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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 April 2020
This article presents a case of conflict and resistance within the Catholic Church: that of Carlo Passaglia (1812–87). It aims to show that although the conflict is usually attributed to Passaglia's liberal political ideas, it was actually rooted in his innovative ecclesiological model. In turn the article presents the origin of the conflict, an account of Passaglia's theological point of view and, finally, how Passaglia lived this conflict and the particular form of resistance that he elaborated.
All translations, in text and footnotes, except where a published translated version exists, are the author's own.
This article is based upon a paper given to the panel ‘Catholics in Conflict: Theology and the Politics of Resistance’, held at the 2019 annual conference of the European Academy of Religion in 2019. I wish to express my sincere gratitude to Petra Kuivala, the chair of the panel, and to Professor Massimo Faggioli for their valuable suggestions.
1 It is quite remarkable to observe the profound respect with which Passaglia is addressed in some contemporary articles. ‘Prof. Passaglia has already reached an eminence sufficiently conspicuous to connect his name in the annals of theology with the ablest writers of a past generation. There are few men who combine within themselves a greater number of those particular qualities which constitute a theologian of the first order. For to a profound and impassioned love of the study to which his life is devoted, he unites an extensive acquaintance with the writings of the Fathers, a familiarity with the labours of St. Thomas and his numerous commentators, and an accurate knowledge of hermeneutical science. [Prof. Passaglia] is fully able to cope with the best biblical scholars of Protestant Germany’: Todd, W. G., ‘De immaculato deiparae semper virginis conceptu Caroli Passaglia Sac. e. S. I: Commentarius: 3 partes, Rome, 1854–1855’, Dublin Review xli (1856), 117–18Google Scholar. According to Walter Kasper, Passaglia should be considered one of the most brilliant Roman theologians of the nineteenth century: ‘Carlo Passaglia war zweifellos der genialste Theologe der Römischen Schule’: Die Lehre von der Tradition in der Römischen Schule, 2nd edn, Freiburg-im-Breisgau 2011, 83–4Google Scholar.
2 In this regard, it is necessary to mention his monumental treatise on the Immaculate Conception. This massive commentary, divided into three volumes (more than 2,000 pages), was the result of Passaglia's strenuous work in the preparatory theological commissions for the dogma: De immaculato deiparae semper virginis conceptu: Commentarius, Rome 1854–5. On Passaglia's involvement in these commissions see Rossi, Valfredo Maria, La Chiesa, Maria e il cristiano: un'antropologia teologica a partire da un'ecclesiologia trinitaria, Assisi 2017, 210–70Google Scholar.
3 Pius ix, ‘Dilecto filio religioso viro Carolo Passaglia’, in Passaglia, De immaculato, iii, pp. iii–v.
4 On Passaglia's life and works see D'Ercole, P., Carlo Passaglia: cenno biobliografico e ricordo, Turin 1888Google Scholar, and Giovagnoli, A., Dalla teologia alla politica: l'itinerario di Carlo Passaglia negli anni di Pio IX e Cavour, Brescia 1984, 15–52Google Scholar.
5 Galletti, P., Memorie storiche intorno al p. Ugo Molza e alla Compagnia di Gesù in Roma durante il secolo XIX, Rome 1912, 152–4Google Scholar. See also L'Università Gregoriana del Collegio Romano nel primo secolo dalla restituzione, Rome 1924, 173–4Google Scholar.
6 Aubert, R., ‘The first phase of Catholic liberalism’, in Aubert, R., Beckmann, J., Corish, P. J. and Lill, R. (eds), The Church between revolution and restoration, trans. Becker, P., London 1981, 270Google Scholar.
7 Ibid. 269–71.
8 Martina, G., La Chiesa nell'età dell'assolutismo, del liberalismo, del totalitarismo: da Lutero ai nostri giorni, Brescia 1970, 531–54Google Scholar.
9 Schelkens, K., Dick, J. A. and Mettepenningen, J., Aggiornamento? Catholicism from Gregory XVI to Benedict XVI, Leiden 2013, 7–60CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
10 Howard, T. A., The pope and the professor: Pius IX, Ignaz von Döllinger, and the quandary of the modern age, Oxford 2017, 43CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
11 Acta Gregorii Papae XVI, ed. Bernasconi, A. M., Rome 1901, i. 169–74Google Scholar.
12 Aubert, ‘First phase’, 282–92.
13 Martina, G., Pio IX (1846–1850), Rome 1974, 81–224Google Scholar. See also Chadwick, O., A history of the popes, 1830–1914, Oxford 1998, 61–77CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
14 Kertzer, D. I., The pope who would be king: the exile of Pius IX and the emergence of modern Europe, New York 2018Google Scholar.
