Le carte del "Sacro Tavolo": Aspetti del Pontificato di Pio X dai documenti del suo archivio privato (review)

Abstract

Le carte del Sacro : Aspetti del Pontificato dt Pio dal documenti del suo archivio privato . Edited by Alejandro M. Dieguez and Sergio Pagano. 2 volumes. [CoUectanea Archivi Vaticani, 60.] (Vatican City: Archivio Segreto Vaticano. 2006. Pp. cxvi, 1072. Paperback.) pontificate of Pius X, Giuseppe Melchiore Sarto (1903 to 1914), was characterized by several doctrinal, juridical, and institutional issues, each helping to define as it entered twentieth century. Wavering between reaction and renewal, Pius X, sometimes referred to as the pope of Curia, and his policies have themselves been subject of controversy and conflicting interpretations. In this coUection of documents from private Vatican archives, editors offer much insight into both workings of this pontificate and personal views and personality of pontiff himself. This comprehensive and vast correspondence, both to and from Pius as weE as his personal secretaries, in particular Monsignor Giovanni Bressan, who had served then Bishop Sarto of Treviso since 1885, is expertly organized by editors to reflect issues of pontificate and person of pope himself. first volume, which includes an extensive introduction, presents correspondence, which, as title notes, passed through papal desk, or sacro tavolo, in two categories of Reforms and Large Themes. former includes reforms in Sacred Music, the Universal Catechism, and Seminaries.The latter deals with major controversy of Modernism, the Catholic Press, Discipline of Clergy, Apostolic Visits, and Intellectual Matters. This last category includes letters exchanged between Pius or his secretary and Monsignor Achille Ratti (later Pope Pius XI) in his role as prefect of Ambrosian Library. Indeed, both volumes of Sacro Tavolo include correspondence of most prominent names, clerical and non-clerical, of era, with section on Modernism, for instance containing letters from and to Alfred Loisy Volume II organizes correspondences to pontiff and his staff within major categories of Relations with Episcopate, Concern for Cultural Patrimonies, The Cults of Saints and Relics, Religious Life, Church and State in Italy, and The in World, which had correspondence dealing with, in case of United States for instance, such issues as Catholic immigrant communities and missionary activities in Alaska. Also there is pontiff's correspondence dealing with his great concern for plight of Jews in Russia, and in particular with case of Menachiel Bellis and calumnious charges of ritual murder. This second volume concludes with a section devoted to The Person of Pius X as Benfactor and Patron, and Thaumaturge. Once again it presents correspondence with such personages of this pontificate as Mother Francesca Cabrini and Monsignor Giacomo Della Chiesa, later Pope Benedict XV, and Edward Cardinal Manning, as well as ordinary individuals, who wrote seeking pontiff's blessing and even his financial assistance. …