This Day in History

March 14, 1937

:

The Pope Defies Hitler

  

This text comes from our book, Light to the Nations II: The Making of the Modern World. For ordering information on this text and our other books, please click here. 

  

Pope Pius XI

For Adolf Hitler, the Catholic Church was the greatest obstacle to the triumph of National Socialism in Germany. It was for this reason that, even while he was violating the concordat, Hitler was careful not to cast it aside. Hitler did not want to annoy Catholics too much; at the same time, he wanted to pressure them to give up their opposition to him and accept National Socialism as the religion of Germany.

But from 1933 to 1937, Hitler faced steady opposition from bishops, priests, and laymen, both inside and outside of Germany. Standing with them were stout Evangelical Christians who refused to worship Hitler instead of Christ or abandon the Bible for Mein Kampf. One result of the Nazi persecution was that Catholics and Protestants learned to respect one another. Though neither side abandoned its beliefs, both sides forgot the animosity they had for each other. They were joined in a common front against a common "antichrist," Adolf Hitler.

Adolf Hitler in 1936

Catholics fought Hitler's racial theories and anti-Semitism as well as his anti-Christian measures. For instance, in 1933, the Austrian bishops issued a pastoral letter condemning "extreme nationalism" and "rational anti-Semitism based on race." Pope Pius XI himself condemned racism in his Christmas message of 1930, saying no race is superior to another, for all are united "in the heritage of sin." Racism was condemned, too, in the Jesuit journal Civiltà Cattolica (published in the Vatican with the approval of the pope); and beginning in the mid 1930s, the Holy See's newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, began publishing criticisms of the Nazi theory of race, soil, and blood. In 1936, Vatican Radio began exhorting Catholics worldwide to pray for Jews persecuted by the Nazis.

In 1937, Pope Pius XI issued his great condemnation of National Socialism in the encyclical, Mit Brennender Sorge ("With Burning Anxiety"). Written in German instead of the customary Latin, Pius's encyclical had to be smuggled into Germany where it was secretly printed. Throughout the night of March 13 and into the early morning of March 14, 1937, the encyclical was delivered by hand to priests, who read it during Masses on Passion Sunday, March 14, 1937. By evening of the same day, police had confiscated almost every copy of the encyclical in Germany.

The opening page of Mit Brennender  Sorge,
with preface by the Bishop of  Speyer, 1937

Though it never mentioned the Nazis or Hitler by name, Mit Brennender Sorgewas a stern condemnation of National Socialism. The encyclical called on Germany's bishops to preserve faith in God against the government's attempts to restore paganism and turn the state into God. "None but superficial minds could stumble into concepts of a national God or a national religion," said Pius.

Pure faith in God, said Mit Brennender Sorge, cannot long endure without faith in Christ. Any man who would place "a mortal, were he the greatest of all times, by the side of, or over, or against, Christ, he would deserve to be called prophet of nothingness, to whom the terrifying words of Scripture would be applicable: 'He that dwelleth in heaven shall laugh at them' (Psalm 2:4)." Faith in Christ, said the pope, could not long remain pure "without the support of faith in the Church, 'the pillar and ground of the truth' (I Tim. 3:15)." And, finally, said Pius, "faith in the Church cannot stand pure and true without the support of faith in the primacy of the Bishop of Rome." It is the bishops' task, said the pope, to preserve and defend these articles of the Faith.

Throughout the encyclical, Pope Pius attacked Nazi racism. "Whoever exalts race," said the encyclical, "or the people, or the State, or a particular form of State . . . or any other fundamental value of the human community . . . above their standard value and divinizes them to an idolatrous level, distorts and perverts an order of the world planned and created by God." God's commandments are for all men, said Pius; and the Church "is the same for all races and all nations. Beneath her dome, as beneath the vault of heaven, there is but one country for all nations and tongues."

Pius XI, speaking over Vatican Radio

In Mit Brennender Sorge, the pope condemned the Nazi state for violating the right of parents to educate their children. He defended the rights of a believer to "profess his Faith and live according to its dictates." The German government must not violate these rights, either by arresting those who exercise them or depriving them of the privileges given to all other citizens. The pope expressed his "wholehearted paternal sympathy" with German Catholics for their sufferings for Christ and the Church. There is, said the pope, only one just option for those who are faced with a choice between Christ and the world -- and that is heroism. "If the oppressor offers one the Judas bargain of apostasy he can only, at the cost of every worldly sacrifice, answer with Our Lord: 'Be gone, Satan! For it is written: The Lord thy God shalt thou adore, and Him only shalt thou serve.'"

