Week 3 Reading Notes
Marraro, Howard R. "The Religious Problem of the Italian Risorgimento as Seen by Americans." Church
History 25, no. 1 (1956): 41-62.
Author's Credentials:
Howard Marraro earned his PhD in history at Columbia University where he taught until 1965. He
authored more than a dozen books on the history, literature, and culture of Italy.
Research Questions:
In what ways did the battle for liberty in Italy and the actions of Pope Pious IX affect anti-Catholic
sentiment and rhetoric in the United States? How did the pope’s insistence on temporal authority shape
the opinions of Americans regarding Italian liberty and unification?
Methodology:
This article is primarily religious in focus, although it does engage with the social and political
implications regarding the role of the Catholic Church and the actions of Pope Pious IX during the years
leading to Italian unification with an international focus.
Key Conclusions:
One of the primary themes in this article is just how important holding on to temporal authority was to
the leadership of the Catholic Church in a time of republican reform in Italy. It brings into focus the
problems inherent in separating church and state in a place where the Catholic Church had been
dominant for more than 1000 years. In America, Catholics were torn between their loyalty to their
nation and their dedication to the leader of their faith. Powerful arguments were made regarding the
various perspectives on the temporal role of the pope and the Church, but it was American Anti-Catholic
bias that shaped American opinion regarding the religious problems of the Risorgimento. At first, when
it seemed that Pope Pious IX was set on reform, he found widespread American support, but as shifted
his position and became more insistent that the nation of Italy could not survive without a united church
and state, the opinions divided, creating a rift in the American political system along religious lines and
bringing to US government to cut ties with the Vatican.
Evidence:
Letters to and from Horace Greeley
Various sermons and messages from Catholic bishops and Protestant ministers
Stories and editorials from the New York Herald, the Freeman’s Journal, the Daily Times
Official government dispatches from American State Department attaches in Italy and Northern
Africa
Historiography:
By looking at the Italian problem of religion and the Risorgimento from the American perspective, the
article provides some key context to the period regarding how religion and international relations were
intertwined. For historians of American history, it also opens up questions about mid-nineteenth
century anti-Catholic and xenophobic rhetoric in the political realm. Portions of the article give some
insight into what it meant to be Catholic in America during the period and again prompts other
questions to be answered regarding ideas regarding liberty and religion. Two more recent articles take a
further look into this topic, including Timothy Verhoeven’s 2014 article “Transatlantic Connections:
American Anti-Catholicsm and the First Vatican Council (1869-70)” and Stephen Conn’s 2016 article
“’Political Romanism’: Re-Evaluating American Anti-Catholicism in the Age of Italian Revolution.”1
Moore, Diana. "Romances of no-Popery: Transnational Anti-Catholicism in Giuseppe Garibaldi's the Rule
of the Monk and Benjamin Disraeli's Lothair." The Catholic Historical Review 106, no. 3 (Summer,
2020): 399-420.
Author's Credentials:
Diana Moore earned her PhD in Modern European History from CUNY in 2018. She has taught for
several institutions including John Jay College of Criminal Justice, York College, NYU School of
Professional Studies, and Manhattan College. She focuses on the intersections of religion, nationalism,
and feminism in the 19th century.
Research Questions:
What were the connections between anti-Catholic literature and anti-Catholic politics in Victorian
Britain? How did anti-Catholic sentiment in Britain motivate British support for the Risorgimento? In
what ways did transnational actors from various political backgrounds both shape and use anti-Catholic
sentiment in Britain?
Methodology:
“Through an analysis of Disraeli’s Lothair and Garibaldi’s The Rule of the Monk, this article brings
together…historical and literary fields of study and contributes to the growing scholarship on the
transnational nature of nineteenth century anti-Catholicism.” (403)
Key Conclusions:
Established anti-Catholic sentiment shaped British support for the Risorgimento, but at the same time
the events in Italy and the Vatican’s response to it further reinforced Victorian anti-Catholicism. Italian
revolutionaries themselves were active participants in the strengthening anti-Catholic sentiment by
writing public appeals that shaped opinion about “the despotism of the Papal government and the
inherent opposition between Catholicism and the modern ideals of freedom and progress.” (400) Both
Disraeli and Garibaldi used Gothic tropes regarding Catholic perversions and applied them to the
contemporary period. In direct and indirect ways, both novels indicated the danger that Catholicsm
posed to political liberty, though the two authors disagreed as to whether the radicals in Italy held the
appropriate solutions.
