street in front of San Gregorio? Or is it Viale? Maybe it's something that was added later on. Part of it's called Viale I noticed at one point. Also there was this temple hypothesis regarding a temple where of syncretism where they brought Greek and Latin gods together into a temple in Rome and it was called il portico dei consenti so agreeing, gods agreeing together and he went with that hypothesis and they found the portico to

[39:44]

what evidently was this temple of syncretism in Rome. He pushed for the upkeep and maintenance of catacombs a lot of them were in bad disrepair at this time. He added many books to the, if you go through the Vatican museums, even if you're just running to get to the, before the crowd gets there early in the morning, I did the same thing one day to get to the Sistine Chapel so you can have a little bit of quiet. You're going to run through this section, Appartamento Borgia and he used to have a huge library there which they moved elsewhere to a great extent. He helped build that up personally with his own books and his own money that he had. Also the Museum of Christianity at that time the Museum of Christianity, so early Christian artifacts, to a great extent

[40:44]

his own expense he donated to that museum including especially a whole series of Byzantine icons precious Byzantine icons which he gave to the church but of course this is in this museum. He had various frescoes restored and brought in the best restorer of the day whose name was Agricola takes you back to first year Latin they restored frescoes of Michelangelo, Raffaello, Angelico sounds like the choirs of heaven some of them were outdoor frescoes and so they encased them in glass so he had that done so they wouldn't lose them to the elements. This is another quote from Wiseman regarding his rooms, regarding Gregory's rooms. There Gregory had his most

[41:47]

choice collection of books from every part of the world beautifully bound and many other exquisite gems of art miniatures and copies as well as original paintings. So he had a certain aesthetic side to him which even his own paper rooms were pronounced and it of course spilled over into thankfully so into the church's heritage. He also promoted actively the study of Christian antiquity this had already begun under Benedict XIV but Kamali's book got right on the train and continued including the studies of sarcophagi inscriptions, relics, sculptures the whole schmear. So

[42:47]

he's famous for these three museums and I can actually do it in 15 minutes the Gregorian Lateran Palace Museum the Etruscan Museum, if you go through the Vatican museums you know this is one of the museums one of the departments and the Egyptian Museum. Well he actually as I say was responsible for originally the Lateran Palace was the preferred abode of the popes prior to Avignon in Rome. In fact again this is parenthetically just happens to be I'm doing some Peter Damian reading right now in Peter Damian's day during this time when they had three popes at once in Rome and there was going to yet be a fourth. One of the popes was in his army were holed up in the Lateran and that's the one who had probably the most

[43:49]

the most claim to being pope and the first of the three chronologically. A second one was in what is now called the Vatican so St. Peter's in the surrounding area, his army was there and the third one was in some Benedictine monastery nearby, forget which one outside of Rome. Anyway he took this palace and he decided to restore it as a museum for the church Universal. It opened to the public in the year 1844 on the Feast of the Ascension He chose this date because it was always the Feast of the Ascension when the pope would go to the Lateran regularly. I mean it was a traditional date for a papal visit to the Lateran. Even though it opened in 44 it really wasn't finished until 46. Well it's never been finished probably. If you think about

[44:52]

Roman museums they've never quite been finished. They're always adding on, evidently adding on and various projects have gone on for decades and decades. But it's probably finished as far as the original scope can be considered. This was filled with various artifacts from ancient Christian sources or the Christian holdings but most of the artifacts were not Christian. So this is pre-Christian or secular profane antiquity would be another phrase to use. He took articles out of the Pio Clementine Museum which already existed in the Vatican holdings the Chiara Monti Museum which was set up by Pius VII. This one was set up by Pius VI so it's just by his predecessors. So he's carrying on something that is going on before him

[45:56]

the whole heritage movement within Rome. And also from the Apartamento Borgia. So this artifacts were taken out and they were all moved to this Lateran Palace Museum together as a major holding. As well as many, many, many articles that were coming out of recent excavations. So articles they were digging up including some quite huge pieces were being put into this particular museum. And Pio Nono just down the line will continue this to build up this particular museum. Secondly, the Etruscan Museum. This one's fascinating. I love the Etruscan art. This opened on February 2nd, 2237.

[46:57]

2237. Which is the anniversary of his election. He was elected Pope on the feast of the presentation. Etruscan. What does that refer to? It refers to a people, an entity called Etruria or Etruria. I hear it pronounced both ways. An ancient country in what is now Italy. Covering Tuscany and parts of Umbria. Those of you who met Don Stefano when he was a young priest. Stefano is on his way to Brazil. He's very proud of his Etruscan blood. He says he has that's what he is. He's Etruscan. If you want to see his eyes sparkle and hear him go on and on ask him about his Etruscan blood sometime. This is a civilization which existed mainly from the 8th century BC to the 4th century

[48:02]

BC and appropriately enough 6th century BC is their golden epoch. Their golden. Their high point. The apex. They were foreigners. They were not indigenous people. They think they're probably from Asia minor originally. And they were an alliance of city states based basically on religion. They had their own alphabet. An alphabet which was extracted from the Greek alphabet. A little bit different. They've determined that but they can't determine the vocabulary at all. They don't know where the vocabulary. Their vocabulary is a mystery in fact too. At least until let's put it this way. Until 1948 this Etruscan vocabulary was a mystery. They may have made games.