Hitler and the Nazis saw the pope's encyclical for what it was -- a strong blow against National Socialism. For the Nazis, it was a "call to battle against the Church." It is said that Hitler himself was livid when he learned of the encyclical. He swore revenge on Pius and the Catholic Church. Though he hesitated to make open war on the Catholic Church in Germany, he was preparing for the time when he could, once and for all, rid Germany of any religion that dared oppose National Socialism. And chief among these enemy religions, for Hitler, was the Catholic Church.

Footage of Pope Pius XI

Silent footage of crowds acclaiming the election of Pius XI in 1922.

Pius XI at the opening of Vatican Radio in 1931. One can hear the pope's voice.

This Day in History

March 6, 1836

: 

Fall of the Alamo

Last Week's "This Day in History" featured the story of how Texas was annexed to the United States. What made this annexation possible was a revolution, nine years earlier, by Texans (or "Texians," as they were then called) against Mexico. Probably the most famous event of this revolution was the defense of the Alamo in San Antonio and its conquest by Mexican forces commanded by General Antonio López de Santa Anna, the president of Mexico. The following account of the fall of the Alamo comes from our high school textbook (currently available only as an e-book), Lands of Hope and Promise: A History of North America. For ordering information on this text and on our other books, please click here.

Santa Anna

In his latest transformation -- into a conservative dictator --Santa Anna had decided that he had to do something about Texas. Liberalism was triumphant there. The laws were not being observed. Anglo-Americans, like a barbarian horde (that's how the Mexicans saw them), were crossing the border illegally. To remedy the situation, Santa Anna sent an army under General Martín Perfecto de Cos north to enforce obedience to the law. Learning of Santa Anna's plans from Lorenzo de Zavala, who had gone north to warn the Texians of the general's approach, Stephen Austin, now released from imprisonment, called on Texians to take up arms, and Sam Houston was made general of a Texian army. In early October 1835, Cos arrived with 1,200 troops at San Antonio de Bexár; he fortified the city, including the old Franciscan mission church, San Antonio de Valero, known as the Alamo. Throughout October and November, armed Texians and some Tejanos arrived at San Antonio de Béxar and lay siege to the city.

On December 4, Texian colonel Benjamin R. Milam gathered the Texian army and, the next day, assaulted Cos' position in the city. For five days battle raged as the Texians pushed their way into San Antonio. Finally, on December 10, Cos surrendered. The Texians occupied the city and fortified the Alamo.

Illustration of the Alamo, from 1854

Santa Anna had had second thoughts after he sent Cos to Texas; El Benemerito de la Patria decided that he wanted the glory of crushing the Texian revolution for himself. Establishing his headquarters at San Luis Potosí, about 260 miles northwest of Mexico City, Santa Anna impressed Indians and other "recruits" -- men who had known nothing of army service before -- until he had built up a sizable force. The government had no money to finance an army, so Santa Anna took out loans at ruinous interest rates. He manufactured munitions and requisitioned horses and carts. Whipping the men into some semblance of discipline, Santa Anna drove them north across the deserts of Coahuila, toward Texas.

Those who know nothing of deserts may not understand how bitterly cold they can be in winter. Both men and animals in Santa Anna's army suffered terribly from the cold, hunger, and from disease. Still, the ever implacable Hero of Tampico forced them on until, having left behind many dead, the Mexican army stood, half starved, outside the walls of the Alamo.

An illustration, allegedly,
 of William Travis,
 drawn during his lifetime.
Its authenticity is disputed.

Meanwhile, the Texians at the Alamo were quarreling over how to conduct the war and changed their commander almost daily. The garrison, numbering only about 150 men, eventually fell to the command of 27-year-old William Barrett Travis. Born in South Carolina, Travis had spent many years in Alabama, where he had become a lawyer and a Mason. Abandoning his wife, son, and unborn daughter, Travis went to Texas in 1831, where he set up a law practice and joined those who were conspiring for independence from Mexico. Houston had ordered Travis to evacuate the Alamo, but he was determined to remain. He ordered the fortification of the mission to prepare for the assault he knew would come.

