Gregory XVI

GREGORY XVI (February 2, 1831 — June 1, 1846 This shameful font of indifferentism gives rise to that absurd and erroneous proposition which claims that liberty of conscience must be maintained for everyone. It spreads ruin in sacred and civil affairs, though some repeat over and over again with the greatest impudence that some advantage accrues to religion from it. "But the death of the soul is worse than freedom of error," as Augustine was wont to say. When all restraints are removed by which men are kept on the narrow path of truth, their nature, which is already inclined to evil, propels them to ruin. Then truly "the bottomless pit" is open from which John saw smoke ascending which obscured the sun, and out of which locusts flew forth to devastate the earth. Thence comes transformation of minds, corruption of youths, contempt of sacred things and holy laws -- in other words, a pestilence more deadly to the state than any other. Experience shows, even from earliest times, that cities renowned for wealth, dominion, and glory perished as a result of this single evil, namely immoderate freedom of opinion, license of free speech, and desire for novelty. Encyclical Mirari Vos (1832), 14 AG S • SEDIS • LATERAN • POSSESS • PRID • KAL • IVN • MDCCCXXXII Angels bearing the Papal Tiara and Keys of St. Peter, the Holy Spirit above. "Possession of the Holy Lateran Seat, May 31, 1832" Possessio medal, 1832. Æ 39 mm Obv.: GREGORIVS • XVI. PONT • MAX • AN • II GIVS • CERBARA • F Bust of pope, l., w. tiara ( triregnum ) and cope. Rev.: (in exergue:) NON • PREVALEBVNT • | ADVERSVS • EAM Armed figure of Roma, with Tiber River at left, banishing a figure at right (heresy? anti-authoritarian revolutionaries?); walls and gate of Rome behind at left, St. Peter's Basilica behind at right. GIVS • CERBARA • F Mazio, 614 Spink 2165-2167. Bartolotti E832 Engraver: Giuseppe Cerbara AG 39 mm Obv.: GREGORIVS • XVI. PONT • MAX • AN • III G • GIROMETTI • F Bust of pope, r., w. tiara ( triregnum ) and cope. Rev.: PACIS ET | RELIGIONIS | AMOR Allegorical figures: Peace and the Love of Religion. MDCCCXXXIII Mazio, Spink 2172. 614 Æ 39 mm Obv.: GREGORIVS • XVI. PONT • MAX • AN • IV GIVS • CERBARA • F Bust of pope, l., w. zucchetto, mozzetta and stole. Rev.: (in exergue:) CATILLO • MONTE • AD • ANIENEM • • The River Anio breaking through new tunnels through Monte Catillo, ending regular floods in the neighborhood of Tivoli. Pope Gregory was present at the opening of the Cunicoli Gregoriani on October 7, 1835. The Villa Gregoriana has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site. Bartolotti Mazio, Spink 2177. E Engraver: Giuseppe Cerbara The ancient Roman politician, C. Plinius Secundus, records one of the terrible floods, that of A. D. 105 (Epistulae 8. 17): "Can the weather be as bad and stormy where you are? Here we have nothing but gales and repeated floods. The Tiber has overflowed its bed and deeply flooded its lower 834. 619 banks .... The Anio, most delightful of rivers...has torn up and carried away most of the woods which shade its course. Where the banks rise high, they have been undermined, so that its channel is blocked in several places with the resultant landslides; and in its efforts to regain its lost course it has wrecked buildings and forced out its way over the debris... Many people have been maimed, crushed, and buried in such accidents... " Æ 36 mm Obv.: GREGORIVS • XVI. PONT • MAX • A • VI G • CERBARAI • Bust of pope, r., w. zucchetto, mozzetta and stole. Rev.: 12 • GIUGNO | 1836 Date in field, surrounded by wreath of oak and olive. Engraver: Giuseppe Mazio-Jencius, Spink Bartolotti E837. Cerbara Reverse is very similar to the design of the scudo or some of the baiocci. (1770-1856) 626 —. Æ 39 mm Obv.: GREGORIVS • XVI. PONT • MAX • A • VII G • GIROMETTI • F Bust of pope, r., w. zucchetto and cope. Rev.: MVSEVM • EX • MON M DCCCXXXVII • GREGORIANVM • ETRVSCIS • • The Tiber River, seated, reclining on a torus, with cornucopia; Calpitoline wolf and Romulus and Remus at left. A monument behind at left. Engraver: Giuseppe Mazio, Spink Bartolotti E837. Æ Girometti (1779-1851) 629 2181. 