The Armiger

https://ia801703.us.archive.org/33/items/armiger00chad/armiger00chad.pdf

I NOSTRI AVI • Leggi argomento - Ordini Cavallereschi e prove nobiliari nel XXI secolo

http://www.iagiforum.info/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=18363&start=45

Re: Ordini Cavallereschi e prove nobiliari nel XXI secolo

Sono ancora necessarie le prove nobiliari?

Un tempo l'ammissione negli Ordini Cavallereschi avveniva come tutti sappiano dietro rigorosa (ma non sempre) prova nobiliare, almeno a quanto stabilito per l'Ordine di Malta dagli statuti di frà Ugo di Revel del 1262; in sintesi il candidato doveva dimostrare di vivere more nobilium e che così erano vissuti i suoi antenati per un certo numero di secoli. Poche righe non possono essere esaustive per presentare la nascita e l'evoluzione di questo processo nobiliare che sopravvive ancora oggi sia nel Sovrano Militare Ordine di Malta, che nell'ammissione ai Capitoli nobili spagnoli dell'Ordine del Santo Sepolcro di Gerusalemme, e in altre organizzazioni che sebbene ormai solo a titolo privato e non tutelate dalla Santa Sede, vengono considerate Ordini Cavallereschi perchè patrimonio premiale di Dinastie (se lo sono ancora) già sovrane. È innegabile la veloce evoluzione della Società negli ultimi 60 anni che ha visto la caduta di varie monarchie e quindi per contro nuove persone avvicinarsi a questo mondo cavalleresco che era completamente ignorato nelle loro famiglie d'origine, ma che nell'immaginario collettivo, particolarmente per i militari, riveste ancora un fascino romantico che arriva a influenzarne anche le scelte di vita, portando a cercare con l'ammissione in un Ordine Cavalleresco una "dovuta" promozione sociale. Nella realtà quotidiana dobbiamo osservare che, statisticamente parlando, gli Ordini Cavallereschi condizionano solo una piccolissima nicchia della vita sociale, e sono considerati così irrilevanti da non essere presi seriamente in considerazione dai media come argomento valido per il raggiungimento di obiettivi concreti dalla politica all'economica ecc. Quindi per esaminare e valutare il tema che vogliamo trattare dobbiamo subito chiederci: perchè in una società che valuta unicamente il merito personale e non più la tradizione storica familiare vengono tenute ancora in piedi queste anacronistiche prove nobiliari, che nella realtà dei fatti sono la pantomima di quanto rappresentavano in passato? In questa società ove sono cadute poco alla volta le barriere sociali, economiche, culturali, o di costume che separavano certe classi dalle altre, come è possibile considerare ancora valida la richiesta di una vita more nobilium in un'epoca dove è ritenuto d'obbligo svolgere un lavoro anche per coloro le cui famiglie, ancora in un recente passato, dovevano esserne esenti (e in certi casi ancora oggi lo potrebbero)? Come si può poi considerare come equivalente a quella del passato la prova nobiliare presentata oggi con notevole semplificazione delle richieste in contrapposizione alle poderose documentazioni pretese in tempi non recenti? Come si può valutare oggi in Italia la nobiltà che non gode di alcuna tutela da parte dello Stato (ma possiamo assimilare al nostro caso tutte le Nazioni che la avevano nella loro tradizione storica), dopo che nel Paese è avvenuta un'importante evoluzione delle leggi a partire proprio dalla famiglia? Sembra poi che affannosamente cerchino la prova nobiliare pensando di farsi riconoscere uno status privilegiato quelle persone che non figurano negli Elenchi nobiliari del Regno d'Italia e neppure nelle tante storie o cronache locali, fatto che dimostra inequivocabilmente l'inesistenza di peso storico della loro famiglia, se non addirittura la ripetuta alterazione nobiliare che li porta a dirsi falsamente un ramo della famiglia nobile storica che con loro divide solo il cognome! Peccato che questi figuri (purtroppo ancora numerosi) non si rendano conto che l'alterazione documentale - sempre clamorosamente smascherabile - non serve mai a cambiare la storia né a porli magicamente allo stesso livello della famiglia a cui vogliono ostinatamente attaccarsi...
Perchè non considerare oggi che ci sono già famiglie che da oltre 100 anni vivono un perfetto more nobilium senza per questo essere mai stati nobili, nel senso che noi attribuiamo alla parola sulla base del diritto nobiliare, e che potrebbero pienamente accedere agli Ordini Cavallereschi in categorie riservate ancora oggi a persone il cui passato familiare è ben diverso dalla reale situazione sociale in cui si trova l'attuale loro discendente, spesso costretto a lavorare anche in posizioni modeste nella nostra società. Ricordo un controsenso udito in una trasmissione televisiva su Rai uno quando l'esponente di una famiglia nobile faceva presente che oggi un "balì" normalmente viaggia sul tram per andare a lavorare o spostarsi, e questo mi fa pensare a quanto mi disse un caro parente, il dott. Franz Ubertis (1914-1986), ispettore generale capo di Pubblica Sicurezza, quando da ragazzo al cimitero di Casale Monferrato gli facevo notare che passava vicino a noi un anziano signore che assomigliava al nonno. La risposta fu breve ma chiara: "Si, è vero, assomiglia fisicamente al nonno, ma non è certo un signore, e tutti sanno che è un disonesto, mentre il nonno lavorava gratis per tutti gli enti benefici della città, era molto colto e non sputava certo per terra come ha fatto lui!". In poche parole il nonno di Franz, il dott. Ambrogio Ubertis (1848-1931), fondatore della Colonia Marina e Alpina Casalese, era da considerarsi a pieno titolo uno che viveva nobilmente anche se lavorava come Ufficiale Sanitario del comune di Casale Monferrato...

I NOSTRI AVI • Leggi argomento - SMOM: Cavalieri di Grazia Magistrale

http://www.iagiforum.info/viewtopic.php?t=10806

SMOM: Cavalieri di Grazia Magistrale

[...]
Con la ricezione nel grado di "Grazia Magistrale" il Gran Maestro concede, di fatto, uno stato nobiliare ad personam (vita more nobilum e grandi meriti nei confronti dell'Ordine e/o della Chiesa), che se ripetuto sul figlio e sul nipote dell'insignito fa radicare una nobiltà, di stato, che può essere considerata ereditaria, in quanto il bis-nipote verrebbe ricevuto di "Grazia e Devozione": ma ciò è solo una consuetudine e non è codificata in nessun documento ufficiale dell'Ordine.
[...]

