PIO XI, POPE. - Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti, born in Desio on 31 May 1857 to Francesco and Teresa Galli, both of modest means, died in the Vatican City on 10 February 1939, just before completing the 17th year of his pontificate.
I. LIFE AND ACTIVITIES UP TO 1918
Two priests, Fr. Giuseppe Volonteri in Desio and Fr. Damiano Ratti in Asso, introduced him to his studies, which he continued with distinction for depth of intellect and assiduousness in work at the diocesan seminaries of Milan and the Lombard Seminary in Rome, where he was ordained a priest on 20 December 1879. He earned a doctorate in theology on 13 March 1882 at the Pontifical Faculty of the Sapienza, in canon law on 9 June at the Gregorian University, and in philosophy on 23 June at the Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas. Upon returning to Milan, he served for five years as a professor of sacred eloquence and was entrusted with a special course in theology at the Major Seminary. On 8 November 1888, he was admitted among the doctors of the Ambrosian Library, whose prefect, the great orientalist A. M. Ceriani (v.), immediately took a liking to him for his uncommon scholarly gifts and indefatigable industry. In addition to various scholarly trips to visit archives and libraries in Italy and abroad, Ratti reorganized the library of the Charterhouse of Pavia (1898) and, in the two-year period 1905–1907, the Ambrosian Library and Pinacotheca and the Settala Museum; in 1895 he took an active part in the conference of St. Gall for the restoration of manuscripts, convened by Fr. F. Ehrle. Having become an expert in this field, he was entrusted by the Chapter of Milan Cathedral with the task of recovering and restoring the manuscripts and parchments damaged in the fire at the International Exhibition in Milan (1906). Upon completion of this work (15 July 1914), he was able to return to the Chapter Archive 1,634 sheets housed in 43 small boxes. Following Ceriani’s death, he was elected prefect of the Ambrosian Library (8 March 1907) and on 28 April of the following year became a full member of the Royal Deputies for National History for the ancient provinces and Lombardy; he had already been a member since 1895 of the Royal Lombard and Venetian Institutes of Science and Letters and of the Lombard Historical Society. During his prefecture, the Ambrosian Library was enriched with new collections and precious relics, including 1,610 Arabic manuscripts from Yemen (1909), the Bellotti manuscript collection (1910), and the library of Villa Pernice with manuscripts and printed works by C. Beccaria (1909–12). Ratti was in contact with the highest scientific figures of the day and with some Italian saints, such as St. John Bosco (1883), St. Frances Xavier Cabrini (1898), the Blessed Contardo Ferrini, of whom he was a close friend, and the Blessed Pius X. It was this latter, his predecessor on the Chair of Peter, who, on the advice of Fr. F. Ehrle, chose him as vice-prefect of the Vatican Library (8 November 1911), of which he became prefect following the resignation of Fr. Ehrle (1 September 1914). On the 26th of the same month, he resigned from the prefecture of his beloved Ambrosian Library, where he was succeeded by Monsignor Luigi Gramatica. Ratti administered the Vatican Library at a particularly difficult time due to the First World War; nonetheless, he oversaw the merging of the various printed book catalogues, continued the publication of the series Studi e Testi and the manuscript catalogues, promoted the phototypic edition of Ptolemy’s Geography (codex Urb. gr. 82), and expanded the restoration workshop. He represented the Vatican Library at Oxford for the seventh centenary of the birth of Roger Bacon (June 1914); in the same year he was made a canon of St. Peter’s (14 September) and an honorary apostolic protonotary (28 October); on 14 January 1915 he was elected an ordinary member of the Pontifical Roman Academy of Archaeology.II. THE MAN, THE PRIEST, AND THE SCHOLAR
