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I am an historian of the Italian Renaissance rather than a lifetime church historian. But because it is not possible to study Renaissance Italy without encountering church institutions in various [...]

Montecassino and Benevento in the Middle Ages: Essays in South Italian Church History, by G. A. Loud (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2000; pp. 334. 57.50 £). In the Mezzogiorno of the central [...]

This article traces by a process of synthesis the developments which led Pope Paull III, the last and one of the most significant representatives of the Renaissance papacy, to suppress all forms of religious dissent in Italy, in the hardest and most unyielding manner – without, however, combating the abuses of ecclesiastical discipline and benefices critizised by the Protestant Reformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses the ways in which 15th-century nuns financed, shaped and used works of arts and architecture at the Benedictine convent of San Zaccaria in Venice, Italy. Involvement in two major episodes of building and decoration in the 15th century; Contributing factors to the nuns' outrage and disillusionment during the period; Imposition of radical reforms on the nuns' communities during the period.

Focuses on elections of abbesses and notions of identity in 15th- and 16th-century Italy, particularly in Venice. Anatomy of an election of 1509 by a nun from San Zaccaria in Venice; Nuns' election practices during the period; Visual representation of various abbesses from Florence, Pavia and Venice.

The dispute between social versus religious interpretations of anti-Semitism pervaded the whole history of scholarly research. Whereas socio-historical interpretations had underlined the social aspects, current studies on anti-Semitism focus on religious motifs. The thesis that anti-Semitism was a result of a religious conflict, however, is far more alleged than substantially proved by the sources. So it seems necessary to go back to the sources. Therefore this paper analyzes the language of the Venetian Catholic newspaper II Veneto Cattolico/La Difesa from the foundation of the newspaper in 1867 up to the First World War. Just a few years before the term anti-Semitism was coined, Catholic journalists of Venice had created the new semantic of secular anti-Semitism. They turned back to religious issues when they tried to systematize their anti-Jewish sentiments. Thus one can observe in the coverage of the Venetian Catholic journals the invention of an anti-Semitic tradition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the issue of reforming the College of Cardinals as one specific aspect of the call to reform the early-modern Catholic Church that Paolo Giustiniani and Pietro Querini addressed in a Libellus to Pope Leo X in 1513. According to the two Camaldolese reformers, the failure of individuals within various ranks of the Church to pursue their duties with all due moral and legal attention was leading to decadence within the Church, resulting in decadence and a lack of justice within society as a whole. Their Libellus aimed to provide the Pope with the instruments needed for the religious and economic reform of the powerful institution of the College of Cardinals, proposed as one step towards a more comprehensive - and eventually only theoretical - plan for Church reform. Both the excesses and the potential of the Renaissance Church are at the core of Querini and Giustiniani's proposals; they argued that by resolving the former, the Church would be able to draw upon its strengths to become a more perfect instrument for bringing morality to the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author studies and publishes three documents from the Libri Annatarum, one of the most important sources of the Camera Apostolica, concerning the archdeaconry obtained from a young gentleman, Alessandro Sforza, future Lord of Pesaro, in Benevento in the 20's of the 15th century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After a struggle with the Papacy (1317-29), the Visconti family starts a period of peace, which goes up to 1341. In 1331 the Pope elects John Visconti to the bishopric of Novara (1331-1342) and gives him the administration in temporalibus of the diocese of Milan (while archbishop Aicardo remains in exile). John, who was lord of Milan since 1339 together with his brother Luchino, becomes archbishop in 1342. During the 1330s he builds the new “magnificent" archbishop's palace of Milan. Why do these things happen while the archbishop is still alive? The essay, facing the different interpretations of the Visconti's ecclesiastical policy, focuses on a decay (1331-42) full of religious initiatives and artistic patronages, among which there is the archbishop's palace. John, thanks to these activities, clearly presents every innovation in this field as a result of the lordship of the dynasty. While Azzo builds a realm for himself, John, as ecclesiastical lord, competes in magnificence with the Avignonese curia. The chronicler Galvano Fiamma and other authors suggest several theories, which are based on Aristotle's prescriptions and represent an explication ex post. More properly, the magnificentia, i.e. a sort of “lordly aesthetics", is a need of the lordly power, rather an essential part of such authority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses historical accounting sources related to Ecclesiastical sites in the Subalpine region during the Low Middle Ages. Topics discussed include Church sites in the Castellania Savoy region, Ecclesiastical administration in the Savoy region during this time, and cathedral sites in the Piedmont region of Italy.