James Bowie

Defending the Alamo with Travis were both Texians and Tejanos-- among them the frontiersman David Crockett and James Bowie, famous for his long hunting knife. Bowie had come to Texas in 1830. Before that, both he and his brother, Rezin (pronounced like reason), had engaged in illegal slave smuggling in Louisiana (the pirate, Jean Lafitte, was their supplier) and in land speculation. Shortly after coming to Texas, James Bowie was baptized a Catholic and married into a prominent San Antonio family. Over the next few years he gambled, engaged in land speculation, and earned the ill will of Stephen Austin, who thought him a charlatan. Bowie, though, had distinguished himself as a brave leader in the battle of Béxar against General Cos.

David Crockett

David Crockett was a latecomer to Texas, having arrived at the lag end of 1835. Already a legendary frontiersman, Crockett had fought in the Creek Wars and had served in Congress as a representative from Tennessee, where he distinguished himself as an opponent of Jackson's Indian removal policy. When in 1835 he lost his congressional seat to a Jackson man with a peg-leg, Crockett told friends, "Since you have chosen to elect a man with a timber toe to succeed me, you may all go to hell and I will go to Texas." And to Texas he went, arriving just in time to join Colonel Travis at the Alamo.

On February 23, 1836, Santa Anna with 3,000 ragged troops laid siege to the 150 defenders of the Alamo. For two weeks, Travis refused to surrender. Finally, in the early hours of March 6, Santa Anna ordered the trumpeter to sound the deguello -- the ancient signal used in the Spanish wars against the Moors, signifying "take no prisoners." The assault began. Travis died early on in the battle, with a single bullet through the head. Bowie, whom sickness had confined to bed, had his skull shattered by six bullets. Almost all the defenders died within a few hours, and Santa Anna commanded that those who had been captured must be shot. It is uncertain what happened to David Crockett. One account by an eyewitness, the Mexican officer Jose Enrique de la Peña, says that Crockett was among the captured. De la Peña continues that, after his plea for his life was refused, Crockett was bayoneted and then shot. He died bravely, without complaint.

An Old Song of Anglo-America

"Barbry Allen," as sung by Jean Ritchie. This song was likely familiar to the Anglo settlers of Texas. 

Jean Ritchie--"Barbry Allen"

This Day in History

February 28, 1845:

Texas Annexation Controversy

This text comes from our textbook, Lands of Hope and Promise: A History of North America. For ordering information on this text and our other books, please click here.

John C. Calhoun

In May 1836, John C. Calhoun said: "there [are] powerful reasons why Texas should be part of this Union." The southern states, he said, "owning a slave population, were deeply interested in preventing that country from having the power to annoy them." With other southerners, Calhoun feared an independent Texas could not maintain the institution of slavery by itself; and if, as it was feared, Great Britain should annex Texas, slavery would end there. No fugitive slave agreement, as the South had with the North, would exist with an independent Texas; and if slavery were abolished in Texas, slaves in the states could easily escape there. Some southerners, too, thought admitting Texas would provide, as one Senator McDuffie said before his colleagues on May 23, 1844, "a safety valve to let off the superabundant slave population from among us." Texas annexation, McDuffie continued, would "at the same time improve their [the slaves'] condition; they will be more happy, and we shall be more secure. But if you pen them up within our present limits, what becomes of the free negroes, and what will be their condition?"

Southerners had another reason to favor Texas' annexation. As in 1820, Calhoun and other southerners feared the political dominance of the North. To date, there were 13 slave and 13 free states; but with Florida remaining the only potential slave state, and with Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota, all free territories, waiting in the wings for statehood, Southerners feared to lose their power in the Senate as they already had in the House. Texas, they thought, could be divided into several slave states and so provide their section the representation it needed to maintain its power in the national councils.

Map of the United States 1842-1845, showing the Republic of Texas in gray. The red area shows the region disputed by Texas and Mexico. The pink region indicates the states of the union, while the mustard-colored area indicates U.S. territories.

The growing number of antislavery "abolitionists" in the North, of course, disagreed. They wanted to keep Texas out of the union. Indeed, many thought the whole Texas revolution had been a plot by slaveholders for the extension of slave territory. In November 1837, the Vermont legislature protested the admission of any states that allowed domestic slavery. President Martin Van Buren, however, had a different reason for opposing the annexation of Texas; he was engaged in delicate negotiations with Mexico at the time, and Mexico was very sensitive about the issue.. The annexation issue was brought before Congress in 1838 and was defeated after a three-week anti-annexation speech by Senator John Quincy Adams.