[49:02]

Since then I didn't have the time to look up Etruscan whatever civilization. They were a maritime power and they're known as a civilization for their gold work and their bronze work and a special kind of pottery which was black and it's called bouquero or bouquero pottery. Their art is fascinating. I love it. It's a strong Hellenic influence. Strong Greek influence. It's like Hellenized art but gone wild. Its flavor is barbaric. And so you get the refined Hellenic form and feel and then this wild barbaric flavor thrown on it and painted on it. And this Etruscan art became the primary source for what grows into Roman Roman art and frescoes.

[50:07]

Early ones. No? I thought I saw you. This is a quote from Perali who did the article on the Etruscan museum. Gregory XVI always favored and promoted the study of antiquity and the fine arts as the greater splendor of Rome buying many important Etruscan artifacts, preserving them from obscurity, collecting them into a place dedicated to culture and this parenthetically precisely because he saw Etruscan art as being fundamental to early Roman art, as being the basic forms for what becomes Roman art. So he collected and bought a lot and he had various people out doing this for on behalf of the church collection. He bought a lot of vases

[51:10]

and sculptures, bronzes, pottery, precious objects of all various sorts for this museum. And once he got this museum established and opened, the Etruscan museum, that in itself drew in collections. People started leaving their collections as an inheritance to the Etruscan museum of the Vatican. Lastly, the Egyptian museum, he was also the founder of the Vatican museums. Also, this one opened on 2239. Two years later to the day, anniversary of his elevation to the papacy, he opened the Egyptian museum. This particular Egyptian museum pulled contents from various other holdings they had around. It was more of a of an effort to bring things together

[52:10]

than to totally create from anew. Because the Romans had always been Egyptologists. They loved the whole culture of Egypt and its archaeology and history and its art and whatnot. And were all through the centuries great collectors. So if you go down Rome don't be surprised when you drive down Rome and you see Egyptian obelisks all over the place. They've got Egyptian stuff all over the place. And many, many Roman nobles throughout the centuries had their Egyptian collections. Well, the Pope went to work collecting collections. And also pulling out of this particular holding, the Pio Clementine, so Pius VI's collection he brought together, he pulled the Egyptian stuff out of that to add it to this other, the other body that he was collecting. And so they have, continue to have, a number of sarcophagi,

[53:14]

a number of burial boxes out of basalt marble particularly, with the carvings on the outside, Egyptian ones of course. Very, a large collection of scrolls, papyrus, mung, vases, statues, all kinds of sculptures and jewelry and many, many small little articles, a lot of which you can see in the collection. And there are other things that are not on open view. They have stuff in storage as well. There are three minutes left. I can quit there and let's see if there's anything to, just for people who have been there from their own experiences, if you want to share anything or questions regarding Gregory and or these museums. Oh, here it is. I was wondering where it was. I tore it apart.

[54:21]

Tore apart my paper clip while I was talking about Gregory. How far did Napoleon reach down in Italy? How far did he reach? How far did he reach? Don't know. Because it was a combination of other Republican forces taking care of some areas. Were they angry at the church because too much wealth or it's a political power? Yes. But the big... But the bigger revolution came from there. And there were generations here where certain sections outside the papal states, what was left of them, were already Republican to greater and lesser levels and were fighting

[55:23]

against the papal states for years already, often on ongoing struggle. It's like the forces of Bonaparte were like the frosting on the cake. It had been ongoing for a long time. And in Supremo against slavery in 1839, that's significant before the Civil War. Interesting to know how that impacted on the Catholic communities in our southern states and whether they just ignored it as often happens or did it cause... Well, at that time they were mostly French. Especially from the KDMs that went down. In the 1830s there aren't a lot of Catholics in this country. I mean, there are Catholics, but the great immigrant waves still haven't hit. Historically, the Catholics were fighting slavery

[56:26]

in the south, especially in Louisiana and the Reddit. If it hadn't been for the more poorly needed money we wouldn't even be able to buy up there in the United States with the... How many people have seen the Vatican Museums? I've seen quite a few, quite a few. Well, a lot of that's there because it's come out of this place. I want to just say again that next time I'm home, I hope to be able to do histories of maybe six of our great houses. Kamaldi itself and then five others. We'll just see what I can get done. I don't know when the next time I'm going to be home is. But hopefully we can have an ongoing thing and get this stuff into our own

[57:26]

archives and computer banks and end up with, ten years down the line, something we can just hand to our incoming people regarding our heritage in English because there isn't a lot written in English. So thank you for your attention and participation, even if you were forced to come.

[57:45]

@Text_v004
@Score_JJ