1 Timothy Verhoeven, “Transatlantic Connections: American Anti-Catholicsm and the First Vatican Council
(1869-70),” The Catholic Historical Review, 100, no. 4 (Autumn 2014): 695-720; Stephen Conn, “’Political
Romanism’: Re-Evaluating American Anti-Catholicism in the Age of Italian Revolution,” Journal of the Early
Republic, 36, No. 3 (Fall 2016): 521-548.
Evidence:
Benjamin Disraeli’s Lothair
Guiseppe Garibaldi’s The Rule of the Monk
Dozens of secondary sources covering Victorian literature and anti-Catholicism
Liverpool Mercury
The Belfast News-Letter
The Royal Cornwall Gazette
Freeman’s Journal and Daily Commercial Advertiser
The Hull Packet and East Riding Times
The Pall Mall Gazette
The Sheffield & Rotherham Independent
Historiography:
Moore claims that the “transnationalism of nineteenth-century anti-Catholicism has only recently
received focused scholarly attention.” (400) Perhaps that is true in a European context, but the work of
Howard Murraro from the 1930s to the 1950s clearly examines the issue as regards America. Most of
the scholarly works Moore surveyed failed to include the work of Italians in their study. “The lack of
inclusion of Italian authors is unfortunate, as Italians were certainly participating in the creation and
propagation of shared transnational anti-Catholic tropes.” (402)
Raponi, Danilo. Religion and Politics in the Risorgimento: Britain and the New Italy, 1861-1875.
Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014.
Author's Credentials:
Danilo Raponi has taught at the University of Zurich and at the University of Cambridge. He is the Marie
Curie and Gerda Henkel Postdoctoral Fellow in Modern History at the University of Frankfort, Germany.
Research Questions:
How important was religion and religious thought on British views of Italy in the Risorgimento? To what
extent did Orientalism shape British attitudes toward Italy?
Methodology:
This work focuses on the religious aspects of political and cultural relations between Britain and Italy.
Key Conclusions:
Protestant religious ideas drew British people together across denominations in their opinions and
responses to Italy and the process of Italian unification. Raponi argues that the “profoundly religious
dimension of life in Victorian Britain” was central to decisions made regarding domestic and foreign
policy. The goal of many in Britain, including missionary societies and private individuals, was to
“Protestantize” Italy based on their belief that a complete religious and cultural break from the Catholic
Church was necessary for their nationhood.
Evidence:
Archivio Centrale dello Stato, Rome
Archivio Storico del Ministero delgi Affari Esteri, Rome
Archivum Secretum Vaticunum, Vatican City
British Library, London
Bodleian Library, Oxford
British Parliamentary Papers
Documenti Diplomatici Italiani
Archives of the Pontifical Irish College, Rome
Reports of the British and Foreign Bible Society, University Library, Cambridge
Historiography:
By filtering his study through the lens of Edward Said’s Orientalism, Raponi expands on the
historiography that includes works by Lucy Riall, Maura O’Conner, Maurizio Isabella, Nick Carter, and
Marcella Pelligrino Sutcliffe. All of these authors look at how the people of the British Isles influenced
developments in Italy between 1830 and 1870 and how Italians used their experiences with British
politics and culture to plan and form a united Italy. The key focus is on the British and Foreign Bible
Society and their attempts to convert Italy to Protestantism.
Riall, Lucy. Sicily and the Unification of Italy: Liberal Policy and Local Power, 1859-1866. Oxford:
Clarendon Press, 2002.
Author's Credentials:
Lucy Riall earned her PhD in History from Cambridge University in 1988. She is currently the Professor of
Comparative History of Europe (19th and 20th Centuries) at European University Institute, Florence, Italy.
Research Questions:
Why did political reform in Sicily fail? Why was Sicily seemingly so ungovernable?
Methodology:
This is a political history, focused on the effects of change and attempts at centralized control.