I NOSTRI AVI • Leggi argomento - Nobili e notabili

http://www.iagiforum.info/viewtopic.php?t=19493&start=90#p218778

https://www.pliniocorreadeoliveira.info/UKLN_0101_resolving_prior_objections.htm

Nobility and Analogous Traditional Elites, Chapter I - Resolving Prior Objections

 

When a train is ready to leave, normal procedure requires both engineer and passengers to be in their proper places, and the conductor to signal for departure. Only then can the train begin to roll.

So also, at the outset of an intellectual work it is customary to set forth preliminary principles and explain, if need be, the logical criteria that justify them. Only then may the author pass on to the doctrinal part.

However, if a number of readers are suspicious of the subject to be dealt with, or even have deep-rooted prejudices against it, the situation is like that of an engineer who notices that although the passengers are already seated, the tracks ahead are blocked.

The trip cannot begin without the removal of the obstructions.

In a similar way, the obstacles the present work will encounter—the prejudices that fill the minds of numerous readers regarding the nobility and analogous traditional elites—are so great that the topic can only be treated after their removal.

This explains the unusual title and content of this first chapter.

1. Without Detriment to a Just and Ample Action on Behalf of the Working Class, an Opportune Action in Favor of Elites

Much is said today regarding the demands to meet the social needs of workers. In principle, this solicitude is highly commendable and deserves the support of every upright soul.

However, to favor only the working class while neglecting the problems and needs of other classes, often just as harshly affected by the great contemporary crisis, is tantamount to forgetting that society includes not just manual laborers but various classes, each with its specific functions, rights, and duties. The formation of a global classless society is a utopia that has been the unvarying theme of the successive egalitarian movements arising in Christian Europe since the fifteenth century. In our day, this utopia is heralded mainly by socialists, communists, and anarchists.5

The TFPs and TFP Bureaus throughout Europe, the Americas, Oceania, Asia, and Africa support all just improvements for the working class. But they cannot accept the notion that these improvements imply the eradication of other classes or such reduction of their specific status, duties, rights, and functions as would lead to their virtual extinction in the name of the common good. Trying to solve social questions by leveling all classes for the apparent benefit of one class is to provoke genuine class struggle. To suppress all classes for the exclusive benefit of one, the working class, leaves the others no alternative but legitimate self-defense or death.

The TFPs cannot endorse this process of social leveling. In contradistinction to the proponents of class struggle, and in cooperation with the multiple initiatives underway today in favor of social peace through a just and needed advancement of the workers, all conscientious contemporaries must develop an action in favor of social order, opposing the socialist and communist action, which aims to create social friction and, ultimately, unleash class warfare.

The survival of social order requires that the right of each class to what it needs to live in dignity be recognized and that each class be able to fulfill its obligations to the common good.

In other words, action in favor of the workers must be coupled with a complementary action in favor of the elites.

The Church's interest in social questions does not stem from an exclusive love of the working class. The Church is not a labor party. She loves justice and charity more than She loves any specific class, and She strives to establish these virtues among men. For this reason, She loves all social classes, including the nobility, so besieged by egalitarian demagogues.6

These reflections naturally lead the reader to the subject of this book. On the one hand, it is evident that Pius XII recognizes that the nobility has a significant and specific mission in contemporary society, a mission shared in considerable measure by the other social elites, as will be discussed later.

This concept is taught in the Sovereign Pontiff's fourteen masterful allocutions delivered in audiences granted the Roman Patriciate and Nobility7 on the occasion of their New Years' greetings from 1940 through 1952 and again in 1958.8

On the other hand, no one can ignore the vast and multifaceted offensive underway in today's world to abase and eradicate the nobility and other elites. One need only consider the overpowering, relentless, and pervasive pressures to ignore, contest, or diminish their roles.

In this light, action on behalf of the nobility and the elites is more opportune than ever. Thus we affirm, with serene courage, that in our day and age, when the preferential option for the poor has become so necessary, a preferential option for the nobility has become indispensable as well. Of course, we include in this expression other traditional elites, which are worthy of support and in danger of disappearing.

This affirmation may seem absurd since in theory the worker's condition is closer to poverty than is the noble's, and since, as is commonly known, many nobles possess large fortunes.

Large fortunes, yes. But these are generally eroded by crushing taxes, giving rise to the distressing spectacle of lords compelled to transform substantial parts of their manors and mansions into hotels or inns, while they occupy only a fraction of the family home; or, into manors where the lord serves as curator and guide, if not bartender, while his spouse feverishly applies herself to often menial chores to keep their ancestral home clean and presentable.

This persecution advances by other means as well, such as the extinction of the rights of primogeniture and the compulsory division of inheritances. Is not a preferential option for the nobility required to counteract this offensive?

If the nobility is regarded as an inherently parasitic class of profligates, the answer is no. However, Pius XII rejected this caricature of the nobility, which is part of the black legend spread by the French Revolution and those that followed it in Europe and the world. While clearly stating that abuses and excesses deserving history's censure have occurred in noble circles, he nevertheless affirms, in moving terms, the existence of a harmony between the nobility's mission and the natural order instituted by God Himself, as well as the elevated and beneficial character of this mission.9

2. Nobility: A Species Within the Genus "Traditional Elites"

The expression "traditional elites" appears frequently throughout this work. We use this term to designate a socioeconomic reality that may be described as follows:

According to the pontifical texts discussed hereafter, the nobility is an elite from every point of view. It is the highest elite, not the sole elite. It is a species within the genus "elites."

Some elites derive their status from sharing in the specific functions and features of the nobility. Others, although engaged in other functions, also enjoy a special dignity. There are elites, then, that are neither noble nor hereditary ex natura propria.

For example, a university professorship in itself introduces its holder into what can be called the nation's elite. The same holds true for a military commission, a diplomatic office, and comparable positions.