Of reflective and resolute temperament, Ratti possessed a keen intellect and an exceptionally retentive memory; yet in speech he was deliberate, often employing a characteristic cumulative progression of synonyms—adjectives and adverbs—to achieve greater precision and persuasiveness, a trait likewise evident in his writings. Unflagging in his labors, he maintained perfect self-mastery amid danger and difficulty. His courteous bearing and steadfast loyalty to friendship and duty were widely admired. He loved the mountains and was a true mountaineer, responsible for daring ascents such as the Punta Dufour of Monte Rosa from the Macugnaga side (30–31 July 1889) and the descent of Mont Blanc via the icy Dôme (31 July 1890); both routes are now known as the “Ratti-Grasselli” trails. The priest Luigi Grasselli and the Val d’Aosta guides Giovanni Gadin and Antonio Proment were his preferred companions on these climbs.As a priest, he cherished the Church with intensity, deeply sensing both the dignity of his office as a minister of God and his duty to be foremost an apostle. From 1882 to 1914 he served as chaplain to the German colony and to the house of the Dames of Our Lady of the Cenacle in Milan, where he devoted himself unstintingly to the Association of Catholic Schoolteachers, to the care of young chimney sweeps, and to numerous preaching and catechetical courses. His gentle yet prudent priestly action brought peace and tranquility to many Milanese households, and even men notoriously hostile to religion often sought his counsel. Particularly noteworthy was his priestly work in 1895, when he organized religious instruction in Milan’s municipal schools, and in 1898, when he aided the poor Capuchins, innocent victims of the government’s repression of the Milanese revolutionary disturbances. Never did he experience any conflict between his priestly vocation and his scholarly pursuits, even at a time when the rationalist and modernist virus was rife and undermining the faith of many scholars. Ratti remained aloof from the heated political and doctrinal controversies of his day, preferring to be, in the truest sense, a librarian—and so he was judged by the most competent scholars who knew him at the Ambrosian and Vatican libraries. With generosity and refined courtesy he opened to scholars the treasures of his profound humanistic learning and his expertise as a paleographer. The leisure left by his demanding duties as librarian of great bibliographic collections was devoted to learned historical-literary research, especially on the ecclesiastical history of Lombardy. His scholarly output comprises some seventy works, including critical editions, monographs, addresses, articles, and reviews. A constant concern was to study unpublished documents—of which he was fortunate enough to discover many—with sobriety and precision, in service to the history of the period to which they belonged.
Among his scholarly works may be mentioned: the Liber diurnus of the Ambrosian Codex, which he had printed (1889 ff.) but did not publish; the Acta Ecclesiae Mediolanensis ab eius initialis usque ad nostram aetatem, I (unpublished), II–IV (Milan 1890, ’92, ’97), a weighty critical collection of the official acts of the Milanese Church down to the end of the 18th century; the facsimile edition of the Ambrosian Homer: Homeri Diadis pictae fragmenta Ambrosiana (ibid. 1905), in collaboration with Antonio Maria Ceriani; the Missale Ambrosianum duplex (ibid. 1913), published with Marco Magistretti; the twenty-five articles on St Charles published in the periodical he edited: S. Carlo Borromeo nel terzo centenario della sua canonizzazione MDCX–MCMX (1908–10); part of the material Ratti collected on the great archbishop of Milan is now held by the Bollandists; his studies on the Cistercian Ermes Bonomi (1895), on Chiaravalle (1895 ff.), on St Agnes of Prague (1896), on the portrait of St Ambrose (1897), on the homiliary attributed to Charlemagne (1900), on Bonvesin de la Riva (1901 ff.), on Leonardo (1907), and on Bonacosa di Beccalò (1909). A complete list of Ratti’s scholarly output is found in Malvezzi and Galbiati (q.V. BIBLICA.); twenty-seven of his historical-literary writings were collected by G. Faraoni and G. Galbiati: A. Ratti (now Pius XI). Scritti storici (Florence 1932); his alpine writings were gathered by G. Robba and F. Mauro: Scritti alpinistici del sacerdote dottore A. Ratti (now Pius XI), raccolti e pubblicati in occasione del cinquantenario della Sez. di Milano del C. A. I. (Milan 1923).