15 Martina, Pio IX (1846–1850), 287–422.
16 O'Malley, J. W., Vatican I: the council and the making of the ultramontane Church, Cambridge, Ma 2018, 107CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
17 ‘Romanus Pontifex potest ac debet cum progressu, cum liberalismo et cum recenti civilitate sese reconciliari et componere’: Pii IX pontificis maximi acta: pars prima acta exhibens quae ad ecclesiam universam spectant, Rome 1864, iii. 717; English version at <https://www.papalencyclicals.net/pius09/p9syll.htm>.
18 Chadwick, History of the popes, 176.
19 Martina, G., Pio IX (1851–1866), Rome 1986, 85–152Google Scholar. With regard to the so-called Questione Romana, the political conflict between the kingdom of Italy and the Papal State over Rome, see Pirri, P., Pio IX e Vittorio Emanuele II: dal loro carteggio privato, Rome 1944–61Google Scholar.
20 ‘En France, Lacordair écrivait: “Je suis pour le Saint-Siège contre ses oppresseurs, je crois à la nécessité morale de son domaine temporel …, mais en même temps je desire l'affranchissement de l'Italie, des modifications sérieuses dans le gouvernement des États romains”’: Aubert, R., Le Pontificat de Pie ix (1846–1878), in Fliche, A. and Martin, V. (eds), Histoire de l’Église depuis les origins jusqu'a nos jours, xxi, Paris 1952, 88–9Google Scholar.
21 Howard, The pope and the professor, 98.
22 Ibid. 95–102.
23 Musselli, L., ‘I cattolici e l'unità d'Italia: le linee di fondo dell'evoluzione di un rapporto’, Revista europea de historia de las ideas politicas y de las instituciones publicas vi (2013), 201–9Google Scholar.
24 Martina, G., ‘La fine del potere temporale nella coscienza religiosa e nella cultura dell'epoca, in Italia’, Archivum Historiae Pontificiae ix (1971), 335–41Google Scholar.
25 D'Ercole, P., Carlo Passaglia, Turin 1888, 14–22Google Scholar. See also Pirri, Pio IX e Vittorio Emanuele, ii. 338–66.
26 ‘Il Passaglia essendo in grado di valutare le materie in discussione nel loro valore teologico e canonico, fu forse il solo che potè [sic] dare a Cavour, intorno al grave problema delle relazioni fra i due poteri, dei criteri dottrinali ben fondati’ (‘Passaglia, being able to evaluate the subjects at stake in their theological and canonical aspects, was perhaps the only one who could provide Cavour with well-founded doctrinal criteria on the severe problem of the relations between the two powers’): Pirri, Pio IX e Vittorio Emanuele, ii. 364.
27 O'Malley, Vatican I, 17–18.
28 Pii IX acta, iii. 137–47; English version at <https://www.nytimes.com/1860/04/24/archives/italy-the-Popes-bull-of-excommunication-apostolic-lettfr-of-our.html>.
29 Pii IX acta, iii. 451–61; English version at <https://thejosias.com/2015/06/10/maxima-quidem/#6>.
30 Pii IX acta, iii. 687–717; English version at <http://www.papalencyclicals.net/pius09/p9quanta.htm>.
31 ‘Cum Catholica Ecclesia … perfectae societatis formam vi divinae suae institutionis obtinuerit, ea proinde libertate pollere debet, ut … nulli civili potestati subiaceat. … Iccirco singulari prorsus divinae providentiae consilio factum est ut … Romanus Pontifex … civilem assequeretur principatum’: Pii IX acta, iii. 137.