Sam Houston, president of the Republic of Texas, was eager for annexation by the United States; but if he could not get it, he would settle for protection and aid from either France or Great Britain. Texas' finances were worse off than Mexico's. Moreover, the financial panic of 1837 that hit the states had brought more debt-ridden small planters into Texas, increasing its Anglo-American population to 50,000.

A Currier & Ives lithograph depicting
President William Henry Harrison

The financial panic, which began in 1837 and lasted to 1841, had important political effects. Because he was president when the panic hit, Martin Van Buren, was blamed for it. His opponent in the election of 1840, nominated by the Whig party (a coalition of conservative Republicans and remnants of the Federalist Party), was William Henry Harrison, the hero of Tippecanoe. Harrison and his vice-presidential candidate, John Tyler, an old-fashioned Virginia Republican, ran on no platform; instead, the Whigs paraded "Old Tippecanoe's" military record. "Tippecanoe and Tyler, too!" they cried. When a Democratic journalist sneered that "Old Tip" would prefer to retire to his log cabin if only he had $2,000 and a barrel of hard cider, the Whigs took up the sneer and ran a campaign centered on log cabins and hard cider. They attacked Van Buren for his "aristocratic" New York ways:

  Let Van from his coolers of silver drink wine,

           And lounge on his cushioned settee; 

      Our man on his buckeye bench can recline,

           Content with hard cider is he.

      Then a shout from each freeman -- a shout from each State,

           To the plain honest husbandman true,

      And this be our motto - the motto of Fate --

           "Hurrah for Old Tippecanoe!"

But, despite the democratic appeal of the campaign, Harrison won the popular vote by only a small margin (though he captured 174 more electoral votes than Van Buren). But President Tip had not long for this world. Refusing to wear coat or hat at his inauguration (it was a bitterly cold day), the 70-year-old Harrison caught pneumonia and died a month after taking office. John Tyler then became president and proved himself more of a Democrat than a Whig. It was not long before he was repudiated by his old party and allied himself with the states' rights Democrats.

Tyler joined John C. Calhoun and other Democrats and pressed for the annexation of Texas. A lame-duck president (he was nominated by neither the Whigs nor the Democrats in 1844), Tyler wanted Texas admitted to the Union before the end of his term. He resorted to a constitutionally questionable move -- Congress approved the annexation, not by passing a bill of annexation but through a joint resolution. On February 28, 1845, just a few days before he left office, Tyler informed Sam Houston that Congress had approved Texas' admission into the union.

This Day in History

February 20, 1810:

Execution of Andreas Hofer

 

This text comes from our textbook, Light to the Nations II: The Making of the Modern World. For ordering information on this text and our other books, please click here.

Not all of Emperor Franz's subjects gave up their resistance to Napoleon after the Treaty of Vienna. In the Alpine valleys of western Austria, called the Tyrol, there lived a stout, freedom-loving peasantry who were loyal to the House of Habsburg and deeply devoted to their Catholic Faith. They would tolerate no one who would dare raise a hand against God or their emperor.

The Tyrol is in the western extension of Austria

 So it was very bitter for the Tyrolese when, in 1805, the Treaty of Pressburg forced them to submit to Napoleon's ally, Bavaria. Yet, at first, all seemed to go well enough. Bavaria's King Maximilien Josef had promised that life in the Tyrol would go on as it had before, and for a while it seemed he would keep his word.

Franz II (Holy Roman emperor, 1805)

But Napoleon was pressuring Maximilien Josef; and in the end, the king broke his word. He laid new taxes on the Tyrolese, divided their country into French-style departments, and began drafting their men to serve in the Bavarian army. Worst of all, influenced by his "enlightened" advisers, the Bavarian king tried to crush Catholic worship and practice in the Tyrol. Churches were pillaged of their adornments and sacred vessels; and when priests resisted this tyranny, the Bavarian authorities imprisoned them. The bishop of Innsbruck, the chief city of the Tyrol, was himself exiled for protesting against the government's acts.

When Austria again was planning war against Napoleon in late 1808, the Emperor Franz's son, the Archduke Johann, began corresponding with Tyrolese leaders. In January 1809, three of these leaders went secretly to Vienna, where they met with the archduke. One of these Tyrolese leaders was Andreas Hofer, nicknamed the Sandwirth because he kept an inn (called a Wirtshaus in German) at Sand in the Passeyr Valley. Dressed in the Tyrolese costume (a colorful short coat, knee breeches with a richly embroidered belt, and a broad-brimmed hat), Hofer was imposing with his long, black beard. A horse trader as well as an innkeeper, Hofer had traveled a good deal around the Tyrol. He knew his country well and thus was the natural leader for the rebellion he, his companions, and the archduke now were planning.

