Expulsion of the Russian envoy to the Holy See Felix von Meyendorff by Pope Pius IX

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 ...

and

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

includes the relations between the

Pontiff In Roman antiquity, a pontiff () was a member of the most illustrious of the colleges of priests of the Roman religion, the College of Pontiffs."Pontifex". "Oxford English Dictionary", March 2007 The term ''pontiff'' was later applied to any h ...

and the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

during the years 1846–1878.

1847 Accomodamento

The

Pontificate The pontificate is the form of government used in Vatican City. The word came to English from French and simply means ''papacy'', or "to perform the functions of the Pope or other high official in the Church". Since there is only one bishop of Ro ...

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 ...

began in 1847 with an ''

agreement Agreement may refer to: Agreements between people and organizations * Gentlemen's agreement, not enforceable by law * Trade agreement, between countries * Consensus (disambiguation), a decision-making process * Contract, enforceable in a court of ...

'' by which both the government and the Holy See played a part in filling vacant

Latin Church The Latin Church () is the largest autonomous () particular church within the Catholic Church, whose members constitute the vast majority of the 1.3 billion Catholics. The Latin Church is one of 24 Catholic particular churches and liturgical ...

episcopal see An episcopal see is the area of a bishop's ecclesiastical jurisdiction. Phrases concerning actions occurring within or outside an episcopal see are indicative of the geographical significance of the term, making it synonymous with ''diocese'' ...

s in Russia proper and in the

Congress Kingdom of Poland Congress Poland or Congress Kingdom of Poland, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland, was a polity created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna as a semi-autonomous Polish state, a successor to Napoleon's Duchy of Warsaw. It was established wh ...

. Pope Pius IX, who faced his own problems with revolutionary movements in his

Church State 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 ...

, first tried to position himself in the middle, strongly opposing revolutionary and violent opposition against the Russian authorities, and appealing to them for more Church freedom.

Polish aspirations and avoiding bloodshed

Source: Both the

Holy See The Holy See (, ; ), also called the See of Rome, the Petrine See or the Apostolic See, is the central governing body of the Catholic Church and Vatican City. It encompasses the office of the pope as the Bishops in the Catholic Church, bishop ...

and the Russian government expressed their full satisfaction, which was not shared by the Russian Orthodox Church. ''The Accomodamento'', while facilitating the establishment of new dioceses, did little to improve the situation of the Catholic Church at the local level. In 1850, some 32 monasteries were closed and others limited in the recruitment of novices. Local priests were replaced with politically correct candidates, and vacant bishop sees were not allowed to be filled. A special problem continued to be the fate of the Oriental Churches, united with Rome, which were reunified with the Orthodox Church of Russia after the

Synod of Polotsk The Synod of Polotsk was a local synod held on February 12, 1839, by the clergy of the Ruthenian Uniate Church, Ruthenian Greek Catholic Church in the city of Polotsk for Union of Brest, reunification with the Russian Orthodox Church. Polotsk was ...

in 1839.

Relations with Russia after 1861

Source: After long negotiations, and possibly because of the lingering Polish crises,

agreed to diplomatic relations with the

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 ...

in 1861.

Tsar Alexander II Alexander II ( rus, Алекса́ндр II Никола́евич, Aleksándr II Nikoláyevich, p=ɐlʲɪˈksandr ftɐˈroj nʲɪkɐˈlajɪvʲɪtɕ; 29 April 181813 March 1881) was Emperor of Russia, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Finland fro ...

claimed that only politically revolutionary elements were punished. On August 20, the Pope protested and ordered a

prayer File:Prayers-collage.png, 300px, alt=Collage of various religionists praying – Clickable Image, Collage of various religionists praying ''(Clickable image – use cursor to identify.)'' rect 0 0 1000 1000 Shinto festivalgoer praying in front ...

novena A novena (from , "nine") is an ancient tradition of devotional praying in Christianity, consisting of private or public prayers repeated for nine successive days or weeks. The nine days between the Feast of the Ascension and Pentecost, when the ...

for the persecuted Church. But the persecutions worsened: 330 priests were deported, a war tax was imposed on the

clergy Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...

, and 114 Catholic monasteries were closed. International protest from Pope Pius enraged the Tsar and his regime, and led to an

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 ...

n intervention, urging the Pope to be silent in the interest of the Polish Catholics.

answered with a break of the concordat on December 6, 1863. By 1870, not a single bishop in the

was left in his own diocese

Diplomacy of Pope Leo XIII

Pope Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII (; born Gioacchino Vincenzo Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2March 181020July 1903) was head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 until his death in July 1903. He had the fourth-longest reign of any pope, behind those of Peter the Ap ...

(1878–1903) attempted to improve the situation with diplomatic overtures, with little success. The nightmare of the Russian Church continued under him, more pleasant atmospherics not-withstanding.Schmidlin, II, 508 The 19th century dilemma, that impressive Papal condemnations may result in suffering, closure of episcopal sees, and decade-long interruption of religious services for, and education of the faithful, haunted Papal diplomacy in the 20th century, especially during the pontificates of

Pope Pius XI Pope Pius XI (; born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti, ; 31 May 1857 – 10 February 1939) was head of the Catholic Church from 6 February 1922 until his death in February 1939. He was also the first sovereign of the Vatican City State u ...

Pope Pius XII Pope Pius XII (; born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli; 2 March 18769 October 1958) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death on 9 October 1958. He is the most recent p ...

and

Pope Paul VI Pope Paul VI (born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 until his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding John XXII ...

References

* Acta Apostolicae Sedis ( AAS), Roma, Vaticano 1922-1960 * Acta et decreta Pii IX, Pontificis Maximi, VolI-VII, Romae 1854 ff * Acta et decreta Leonis XIII, P.M. Vol I-XXII, Romae, 1881, ff * Actae Sanctae Sedis, (ASS), Romae, Vaticano 1865 * L. Boudou, Le S. Siege et la Russie, Paris, 1890 * Owen Chadwick, The Christian Church in the Cold War, London 1993 * Handbuch der Kirchengeschichte, VII, Herder Freiburg, 1979, 355-380 * Matthias Erzberger, Erlebnisse im weltkrieg, Stuttgart, * Herder Korrespondenz Orbis Catholicus, Freiburg, 1946–1961 * Andrey Micewski, Cardinal Wyszynski, A biography, Harcourt, New York, 1984 * Josef Schmidlin Papstgeschichte, Vol I-IV, Köstel-Pusztet München, 1922–1939 * John Gilmary Shea, The Life of Pope Pius IX, New York, 1877

Sources