44 mm Obv.: GREGORIVS • XVI. PONT • MAX CERBARA • IOS • F Bust of pope, r., w. zucchetto, mozzetta and stole. • A •VIII Rev.: (in exergue:) PORTICV • ERVTIS | SOLO • VEIENTE • COLVMNIS | EXTRVCTA Façade of columns (removed from the ruins of ancient Veii) for the Post Office Headquarters. Engraver: Mazio, Spink 2189. Giuseppe 635. Cerbara Bartolotti, See: Giuseppe Moroni, Dizionario di erudizione storicoecclesiastica 32 (Venezia 1847) 319; and Antonio Nibby, Roma nell' anno MDCCCXXXVIII Volume 2 (Roma 1841) p. 841 (who quotes the dedicatory inscription). Once the offices of the Reverenda Camera Apostolica (Treasury), the Post Office is now the Palazzo Wedekind, on the western side of the Piazza Colonna. The palazzo was refurbished and its façade ornamented by Pietro Camporese. (1770-1856) E838. Æ 39 mm Obv.: GREGORIVS • XVI. PONT • MAX • A • IX G • GIROMETTI • F Bust of pope, l., w. zucchetto, mozzetta and stole. Rev.: MIRABILIS • DEVS • | IN • SANCTIS • SVIS • (in exergue:) VII • KAL • IVN • | M • DCCC • XXXVIIII • Five saints, the Holy Spirit hovering above. Engraver: Mazio, Spink 2192. Giuseppe Girometti On May 26, 1839, Pope Gregory raised to the rank of sainthood Alfonso de Liguori, Francesco di Girolamo, Giovanni Giuseppe della Croce, Pacifico di Sanseverino, and Veronica Giuliani. Moroni, Dizionario Volume 32 (Venezia 1845), 321. (1779-1851) 636 Æ 39 mm Obv.: GREGORIVS • XVI • P • M | ANNO • SACRI • PRINC • X G • GIROMETTI • F Bust of pope, l., w. zucchetto and cope. Rev.: (in exergue:) VBI • INDECORA • LOCO | LIGNA • CONGESTA • PROSTABANT | AEDIBVS • A SOLO EXTRVCTIS | AVCTA • VRBIS • COMMODA • ET | ORNAMENTA Large public building (Palazzo Camerale), with two wings, along the Via Ripetta, Rome. Engraver: Mazio, Spink 2199. Æ Giuseppe Girometti 65 (1779-1851) 642 mm Obv.: GREGORIVS • XVI | PONT • MAX • ANNO • XI G • GIROMETTI • F Bust of pope, r., w. zucchetto and cope. Rev.: BENEFICENTIA | PVBLICA (in exergue:) AVCTA • FIRMATA | M DCCC XLI Allegorical figure of Public Generosity, a smaller figure at left with agricultural implements, a smaller figure at right with scrolls, an infant below in front. Engraver: Mazio, Spink 2201. Giuseppe Æ Girometti 39 (1779-1851) 644 mm Obv.: GREGORIVS • XVI • PONT • MAX • AN •XII GIVS • CERBARA • F Bust of pope, r., w. zucchetto, mozzetta and stole. Rev.: ARCE ANCONITANA RESTITVTA | NOVIS OPERIBVS MVNITA | AN • M • DCCC • XXXXII • (Giuseppe Cerbara's cipher) The citadel of the fortress of Ancona, restored and extended by Pope Gregory XVI in 1842. Mazio, Spink -. Engraver: Giuseppe Cerbara 646 Æ 44 mm Obv.: GREGORIVS • XVI. PONT • MAX • A • XIII G • GIROMETTI • F Bust of pope, r., w. zucchetto and cope. Rev.: PORTV• TARRACINAE SALVTARI • CIVIBVS • OPPORTVNO NAVIGANTIBVS • APERTO AN • MDCCCXXXXIII | | | The harbor at Terracina. Bartolotti Mazio, Spink 2208. In 1839 and again in 1843, Pope Gregory XVI paid visits to Terracina, during the second of which he dedicated the new harbor installations which he had ordered built. G. E843. 650 Moroni, Dizionario di erudizione storicoecclesiastica Volume 32 (Venezia 1845), 321 and 324. Æ 39 mm Obv.: GREGORIVS • XVI. PONT • MAX • AN • XIV G • CERBARA • F Bust of pope, r., w. zucchetto, mozzetta and stole. Rev.: VALETVDINARIO • INCVRABILIVM | AD S • IACOBI IN AVGVSTA | RESTITVTO • AMPLIATO | AN • M • DCCC • XXXXIV • The buildings of the Hospital for Incurables, next to the Church of S. Giacomo on the Via del Corso, restored and extended. Bartolotti Mazio, Spink -. Saint Giacomo on the Corso E844. 651 The church and hospital were founded in 1338 by Cardinal Jacopo Colonna, on a site where there had been a church of S. Maria. The church of S. Giacomo was rebuilt in 1600 by Cardinal Salviati , after designs by Francesco da Volterra, and finally finished by Carlo Maderno. Cardinal Anton Maria Salviati (d. 1602) was the Cardinal Protector of the Congregazione di S. Maria del Popolo, to whom the church and hospital were entrusted. (M. Armellini, Le chiese di Roma [Roma 1887] 252)