While the exercise of these activities is not a privilege of the nobility today, the number of nobles engaged in them is not small. Obviously these nobles do not relinquish their status by doing so. On the contrary, they bring to these activities the excellence of the attributes specific to the nobility.10

When enumerating elites one should not overlook those that give impulse to the nation's economy through industry and commerce. These activities are not only legitimate and dignified, but manifestly useful. Their immediate and specific goal, however, is the enrichment of those who practice them. In other words, it is by enriching themselves that these individuals, in a collateral way, enrich the nation. In itself, this is not sufficient to confer nobiliary character. Only a special dedication to the common good—particularly to its most precious element, the Christian character of civilization—can confer nobiliary splendor on an elite.

Nevertheless, this splendor will shine in industrialists or merchants who, in the pursuit of their activities, render noteworthy services to the common good with significant sacrifice of their legitimate personal interests.

Moreover, should the interplay of circumstances enable a non-noble family to render such services for several generations, this alone may well be considered sufficient to elevate that lineage to noble status.

Something of this sort occurred with the Venetian nobility, which was largely made up of merchants. This class governed the Most Serene Republic and, consequently, held in its hands the common good of the State, which it raised to the rank of an international power. It is not surprising, therefore, that these merchants attained the status of nobles. They did this so effectively and authentically that they assimilated the elevated cultural tone and manners of the best military and feudal nobility.

There are, on the other hand, traditional elites based from their onset upon aptitudes and virtues transmitted through genetic continuity, or through the family environment and education.11

A traditional elite arises when this transmission bears fruit and, consequently, families—and not rarely large groups of families—distinguish themselves from generation to generation through signal services to the common good. The precious attribute of traditionality is in this way added to the status of this elite. Frequently these elites do not formally constitute a noble class merely because the law in many countries, in accordance with the doctrines of the French Revolution, forbids the granting of noble titles by public authority. This is the case not only in certain European countries, but also in the Americas.

Nonetheless, pontifical teachings on the nobility are largely applicable to these traditional elites by virtue of their analogous roles. For this reason these teachings are both important and timely for those who bear authentic and lofty family traditions, even when not adorned by a title. They have a noble mission in favor of the common good and Christian civilization in their respective countries.

The same can be said, mutatis mutandis, of the nontraditional elites as they become traditional.

3. Objections to the Nobility Imbued with the Egalitarian Spirit of the French Revolution

Nobility, elites. Why does this book only deal with them? Such will be, no doubt, the objection raised by egalitarian readers, who are ipso facto hostile to the nobility.

Contemporary society is saturated with radically egalitarian prejudices. Sometimes these are consciously or unconsciously harbored even by people belonging to sectors of opinion where one would expect to find unanimity in the opposite vein. Such is the case with members of the clergy who are enthusiasts of the revolutionary trilogy, Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, heedless of the fact that it was originally interpreted in a sense frontally opposed to Catholic doctrine.12

If such egalitarian dissonance is found in clerical circles, one should not be surprised that it also occurs among nobles and members of other traditional elites. With the recent bicentennial of the French Revolution fresh in our memories, these reflections readily recall the revolutionary noble par excellence, Philippe Egalité, Duke of Orleans. To this day, his example has not ceased to inspire emulators in more than one illustrious lineage.

In 1891, when Leo XIII published his famous encyclical Rerum novarum on the condition of the working class, certain capitalist circles objected that relations between capital and labor, being a specifically economic matter, were no concern of the Roman Pontiff. They suggested that his encyclical encroached on their domain.

Today, some readers might wonder why a Pope should concern himself with the nobility and elites, traditional or otherwise. Their mere survival in our changed times might seem to these readers an archaic and useless outgrowth of the feudal era. From this perspective, the nobility and contemporary elites are nothing more than the embodiment of certain ways of thinking, feeling, and acting that man can no longer appreciate or even comprehend.

These readers deem that the few who still value elites are inspired by empty aesthetic or romantic sentiments, and that the people who pride themselves on being part of the elites have succumbed to arrogance and vanity. These readers, convinced that nothing will prevent the inevitable march of history from eradicating such obsolete malignancies from the face of the earth, conclude that if Pius XII would not foster the march of history thus understood, at least he ought not put obstacles in its way.

Why, then, did Pius XII address this subject so extensively and in a way so agreeable to Counter-revolutionary minds, such as that of this author, who has assembled these teachings, annotated them, and now offers them to the public? Would it not have been better for the Pontiff to have remained silent?

The answer to such egalitarian objections imbued with the spirit of 1789 is simple. People who wish to know the answer can do no better than to hear it from the authoritative lips of Pius XII himself. In his allocutions to the Roman Patriciate and Nobility, Pius XII points out, with an extraordinary gift for synthesis, the profound moral significance of his intervention in the matter, as we shall see.13 He also highlights the legitimate role of the nobility according to social doctrine inspired by Natural Law and Revelation. At the same time, he describes the richness of soul that became their hallmark in the Christian past. Confirming their continued guardianship of that treasure, the Pontiff proclaims their lofty mission of affirming and radiating this rich legacy throughout the contemporary world. This remains the case despite the devastating effects of the ideological revolutions, world wars, and socioeconomic crises that have reduced many nobles to modest circumstances. Repeatedly the Pontiff reminds them that, much to their honor, their situation is similar to that of Saint Joseph, at once a Prince of the House of David, a simple carpenter, and, above all, the legal father of the Word Incarnate and chaste spouse of the Queen of all Angels and Saints.14

4. The Teachings of Pius XII: A Precious Shield Against the Opponents of Nobility

Some readers among the nobility may wonder what the reading of this study can possibly avail them. They might ask themselves, "Have we not already received most of these teachings in the venerable environment of our fathers' homes, rich in elevated traditions of a formative and moral nature? Have we not practiced them throughout our lives, with our gaze set on our forefathers' example?"

We could easily answer this objection by saying that the religious root of these duties and their basis in pontifical documents might not have been clear enough to them. They, in turn, might reply, "How can the knowledge of these teachings be a source of spiritual enrichment for us, since the legacy of our ancestors has proven sufficient to guide our lives in a genuinely aristocratic and Christian way?"