III. THE APOSTOLIC VISITATOR AND NUNCIO IN POLAND
Benedict XV abruptly ended Ratti’s scholarly career by appointing him Apostolic Visitor to Poland and Lithuania, which were on the verge of becoming free and independent nations. At the Vatican Library he was succeeded by Giovanni Mercati, now a cardinal, as pro-prefect (May 1918), then prefect (23 Oct. 1919). On 19 May 1918 Ratti left Rome carrying crates of relief supplies for Italian prisoners in Germany, but before reaching Warsaw he stopped in Vienna and Berlin to sound out, on behalf of Benedict XV, the prospects for peace. On 30 May, the feast of Corpus Christi, he carried the Blessed Sacrament through the streets of Warsaw amid the enthusiasm of the crowd. His mission was strictly religious, so contacts with the occupying authorities of the Central European empires were quite limited.After presiding over the conference of the episcopate of the Warsaw province (19–21 June), he made a pilgrimage to the national shrine of Jasna Góra near Częstochowa (15 July), thus beginning a long series of arduous and often perilous journeys, accompanied by his trusted collaborator Monsignor E. Pellegrinetti (later a cardinal), in order to acquaint himself at first hand with the religious and moral needs of a population enduring poverty and politico-religious rivalries. Through unremitting and profound psychological analysis of the Polish soul, he sought to identify the prerequisites for resolving the grave religious and social problems that the Church was called upon to address with the collapse of the three empires and the sudden proclamation of Polish national independence.
On 30 March 1919 the Holy See recognized the new state de iure, and it immediately requested the establishment of a nunciature and the appointment of Ratti as nuncio. The Holy See assented, and the first nuncio, appointed titular archbishop of Lepanto on 3 July, presented his credentials to Head of State Piłsudski on 19 July and was consecrated in Warsaw by Archbishop Kakowski on 28 October in the presence of the President of the Republic, the government, the diplomatic corps, the episcopate, and a cheering multitude. The event took on national significance, yet Ratti’s position grew increasingly delicate as he confronted problems whose gravity was sometimes exacerbated by the uncertainties and errors arising from the inexperience of the statesmen he was expected to advise or whose solutions he had to propose to Rome. Some of his decisions, even when taken in concert with the episcopate, provoked criticism and violent reactions, such as, for example, various episcopal and auxiliary appointments.
During his stay in Poland Ratti worked tirelessly: reconstituting episcopal sees and appointing their ordinaries; addressing Church–State relations (among opposing tendencies he proposed a bilateral agreement that later culminated in the Concordat); securing endowments for the clergy and religious institutes in relation to the agrarian reform law (June 1919, July 1920); reviving ecclesiastical studies by fostering the foundation of the Pontifical University of Lublin (25 July 1920); and alleviating the suffering of countless poor by personally distributing, incognito, the Pope’s alms in the working-class districts of Warsaw or arranging for their distribution through the bishops.
In January 1920, overcoming considerable obstacles, he visited Vilnius and Kaunas, and in March he proceeded as far as Riga, where he opened negotiations with the Latvian government that later resulted in the first concordat he concluded as pontiff. The Finnish government invited him to visit Finland, but the exigencies of the moment prevented him from doing so. Likewise he could not cross into Soviet Russia, of which he was also Apostolic Visitor, though he succeeded in securing the release in 1919 of the Latin-rite archbishop of Mohilev, Eduard von der Ropp, imprisoned by the Soviets. Highly esteemed was Ratti’s stance on the eve of the Soviet invasion (August 1920): he asked the Pope, though without obtaining permission, not to abandon Warsaw even at the risk of falling into Soviet hands. To bolster the morale of a panic-stricken populace, however, he decided not to leave the city until the very last moment when the Foreign Minister, Sapieha, would do so (cf. Pellegrinetti, op. cit. in bibliography, pp. 18–20).
Among the grave problems Ratti had to face, two proved especially thorny: (1) in 1919 the fratricidal struggle between Poles and Ruthenians and the reprisals that followed the final Polish victory; he intervened repeatedly to moderate the repression and to ensure religious assistance for the Ruthenians; (2) in 1920 his mission as papal commissioner for the plebiscites in Upper Silesia and in East Prussia (the Marienwerder and Allenstein zones) to prevent abuses by ecclesiastics in the plebiscitary campaign. Both Germans and Poles demanded more from Ratti than his very limited powers permitted; the former lodged complaints in Rome, while the latter accused him of inertia and pro-German bias. The situation became tragic from the Polish side when Cardinal Bertram of Breslau issued a measure that seemed to have been agreed with Ratti, though it had not been, thereby paralyzing the participation of Polish clergy in the plebiscitary struggle. The Poles nursed a deep resentment against Ratti; parties, the press, and Parliament spared no insults for the papal commissioner, who, conscious of having always acted impartially, remained silent, bearing the wave of indignation with manly fortitude until it gradually subsided. Benedict XV, who fully approved of his conduct, soon removed him from this delicate position by transferring him to the see of Milan (March 1921).
