Bartolomeo Alberto Cappellari

Ø Born into a Venetian aristocratic family on September 18, 1765
Ø At age 18, entered a strict Benedictine monastery
Ø Ordained to the priesthood in 1787
Ø Professor of philosophy, theology, and science (1780)
Ø In turn; abbot, procurator-general, and vicar-general of his Religious Order
Ø 1799, The Triumph of the Holy See and the Church Against the Attacks of Innovators:
            upheld the temporal sovereignty of the pope
            argued strongly for papal infallibility
Ø 1826, named a Cardinal and Prefect of Propaganda (under Leo XII and Pius VIII)

Pope Gregory XVI, Feb 2, 1831 - June 1, 1846

• Hostile to modern trends
• Banned railways in the Papal States ("chemins d'enfer")
• Banned street lights (people might gather under them to plot against papal authority)
• First of 19th century Popes to confront and condemn the emerging modern world

ØUprising in Bologna (two days after election)
Ø Spring 1831: central Italy in revolt against papal rule (Austria helped to put down the uprising)
Ø People calling for a Federal Republic
Ø Gregory's view: papal power of divine origin; authority of the popes in the Papal States was immutable
Ø Papal prisons filled; liberal Italians in exile spread anti- papalism throughout Europe
Ø European powers push for administrative, juridical and constitutional reform in the Papal States.
Ø The Pope concedes a few minor points but is not prepared to concede such things as elected assemblies and lay- dominated councils of state
Ø He maintained his repressive rule at great expense with mercenaries

Encyclical Cum Primum (June 9, 1832)

Since we know that the emperor is appointed by God, it is necessary that he be loved and reverenced, and that we wish him well. . . . Your emperor will act kindly toward you; at no time will he deny his patronage for the good of the Catholic religion and he will always listen patiently to your requests (Cum Primum, 4).

• an apologist for ultramontanism (on the other side of the mountains)
• A strong supporter of papal authority and church tradition
• a pioneer of Catholic liberalism
• The union of the church and civil powers did not help religion
• Essai sur l'indifférence en matière de religion Four volumes published between 1817-1823
• Each person is confronted with a choice between two alternatives; individual reason which leads to absolute skepticism or faith which leads to absolute certainty
• The principles of religion and morality must be accepted on faith, that faith as expressed by the Catholic magisterium (speaking truth for humanity as a whole)
• A revival of Catholicism would occur only when the church, freed from "its kingly embrace," trusted her spiritual authority to lead the world into a new order based on constitutional democracy and freedom.

• separation of church and state
• complete religious liberty
• educational liberty
• liberty of the press and of association
• universal suffrage
• decentralization
 

Everything points to the fact that religion should desire freedom. But no doubt it will continue to stand at the palace gates. One day the prince as he goes by will notice it, and will say, 'God be praised! there is still a remnant of faith in my people.' Religion will bow respectfully, for the second majesty has deigned to speak before the first. The prince will open his purse, but remembering that etiquette forbids him to give alms directly to God, he will raise his voice and say, "My Lord Cardinal, you are my almoner." Religion will bow still more reverently; it will return to its deserted basilicas, accompanied by the indifference of the people, but with the smile and with the gold of Caesar.   An excerpt from an article in the October 17, 1830 issue of L'Avenir as quoted in The Abbé de Lamennais and the Liberal Catholic Movement in France by the Hon. W. Gibson (London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1896), 156-157.

Ministers of One who was born in a manger and who died upon a cross, return to your primitive state, steep yourselves voluntarily in poverty and suffering, and the word of a poor and suffering God will become fruitful on your lips. Without any other support than that divine word, go forth as the twelve fishermen into the midst of the peoples and begin once more the conquest of the world. Christianity is about to enter on another era of triumph and of glory.   An excerpt from an article in the October 18, 1830 issue of L'Avenir as quoted in The Abbé de Lamennais and the Liberal Catholic Movement in France by the Hon. W. Gibson (London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1896), 158.