An aristocrat who, alleging these reasons, shuns as useless the study of the perennial teachings of Pius XII on the Roman Nobility—which are relevant to the entire European nobility—would show signs of superficiality, both of spirit and of religious formation.

If the moral integrity of a Catholic is not based on a lucid and loving knowledge of the Church's teachings, and a deeply rooted adherence to them, it lacks a solid foundation. Thus it risks sudden ruin, especially in today's post-Christian society, so troubled and saturated with incitements to sin and social revolution. To resist the seduction and pressures of this society, the gentle and profound influence of family formation is not sufficient without the support of the teachings of the Faith, observance of the Commandments, steadfast piety, and frequent recourse to the Sacraments.

From this perspective, it is a great encouragement for the truly Catholic aristocrat to know that his traditional way of thinking, feeling, and acting is solidly founded on the teachings of the Vicar of Christ. This encouragement is all the more timely in this age of neopagan "democratism," which victimizes the aristocrat with misunderstanding, criticism, and even sarcasm. This persecution is so persistent that it may expose him to the temptation of feeling ashamed of his noble status. Consequently, the aristocrat can easily harbor the desire of withdrawing from his uncomfortable situation by implicitly or explicitly renouncing his noble state.

The teachings of Pius XII transcribed and analyzed in these pages will serve him as a sturdy shield against his relentless adversaries. They will be forced to admit that a noble who is true to himself, to his Faith, and to his traditions is not an eccentric who simply concocted the convictions and lifestyle that distinguish him. Rather, these will be understood to spring from an immensely more elevated and universal source, the traditional teachings of the Catholic Church.

Although opponents of the nobility may hate such teachings, they cannot reduce them to the category of mere personal speculations of a crank or quixotic paladin of things gone forever.

While this may not convince someone who objects to these ideas, it will curb the boldness and impact of his attack and prove a great polemical advantage to the defenders of the nobility and traditional elites. This is true, above all, when the maligner of the noble class is a Catholic layman or—pro dolor!—a priest.

Such opposition is not unlikely, given the tragic crisis affecting the Church.15

Paul VI referred to this crisis as a "self-demolition," and he expressed his feeling that "Satan's smoke has made its way into the temple of God."16

Nor is it unlikely that opponents of the nobility and other traditional or even nontraditional elites may misuse Sacred Scripture to support their argument. In such cases, it is important for nobles and members of other elites to rely on the teachings of Pius XII, his predecessors, and successors, thus placing their opponents in the harsh predicament of either recanting their error or admitting that they are in open contradiction with the pontifical teachings cited in this work.

5. Intuitive and Implicit Notions Do Not Suffice—The Wealth of Concepts in Pius XII's Treatment of the Matter

We have enumerated several objections raised today against the nobility as well as arguments the nobles must have honed and ready at hand for their defense.

Proponents and opponents of nobility have some notion, however intuitive and vague, of the nobility's concept of its essence, raison d'être, and fidelity to Christian civilization. But merely intuitive notions, more often implicit than explicit, are insufficient in a serious and conclusive debate. Whence arises the sterility that so often characterizes polemics on the subject.

It should be added in passing that the literature against the nobility is far more abundant and accessible than that in its favor. This explains, at least in part, why the defenders of the nobility are frequently less informed on the subject and, consequently, more insecure and timid than their opponents.

In his allocutions to the Roman Patriciate and Nobility, the memorable Pontiff Pius XII establishes the foundations of a contemporary apologia for the nobility and traditional elites. He does this with an elevation of mind, a wealth of ideas, and a conciseness of style that makes the reading of the present work all the more useful and opportune.

6. Are These Allocutions Merely Social Amenities Devoid of Content, Thought, and Affection?

Some will probably claim, with manifest flippancy, that they are exempted from reading and reflecting on these allocutions of Pius XII, alleging that they were merely given to comply with social courtesy, and therefore lack doctrinal and affective content.

Paul VI was of a different opinion, as the following remarks reveal.

We would like to say many things to you. Your presence provokes much reflection. So it was also with Our venerable Predecessors, especially Pope Pius XII of happy memory. They, on occasions such as this, addressed you with masterful speeches, inviting you in your meditation to consider your own situations and those of our times in the light of their admirable teachings. We want to believe that the echo of those words, like a gust of wind swelling a sail,…still vibrates in your thoughts, filling them with the austere and magnanimous appeals that nourish the vocation preordained for you by Providence and sustain the role still required of you today by contemporary society.17

As for their doctrinal content, a reading of the texts and the accompanying commentaries will suffice to demonstrate their relevance and richness. Throughout these pages the reader will see that far from decreasing with time, this relevance has only increased.

A word remains to be said about their affective content. In this regard, it will suffice to quote Pius XII's allocution to the Roman Patriciate and Nobility in 1958.

You, who at the start of each new year have never failed to come visit Us, must surely remember the careful solicitude with which We endeavored to smooth your way toward the future, which at that time promised to be harsh because of the profound upheavals and transformations in store for the world. We are certain, however, that when your brows too are framed with white and silver, you will yet be witnesses not only to Our esteem and affection, but also to the truth, the validity, and the timeliness of Our recommendations, which We hope are like fruits that have come to you and to society in general.

You will recall to your children and grandchildren how the Pope of your childhood and adolescence did not neglect to point you toward the new responsibilities that the new circumstances of the age imposed on the nobility.18

Beyond any doubt, these words show that the allocutions of Pius XII to the Roman Patriciate and Nobility correspond to lofty designs that were clearly defined in the Pontiff's mind and heart. They also show that he expected them to bear lasting and important fruits. This is a far cry from what one would expect from allocutions meant to comply with mere social etiquette and therefore devoid of content, thought, and affection.

The esteem of Pius XII for hereditary nobility shines with particular brilliance in the following words addressed to the Pontifical Noble Guard on December 26, 1942:

None can be envious upon seeing that We bear you such special affection. To whom, in truth, is the immediate protection of Our person entrusted, if not to you? And are you not the first of Our guards?