In recent years scholars have attempted to reconsider the place of religion within Italian Futurism. A tendency to secularize the avant-garde has ensured that Futurism is often assumed to be in opposition to religion. This paper reassesses this notion by examining the religious dimension of the work of the Futurist artist Umberto Boccioni. In particular, it examines the mother images the artist produced during the early years of the Futurist movement. The paper argues that in Boccioni's 1912 work Matter (Materia) the maternal figures of the Virgin Mary and the Catholic Church coalesce through a process akin to what Sigmund Freud described as "condensation." During the years preceding the work's execution, Boccioni was recording the development of the Catholic Modernist Crisis in his diary. This crisis culminated in 1907 with the papal encyclical Pascendi Dominici Greg is. At this time, the Catholic Church was experiencing increasing pressure to adapt to new ways of thinking about ecclesiastical history. In this paper, Matter is reread as an investigation into the place of the Catholic Church in the modern world. In seeking to account for the religious significance of Boccioni's maternal imagery, this paper challenges the claim that the early Futurist movement was wholly anti-Christian in orientation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the history of the Italian Fascist government influence on Malta, in opposition to the influence of British constitutionalist sentiment during the period from 1922 to 1939, based on materials held in the Vatican Secret Archive. Topics mentioned include the influence of the Catholic Church on Maltese politics, relations between Malta, Great Britain, and Italy, and the role of language and religion in the formation of Maltese identity.

Copyright of Rivista di Storia del Cristianesimo is the property of Editrice Morcelliana S.p.A. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article discusses the rereading of the history of Italian Unification in the 19th century by traditionalist Catholic groups in Italy during the period from 2000 to 2011. Topics discussed include the role of historians in public discourse about the past in Italy, sensationalism in the media on historical topics, and the work of historical thinkers such as Brazilian theorist Plinio Corrêa on traditionalist revisionism concerning historical topics.

»Kardinäle in der Funktion eines Premierministers, ca. 1450 - ca. 1750«. From the late 15th until the late 18th century, 15 Italian men shared a particular occupational life course, by becoming prime minister as well as cardinal to the Church of Rome. Some became prime minister after having been cardinal; others had a reversed career of becoming prime cardinal after having been prime minister. It is obvious that personal experiences will have influenced the policies they set out, especially when a prime minister had been a cardinal before. But, on the other hand, the impersonal cultural life script of being a cardinal or being a prime minister may have predominated personal inclinations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article announces an upcoming 22 to 24 My 2013 international conference on the national churches in Rome, Italy, from 1450 to 1650.