IV. ARCHBISHOP OF MILAN AND CARDINAL
Ratti had planned to leave Poland in July to complete some of the matters already begun, but on 19 May he was urgently summoned to Rome because he was to be elevated to the dignity of cardinal at the next consistory on 4 June 1921. Ratti always retained a fond memory of Poland, and the Polish people remained deeply devoted to him throughout his pontificate. Created cardinal with the title of S. Martino ai Monti on 13 June, on 25 July he retired for a month to Montecassino, where he prepared his first two pastoral letters, one in Latin to the clergy and one in Italian to the faithful (15 Aug.).On 26 Aug. he departed for Lourdes with a large Italian pilgrimage; on 8 Sept. he made his entry into Milan, the only absentee being the socialist municipal administration. In his homily, Cardinal Ratti extolled the figure of the Pope, saying that «for him Rome is truly the capital of the world» and hinted at the advantages that Italy would derive «when due account is taken of its being internationally and supranationally sovereign» (Novelli, op. cit. in bibl., p. 192). This provoked a violent reaction in liberal and governmental circles, which distorted the text (cf., e.g., La Tribuna, 9 Sept.). In response, Ratti had the text of his homily published (cf. L'Osservatore Romano, 11 Sept.; Riv. doc. milanese, 24 [1921], pp. 326-34).
The legacy left by Cardinal Ferrari was not an easy one, which is why Cardinal Ratti, before proceeding with any changes or reforms, limited himself during the five months of his governance to exploring the environment, devoting himself to visits and audiences. Among the notable achievements of that brief period were: the important collective letter of the Lombard episcopate, partly drafted by Ratti (16 Nov.), the organization of catechism instruction in the classrooms of the city of Milan, granted by the socialist administration, and the inauguration of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart as a papal legation (8 Dec.). After the funeral and commemoration of Benedict XV (d. 22 Jan. 1922), Cardinal Ratti departed for Rome (24 Jan.), leaving Milan behind forever.
V. THE POPE
On 2 February the Conclave began, which concluded on the 6th after the 14th ballot with the election of Cardinal A. Ratti, who took the name of Pius XI. Immediately afterwards, with a gesture that aroused the enthusiasm of the crowd and was interpreted in various ways—so alive was the “Roman Question”—Pius XI appeared on the outer balcony of St Peter’s, closed since 1870, to give the Urbi et Orbi blessing, a gesture he repeated on 12 February on the occasion of his coronation. Thus began the pontificate of Pius XI, which was rich in events of exceptional significance; suffice it to recall the three jubilees: one ordinary (1925), two extraordinary (1929 for his 50th anniversary of priesthood, 1933 for the 19th centenary of the Redemption); the Missionary Exposition (1925) and that of the international Catholic press (1936, for the 75th anniversary of L’Osservatore Romano); the solution of the “Roman Question” with the Lateran Pacts (1929) and the consequent juridical and physical creation of the State of the Vatican City. He had two Cardinals Secretary of State: Cardinal P. Gasparri until 1 February 1930 and Cardinal E. Pacelli, now Pius XII, from 10 February 1930 onwards, who was sent abroad several times as his legate and who in October–November 1936 made a triumphant journey through the United States.He chose as the motto of his pontificate Pax Christi in regno Christi and set out the cornerstones of his programme in the encyclical Ubi arcano (23 December 1922), which finds its complement in the encyclical Quas primas (11 December 1925) on the kingship of Christ, which necessarily implies “the full freedom and independence of the Church from civil power in the exercise of her divine mission.” Pius XI made it his constant rule to survey the happy and sad events of each year of his pontificate, both in consistorial allocutions and in Christmas messages. Moreover, to counter the general silence of the secular press on the vital problems of the Church, its difficulties and the persecutions to which it was subjected in various nations, he wished to inform public opinion through frequent allusions in the countless speeches he delivered at public audiences. As “common father and head of the entire Christian family” (an expression he often used), he devoted himself morally and materially to alleviating the sufferings of others: suffice it to recall the aid campaign for Russia, 1922–23, at the end of which Pravda of 31 March 1923 called for the death sentence against Pius XI (article translated by P.-M. d’Herbigny, in Orientalia christiana, 3 [1924], pp. 30–32). He never remained silent in the face of violence or “faits accomplis” that were detrimental to human dignity and the supreme interests of the Church, and he spread the word of God abundantly, often several times a day, especially on the occasion of the three jubilees, instructing, comforting, and encouraging all.