Guard! What lofty resonance there is in this word: the soul trembles therewith; thoughts take wing. An ardent love for the sovereign and a steadfast reverence to his person and cause vibrate and voice themselves in this name; it sets in motion a tested generosity, an unvanquished constancy and courage in face of the risks met in his service and for his defense; it speaks of virtues which, molding the champion on the one hand, on the other hand evoke from the sovereign sentiments of esteem, affection, and confidence in his guard.

You, the guard of Our person, constitute Our armor, refulgent with that nobility which is the privilege of blood and which shone in you as the pledge of your devotion even before your admission into the Corps, for, as the ancient proverb says, "Good blood cannot lie." Life is the blood that is transmitted from rank to rank, from generation to generation in your illustrious lineages, carrying with it the fire of that devout love for the Church and the Roman Pontiff that neither diminishes nor cools with the changing events, be they joyous or sad. In the darkest hours of the history of the Popes, the loyalty of your ancestors shone brighter and burned more ardently and generously than in the resplendent hours of magnificence and material prosperity….We have no doubt that just as in the past so chosen a tradition of familiar virtues was transmitted from father to son, so will it continue to be transmitted from generation to generation as a patrimony of greatness of soul and most noble merit of one's respective stirp.19

7. Documents of Perennial Value

Lastly, some might object that after the death of Pius XII a new era began for the Church, that of the Second Vatican Council. Therefore, the allocutions of the deceased Pontiff to the Roman Patriciate and Nobility fell like dead leaves on the floor of the Church, and Conciliar and post-Conciliar Popes have not returned to the subject.

This is not true, either. As proof, this work will cite, argumentandi gratia, eloquent documents from the successors of the mourned Pontiff.20

We will now proceed to study the allocutions of Pius XII highlighting their magnificent doctrinal wealth. 

The "trombettieri" of the Pontifical Noble Guard

Footnotes:

(5) Cf. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira, Revolution and Counter-Revolution (New Rochelle, N.Y.: The Foundation for a Christian Civilization, Inc., 1980), pp. 28-29, 61-70.

(6) See Chapter IV, 8, and Chapter V, 6.

(7) The Roman Patriciate is divided into: a) Roman Patricians, descended from those who held civil posts in the government of the pontifical city during the Middle Ages. b) Conscript Roman Patricians, who belong to any of the sixty Patrician families recognized as such by the Sovereign Pontiff in a special pontifical bull, which mentioned them by name. They constitute the cream of the Roman Patriciate. The Roman Nobility is also divided into two categories: a) Nobles descending from feudatories who had received a fief from the Sovereign Pontiff. b) Common nobles, whose nobility issued from the appointment to some court office, or directly from a pontifical concession.

(8) Two of Pius XII's allocutions to the Roman Patriciate and Nobility (those of 1952 and 1958) summarized the others. In 1944 Pius XII delivered a second allocution to the Roman Nobility on July 11 to thank their families for offering a generous sum of money to help the needy. Pius XII did not deliver any allocutions to the Roman Patriciate and Nobility between 1953 and 1957. He reestablished the custom with his allocution of January 1958, but died on October 9 of that year.

(9) See RPN 1943, Documents I.

(10) See Chapter IV, 3 and 7, and Chapter VI, 2 b.

(11) See Chapter V, 2.

(12) See Chapter III, 3 and 4. See also Appendix III of Nobility and Analogous Traditional Elites for important excerpts from pontifical documents that clarify the issue.

(13) Chapter I, 6.

(14) See Chapter IV, 8, and Chapter V, 6.

(15) The bibliography on this theme is vast. See especially: Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, with Vittorio Messori, The Ratzinger Report (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1985), and Romano Amerio, Iota unum—Studio delle variazioni della Chiesa Cattolica nel secolo XX (Milan-Naples: Riccardo Ricciardi Editore, 1985). See also: Dietrich von Hildebrand, The Trojan Horse in the City of God and The Devastated Vineyard (Chicago: Franciscan Herald Press, 1967 and 1973, respectively); Rudolf Graber (Bishop of Regensburg), Athanasius and the Church of Our Time (Buckinghamshire: Van Duren C.P. Ltd., 1974); Cornelio Fabro, L'avventura della teologia progressista and La svolta antropologica di Karl Rahner (Milan: Rusconi Editore, both 1974); Anton Holzer, Vatikanum II: Reformkonzil oder Konstituante einer neuen Kirche (Basel: Saka, 1977); Wigand Siebel, Katholisch oder konziliar: Die Krise der Kirche heute (Munich-Vienna: Langen Müller, 1978); Joseph Cardinal Siri, Gethsemane: Reflections on the Current Theological Movement (Chicago: Franciscan Herald Press, 1981); Enrique Rueda, The Homosexual Network (Old Greenwich, Conn.: The Devin Adair Company, 1982); Georg May, Der Glaube in der nachkonziliaren Kirche (Vienna: Mediatrix Verlag, 1983); Richard Cowden-Guido, John Paul II and the Battle for Vatican II (Manassas, Va.: Trinity Communications, 1986).

(16) "The Church today is going through a moment of apprehension. Certain people are engaging in self-criticism, one might even say self-demolition. It is an acute and complex upheaval from within, which no one would have expected after the Council…. The Church is smitten even by those who belong to it" (Speech to the Pontifical Lombard Seminary, December 7, 1968, Insegnamenti di Paolo VI [Tipografia Poliglotta Vaticana, 1968], Vol. 6, p. 1188. Cf. L'Osservatore Romano [English weekly ed.], December 19, 1968, p. 3). "Referring to the situation of the Church of today, the Holy Father then affirmed that he had the feeling that `Satan's smoke has made its way into the temple of God through some crack'" (Homily "Resistite fortes in Fide" of June 29, 1972, L'Osservatore Romano [English weekly ed.], July 13, 1972, p. 6).

(17) RPN 1964, Insegnamenti di Paolo VI (Tipografia Poliglotta Vaticana, 1964), Vol. 2, p. 73.

(18) RPN 1958, p. 708.

(19) PNG 1942, pp. 349-350.

(20) See Chapter I, 6, and Chapter IV, 11.

Next

Table of Contents

Previous

---

https://www.pliniocorreadeoliveira.info/UKLN_0000_index.htm

Nobility and Analogous Traditional Elites in the Allocutions of Pius XII (by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira) - Index

Index

Preferential Option: what is it?