Copyright of Rivista di Storia del Cristianesimo is the property of Editrice Morcelliana S.p.A. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In this paper we will analyse the data from surveys carried out in Italy between 1997 and 2005 as part of the Ilfi panel. We will focus in particular on statements about frequency of churchgoing given by panel members over the years and show that they are characterized by a significant degree of inconsistency. We will show that this interesting but unexpected result can also be found in many other international panels and therefore cannot be attributed to bias resulting from the methodology adopted in the panel. Furthermore, we will see that individual inconsistency is generally not associated with paths of progressive rapprochement to or estrangement from religion and/or its practices. Instead, it is a form of «discontinuity» in frequency of churchgoing in its own right. Our analysis will then lead us to conclude that inconsistency and discontinuity are not the result of inappropriate response behavior by interviewees and that they run through the main social segments (gender, age, education and area of residence). This characteristic pattern of mass attendance, which concerns at least 50-60% of the population, does not appear to take shape as an intermediate form of religiosity between regular churchgoers and non-churchgoers. Instead, it seems to signal the existence of a different type of religiosity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: This essay explores the activities of the Italian consortium of S. Alessandro in Colonna in Bergamo, through an analysis and translation of the Regola (Rule) that governed it for nearly five centuries. Written in Latin in 1363-65, and republished in Italian in the late sixteenth century, the statutes and other primary source documents of this confraternity reflect the (admittedly modest) aspirations, disappointments, and achievements of one group of Bergamo's citizens as they sought to achieve the "sacred miracle" of brotherhood. The essay also compares the consortium of S. Alessandro in Colonna to other Bergamasque confraternities, especially the large and powerful Misericordia Maggiore (MIA), with a particular focus on how confraternities in Bergamo supported lay and clerical education. Specific topics include the membership, organization, and social purpose(s) of a rather ordinary confraternity, here considered both as an individual case study and as a vehicle of comparison with similar pious associations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The events that mark the southern lands between the tenth and twelfth centuries represent a moment of epochal change about the events of southern Italy. The policy of conquest and colonization of the Lombard princes, the attempts to expansion of the Frankish and Ottonian dynasties, the Byzantine returns along the coasts, the consequences of the Arab invasions and the Norman occupation produce a precarious political balance and continually troubled by riots. The land of Capua assists the apogee of Lombard dynasty and soon after to its progressive and inevitable dissolution; these are really crucial years in which Capua plays a leading role within the dynamics of penetration of the Normans and offers itself as privileged scenery in the capillary renewal of ecclesiastical structures undertaken by the Roman Church. The effects produced by this complicated congeries of events are translated into urban choices that mark the insulae of Capua: the settlement in the city of Benedictine communities of Montecassino and San Vincenzo al Volturno, the dismemberment of the ancient area of the Lombard court, the creation of new poles of urban aggregation inside and outside the walls, the strengthening of the bishopric. In this context, the role played by Benedictine communities of San Vincenzo al Volturno and Montecassino, settled in the city after the Saracen destructions, seems essential to follow the two levels on which the political, social and urbanism story of Capua unfolds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Starting with the earliest historiography available in the Waldensian and reformed area of the early modern age, this research aims at focusing on the aspects relative to the institutional, religious and social organization of the Waldensian communitiers which settled in Piedmont in the late Middle Ages, whence originated the formation of the so called “people-church" of which little is known. Parallel to this main aim runs the attempt to focus on the inner conflicts triggered off in the Waldensian communities by the Reformation of Helvetic-Strasbourgese strain, which spread among the Waldensians of the Piedmont valleys since the late twenties of the 16th century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the World War II history of Salesians concealing Jewish children in the Piedmont region of Italy during the period from 1943 to 1944. Topics discussed include historical background on the Jewish population of the region, activities of Catholic Church authorities to protect Jews, and historical documents related to these phenomena.

Copyright of Rivista di Storia del Cristianesimo is the property of Editrice Morcelliana S.p.A. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The contribution focuses on the dissemination of vernacular Bible translations in late medieval Italy. After a short description of the status questionis in the research of vernacular Bible in Italy, the contribution will illustrate which processes of cultural transmission and translation contributed to the diffusion of the biblical texts. "the essay will also evaluate the role played by lay people in reading and writing activities connected to the biblical text and in the 'domestication' of biblical knowledge: the use of biblical manuscripts and early prints in domestic, private, and semi-private space. Far from being passive recipients, lay people were involved in every stage of the dissemination of the Holy Writ: as dedicatees of the translations, as scribes, as collectors, as distributors, and as readers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the religious and political role of the Cardinal-Archbishop Pietro Maffi of Pisa, Italy during the First World War. Reference is made to the change in Maffi's position and activities after the entry of Italy into the war. Topics discussed include the relationship between the Catholic Church and the Italian state in Maffi's views and activism, the role of Maffi in encouraging the war effort as a religious matter, and the connection between the promotion of the war and the promotion of the Church.

This article develops a reflection on the forms of the "moderate way to political modernity" covered by Italian political Catholicism between the 19th and 20th century. The focus is on two different historical forms of Catholic moderatism: the traditional "clerical-moderate" front, in which moderation expresses a political praxis, and the Sturzian popularism, in which moderatism is a specification of a precise political platform. In the final part of the essay, the changes undergone by Catholic moderatism in the Fascist period are examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented to the February 2013 issue of the Ventunesimo Secolo journal, focusing on models of moderate politics in Italy, Catholic moderatism in the history of Liberal Italy, and the history of Italian unification in the 19th century.

The article discusses Catholic thought on issues of public finance and taxation in the period from 1850 to 1876, with reference to the work of 19th century Italian Catholic scholar of the Society of Jesus, Luigi Taparelli D'Azeglio, and the Catholic culture of capitalistic economics. Topics discussed include the concept of taxation in the context of Catholic culture, the journal "La Civiltà Cattolica, edited by Taparelli D'Azeglio, and fiscal reforms in the Italian state and in the Catholic Church during this period.

