Neo-Guelphism () was a 19th-century Italian political movement, started by

Vincenzo Gioberti Vincenzo Gioberti (; 5 April 180126 October 1852) was an Italian Catholic priest, philosopher, publicist and politician who served as the Prime Minister of Sardinia from 1848 to 1849. He was a prominent spokesman for liberal Catholicism. Biogr ...

, which wanted to unite Italy into a single kingdom with the

Pope The pope is the bishop of Rome and the Head of the Church#Catholic Church, visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff, or sovereign pontiff. From the 8th century until 1870, the po ...

as its king. Despite little popular support, the movement raised interests among intellectuals, journalists and Catholic reformist politicians. They were also linked both to

ontologism Ontologism is a philosophical system most associated with Nicholas Malebranche (1638–1715) which maintains that God and divine ideas are the first object of our intelligence and the intuition of God the first act of our intellectual knowledge. N ...

, a philosophical movement, and to rationalist-leaning theology.

Philosophy and platform

As modern political parties were not present in Italy in the 19th century, the neo-Guelphs were only circles of intellectuals, aristocrats, journalists and businessmen with Catholic and unitarian tendencies. The movement was not too nationalist, preferring a

confederation A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a political union of sovereign states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

between the several Italian states led by the

. On social issues, the neo-Guelphs tended to support both

reformist Reformism is a political tendency advocating the reform of an existing system or institution – often a political or religious establishment – as opposed to its abolition and replacement via revolution. Within the socialist movement, ref ...

and law and order policies. Many neo-Guelphists thought that Giovanni Mastai-Ferretti (elected pope

Pius IX Pope Pius IX (; born Giovanni Maria Battista Pietro Pellegrino Isidoro Mastai-Ferretti; 13 May 1792 – 7 February 1878) was head of the Catholic Church from 1846 to 1878. His reign of nearly 32 years is the longest verified of any pope in hist ...

in 1846) would boost their cause, but he rejected their movement. This rejection was disheartening to

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

liberals everywhere, and the

anti-clerical Anti-clericalism is opposition to religious authority, typically in social or political matters. Historically, anti-clericalism in Christian traditions has been opposed to the influence of Catholicism. Anti-clericalism is related to secularism, ...

left saw it as proof that the papacy was inherently reactionary—ready to sacrifice its very autonomy and an Italian state simply to protect narrow temporal interests, such as

noble A noble is a member of the nobility. Noble may also refer to: Places Antarctica * Noble Glacier, King George Island * Noble Nunatak, Marie Byrd Land * Noble Peak, Wiencke Island * Noble Rocks, Graham Land Australia * Noble Island, Gr ...

interests in the

papal states The Papal States ( ; ; ), officially the State of the Church, were a conglomeration of territories on the Italian peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the pope from 756 to 1870. They were among the major states of Italy from the 8th c ...

. Popes generally came from this nobility, to say nothing of the

curia Curia (: curiae) in ancient Rome referred to one of the original groupings of the citizenry, eventually numbering 30, and later every Roman citizen was presumed to belong to one. While they originally probably had wider powers, they came to meet ...

and

Vatican Vatican may refer to: Geography * Vatican City, an independent city-state surrounded by Rome, Italy * Vatican Hill, in Rome, namesake of Vatican City * Ager Vaticanus, an alluvial plain in Rome * Vatican, an unincorporated community in the ...

hierarchy in general. In Piedmont-Sardinia, the movement gained enough influences to install two neo-Guelphs in government:

Cesare Balbo Cesare Balbo, Conte di Vinadio (21 November 1789 – 3 June 1853), was an Italian writer and statesman. Biography Balbo was born in Turin on 21 November 1789. His father, Prospero Balbo, who belonged to a noble Piedmontese family, held a hig ...

, from March to July 1848, and Gioberti himself, from December 1848 to February 1849. However, the final defeat in the First War of Independence by

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

caused the decline of neo-Guelphism, seen as too moderate and "

papist The words Popery (adjective Popish) and Papism (adjective Papist, also used to refer to an individual) are mainly historical pejorative words in the English language for Roman Catholicism, once frequently used by Protestants and Eastern Orthodox ...