To the reader

Chapter I – Unraveling prior objections

1. Without prejudice to a just and ample action in favor of the workers, an opportune action in favor of the elites

2. Nobility: a species within the gender of traditional elites

3. Antinobilistic objections impregnated with the egalitarian spirit of the French Revolution

4. The teachings of Pius XII: a precious shield before the opponents of nobility

5. Intuitive and implicit notions do not suffice – the wealth of concepts with which Pius XII treats the matter

6. Are these allocutions of mere social courtesy, empty of all content, thought and affection?

7. Documents of perennial worth 

Chapter II – The situation of the Italian nobility in the Pontificate of Pius XII – The universal scope of the allocutions to the Roman Nobility and Patriciate

1. The situation of the nobility in Italy during the 40's – why focus especially on the Italian nobility?

2. Pius XII and the Roman Nobility

3. The universal scope of the allocutions of Pius XII to the Roman Nobility and Patriciate 

Chapter III – People and masses – liberty and equality: genuine and revolutionary concepts in a democratic regime – the teaching of Pius XII

1. The legitimacy and even the necessity for just and proportional inequalities among the social classes

2. People and amorphous multitude: two distinct concepts

3. The inequalities that stem from nature should also exist in a true democracy

4. In a distorted democracy, liberty transforms itself in tyranny and equality degenerates into mechanical leveling 

Chapter IV – Nobility in a Christian society – the perennial character of its mission and prestige in the contemporary world – the teaching of Pius XII

1. Clergy, nobility and people

2. The deterioration of the medieval order in Modern Times

3. The nobility should maintain itself as a leading class in the profoundly changed social context of today's world

4. Through a careful adaptation to the modern world the nobility does not disappear in the general leveling

5. In order to match the hopes places in it, the nobility should shine in those gifts that are specific to it

6. Even those who display their spite for the old ways of life, are not totally immune to the shine of the nobility

7. The virtues and specific qualities of the nobles are transmitted to any work they engage in

8. A most elevated example: the couple of royal stock in whose household was born and dwelt the Man-God

9. The highest social function of the nobility: to preserve, defend and spread the Christian teachings contained in the noble traditions that distinguish them

10. The duty of the nobility: not to dilute itself in the anonymity, but, on the contrary, to resist the breath of modern egalitarianism

11. Nobility: a particularly distinguished category in human society – it will have special accounts to render to God 

Chapter V – Elites, natural order, family and tradition – aristocratic institutions within democracies – the teaching of Pius XII

1. The formation of elites even in countries without a monarchical or aristocratic past

2. The hereditarity of traditional elites

3. The elites: the propelling force of true progress and the guardians of tradition

4. God's blessing illuminates, protects and caresses all cribs; it does not, however, level them

5. The paternal conception of social superiority

6. Our Lord Jesus Christ consecrated the condition of noble, as well as that of laborer

7. The perennial character of the nobility and traditional elites

8. The law cannot abolish the past

9. Democracy according the social doctrine of the Church – archeologism and false restoration: two extremes to be avoided

10. Highly aristocratic institutions are also necessary in democracies 

Chapter VI – Meaningful cooperation of the nobility and traditional elites in the solution of today's crisis – the teaching of Pius XII

1. Christian virtue: the essence of nobility

  a) Qualities of soul of a noble today

  b) Aristocratic gentlemanism: a link of charity

2. The nobility and traditional elites as guides of society

  a) A form of apostolate: to guide society

  b) How the nobility should carry out its leading mission

  c) The elites with traditional formation have a particularly sharp view of the present

  d) The authentically traditional aristocrat: an image of God's Providence

  e) Aristocracy's mission with the poor

3. The absent guides – the harm of the absence

  a) Absenteeism and omission: the sins of the elites

  b) The absence of guides: a virtual complicity

4) Another way to reject one's mission: to allow oneself to corrupt and deteriorate

5) For the common good of society: the preferential option for the nobles in the field of apostolate 

Chapter VII – The genesis of nobility – Its mission in the past and today – the ultimate point of Pius XII's insistence

1. The private sphere and the common good

  a) The human groups – leaders

  *  The intellectual requirements for the holder of authority

  *  The requirements of will and sensibility

  *  The leader in the exceptional circumstances, both favorable and adverse

  *  The usefulness and opportuneness of the systematic rendering of these notions

  b) The prevalence and nobility of the common good – how it is distinguished from the individual good – private entities whose common good is of a transcendent character whether regional or national

  *  The importance of entities from the private sphere for the common good of the region, the Nation and the State

  *  A most peculiar society in the private sphere: the family

  c) The Nation and the State are born from the private sphere – the plenitude of the common good

  *  The formation of nations and regions

  *  The State as a perfect society – its sovereignty and majesty – its supreme nobility

2. The family in face of the individual, the intermediary groups and the State

  a) From the individual to the family, from the latter to the gens and finally to the tribe – the route for the foundation of the civitas – the State is born

  b) In the individual and the family, the most essential factors of the common good of the intermediary groups, of the region and of the State – the large family, a small world

  c) Families: small worlds that interrelate in a way analogous to nations and States

  d) The family and the world of professional or public activities – lineages and professions

  e) The lineages form elites even in the most plebeian professional groups or milieus

  f) Hierarchical society and as such participative – royal fathers and paternal kings

3. Historical origins of the feudal nobility – genesis of feudalism

  a) The class of the landowners become the military   nobility as well as the political authority

  b) The noble class: a subordinate participation in the royal power

  c) The regions define themselves – the regional common good – the lord of the region

  d) The medieval king

  e) The feudal regime: a factor of union or disunion? – the experience of contemporary federalism