During his pontificate, Pius xi (1922–39) vigorously promoted the ‘export’ of the Italian model of Catholic Action to the rest of the Church as the organisational blueprint for Catholic lay activism, particularly in the battle against atheistic Communism. He was assisted by Mgr, later Cardinal, Giuseppe Pizzardo, the head of Italian Catholic Action. The successes and failures of this campaign are tracked through documents available since the opening of the files of the apostolic nunciatures and delegations and the Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs section of the Secretariat of State for Pius xi's pontificate in the Vatican Archives. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses Italian Unification leader Camillio Benso di Cavour, and his role in establishing the concept of a free church in a free state and the role of the church in the Italian state. Topics discussed include the role of religion in the political thought of Cavour, the concept of the separation between church and state in Cavour's thought, and the role of the state in the freedom of religion.

Copyright of Revista Crítica de Ciências Sociais is the property of Centro de Estudos Sociais and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article discusses several fresco paintings illustrating the facade of St. Peter's Basilica located in the Vatican City before the renovation and building extension with bell towers in 1612 by Pope Paul V. The author mentions the importance of the fresco for the architecture history of Early Baroque churches and compared them with drawings by Italian artist Giovanni Maggi from 1608. Other topics mentioned in this article include the Italian artist Michelangelo, facade architecture and design, as well as the analysis and research of historical sources.

The article discusses rural churches in Milan, Italy in the 15th and 16th centuries, with a focus on demographics and economic conditions, as well as institutional spaces created by the churches. Topics discussed include institutional adaptation to the conditions of society, relationships between social and economic structures and the organization of the church, and the influence of powerful families in rural locations on the the structure and functioning of the institutions of the church in these regions.

The article discusses the pictorial representation of medieval Saint Humility of Faenza (Rosanese Negusanti), the founder of the female order of the Vallombrosans, during the Middle Ages. It provides a biographical outline of the life of this 13th-century woman religious, notes her characterization by contemporaries as possessing miraculous powers, and relates attempts to advocate for her canonization. The images of her discussed in detail include a polyptych designed for Vallombrosan convent of San Giovanni Evangelista by Italian painter Pietro Lorenzetti, which was later transferred to the convent of San Salvi, as well as several no longer extant paintings described in Italian manuscripts from the 16th through 18th centuries.

The article discusses inquisitorial cases involving the mystical movement of Pelagians and the alchemist Francesco Giuseppe Borri, who lead the group, during the 17th century in the Lombardy and Veneto regions of Italy, with a focus on archival procedural documents. Topics discussed include internal regional and political tensions related to the inquisitorial leaders, the spiritual beliefs and practices of the Pelagians, and the influence of Spanish religious practices on the Pelagians and Borri.

This article analyses the parallels between the role played by the Church, first during the Crisis of the Liberal State in the early twentieth century and then during the transition from the Christian Democratic regime to the ‘bi-polar’ Second Republic more than 70 years later. It explores both the particular, contingent forces at work in each, and the underlying explanations as to why the Church was able to successfully exploit these two processes of transition in the political history of Italy to its advantage. It concludes by arguing that the experience of these two crises demonstrates that the Church is not only a powerful force in Italian civil society but also effectively ‘a state within a state’ in relation to the functioning of Italy's political structures. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article explores the origins of the complex relationship between Church and State in Italy. The author traces the historical and political context, and analyzes the various phases of the slow process of interpenetration between Catholics and Liberals in the life of the new State: from the absolute intransigence of dawn of Unity to the early loosening of the opposition at the turn of the 20th century, to the structuring of an autonomous presence of Catholics in politics, followed by the final settlement of 1929. The author suggests that it is crucial to take into account the historical contingencies in the evolution of relations between Church and State.

Copyright of Rivista di Storia del Cristianesimo is the property of Editrice Morcelliana S.p.A. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

By studying two ancient inventories --one of which original-- this contribution wishes to shed light on the relations between the precious furnishings of a medieval church and the liturgical, cultural and political events related to them. In this sense, the church of George of Antioch's Santa Maria dell'Ammiraglio, built in the Norman part of Palermo, with its conspicuous collection of icons and images, reveals the cultural syncretism typical of Sicily between the 12th and the 14th centuries, where the encounter between the West, Byzantium and Islam favoured the birth of a highly refined artistic language and a culture with a Mediterranean vocation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]