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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 July 2009
In standard Jewish reference works the figure of Pope Pius X has either been sorely neglected or has received a decidedly negative press. For the concise New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia, Pius X simply does not exist. The Universal Jewish Encyclopedia mentions rather cryptically that the pope was “better disposed” towards the Jews than had been his immediate predecessors. On the other hand, the monumental Encyclopaedia Judaica characterizes Pius as “disdainful of Judaism and the Jewish people.” Catholic biographies of this pontiff, essentially hagiographic, provide little or no insight into his relations with the Jews or his position on the Jewish question. However, as we shall attempt to argue, Giuseppe Sarto (1835–1914), who was elected pope in 1903 and canonized in 1954, maintained warm personal relationships with individual Jews throughout his ecclesiastical career, held a positive view of the Jewish character, defended the Jewish people against defamation and violence, and was instrumental in halting a twenty-year-old antisemitic campaign that had previously been waged in Italy by the clerical party.
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35. Handwritten letter of Pius X to Leone Romanin Jacur, 7 11 1913, conserved in the Romanin Jacur family papers, Padua: “Quanto al doloroso Processo di Kiew Ella può star ben certo, che la S. Sede studierà tutti i mezzi per ovviare alle fatali conseguenze dell'infame fanatismo di quelle popolarzioni…. Ad ogni modo faccio voti, che il processo finisca senza danno dei poveri Israeliti.” I am greatly indebted to the courtesy of the deputy's grandnephew, Ing. Jacur, Leo Romanin, who has kindly provided me with a photocopy of this document.Google Scholar
36. Regarding this campaign, see Felice, Renzo De, Storia degli ebrei italiani sotto ilfascismo, 2d ed. (Turin, 1972), pp. 30–42;Google ScholarCanepa, Andrew M., “Cattolici ed ebrei nell'Italia liberale (1870–1915),”, Comunità 179 (04 1978): 43–109;Google ScholarCanepa, , “Christian-Jewish Relations in Italy from Unification to Fascism,” in The Italian Refuge: Rescue of the Jews during the Holocaust, ed. Herzer, Ivo (Washington, D.C., 1989), pp. 13–33.Google Scholar
37. See Canepa, , “Cattolici ed ebrei,” pp. 104–109.Google Scholar
38. Sarfatti, , Acqua passata, p. 45.Google Scholar
39. Concerning this accord, see Rosa, Gabriele De, Il movimento cattolico in Italia, vol. 1: Dalla Restaurazione all'età giolittiana (Bari, 1966), ch. 19Google Scholarand Coppa, Frank J., “Giolitti and the Gentiloni Pact between Myth and Reality,” Catholic Historical Review 53 (1967): 217–228.Google Scholar
40. See Mereu, Honoré, “Les Juifs en Italie” Bibliothèque univeTselle, 3d Ser., 26 (1885): 160–161;Google ScholarRighini, , Antisemitismo e Semitismo, pp. 226–229;Google ScholarGraco (pseud.), Antisemitismo e semitismo (Padua, 1901), p. 12;Google ScholarLevi, EnzoMemorie di una vita (1889–1947) (Modena, 1972), pp. 13–14.Google Scholar
41. See Canepa, , “Cattolici ed ebrei,” pp. 107–108.Google Scholar
42. See “I cristianelli del ghetto,” L'Idea sionistra 7 (1907): 25–28;Google ScholarLa Provincia di Mantova, 18 06 and 9 07 1903;Google ScholarIl Corriere israelitico 39 (1900–1901): 182 and 49 (1910–1911): 172;Google ScholarL'Adriatico (Venice), 1, 18, and 19 02 1904.Google Scholar
43. Described in Pius X's letter cited in n. 35.Google Scholar
44. Sacra Rituum Congregatio, Beatificationis et canonizalionis, pp. 94–95,97.Google Scholar
45. See Canepa, , “Cattolici ed ebrei,” p. 105Google Scholarand Guidetti, Corrado (pseud, of Alessandro Zammatto), Pro judaeis: riflessioni e documenti (Turin, 1884), p. 4.Google Scholar
46. See Canepa, Andrew M., “The Image of the Jew in the Folklore and Literature of the Postrisorgimento,” Journal of European Studies 9 (1979): 260–273.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