4. The noble and nobility: modelling interaction

  a) Genesis – a process based on custom

  b) Examples in various fields

5. The absolute monarchy, the hypertrophy of the royalty heading towards the totalitarian and populist State

  a) The absolute monarchy absorbs the subordinate bodies and powers

  b) It has no alternative but to support itself in civil and military bureaucracies – the heavy "crutches" of the absolute royalty

  c) The centralization of power in France

  d) The dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire

  e) Absolutism in the Iberian Peninsula

  f) The super potent bourgeois State – the omnipotent communist State

6. Genesis of the contemporary State

  a) The decline of the regions – the journey towards the hypertrophy of the royal power

  b) Royal absolutism transforms itself into the absolutism of the State under the democratic   representative regime

  c) The centripetous pyramidization – the super-pyramidization – two examples: banks and the mass media

  d) State capitalism: the continuation of the previous centripetous and authoritarian line – the tomb of   everything that preceded it

  e) A tomb – two trilogies

  f) What remains of the nobility – the answer of Pius XII

7. The moral profile of the medieval noble

  a) In war and in peace: the example of perfection

  b) The Christian knight – the Christian lady

  c) Holocaust, good manners, etiquette and protocol – simplifications and mutilations imposed by the bourgeois world

  d) Harmonic diversity in the practice of the evangelical virtues: in the annihilation of oneself in the religious state – in the midst of the grandeurs and splendors of temporal society

  e) How not to govern – how to govern

  f) The bonum and the pulchrum of the just war – the knights felt this to the depths of their soul

8. The nobility in our days – the magnitude of its contemporary mission

  a) The essential substratum of all nobilities, whatever their nationality

  b) Nobility: a standard of excellence – an impulse to all forms of elevation and perfection

  c) Pius XII's point of ultimate insistence

  d) The nobility: yeast, and not mere dust from the past – the priestly mission of the nobility to elevate, purify and pacify the world

  e) Admirers of the nobility in the days we live in

  f) Nobility: thesis and antithesis

9. The flourishing of analogous elites – contemporary forms of nobility?

  a) A matter not dealt with by the Pontiffs: are there "contemporized" forms of nobility?

  b) Authentic nobilities, even if of less brilliance – historical examples

  c) New wealth, new nobles

  d) Are there means in the present political framework to establish new forms of nobility?

  e) A new hierarchical step in the social ladder

  f) Hopes that the road laid by Pius XII be not forgotten 

Conclusion – In the climax of the religious, moral and ideological crisis of today's world: a propitious moment for the action of the nobility and traditional elites

Appendices 

Appendix I - In Colonial Brazil, in the Imperial Brazil and in the Republican Brazil: genesis, development and twilight of the "nobility of the land"

A - The formation of elites in Colonial Brazil

1. The first settlers

  a) The humble classes

  b) The aristocrats and the men of letters

  c) The demands of the Faith

2. Genesis and improvement of the initial elites in the settled territory

  a) Nobilization through deeds of a military character

  b) Nobilization through acts of valor in the   pioneering of the territory

  c) Nobilization through the lordship over the land and men

  d) Nobilization through the exercise of authority in civil and military posts

  e) The familiar essence of the elites

3. The "Nobility of the land"

  a) Integrating elements and process of formation

  b) Characteristics that distinguish it from the European nobility

B - The socio-economic cycles of Brazil and the historical trajectory of the "Nobility of the land"

1. The cycle of the brazilwood and the captaincies

2. The sugar cane cycle

  a) The appearance of the plantation lord

  b) The ambiences and customs of the plantation lords

  c) The military activity of the plantation lords

3. The gold and precious stones cycle

  a) "Entradas" and "Bandeiras"

  b) The "Bandeiras" and the "Nobility of the land"

4. The "Nobility of the land" in face of the king and the nobility of the metropolis

  a) Plantation lord: a condition of nobilizing content

  b) The "honorable men," the "good men"

  c) Privileges of the "Nobility of the land" – the government of the municipalities

5. A "Brazilian feudalism"

6. The centralization of power and the lessening of the privileges of the "Nobility of the land"

  a) The offensive of the legists and the loss of the autonomy of the municipalities

  b) The exit of the "Nobility of the land" from the cities to the countryside

7. The moving of the Portuguese Court to Brazil

8. The Empire's titles of nobility

9. The parliamentary Monarchy and the "Nobility of the land"

  a) The electoral clans

  b) The National Guard and the "Nobility of the land"

10. The coffee cycle

  a) The proclamation of the Republic and the rural aristocracy

  b) The coffee crisis

  c) The revolution of 1930 and the end of the traditional rural elites in Brazil 

Appendix II – The revolutionary trilogy Liberty, Equality, Fraternity: various Popes speak

1. Omnimodous absolute liberty and equality: foolish and even monstrous concepts

2. Liberty and Equality spread by the French Revolution: fallacious concepts disseminated by most perfidious philosophers

3. The abuse of Liberty and Equality leads one to socialism and communism

4. Christian equality "does not suppress every difference among men, but makes of the variety of the conditions and duties of life an admirable harmony and a kind of concert"

5. A philosophy the Church is far from rejoicing over

6. The revolutionary principles of 1789 contained the summation of all the teachings of the false prophets

7. Christian concepts that had assumed an antiChristian, laicist and irreligious banner

8. Deep down, they were Christian ideas; but those who first formulated them made no reference to the alliance between man and God

9. An historical movement that found itself swept away by an impetuous wave of violence and religious hatred 

Appendix III – The forms of government under the light of the Social Doctrine of the Church: in thesis – in concreto

A - Pontifical and other texts on the forms of government: monarchical, aristocratic and  democratic

1. The monarchical regime: the best form of government

2. The Church is not opposed to any form of government that is just and tenders to the common good

3. This or that other form of government may be preferable, given that it adapts itself better to the character or the customs of the people for which it is destined

4. The error of the Sillon: only democracy will inaugurate the reign of perfect justice

5. The Catholic Church finds no difficulty in adjusting itself with the various forms of government

6. True democracy is not incompatible with monarchy

7. The Catholic Church accepts any form of government so long as it does not oppose divine and human rights

8. To determine the political structure of a country it is necessary to take into consideration the circumstances of each people

9. The Church does not manifest any preference for political systems or institutional solutions

10. The fundamental structure of the political  community, a fruit of the genius of each people and the march of its history

11. The monarchy is in itself the best regime, for it is the one which more easily favors peace

12. The best way to moderate and fortify the monarchy is to surround it with aristocracy and democracy

13. A democratic Constitution should assume and protect the values of the Christian Faith, without which it will not be able to survive