", in favor of parliamentary right-wing group, that purposed a mix of war and diplomacy to unify Italy under the

House of Savoy The House of Savoy (, ) is a royal house (formally a dynasty) of Franco-Italian origin that was established in 1003 in the historical region of Savoy, which was originally part of the Kingdom of Burgundy and now lies mostly within southeastern F ...

. After the

Franco-Austrian War The Second Italian War of Independence, also called the Sardinian War, the Austro-Sardinian War, the Franco-Austrian War, or the Italian War of 1859 (Italian: ''Seconda guerra d'indipendenza italiana''; German: ''Sardinischer Krieg''; French: ...

of 1859, which granted to Piedmont-Sardinia the control over Northern Italy (except for Veneto), neo-Guelphism was considered obsolete and unobtainable. In 1860, republican

Giuseppe Garibaldi Giuseppe Maria Garibaldi ( , ;In his native Ligurian language, he is known as (). In his particular Niçard dialect of Ligurian, he was known as () or (). 4 July 1807 – 2 June 1882) was an Italian general, revolutionary and republican. H ...

led his expedition in Southern Italy, which eventually led to

Italian unification The unification of Italy ( ), also known as the Risorgimento (; ), was the 19th century political and social movement that in 1861 ended in the annexation of various states of the Italian peninsula and its outlying isles to the Kingdom of ...

under Piedmont-Sardinia, however, leaving the Papacy as its own individual state. This eased the fears from Roman Catholic countries such as France who believed that a unified Italy could "corrupt" the Papacy.

Supporters

* Sardinian Prime Minister

(briefly) * Papal Prime Minister

Pellegrino Rossi Pellegrino Luigi Odoardo Rossi (13 July 1787 – 15 November 1848) was an Italian economist, politician and jurist. He was an important figure of the July Monarchy in France, and the minister of justice in the government of the Papal States, unde ...

* Papal Foreign Affairs Minister

Terenzio Mamiani della Rovere Terenzio, Count Mamiani della Rovere (19 September 179921 May 1885) was an Italian writer, academic, diplomat and politician, and was committed to the cause of the unification of Italy under the Sardinian monarchy. He was one of the leading figur ...

* Writer

Alessandro Manzoni Alessandro Francesco Tommaso Antonio Manzoni (, , ; 7 March 1785 – 22 May 1873) was an Italian poet, novelist and philosopher. He is famous for the novel ''The Betrothed (Manzoni novel), The Betrothed'' (orig. ) (1827), generally ranked among ...

* Monsignor

Antonio Rosmini-Serbati Antonio Francesco Davide Ambrogio Rosmini-Serbati, IC (; 25 March 17971 July 1855) was an Italian Catholic priest and philosopher. He founded the Rosminians, officially the Institute of Charity, and pioneered the concept of social justice a ...

* Marquess

Gino Capponi Marquis Gino Capponi (Florence, 13 September 1792 – Florence, 3 February 1876) was an Italian statesman and historian of a Liberal Catholic bent. Biography The Capponi was an illustrious Florentine aristocratic family, and is mentioned as ea ...

* Physicist

Carlo Matteucci Carlo Matteucci (20 June 1811 – 24 June 1868) was an Italian physicist and neurophysiologist who was a pioneer in the study of bioelectricity. Biography Carlo Matteucci was born at Forlì, in the province of Romagna, to Vincenzo Matteucci ...

* Historian Luigi Tosti

Bibliography

* * * * * *

References

External links

Sardinia-Piedmont, Kingdom of, 1848-1849
A lecture

''Journal of Religion and Society''. Volume 7, 2005. The Kripke Center. Anthony Mansueto of the University New Mexico-Gallup *1911 Britannica article on

Camillo Benso, conte di Cavour Camillo Paolo Filippo Giulio Benso, Count of Cavour, Isolabella and Leri (; 10 August 1810 – 6 June 1861), generally known as the Count of Cavour ( ; ) or simply Cavour, was an Italian politician, Statesman (politician), statesman, Business ...

{{Risorgimento Political ideologies Italian unification Political parties disestablished in 1852