Gregory XVI and the history of the Papacy of the 19th Century
Bartolomeo Alberto Cappellari was a Camaldolese priest from Venice. He was the fourth pope of the nineteenth century, reigning from 1831-1846.
CONTENTS
- Revolt
- Mirari Vos
- Problems of Italian Unity
- Germany and the Papacy
- Great Britain and the Papacy
- Belgium and the Papacy
- Poland and the Papacy
1. Background
At 18 years old, Bartolomeo Cappellari entered the Camaldolese religious order.
Note. The Camaldolese religious order, commonly called Camaldolese, is a monastic order of hermits founded by Saint Romuald in 1025 AD.
Cappellari was ordained a priest in 1787 AD. He went on to become a professor of both science and philosophy.
Later, Cappellari was sent to Rome to become a secretary in the Roman Curia. There, he witnessed the French take over the city of Rome.
In 1799 Cappellari wrote a book called “The Triumph of the Holy See and the Church over the Innovators.”
From 1807 to 1814, like most of the Roman Curia, Cappellari was in exile. Then beginning in 1814, he served in administrative capacities back in the Roman Curia.
Cappellari was twice nominated as bishop. Then in 1826 he was named a Cardinal and made the prefect of the Propaganda Fide, or “Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.”
2. Election as Pope
When pope Pius VIII died in 1830, the Conclave had two likely successors:
- Cardinal Pacca, although some nations reacted against him
- Cardinal Machi, although he was unliked by some
However, there was a stalemate in the Conclave. Due to that, Cappellari was elected. He took the name of Gregory XVI.
Why was Cappellari elected as pope?
- He was a professor of science
- He was a professor of philosophy
- He had served in administrative capacities in several congregations of the Roman Curia
- He was a foe of the revolutionaries
That said, as a candidate for the papacy, Cappellari had major shortcomings:
- He knew no foreign languages
- He had no sensitivity to the needs of laypeople in the papal states
- He was unwilling to compromise
- He saw all authority as divine in origin
3. Papacy
1. Revolt
Two days after the election of Gregory in 1831, revolts broke out in three cities. They rapidly spread to the rest of the papal states. The Austrian army intervened and was able to suppress the revolts.
This incident demonstrated that the papal states were unable to maintain their own sovereignty.
The Austrians suggested to Gregory that it was time for reform, to include involvement by laypeople. However, Gregory rejected this notion. He preferred a police state.
For several more years, both French and Austrian troops had to be garrisoned throughout the papal states.
2. Mirari Vos
A year after being elected as pope, in 1832 Gregory released an encyclical called Mirari Vos.
Writen during his stormy pontificate, Gregory shared his worldview:
- The world was going to hell in a handbasket
- France was shifting to accommodate itself to the modern world
- Lamanè was pushing France toward a more liberal society
- Groups were promoting false doctrines that caused him excruciating pain
Gregory proposed the following:
- The church should not be subject to civil authority
- Celibacy was to to be retained as a discipline for clerics
- Marriage cannot be dissolved
- Religious indifferentism is bad
- Freedom of conscience is not to be promoted
- Freedom of the Press is bad
- There is a list of books that must be burned
- Censorship is good
- People must not rebel against their leaders
- The separation of church and state is to be rejected
Not all Catholics were overjoyed at these authoritarian proclamations.
3. Problems of Italian Unity
Within the Italian peninsula, there were two major elements that prevented the people from coming together into a unified Italy:
- One major divisive element was that the Italian peninsula was divided into separate kingdoms.
- Another major divisive element was the Catholic Church. It had its own kingdom, called the Papal States. The Catholic church was unwilling to compromise on the independence of the Papal States, even at the cost of Italian unity.
Various movements arose with the goal of unifying the Italian people.
Giuseppe Mazzini (1805-1872) formed a revolutionary movement to free the land of church rules.
Vincenzo Gioberti (1801-1852) suggested a federation of Italian states, with the pope as head of the federation. This would allow for independence at the local level whilst bringing unity at the national level.
