Monaco

MONACO. - Apart from the Vatican State, this is the smallest state in the world.

It consists of a narrow coastal strip on the western Ligurian Riviera, between the Roya and the Var, 11 km. from the Italian-French border, with an area of 1,580 sq. km. and 19,242 inhabitants (in 1946).

Its population lives almost entirely gathered in a single urban nucleus, made up of the centers of Monte Carlo, La Condamine and M. The latter is the seat of the Government. Noted for the exceptional mildness of its climate, the region is a center of an intense hotel industry of an international character. M. is a hereditary constitutional Principality.

Giuseppe Caraci

I. HISTORY

The "portus Herculis Monoeci" was founded, in Ligurian territory, probably by Phocaean colonists who had emigrated from Massilia (Marseilles) and was then occupied by the Romans. Hecataeus of Miletus mentions it as early as the 6th century B.C.; Strabo and Servius allude to the sanctuary that stood on the citadel in honor of Hercules Monoecus (or Solitary), so called because his cult was not connected with that of Ashtoreth. Its port, "sub Herculeo sacratus numine," exposed to the south-west winds, was too small and unsuited to shelter numerous ships or ships of considerable size, so that it soon declined, as soon as the city of "Forum Iulii" (Fréjus) was founded with its port. On the mountain above M. (La Turbie) the great "via Iulia Augusta" was laid out by Augustus, and there he erected the "Tropaeum Alpium" in commemoration of the victories won over the peoples of the Alps. In the early Middle Ages M. was subjected to raids by the Saracens, and in 1191 it was granted as a fief to the Republic of Genoa by the emperor Henry VI.

During the struggles between Ghibellines and Guelphs the Grimaldi, who were Guelphs, succeeded from 1297 onward in seizing M., and after alternating vicissitudes, through which they were also dispossessed, their sovereignty was finally recognized in turn by the dukes of Savoy, by the popes, and by the emperors. M. found itself under the protectorate of Spain until 1641, when by a coup de main Prince Honoré II expelled the Spanish garrison, allied himself closely with the French and accepted their protection. During the French Revolution, in 1793, M. was annexed to France, but in 1814 the Grimaldi, with Honoré IV, returned to power. The Congress of Vienna established that the protectorate over the Principality belonged to the Kingdom of Sardinia. The Principality again formed strong ties (in 1860) with France, which, by a treaty of 1919, guaranteed its independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Silvio Furlani

II. DIOCESE OF MONACO

The diocese of M. has 4 parishes, served by 20 diocesan priests, 15 regulars, 6 male religious communities and 9 female ones (Ann. Pont., 1951, p. 274).

The oldest Christian record of the diocese is the Benedictine priory of St. Devota at St-Pons, erected in 1075 (Cottineau, II, col. 1876). The church of St. Mary dates from 1078, and that of St. Donatus is slightly later. Until 1868 M. was part of the diocese of Nice. On April 30, 1868, Pope Pius IX erected in M. the abbey nullius of Sts. Nicholas and Benedict. Pope Leo XIII created the diocese of M. on March 15, 1887, assigning it the same civil boundaries as the Principality and making it immediately subject to the Holy See. Its first bishop was Msgr. Carlo Francesco Bonaventura Theuret (1887-1901). The Cathedral is dedicated to the Immaculate Conception. The old Ducal Palace contains frescoes by Annibale Carracci and Orazio Ferrari. In 1910 an oceanographic museum was founded in M.

Enrico Josi

III. LEGAL STATUS OF THE CHURCH

The legal status of the Church in the Principality of M. is regulated by the bull Quemadmodum of Leo XIII, issued on 15 March 1886.

The document, which is, in substance, a convention between the Supreme Pontiff and the sovereign prince of M., intended to regulate the organization of the Monegasque diocese erected by the same bull, was put into execution the following year (28 Sept. by the Principality, 10 Oct. by the Holy See).

The diocese, which is immediately subject to the Holy See, comprises the entire territory of the Principality, previously withdrawn from the spiritual jurisdiction of the bishop of Nice and erected into an abbey nullius by Pius IX in 1868. Juridical personality is recognized, not only for the diocese, but for all ecclesiastical bodies and religious institutes, existing and future. The State takes upon itself all the expenses of worship. The Holy See grants the Prince a very extensive right of patronage: presentation to the Holy See of a list of three persons for the appointment of the bishop, appointment of all the canons, except one, of all the parish priests and parochial vicars, except the parish priest and the parochial vicars of the church of St. Charles in Monte Carlo, entrusted in perpetuity to the Congregation of the Regular Clerics of the Mother of God. To the bishop is naturally reserved the canonical provision and the right to refuse it for the unworthy. On 4 Oct. 1934 a sovereign ordinance was published regulating the right to a pension of priests who hold an office or perform a function remunerated by the State.

In the Principality of M., however, the institution of divorce also exists, regulated by the ordinances of 3 July 1907 and 11 June 1919.

The Principality of M. maintains diplomatic relations with the Holy See, to which it is represented by a minister plenipotentiary.

Ippolito Rotoli