B - Forms of government: abstract principles and their influence in the formation of a political mentality

1. The concrete usefulness of the abstract principles

2. The position of the Catholics in face of the forms of government

3. Socio-cultural projection of the aristocratic-monarchical political mentality

4. The legitimacy of the anti-egalitarian principles

5. Reflections of the political mentality over the intermediary social groups

C - The French Revolution: prototypical model of a revolutionary republic

1. The Revolution in its essential elements

  a) An impulse at the service of an ideology

  b) One more element of the Revolution: its multitudinarian character

2. The opinion of the Catholics in face of the French Revolution: dissensions

  a) Differing ways for Catholics to consider the French Revolution

  b) The French Revolution seen by Pius VI

  c) Connivances of the "moderates" with the radicality of the Revolution

3. Leo XIII intervenes 

Appendix IV – Aristocracy in the thoughts of a controversial, but unsuspected Cardinal of the XXth century

1. Philosophical sense

2. Theological sense

3. The Christian public rights

4. Social aristocracy

5. Aristocracy in the family

6. Political aristocracy

7. Contemporary social mission of the aristocracy

8. The new aristocracy 

Documents 

Documents I – Allocutions of Pius XII to the Roman Nobility and Patritiate

Allocution of January 8, 1940

Allocution of January 5, 1941

Allocution of January 5, 1942

Allocution of January 11, 1943

Allocution of January 19, 1944

Allocution of January 14, 1945

Allocution of January 16, 1946

Allocution of January 8, 1947

Allocution of January 14, 1948

Allocution of January 15, 1949

Allocution of January 12, 1950

Allocution of January 11, 1951

Allocution of January 14, 1952

Allocution of January 9, 1958 

Documents II – Allocution of Benedict XV to the Roman Nobility and Patritiate of January 5, 1920 

Documents III – Special duties of society towards the impoverished nobility

1. The best alms is that given to the impoverished noble

2. Solicitude of Queen Saint Elizabeth towards the impoverished nobility 

Documents IV – Noble stock is a precious gift from God

1. Nobility is a gift from God

2. Our Lord Jesus Christ wanted to be born a noble; He Himself loved the aristocracy

3. Nobility by birth seems to be a fortuitous fact, but it results from a benevolent design from Heaven

4. Jesus Christ wished to be born of royal race

5. Our Lord Jesus Christ wished to be born poor, but wanted also to have a distinguished relationship with the aristocracy

6. Mary, Joseph and, therefore, Jesus, were born of royal stock

7. God the Son wished to be born of royal stock in order to gather in His Person every kind of grandeur

8. Nobility of blood is a powerful stimulus for the practice of virtue

9. The power exherted by our stock over our actions is extensive 

Documents V – The doctrine of the Church on social inequalities

1. The inequality of rights and power stems from the Author of nature Himself

2. The Universe, the Church and civil society reflect the love of God in an organic inequality

3. The sectarians of socialism declare that the right to property is a human invention that causes repulse to the natural equality among men

4. Nothing causes more repulse to reason than a mathematical equality among men

5. Inequalities are a condition for social organicity

6. Social inequality is of benefit to all

7. Just as in the human body the various members adjust themselves to each other, in the same way the social classes should integrate themselves in society

8. The Church loves all classes and the harmonious inequality among them

9. Society should have princes and vassals, employers and proletarians, wealthy and poor, wise and ignorant, nobles and plebeians

10. Some democracies go to such degree of perversity as to attribute the sovereignty in society to the people and strive to suppress and level all classes

11. Jesus Christ did not teach a chimerical equality nor disrespect for authority

12. It isn't because they are equal by nature that men should occupy the same station in social life

13. The fraternal treatment between superiors and inferiors should not obliterate the variety of conditions and the diversity of the social classes

14. To love the social hierarchy, for the greater good of both individuals and society

15. One should not excite animosity against the wealthy inciting the masses to an inversion of the order in society

16. The inequality of rights is legitimate

17. The similarities and differences among men find their proper position in the absolute order of being

18. The interrelationship of men produces always and necessarily a scale of ranks and differences

19. To establish the absolute equality is to destroy the social organism

20. Whoever dares deny the diversity of social classes contradicts the very order of nature

21. A society without classes: a dangerous utopia

22. The inequality among creatures is a condition for Creation to give glory to God

23. The suppression of inequalities is a condition sine qua non for the elimination of religion

24. By nature, in one line all men are equal, but in another they are unequal 

Documents VI – The necessary harmony between authentic tradition and authentic progress

1. The people's true friends are traditionalists

2. Respect for tradition absolutely does not impede true progress

3. One of the most frequent and most grave defects of modern sociology lies in underestimating  tradition

4. The detaching of oneself from the past: a cause of uneasiness, anxiety and instability

5. Tradition is a fertile patrimony, it is an inheritance that must be preserved 

Documents VII – Ancient Rome: a State born from patriarchal societies

1. The word pater is distinct from genitor and appears as a synonym for the word rex

2. The gens of the Romans and the génos of the Greeks

3. The concept of family in the ancient world

4. Family, cúria or frátria and tribe

5. The city is formed

6. City and urbs

7. The difficulty in forming the State 

Documents VIII – Feudalism: fruit of the medieval family 

Documents IX – The familiar character of feudal government – the king: the father of his people

1. Brief biographical features

2. Pátria: the father's domain 

Documents X – The paternal character of the traditional Monarchy

1. Francis I's welcome in Vienna after the withdrawal of Napoleon's troops

2. The welcome bestowed by the people of Paris on the Count of Artois upon his return from exile 

Documents XI – What Popes, Saints, Doctors and Theologians think about the licitness of war

1. The legitimate purpose of war is peace in justice

2. Popes and Councils confirm the doctrine of St. Thomas on war

3. To die or to kill for Christ is not criminal, but glorious

4. To protect the Faith is reason sufficient for the licitness of the war

5. Sacred Scriptures praises the wars against the enemies of the Faith

6. The Church has the right and the power to convoke and lead a Crusade 

Documents XII – Is being noble and leading the life of a noble incompatible with sanctity?

Next

---

---