32 ‘Post Divini Spiritus lumen … auctoritate Omnipotentis Dei et Ss: Apostolorum Petri et Pauli ac Nostra denuo declaramus, eos omnes, qui nefariam in praedictis Pontificiae Nostrae Ditionis Provinciis rebellionem et earum usurpationem, occupationem, invasionem … itemquem ipsorum mandantes, fautores, adiutores, consiliarios, adhaerentes, vel alios quoscumque praedictarum rerum exequutionem quolibet praetextu et quovis modo procurantes, vel per se ipsos exequentes, Maiorem Excommunicationem, aliasque censuras ac poenas ecclesiasticas, a Ss. Canonibus, Apostolicis Constitutionibus, et Generalium Conciliorum, Tridentini praesertim (Sess. xx. Cap. xi de reform.) Decretis inflictas incurrisse; et si opus est, de novo excommunicamus, et anathematizamus, item declarantes, ipsos omnium et quorumcumque privilegiorum, gratiarum, et indultorum sibi a Nobis, seu Romanis Pontificibus Praedecessoribus Nostris, quomodolibet concessorum ammissionis poenas eo ipso partier incurrisse; nec a censuris huiusmodi a quoquam, nisi a Nobis, seu Romano Pontifice pro tempore existente (praeterquam in mortis articulo, et tunc cum reincidentia in easdem censuras eo ipso quo convaluerint) absolve ac liberari posse; ac insuper inhabiles et incapaces esse qui absolutionis beneficium consequantur, donec omnia quomodolibet attenta publice retractaverint, revocaverint, cassaverint, et aboleverint, ac omnia in pristinum statum plenarie et cum effectu redintegraverint, vel alias debitam et condignam Ecclesiae, ac Nobis, et huic Sanctae Sedi satisfactionem in praemissis praestiterint’: ibid. iii. 142–3.
33 ‘Decine di migliaia di italiani erano scomunicati e Pio IX li considerava tali’: Martina, Pio IX (1851–1866), 104. See also O'Malley, Vatican I, 104.
34 ‘Subverti, deleri propriam, veram germanamque divinae revelationis indolem, auctoritatem, Ecclesiaeque constitutionem et potestatem’: Pii IX acta, iii. 452.
35 ‘Civilem Sanctae Sedis principatum Romano Pontifici fuisse singulari divino providentiae consilio datum, illumque necessarium esse, ut idem Romanus Pontifex nulli unquam Principi aut civili potestati subiectus’: ibid. iii. 457.
36 ‘Falsae ac perversae opiniones’: ibid. iii. 689.
37 ‘Errores de civili Romani Pontificis principatu’: ibid. iii. 716.
38 ‘Praeter hos errores explicite notatos, alii complures implicite reprobantur, proposita et asserta doctrina, quam catholici omnes firmissime retinere debeant, de civili Romani Pontificis principatu’: ibid.
39 For an overview of Catholic ecclesiology in the nineteenth century see Congar, Y. M., ‘L'Ecclésiologie de la Révolution Française au Concile du Vatican, sous le signe de l'affirmation de l'autorité’, in Aubert, R. and Nédoncelle, M. (eds), L'Ecclésiologie au XIXe siècle, Paris 1960, 77–114Google Scholar. See also Petruzzi, P., Chiesa e società civile al Concilio Vaticano I, Rome 1984, 7–36Google Scholar, and Vitali, D., ‘Il concilio Vaticano I nel contesto ecclesiologico del secolo xix’, Pontificia Academia Theologica xiii (2014), 39–81Google Scholar.
40 See R. Bellarminus, De controversiis christianae fidei adversus hujus temporis haereticos: tertia controversia generalis de Romano Pontefice quinque libri explicata, v.1-10, in Opera omnia, Naples 1856, i. 524–40. See also Suarez, F., Defensio fidei catholicae et apostolicae adversus anglicanae sectae errores iii.22, in Opera omnia, Paris 1859, xxiv. 308–14Google Scholar. For an overview of the development of the idea of the Church as societas perfecta and the related concept of the potestas indirecta see also Tromp, S., ‘De evolutione doctrinae potestatis indirectae R. Pontificis circa res temporales in controversiis s. Roberti Bellarmini’, in Acta congressus iuridici internationalis VII saeculo a decretalibus Gregorii IX et XIV a Codice Iustiniano promulgatus Romae 12–17 Novembris 1934, Rome 1936, iii. 95–107Google Scholar; Schmitt, C., Der Nomos der Erde im Völkerrecht des Jus Publicum Europaeum, 2nd edn, Berlin 1974, 28–36Google Scholar; P. Granfield, ‘The rise and fall of societas perfecta’, in Huizing, P. and Walf, K. (eds), ‘May church ministers be politicians?’, Concilium vii (1982), 3–8Google Scholar; Prodi, P., Il sovrano pontefice: un corpo e due anime: la monarchia papale nella prima età moderna, Bologna 1982Google Scholar; and Frajese, V., ‘Una teoria della censura: Bellarmino e il potere indiretto dei papi’, Studi Storici xxv (1984), 139–52Google Scholar.
41 There were countless publications on this topic at that time. The most relevant are those of La Civiltà Cattolica, the conservative Jesuit journal.
