In a brief pontificat of six years, Pope St. Pius V (1566-1572) vigorously promulgated the decrees of the Council of Trent (1545-1563), issued the Roman Missal, the revised Breviary, and the Catechism of the Council of Trent (all of which served the Church almost 400 years), plus excommunicated Elizabeth I of England, established the Index of Forbidden Books, chose 314 bishops, wrote hundreds of bulls, and gathered an allied Christian force which destroyed the Turkish fleet at the Battle of Lepanto in 1571, bringing to an end their dominance of the Mediterranean Sea. In this brief, popular biography Professor Anderson scrutinizes the character, virtues and achievements of a saint who has to have been one of the greatest Popes of all time.
This book hopes to resolve but in the end may add to the controversy whether Pius XII was cold and unfeeling toward the Jews during World War II. In answer to the charge, the Vatican diplomatic archives for that period were opened over thirty years ago. The twelve volumes published in Italian were largely ignored, though the controversy continued. Here now, available in English for the first time, is a one-volume summary recently written by one of the original historians to work on the archives.
This detailed chronological report follows day by day and sometimes hour by hour the work of Pius XII and his associates from May 1939, when the Germans marched into Prague just three days after he was raised to the papacy, until the very end of the war. Included are his public statements, speeches, messages, and letters exchanged with civil and ecclesiastical dignitaries, as well as details of his secret maneuvering to forestall the ruin of Europe and to offer relief where possible. The Pope faced an untenable situation. Recorded are both his own doubts about the extent of his actions as well as the vigorous praise of contemporary statesmen. Previous charges against Pius XII have been based on scanty evidence. Here at last is evidence, yet each side will undoubtedly find in it fuel for its own argument. The book is a revelation, showing the hitherto unknown efforts the Pope took to advance peace, but the haunting question remains: did he do enough? Only readers of this book will be able to judge. This is a critical title for church historians, holocaust scholars, World War II historians, and anyone involved in the Jewish-Christian dialogue.
Vatican Archives provides the first comprehensive guide to one of the richest archival sources for the history of the Western world. Organized into related agency groups, it includes approximately 500 entries that describe the purpose and workings of each administrative agency of the Vatican and the official records it produces-- the very records that now constitute the archives. Serving as a research tool that provides a systematic and previously unavailable overview of the archives, this book enhances and expediates access by scholars in a broad range of disciplines.
This voluminous study examines the question of the Papacy in theological, biblical, and historical context, attempting to dispel doubts about the traditional Roman Catholic position by an impessive collection of data and commentary.
In an effort to understand British-Papal relations during the nineteenth century, James Flint examines the diplomatic relations between Great Britain and the Holy See during the first Russell ministry of 1846-1852. Earlier studies often blame the ministry’s failure to establish relations with Pope Pius IX on assorted British blunders, either by ministers or (in a crucial instance) by the House of Lords. But Flint’s extensive research in the Vatican archives finds that even the most skillful British campaign would have found it difficult to set up diplomatic relations that, for the most part, the Papal government did not want.
This book is the first complete study of this diplomatic incident and of its implications for understanding the long history of unease between Great Britain and the Holy See. Flint explains that the Roman Curia rightly feared that an accredited British diplomat might demand unwelcome reforms within the Papal States, or even act in a way inimical to the Pope’s temporal power. Of great concern was that a British mission in Rome might pressure the Holy See to use its authority to make Catholic Ireland more amenable to British rule.
Throughout the book, Flint is careful to define Ireland’s role as the unspoken third party in the discussion. Determined not to see their church used as a bargaining chip, the more nationalistic bishops and the officials of the Irish College in Rome both kept a wary eye upon British activity and made their views known to the Roman authorities. The Potato Famine, the 1848 Revolutions, and the Papal Aggression uproar all contributed to a growing impasse that left the Papal and British governments further apart when the Russell ministry left office than when it entered.
This second volume in the History of Medieval Canon Law series discusses the earliest papal decretals, covering the period from the end of the fourth century to the end of the ninth century. In contrast to earlier scholarly works, which usually skim over the beginnings of the papal decretal tradition and the earliest collections containing them, the authors begin with the first papal letters and thoroughly describe their transmission and reception into the canonical tradition up to Gratian's Decretum (1140). They examine the letters of twenty-five popes from Siricius (384-399), whose pontificate undoubtedly produced the first known papal decretal in 385, to Stephen V (885-891).
