46
able to embrace the results of the natural sciences. As a consequence, this impeded
the use of scientific knowledge as a positive source of dogmatic progress.
In the nineteenth century, Italian Catholics had different views about the “questione romana,” that is, the acknowledgement of Rome as the capital of the new
Kingdom of Italy. A large number of them, especially in Northern Italy, looked with
favor at the loss of papal political sovereignty over various geographical regions
(Rome included) which formed the Papal States, and affirmed that the Pope should
exert a spiritual authority only. Others preferred that a special political status was
acknowledged to the city of Rome. Yet other Catholics considered the attitude of the
Italian government against the Pontifical States as a sort of battle of the forces of
evil against the truth of faith, and thus a major danger for the future of the papacy in
Europe. Nevertheless, many Catholics (lay faithful and priests) collaborated with
the establishment of the Reign of Piedmont, aimed at unifying all Italian territory
under the same King.
In this respect, it is illustrative that King Vittorio Emanuele II asked parish priests
to help teach the unified metric system, which was newly established in his realm,
replacing all the different regional units of measuring land, weights, and liquids.
Each Sunday after the celebration of the Holy Mass, the parish priest left the Missal
and came back from the sacristy bringing a textbook issued by the Ministry of
Agriculture to give a lesson to the people present in the church on the new measuring system.
However, the situation was a bit different in Rome because of the proximity of
the Pope, who was both the spiritual guide and the “town mayor” for the people living in the city.
Within the Pontifical States the papacy had promoted the development of culture
and arts. At the beginning of the fourteenth century, a Studium Urbis was established in Rome by Pope Boniface VIII. During the pontificate of Alexander VII, in
1660, the Studium moved into the prestigious building of St. Ivo, in Corso
Rinascimento, beginning its activities as the University “La Sapienza” (from the
biblical motto Initium Sapientiae timor Domini, carved on the entrance door).
Scientific studies were encouraged, especially those of medicine, anatomy, and
surgery.
Astronomy also began to develop in Rome, albeit with instruments that were less
advanced than those existing in other Italian sites. When Angelo Secchi took over
the direction of the astronomical observatory of the Roman College in 1850,
at least two other observatories already existed in the Pope’s city (see Maffeo 1991;
Chinnici 2018; Buonanno 2008). One was located in the Tower of the Winds in the
Vatican Gardens, established in 1576 by Pope Gregory XIII, whose meridian line
was used to demonstrate the reform of the Gregorian calendar in 1582 . At this time
it was no longer in use, but it would become the future site of the Specola Vaticana
in 1891. The other one was the university observatory built on a roof of the
Campidoglio (City Hall), equipped with a 13 cm Merz refractor which Pope Pius IX
provided in 1853. The Roman College Observatory—which Angelo Secchi moved
from the Calandrelli Tower, adjacent to the College, to the roof of St Ignatius
G. Tanzella-Nitti
able to embrace the results of the natural sciences. As a consequence, this impeded
the use of scientific knowledge as a positive source of dogmatic progress.
In the nineteenth century, Italian Catholics had different views about the “questione romana,” that is, the acknowledgement of Rome as the capital of the new
Kingdom of Italy. A large number of them, especially in Northern Italy, looked with
favor at the loss of papal political sovereignty over various geographical regions
(Rome included) which formed the Papal States, and affirmed that the Pope should
exert a spiritual authority only. Others preferred that a special political status was
acknowledged to the city of Rome. Yet other Catholics considered the attitude of the
Italian government against the Pontifical States as a sort of battle of the forces of
evil against the truth of faith, and thus a major danger for the future of the papacy in
Europe. Nevertheless, many Catholics (lay faithful and priests) collaborated with
the establishment of the Reign of Piedmont, aimed at unifying all Italian territory
under the same King.
In this respect, it is illustrative that King Vittorio Emanuele II asked parish priests
to help teach the unified metric system, which was newly established in his realm,
replacing all the different regional units of measuring land, weights, and liquids.
Each Sunday after the celebration of the Holy Mass, the parish priest left the Missal
and came back from the sacristy bringing a textbook issued by the Ministry of
Agriculture to give a lesson to the people present in the church on the new measuring system.
However, the situation was a bit different in Rome because of the proximity of
the Pope, who was both the spiritual guide and the “town mayor” for the people living in the city.
Within the Pontifical States the papacy had promoted the development of culture
and arts. At the beginning of the fourteenth century, a Studium Urbis was established in Rome by Pope Boniface VIII. During the pontificate of Alexander VII, in
1660, the Studium moved into the prestigious building of St. Ivo, in Corso
Rinascimento, beginning its activities as the University “La Sapienza” (from the
biblical motto Initium Sapientiae timor Domini, carved on the entrance door).
Scientific studies were encouraged, especially those of medicine, anatomy, and
surgery.
Astronomy also began to develop in Rome, albeit with instruments that were less
advanced than those existing in other Italian sites. When Angelo Secchi took over
the direction of the astronomical observatory of the Roman College in 1850,
at least two other observatories already existed in the Pope’s city (see Maffeo 1991;
Chinnici 2018; Buonanno 2008). One was located in the Tower of the Winds in the
Vatican Gardens, established in 1576 by Pope Gregory XIII, whose meridian line
was used to demonstrate the reform of the Gregorian calendar in 1582 . At this time
it was no longer in use, but it would become the future site of the Specola Vaticana
in 1891. The other one was the university observatory built on a roof of the
Campidoglio (City Hall), equipped with a 13 cm Merz refractor which Pope Pius IX
provided in 1853. The Roman College Observatory—which Angelo Secchi moved
from the Calandrelli Tower, adjacent to the College, to the roof of St Ignatius
G. Tanzella-Nitti