42 On this ecclesiological distinction see Vitali, ‘Il concilio Vaticano I’, 65–9.
43 Martina, ‘La fine del potere temporale’, 309–76, and Pio IX (1867–78), Rome 1990, 234–6Google Scholar. This apologetic view is clearly present in the idea that Pius ix had of the Immaculate Conception. According to him, the Immaculate One would have been the most effective remedy for the salvation of the Church and society from contemporary evils. Precisely for this reason, Pius ix’s original intention was to combine the dogmatic proclamation with a condemnation of all modern errors, what would subsequently be the Syllabus: Martina, Pio IX (1851–1866), 263–4, 266–9. See also O'Malley, Vatican I, 101–7. On history of the redaction of the Syllabus see Sandoni, L., Il Sillabo di Pio IX, Bologna–Rome 2012, 23–48Google Scholar.
44 ‘Il motivo più profondo dell'opposizione di Pio IX al processo risorgimentale – che non si riduceva ad un nuovo assetto territoriale della penisola, ma tendeva alla creazione di una nuova forma di stato, fondata sull'uguaglianza di tutti i cittadini di fronte alla legge, senza differenza di culto, sul superamento degli antichi privilegi della chiesa, sulla libertà di stampa, di culto e di propaganda, per indicarne solo i tratti essenziali – nasceva però dalla fine di quella posizione speciale di cui aveva goduto fino allora la chiesa, e che, nella classica ecclesiologia post-tridentina, appariva come una condizione quasi inderogabile per il compimento della sua missione salvifica. In altre parole, poco sensibile alla dimensione storica che implica un adattamento della chiesa alle mutevoli strutture della società, Pio ix temeva sinceramente che il nuovo stato laico mettesse a rischio la salvezza di milioni di persone’: Martina, Pio IX (1851–1866), 114–15.
45 Passaglia, C., Pro caussa italica ad episcopos catholicos actore praesbitero catholico, Florence 1861Google Scholar.
46 Römische bücherverbote: edition der Bandi von Inquisition und Indexkongregation, 1814–1917, ed. Wolf, H., Paderborn 2005, 281–2Google Scholar.
47 Passaglia, C., Per la causa italiana ai vescovi cattolici apologia di un prete cattolico, Florence 1861Google Scholar; Pour la cause italienne aux evêques Catholique: apologie par un prête Catholique, Paris 1861Google Scholar; An apology of the Italian cause addressed by an Italian priest to the Catholic bishops, in The four pamphlets of P. C. Passaglia on the temporal power of the pope, Paris–London 1862Google Scholar; and Für die italienische Sache an die katholischen Bischöfe Vertheidigungsschrift eines katholischen Priesters, Coburg 1862Google Scholar.
48 The correspondence of Lord Acton and Richard Simpson, ed. Altholz, J. L., McElrath, D. and Holland, J. C., Cambridge 1973, ii. 146CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
49 Passaglia, Apology, 53.
50 ‘It cannot therefore be imputed as a crime to a Roman Catholic Priest if, whilst showing all needful respect to the first order of the hierarchy, of which the Pontiff is the supreme mediator, he should endeavour to dispel the difficulties which may have arisen in religious matters, or if, where discord should unhappily have broken out, he should endeavour to appease it and to restore peace’: ibid. 65.
51 ‘Publicly and solemnly then do we protest that we are pure and sincere Catholics – that we have nothing so much at heart as the integrity of the Catholic creeds and Catholic discipline … The rule, then, of our thoughts, words, and writings, is not ambiguous, but fixed; not variable, but constant; not human, but human and divine’: ibid. 57–8.
52 Passaglia, C., De ecclesia Christi commentariorum libri quinque, Regensburg 1853–6Google Scholar.
53 Rossi, V. M., ‘Carlo Passaglia's De ecclesia Christi: a Trinitarian ecclesiology at the heart of the nineteenth century’, Irish Theological Quarterly lxxxiii (2018), 329–46CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
54 On Passaglia's Trinitarian ecclesiology see Passaglia, De ecclesia, iii. 392, 801–26. See also Rossi, La Chiesa, 87–156.
55 On Passaglia's concept of the personal indwelling of the Holy Spirit see Schauf, H., Die Einwohnung des Heiligen Geistes: die Lehre von der nichtappropriierten Einwohnung des Heiligen Geistes als Beitrag zur Theologiegeschichte des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts, Freiburg-im-Breslau 1941Google Scholar.