Andreas Hofer

On April 9, 1809, Andreas Hofer called on his people to rise against the Bavarians. From all over Tyrol, tens of thousands of peasant men, and even women, answered his call. Other peasant leaders joined the uprising, including Martin Teimer, a tobacconist; Josef Spechbacher, a former poacher; and a Capuchin priest named Joachim Haspinger, who led men into battle holding a large ebony crucifix instead of a sword. Archduke Johann brought an Austrian force into the Tyrol to support the rebels.

Though they were not trained soldiers, the peasants were victorious in battle after battle against the combined French and Bavarian forces. But in May, a French and Bavarian army entered the Tyrol and began pushing the peasants back, burning villages, and massacring men, women, and children. Such violence only encouraged Hofer to further resistance. After the Austrian victory over Napoleon at Aspern, Hofer gathered a force, 80,000 strong, and moved against Innsbruck, where in a struggle on the Isel Berg (a hill overlooking the city), he defeated the French General Lefebvre. On May 30, the Tyrolese entered Innsbruck, where they filed into churches to give thanks to God for their triumph.

Joachim Haspinger

To reward his faithful subjects, Emperor Franz I pledged never again to abandon the Tyrol. But after the Battle of Wagram in July 1809, Franz signed an armistice with Napoleon that did not mention the Tyrolese.

When Archduke Johann bade the peasants lay down their arms, Hofer refused. When the French and Bavarians again entered the Tyrol, burning and pillaging as before, the Sandwirth called for further resistance. "It is now not a question of saving our fortunes," he declared, "no! It is our holy religion that is threatened with open peril . . . For God, for the Kaiser Franz, conquer or die!"

Gathering another huge force, Hofer moved on Innsbruck, driving the French from the city on August 14. The next day, the Feast of the Assumption, the Tyrolese entered the city, where Hofer established himself as governor. Again Emperor Franz pledged his support to the Tyrolese, sending a gold medal to Hofer to recognize his leadership of the Tyrol.

But with the signing of the Peace of Vienna in October 1809, Franz again abandoned the Tyrol to Napoleon. Much stronger forces of Bavarians and French now entered the mountain valleys and drove the peasant army from Innsbruck. Hofer thought of surrender; but urged -- and even threatened -- by his own people, he continued the fight.

Tyrolese insurgents

Still, all was lost. By December 1809, most of the Tyrolese chieftains had accepted amnesty from the French, Father Haspinger fled to Switzerland, and Josef Spechbacher escaped into the mountains. Hofer, now a wanted man, found refuge in a hut on a snow-covered mountainside near his home in the Passeyr Valley. He remained in hiding until mid January 1810 when, betrayed by one of his own people, he was captured and taken a prisoner to Mantua in Italy.

In Mantua, a court-martial tried Hofer; but admiring his courage and devotion to God and country, the judges could not agree on a sentence. After sending a message to Napoleon to ask his will in the matter, they received this reply: Hofer must immediately be shot. The Sandwirth was, however, given one last chance. If he decided to fight for the French, said his captors, he could go free. But Hofer would not play the traitor. "I remain faithful to the house of Austria and the good Kaiser Franz," he said.

Farewell, vain world; dying appears to me so

easy that my eyes do not become wet.

These words Hofer wrote on February 20, 1810, the day of his execution. When led before the firing squad, the Sandwirth refused a blindfold. After being commanded to kneel, he said he would not. "I shall stand before my Creator, and standing I will render up my spirit to him, who gave it," he said. He then let out a loud cry, "Long live Kaiser Franz!" and covered his eyes to pray.

 After a few minutes Hofer dropped his hands and gave the command, "Take good aim -- Fire!" Six shots rang out, and Hofer fell to his knees. "Ach!" he exclaimed, "How badly you aim!" A corporal then took out his pistol and, placing the barrel against Hofer's head, fired. In this way, Andreas Hofer at last found peace.

Contemporary painting of Hofer's execution

It's Some 300 Years Too Early, but...