Key Conclusions:
To understand why political reforms that succeeded in Piedmont failed in Sicily, it is necessary to
understand the problems that existed there before unification. The attempts by the Bourbons to
modernize Sicily were foreign to the people of Sicily and the abolition of feudalism created a new class
of people who were determined to improve their social position. The reliance on agriculture meant
more competition for land which led to conflict and violence. Local elites began to see their positions in
the newly established bureaucracy as a means to more power. The reforms had the most serious effect
on the peasants, who responded to the lack of resources with violence and revolt which continued until
1860. When Garibaldi arrived in Sicily, the peasants had expectations regarding land reform and the
elites expected him to help them retain their property and power. With the old order gone, crime
increased, and the revolution only brought more chaos. Government under Piedmont was even less
successful in bringing order, as the people of Sicily chafed under the policies and policing of the new
centralized bureaucracy. The “Southern problem” was one of a cycle of actions and reactions that did
little to address the underlying issues that had been created by the Bourbons.
Evidence:
Archivo Centrale dello Stato, Rome
Carte Crispi (Archivio di Stato di Palermo)
Carte Depretis
Carte Ricasoli-Bianchi
Gabinetto Ministero Interno, atti diversi (1849–95).
Ministero di Grazia e Giustizia, direzione generale affari penali, miscellanea.
Tribunali Militari di Guerra di Palermo, Messina, Catania, e Catanzaro (1862).
Tribunali Militari di Guerra di Palermo (1860–6).
Archivio dello Stato, Agrigento
Carte di Pubblica Sicurezza (1862–1932).
Archivio dello Stato, Palermo
Ministero e Real Segretaria di Stato per gli Affari di Sicilia, polizia.
Ministero e Real Segretaria di Stato presso il Luogotenente Generale, interno.
Ministero e Real Segretaria di Stato presso il Luogotenente Generale, polizia.
Miscellanea.
Prefettura di Palermo, serie gabinetto (1860–1905).
Prefettura di Palermo, archivio generale (1860–7).
Prefettura di Palermo, ufficio provinciale di pubblica sicurezza (1862–79).
Questura di Palermo, 1 divisione, gabinetto (1860–80).
Sentenza del Tribunale Militare di Guerra di Palermo (1866), n. 2901.
Archivio Mordini, Barga
Biblioteca Communale di Palermo
Biblioteca Nazionale di Florence
Carte Peruzzi.
Istituto per la Storia del Risorgimento, Milan
Istituto per la Storia del Risorgimento, Rome
Museo Storico dell'Arma dei Carabinieri, Archivio Storico, Rome
Public Record Office, London
Foreign Office Papers
Mutiple other primary and secondary sources
Historiography:
Riall disagrees with many historians who see Sicily as a place with a particular culture, more medieval
than modern, that makes them different than other areas of the world. Riall instead insists that Sicily
was modernizing and becoming more organized.
Primary Sources:
Citation: Brandes, Karl. Rome and the Popes. Translated by Rev. W.J.Wiseman. New York: Benziger
Brothers, 1868.
Key Conclusions:
Dr. Brandes argued that the union between Rome and Roman Catholic Church was unbreakable. He
used both history and philosophy to argue that there might be points in history where the pope did not
reign over Rome and the Church, but that the throne of Peter was both a spiritual and temporal one
that centered on the Eternal City.
Purpose/Significance:
This work was published as most of the Western world debated over the necessity and right of the
Catholic Church to hold temporal power in Italy. Dr. Brandes was a devout Catholic who could scarcely
fathom any Italy without the pope holding some amount of political control. Its arguments help inform
the modern historian regarding the basis on which academics built their insistence on the unification of
church and state.
Citation: Guiseppe Garabaldi, The Rule of the Monk
Key Conclusion: The novel uses common Gothic and Victorian tropes regarding the Catholic Church in
telling the tale of a heroine who is targeted by a Cardinal for his attentions. She is rescued by an admirer
who kills the Cardinal and then, with his loyal henchmen, plan and attempt various uprisings against
Papal rule. The backstories of the characters delve deeper into the despotic character of other clerics
within the Church.
Purpose/Significance: Garibaldi penned three novels in his lifetime. All three related to various aspects
of his career. This work corresponds to his failed attempt to take Rome in 1867. Its content is
representative of the kind of anti-Catholic propaganda that was produced to engender support for the
Risorgimento.
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