Catholics, think of your descendants: they will not ask you to give account for the monarchy, but for the religion which it is your duty to hand on as purely as you received it. There is something more precious than royalty, namely the faith: there is something greater than a Bourbon, namely God. Break then, break for ever with the men whose incorrigible blindness places this holy religion in danger, who sacrifice their God to their king, and who, if they prevailed, would degrade your altars so that they would be no more than a throne.   Conclusion of an article, signed by Lamennais which appeared in L'Avenir on February 18, 1831. Quoted from Alec R. Vidler, Prophecy and Papacy: A Study of Lamennais the Church and the Revolution (London: SCM Press Ltd., 1954), 189.

L'Avenir

• Scandal to French nobility and bishops who spoke out publicly against the journal and applied indirect sanctions to subscribers
• November 15, 1831, publication stopped
• Editors, "pilgrims of God and of liberty" went to plead the cause of L'Avenir before the Pope
• After three months, Lamennais granted a disappointing audience with Pope Gregory XVI

Gregory XVI, Mirari Vos (Aug. 15, 1832)
"on liberalism and religious indifferentism"

Ø Condemned ideas of Lamennais and L'Avenir (without naming them)
Ø "Naturalistic liberalism" was an "absurd and erroneous doctrine"
Ø Monarchical regimes defended and "political liberalism" rejected
Ø Condemned separation of Church and State
Ø Rejected the idea of a free press
Ø Right of individuals to form and follow own consciences a "pernicious evil"

ØLamennais immediately drafted an act of submission to the authority of the pope
Ø Gradually, Lamennais gave up priestly duties and by the end of 1834 no longer identified himself as a Catholic
Ø On April 30, 1834, he anonymously published Paroles d'un Croyant ("Words of a Believer"), denouncing political tyranny and identifying Jesus with the cause of liberty
Ø Powerfully written in the style of prophetic and apocalyptic literature, it is said that the typesetters cried as they composed these "biblical poems." Paroles d'un Croyant was a great success and translated into several languages including English (Dafoe Library)

Ø Specifically condemned Lamennais ("the blindness of this wretched author") and Paroles d'un croyant
Ø Lamennais wrote for another twenty years, championing the causes of the poor and oppressed.
Ø He died estranged from the church on February 27, 1854, and at his request was buried "with the poor" in a communal grave with nothing to mark his tomb.
Ø Not a word was spoken over his remains. Yet, the program of Lamennais, a scandal to Pope Gregory XVI, is the cornerstone of all modern democracies.
 

We have learned of the pamphlet written in French under the title Paroles d'un croyant . . . Though small in size, it is enormous in wickedness. . . . By Our apostolic power, We condemn the book: furthermore, We decree that it be perpetually condemned. It corrupts the people by a wicked abuse of the word of God, to dissolve the bonds of all public order and to weaken all authority. It arouses, fosters, and strengthens seditions, riots, and rebellions in the empires. We condemn the book because it contains false, calumnious, and rash propositions which lead to anarchy; which are contrary to the word of God; which are impious, scandalous, and erroneous; and which the Church already condemned. . . . Let us see that no writing of this kind comes out of hiding into the light . . . and creep far and wide like a crab among the people. (Singulari Nos, 2 & 6)

GOOD NEWS!

• Gregory XVI was the greatest missionary pope of the nineteenth century, solidly establishing Catholicism in the Americas.
• By placing missions under direct papal control, Gregory XVI brought to an end the control of Spain and Portugal over mission territories.
• Supremo Apostolatus, December 3, 1839, condemned slavery and advocated a native clergy and hierarchy: "We, by apostolic authority, warn and strongly exhort . . . that no one in the future dare to bother unjustly, despoil of their possessions, or reduce to slavery Indians, Blacks or other such peoples."
• Gregory was a patron of the arts and scholarship. He encouraged excavation of the Roman Forum and catacombs and founded the Etruscan and Egyptian museums in the Vatican

Ø June 1, 1846: Pope Gregory XVI died; the most hated Pope in two centuries.
Ø His successor would face serious rebellion in the Papal States and in the Church.