56 A. Ferranti, ‘Avvertenza del traduttore’, in Passaglia, Per la causa italiana, 4–5.
57 Passaglia, Apology, 60.
58 Ibid. 105–6, 138.
59 Idem, Conferenze di diritto pubblico, Turin 1864, 34–48.
60 ‘I should lay down some principles and points of doctrine, and, before all, the undeniable difference between the two Sovereign Powers, that is to say, the supernatural religious Power proper to the Church and the natural civil Power proper to human society’: idem, Observation of a Roman Catholic priest upon excommunication, in The four pamphlets, 19 (italics original). (Italian original: Della scomunica: avvertenze di un prete cattolico, Florence 1861.)
61 Idem, Apology, 135.
62 Ibid. 121.
63 Ibid. See also idem, Conferenze, 230–9.
64 Idem, Apology, 132.
65 Ibid. 128–30, 133–5.
66 ‘Signori, chi vi ha detto che noi siamo sospesi, che noi siamo scomunicati? Siamo scomunicati da quel medesimo tribunale, da quella medesima autorità dalla quale siete scomunicati pur voi. Dunque siamo scomunicati fra scomunicati. Ma, signori, né scomunicati voi, né scomunicato io. Non iscomunica l'uomo, scomunica Cristo per Pietro; ma da Roma non ha parlato Pietro, ha parlato l'uomo’: idem, Discorso alla camera dei deputati, < https://storia.camera.it/regno/lavori/leg08/sed399.pdf>, p. 6479.
67 Idem, Observation, 17.
68 Ibid. 12.
69 Ibid. 23–4, 41–2.
70 Ibid. 17–18. See also Apology, 1–10.
71 Idem, Observation, 18.
72 Ibid. 18.
73 Ibid.
74 ‘The general institution of Bishops and the special institution of the Papacy were ordained in order that the unity of the particular Churches and that of the Catholic Church might flourish, so as to remain victorious against heresies and schisms. Unity is and ever will be the object to the realization of which the hierarchy and the hierarchical order ever tend by divine virtue. Whoever shall imperil, violate, or attempt to destroy this unity will be thereby guilty of the greatest of crimes, by opposing Christ's direct will’: idem, Apology, 93.
75 ‘The plan is to be observed which is laid down by the Lord himself, namely, that we give to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, as well as to God the things that are God's. Would that the episcopal order would attend to these and other warnings of a like kind, and then there would be no reason why we should be now lamenting the painful schism between our pastors and the people … Therefore, so long as the Roman Pontiff, Pius ix, shall persevere in his oft-repeated “Non possumus”, so long as he shall oppose the Italian cause, and refuse peace and communion to the Italians, the Italian Bishops will continue to follow the example of their chief. Therefore, all our efforts should tend to induce the Roman Pontiff to lay aside all anger and resentment, that he may hearken to the lamentations of Italy and the wishes of civilized nations, and grant the peace which he has hitherto refused’: idem, Observation, 118–20.
76 Ibid. 30.
77 Ibid. 39.
78 Idem, Lo scisma non è una minaccia dei rivoluzionari ma un timore giustissimo dei cattolici: avvertenze di un prete cattolico, Turin 1861, 24–9, and Observation, 30–1.
79 Idem, Plurimorum ex Italiae clero ad Pium IX P. M. cum eoque cohaerentes catholicos antistites petitio, Turin 1862Google Scholar (Petizione di novemila sacerdoti italiani a S.S. Pio Papa IX ed ai vescovi cattolici con esso uniti, Turin 1862Google Scholar).
80 Idem, Observation, 29.
81 Howard, The pope and the professor.
82 Aubert, Le Pontificat de Pie IX, 262–310.
83 Ibid. 311–67. In this regard, it is also worth remembering the subtitle of O'Malley's monograph on Vatican I: ‘The council and the making of the Ultramontane Church’: O'Malley, Vatican I.
84 About the relevance of history as locus theologicus see Prodi, P., ‘La storia come luogo teologico’, Rivista di Teologia dell'Evangelizzazione xiii supplement (2009), 7–29Google Scholar.
85 In this connection, it is important to stress that, until the very last day before the fall of Rome, Pius ix believed that the Eternal City, and consequently its temporal power, would be preserved thanks to a miraculous intervention of God and the Blessed Virgin: Martina, Pio IX (1867–1878), 234–8, and ‘La fine del potere temporale’, 309–76. Moreover, according to Martina, even after the Capture of Rome, ‘molti continuarono imperterriti a sperare nel miracolo che avrebbe portato, presto o tardi, alla restaurazione del potere temporale’ (‘many continued to hope for a miracle that, sooner or later, would have led to the restoration of the temporal power’): ‘La fine del potere temporale’, 315.
86 Chadwick, History of the popes, 215–72.
87 Howard, The pope and the professor, 227.