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Bishop Scalabrini, Pope Pius X and Cardinal Raphael Merry Del Val

 (1889–1905)

The correspondence between Bishop Scalabrini and Bishop Giuseppe Sarto, who became Pope with the name of Pius X, began when the latter was Bishop of Mantua (1884–1893) and continued when he became Patriarch of Venice (1894–1903) and Pope (1903–1914). The two bishops were both interested in the renewal of catechetical teaching in Italy and in agreement on the adoption of a uniform text for the catechism in all dioceses of the country. Both were sensitive and concerned with the social and pastoral problems of the increasing emigration from Italy. When Bishop of Mantua, Pius X had sent to his clergy a pastoral letter (August 19, 1887) on the moral, material and religious problems of the peasants emigrating to America (Cf. G. Romanato, “Pio X e l’emigrazione verso l’America,” Humanitas, 45(June 3, 1990), 303–332). Pius X supported all of Bishop Scalabrini’s initiatives for the migrants: the St. Raphael’s Society for Italian Immigrants, the Congregation of Missionaries for Migrants, the pastoral visitations to the migrants in the Americas. The exchange of letters with the Marquis Volpe-Landi, who carried out Bishop Scalabrini’s directives, is an early aspect of the cooperation between the two Bishops of Mantua and Piacenza. It will be Pius X who would start the implementation of the proposal or memorial for a Commission for Migrants in the

Roman Curia with his Motu Proprio Cum Omnes Catholicos of August 15, 1912 (Acta Apostolicae Sedis, IV (1912) 526–7). In this document Pius X established a special office in the S. Concistorial Congregation with the task “to study a vast, serious, effective plan . . . regarding permanent or temporary migrations, European or transatlantic.” (Cf. Mario Francesconi, Giovanni Battista Scalabrini, Vescovo di Piacenza.... Gianfausto Rosoli, “I patro-nati Cattolici di emigrazione sotto Pio X,” in his volume: Insieme oltre le frontiere: Momenti e figure dell’azione della Chiesa tra gli emigrati italiani nei secoli XIX e XX. Caltanisetta-Roma: S. Sciascia Ed., 1996, pp. 285–312).

            The protection of the religious faith of the Italians overseas was at the heart of both Pius X’s and Bishop Scalabrini’s involvement with mass migrations. The exchange of letters with Cardinal Merry del Val (1865–1930), Secretary of State of Pius X, through whom Bishop Scalabrini sends his last and most significant proposal of a dicastery for migrants, completes the understanding of the convergence of efforts of the two saintly churchmen. This convergence is clear in the letter of Pius X sent to the people of Como on October 18, 1913 (AGS AB 0104, f.44):

I take part wholeheartedly in the commemoration, that the good citizens of Como observe, of the exemplary Pastor, who has provided Christian education to his people especially through the teaching of the catechism; of the learned, meek and strong Bishop, who even in hard vicissitudes has always defended, loved and made to be loved the truth, and never abandoned it under threat or flattery; of the courageous Apostle, who has sacrificed everything to preserve the faith of our poor migrant brethren in the Americas, through the mission of zealous priests animated by his spirit. I pray and wish that the memory of the Pastor, of the Bishop and of the Apostle, John Baptist Scalabrini, may remain always in benediction and that his example may deserve holy emulators.

            As mentioned, in this correspondence is included the Memorial for a Commission for Catholic Migrants sent to Cardinal Merry del Val with the letter of May 5, 1905. The idea of a central structure in the Roman Curia for the coordination of the spiritual care of all migrants was born from the direct contact with immigrant communities settled in North and South America. Already in 1901 Bishop Scalabrini’s Vicar General for the Missionaries for migrants had written him about the need to look after the migrants for all nationalities: “Your Congregation. . . may it grow and sink its roots ever more deeply so as to become a majestic and immense tree that will last as long as there will be emigration,

i.e., to the end of the world, to the benefit, if possible, not just of the Italian migrants only, but also of the migrants of the entire globe.” (Francesco Zaboglio to Scalabrini, Rome, February 4, 1901. AGS, 1644) Father Zabolgio insisted again on the necessity of caring for the migrants of all nationalities in the notes he wrote at Bishop Scalabrini’s request for the preparation of the Memorial on a Commission for Catholic Migrants and on this occasion two additional facts are pointed out: the impact of returning migrants on the socioreligious life of their communities and the role of emigration in spreading the faith.(Zaboglio to Scalabrini, AGS BA 04–14, f. 2).

            Two weeks before his death (June 1, 1905), Bishop Scalabrini wrote once more to the Secretary of State of Pius X to expedite the implementation of the proposed Commission, that will remain as a lasting monument to his love for all migrants in need.