We couldn't find a decent performance of the song, Zu Mantua in Banden, which honors Andreas Hofer and is currently the anthem of the Austrian state of Tirol. (Those interested may find the music for this piece here and the German text with a rough translation here.) Instead, we offer a performance of Innsbruck Ich Muss Dich Lassen, by Heinrich Isaac (1450-1517) Scroll down and click "Show More" for the German text and translation.

This Day in History

February 15, 1775

:

Election of a Pleasure-loving Pope

This text comes from our textbook, Light to the Nations II: The Making of the Modern World. For ordering information on this text and our other books, please click here.

Pope Pius VI in 1775. Portrait by 

Giovanni Domenico Porta

The conclave that met to elect Pope Clement XIV's successor in 1774 stretched on for four months. Once again, Spain, France, and Portugal pressured the cardinals to elect a pope who would not give the kings much trouble. Among the cardinals the monarchs opposed (because he was friendly toward the Jesuits) was Cardinal Giovanni Angelico Braschi. But Braschi was able to gain the support of the anti-Jesuits in the conclave by tacitly agreeing not to reinstate the Jesuits. And he received the support of those who favored the Jesuits because they thought him a friend of the Jesuits. Thus on February 15, 1775, Braschi was elected pope and took the name of Pius VI.

Pope Pius VI was something of a throwback to the Renaissance. Unlike the last pope named Pius (St. Pius V), Pius VI was not an ascetic. He loved pompous ceremonies and elaborate processions. Because he was a strikingly handsome man, women would cry out Come sei bello! ("How handsome you are!") as he and his entourage passed through the streets of Rome. A patron of the arts, Pius VI purchased beautiful paintings and sculpture for his collection in the Vatican. He carried out civic works in Rome -- draining marshes and restoring the ancient Roman road, the Via Appia, for use as a thoroughfare. None of this displeased the people of Rome; as lovers of pageantry, they welcomed a pope who could put on a good show.

Romualdo Braschi Onesti,
 Pius VI's cardinal-nephew

Unfortunately, other characteristics of the Renaissance could be found in Rome during Pius VI's reign. The clergy surrounding the pope were more interested in gaining new offices for themselves and their favorites than they were in serving the Church. The pope himself practiced nepotism, seeking places for his relatives in the Church's government. Though in many ways he was a good man, Pius VI did not have the spiritual character to lead the Church through the dark times that she was passing into.

Still, this pope did not entirely neglect his duties as the shepherd and teacher of the Church. He permitted the Jesuits in Silesia and Russia to continue their work and even admit new members. It was Pius VI who traveled to Vienna to urge Emperor Josef II not to carry out his reforms of the Church; and in 1783, Pius threatened to excommunicate the emperor when he appointed a bishop to the archdiocese of Milan without the pope's permission. But, fearing that Josef might take the Church in his lands into schism, Pius in the end granted him the right to nominate bishops in the Habsburg domains of Milan and Mantua.

In 1786, Pius VI came into conflict with another member of the Habsburg family: the emperor's brother, Leopold II, the duke of Tuscany in Italy. An "enlightened" despot like his brother, Leopold wanted to establish a church that would be independent of Rome and subject only to himself. To aid him in his program of "reform," Leopold had the help of Scipio Ricci, the bishop of Pistoia and Prato, who was also a zealous Jansenist and Gallican.

Coat of arms of Pope Pius VI, on the 

ceiling of the Basilica of St. John 

Lateran in Rome

Faced with Josef II's Church reform in Austria and another reform by King Fernando IV of Naples, Pope Pius VI was powerless to stop Leopold in Tuscany. But after Leopold became Holy Roman emperor in 1790, the people of Tuscany rose up against Bishop Ricci; and the new Habsburg duke, Ferdinand III, deposed him. In 1794, after the fall of Ricci, Pius condemned the reforms Bishop Ricci had attempted to make in Tuscany.

By 1794, however, Pius VI was engaged in another struggle, this time not against "enlightened" despots, but against a revolution that, like a great and destructive flood, threatened to sweep away the Church and all Christendom. This would be the pope's main fight for the remainder of his reign. It would give the pleasure-loving pontiff the opportunity to imitate the sufferings of the first of the popes. Pius VI was about to relive in his own flesh the prophecy Christ made to St. Peter: "When you are old, you will stretch out your hands,and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish to go" (John 21:18).

Music from Late 18th Century Italy

Music by Giovanni Battista Viotti (1755-1824), himself a virtuoso violinist.

Viotti, Meditazione in Preghiera Guido Rimonda,

Orchestra Camerata Ducale