Antonio Rosmini (1797-1855) wrote a book called “Of the Five Wounds of the Holy Church.” It advocates for church-state unity. The five wounds included the following:
- An inadequately-educated clergy
- The lay-cleric rift caused by the use of Latin
- The dependence of the episcopacy on secular land
- The problems of naming bishops
- The control of church land by the state
4. Germany and the Papacy
Georg Hermes (1775-1831) was a Catholic priest and theologian in Germany. He was an esteemed professor of theology at the University of Bonn. He sought to demonstrate the harmony between reason and revelation.
In 1835, pope Gregory XVI issued a posthumous condemnation of Georg Hermes.
5. Great Britain and the Papacy
The old penal laws had been on the books for ages. But how rigidly were they enforced? They clearly made Catholics second-class citizens. They prescribed civil penalties for being Catholic.
Then in 1790 some of the old penal laws were relaxed. In 1883 Henry Grattan managed to get the “Roman Catholic Relief Act 1793” passed. It repealed some of the Irish Penal Laws, and it relieved Roman Catholics of certain political, educational, and economic disabilities.
In 1820, Daniel O’Connell from Dublin was elected to Parliament. He lobbied to have the remaining anti-Catholic lews ended. King George IV of England was not wiling to compromise, but the Duke of Wellington resigned in political protest against King George’s decision. Finally in 1829 the Catholic Emancipation Act was passed.
6. Belgium and the Papacy
In those days Belgium was ruled by the United Kingdom of the Netherlands. That kingdom did not represent the interests of the people of Belgium, and its ruling of them was oppressive.
There was a substantial desire among the people of Belgium to overthrow that unjust government and set up their own independent political existence.
However, pope Gregory XVI did’t like change. He cited the Concordat with the United Kingdom of the Netherlands. It allowed the Catholic church to exist there.
Cardinal Abani told them to “Respect the Concordat.” Effectively this was a papal command for the Belgian people to not have a revolution.
7. Poland and the Papacy
The general spirit of rebellion in Europe got Poland rebelling against Russia.
The Czar sent a mission to Rome, asking the pope to order the Polish priests to preach obedience to established authority.
In February 1831 the pope wrote the Polish bishops that:
Everything that disturbs the tranquility of the established order is forbidden.
The letter was lost. Next the bishops sent an emissary to Rome, pleading for papal support.
The pope responding by writing the Polish bishops that submission to established authority is ordained by God, and that this principle must never be violated unless the authority is violating the laws of the church.
The Catholics of Poland were disheartened.
It is thought that the pope wrote a private, unpublished letter to Czar Nicholas, pleading for good treatment of the people of Poland.
4. The Issue of Slavery
In 1839 pope Gregory wrote a papal brief called In supremo apostolatus. It resoundingly denounced both the slave trade and the continuance of the institution of slavery. It was astonishingly clear.
That said, slavery persisted in the United States and Brazil and Cuba. In the United States, some Catholics debated the letter.
The Jesuits in Maryland responded with cruelty, selling their slaves in a way that broke up families.
5. Conclusions
The pontificate of Gregory XVI was divisive and polarizing. He issued all-or-nothing responses to the revolutions of the day. He rejected smallpox vaccines and railroads as being against the Law of God. He alienated Catholics throughout Europe.
In essence, Gregory rejected the world of his day. When he died, the question for the Conclave was whether the next pope would be able to address a rapidly-changing world.
19th CENTURY PAPACY
MAJOR ERAS:
- Prelude to the 19th Century Papacy – the Political Factors
- Prelude to the 19th Century Papacy – the Religious Factors
- The Papacy of Pius VII: 1800-1823
- The papacy of Leo XII: 1823-1829
- The papacy of Pius VIII: 1829-1830
- The papacy of Gregory XVI: 1831-1846
- The papacy of Pius IX: 1846-1878
- The papacy of Leo XIII: 1878-1903
SEE ALSO: References, Church History
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