It is now fitting to cast a rapid glance at his dynamic activity.
1. Relations with States. — Pius XI continued in his relations with States the methods and direction of his predecessor Benedict XV, whose Secretary of State, Cardinal Gasparri (q.v.), he retained; but, given his resolute and energetic character, he was very much his own man in setting and resolving the various political problems. He intensified diplomatic representation with the various governments and at first attempted a beneficial direct action on the international political conferences, so frequent in that troubled post-war period, so that they might achieve their aims; but after the failure of the Genoa Economic Conference (10 April–12 May 1922: cf. letters to the Archbishop of Genoa and to Cardinal Gasparri, 7, 29 April) he did not repeat the attempt; he was content thereafter to act through nuncios, as at the Lausanne Conference (20 November 1922–24 July 1923) and for the Locarno Pact (October 1925), or to influence public opinion with a document or speech in which he indicated the path to follow, as in the case of the Franco-Belgian occupation of the Ruhr (1923) or the Geneva Disarmament Conference (2 February–23 July 1932). With regard to the treaties concluded with the defeated powers of the 1915–18 war, he advocated their application with justice not divorced from social charity (letter to Cardinal Gasparri, 24 June 1923, on reparations due from Germany). He did not in general place excessive trust in the League of Nations and was opposed to participation in it, though he did not exclude the possibility of giving it his support in particular cases.
He set himself the goal of creating an atmosphere of collaboration between the Church and States, especially those created by the Treaty of Versailles, both to work for peace and to safeguard the rights and interests of the Church. To none did he refuse his hand, and, “after a struggle” (his own words), he always showed himself ready for generous reconciliation, hoping that the commitments undertaken would be kept with loyalty, of which he himself gave constant proof. To achieve his aim he employed various methods, but he especially favoured the concordatory system, deeming it, given the solemnity of a bilateral pact, more capable of providing greater juridical guarantees to the Church, even in the face of the non-Catholic part of the contracting nation (q.V. CONCORDATS). The first concordat signed by Pius XI was that with Latvia (30 May 1922); the last, which did not meet with a favourable outcome because it was not approved by the Senate, was the laborious one with Yugoslavia (1931–38). Among the concordats that caused Pius XI the deepest bitterness was the one concluded with the Reich of Hitler (20 July 1933), which the National Socialist government violated in every way, provoking repeated protests from Pius XI, who finally published the severe encyclical Mit brennender Sorge (14 March 1937) and adopted a stance of uncompromising intransigence on the occasion of the Reich’s diplomatic démarche against the remarks of Cardinal Mundelein on German ecclesiastical policy (24–29 May 1937) and of Hitler’s visit to Rome (3–8 May 1938). Besides the perfidious persecution instituted in the Reich by Hitler, compared to that of Julian the Apostate (cf. address to the congressists of the IV International Congress of Christian Archaeology, 20 October 1938), under the pontificate of Pius XI the Church was subjected to harassment and persecution in Russia (1922 agg.), in Mexico (1923 agg.), and in Republican (1931–33) and Red Spain (1936–39), which he denounced to the world in various encyclical letters (1926, 1932, 1933, 1937) and on countless occasions in speeches. Relations with France were good, especially after the statute granted to diocesan associations (q.v.), though difficulties arose at the time of his stance on German reparations (June 1923), the advent of the Herriot government which sought to suppress the French embassy to the Holy See (January 1925), and the condemnation of Action française (5 September, 29 December 1926). Serious difficulties Pius XI also had with other States such as Czechoslovakia (especially in 1924–25) and the Philippines (1937), which had been influenced by Mexican trends; he also worked intensively to try to halt the process of secularization then underway in