STILL MORE RANDOM THOUGHTS ON THE FRENCH NOBILITY (Continued)

Papal Ennoblements

by

Dr. PANGLOSS

The following thoughts are not, strictly speaking, about the French nobility but rather about how Frenchmen from the mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth centuries who sought nobiliary titles obtained them from the Vatican. A declaration from HH Pope Paul VI dated 13 January 1964 put an end to the practice.

In France the period starting in the late XIXth century and ending in 1964 was difficult for those who aspired to be ennobled, especially when they wished to stay within the confines of French law. Not only were titles no longer conceded by the régime but it showed itself uncompromising in its refusal to confirm those imported by new "nobles" from abroad.

The Kings of Spain and Italy - the former especially - had not been not oblivious to requests presented a certain way. Mr. Ardouin was created a count by King Victor Emanuel III; so were the Cahen d’Anvers and the Camondos…etc. King Alfonso XIII profited nicely from the vanity of foreigners. The Marquis de Villahermosa, and the Duke de Premio Real obtained their crowns from that monarch. It was also from the Spanish chancery that Mr. Deligny a French radical party politician obtained his title of Count de Alosno; he had requested the title of Marquis de Tharsis, from the name of the famous mine of which he was director; however, at that time Tharsis was having problems with another mine, Huelva; the directors of the latter used their influence in Madrid to have the request turned down. Thus Mr. Deligny could only become Count de Alosno.

Kings pass on. The Great War and its aftermath disposed of a few. Their falling also resulted in the ruin of the heraldic offices they maintained. No more ennoblements from Spain or from the German kingdoms and principalities; the King of England continued to ennoble but reserved this privileged for British subjects; the King of Italy followed suit temporarily because il Duce reorganized the Italian nobility according to the best royal traditions, i.e. in publishing a new edition of the Libro d’Oro della Nobilta Italiana where gentlemen’s names were entered upon payment of chancery fees, which were not inconsiderable. Examples bring back the Napoleonic tone : d’Annunzio, Duca di Montenovo, is featured next to De Vecchi di Val Cismon, one of leaders of the Fascist March on Rome; Diaz was Duca della Vittoria; the frontispiece of the book shows a portrait with the simple name: Benito Mussolini.

Fortunately, there was the Holy Father, the head of Christianity. As temporal sovereign of the Vatican State and spiritual sovereign of the world’s Catholics, this sovereignty enabled him to reward, by means of various distinctions, the faithful who had served the Holy Church well.

There were three types of such distinctions:

- the admission to an order of chivalry,

- medals,

- nobiliary titles.

At the end of the twentieth century only the first two apply.

Ingenious promoters revived many orders of chivalry which had fallen into desuetude and distributed these to those who thirsted for distinctions, beautifully inscribed diplomas and dazzling uniforms.

A certain number of these orders were placed under the jurisdiction and protection of the Church because of the quasi religious vows that their knights and dignitaries made in the heroic times of yore.

The origin of the oldest of these organizations goes back to the Crusades. Roads were not secure for the pilgrims who headed towards liberated Jerusalem and the victors were not always at ease in their conquest; illness, and the Sarazins took their toll. It was then that the military hospitaller Orders, the most famous of which the Order of Malta, were born.

The special circumstances which were the motivation for their creation having disappeared, the Orders only survived as a reminder of heroic times past, as shadows of great names, and now were reduced to the condition of being sold by specialists in the sale of showy gewgaws to the vain.

Sometimes these entrepreneurs went overboard. One of them , "l’Eperon d’Or" (The Golden Spur, not to be confused with the order of the same name) distributed titles and grades and even nobility circumventing the Holy Father: this was competition not easily tolerable by the Roman chancery but it managed to control the traffic. Further, a brief of 7 February 1905 (multum et excitandum) established a hierarchy for the pontifical orders: The Supreme Order of Christ (the decoration depended from a red moiréd ribbon hung from the neck, was greatly sought after in France for the confusion that it could cause with the insignia of the Legion of Honor, which was depended from the same color ribbon and which used a similar rosette when worn in the buttonhole); The Order of Pius IX, which conferred nobility; The Order of Saint Gregory the Great; The Order of Saint Sylvester; the Order of the Golden Militia or of the Golden Spur which no longer conferred the title of palatine count. (Note1).

Two orders more specifically military, at least in appearance, survive today: The Order of the Holy Sepulcher and The Order of Malta.

The Order of Malta is the most independent vis-à-vis the Holy See, so much so that the question of whether it should be placed with the other pontifical orders was raised. It styled itself (and still does) "Military Order of Saint John of Jerusalem" and "considers itself "sovereign". But Rome maintained that sovereignty does not exclude suzerainty and moreover since certain categories of members in the order pronounced the three vows of chastity, poverty and obedience, the SMOM was required to join the ranks of those institutions approved by the Church.

It is not necessary to cover the history of this famous organization. It was, for a long time, a sort of "aristocratic republic" with which sovereigns had to deal. The vicissitudes of war progressively distanced it from the Middle East, moving the palace of the Grand Master from Jerusalem, to Cyprus then to Rhodes and finally to Malta from where Napoleon chased it in 1798 on his way to Egypt. From that time on and for two hundred years, the Order barely survived; its fall was virtually unnoticed in the midst of the cataclysms of the Revolution and the Empire.

Vanity, or perhaps the intention of profiting therefrom has revived its quaint appearance. Pope Leo XIII, in fact, reinstated the tradition to designate the Grand Master and made an effort to return the ancient luster to the Order, whereupon the entire hierarchy reappeared.
Since 1928 the Order has been recognized as sovereign by France, and Mr. Herriot the then President of the Republic was rewarded with the Grand Cross of Honor and Devotion. On 16 January 1929, Count Michel de Pierredon, Bailiff Grand Cross and the Grand Master’s delegate for France solemnly proceeded to the Elysée Palace to profer the insignia of Grand Cross to M. Gaston Doumergue, then President of the Republic. It is currently recognized as sovereign by more than fifty states.

What follows no longer applies at the end of the XXth century, but should be of interest to those who yearn for the good old days. While pontifical orders and medals are still being distributed, they were, not so long ago, only secondary products exposed in the windows of the Vatican vanity shop.

The Holy Father, as a sovereign, conceded nobiliary titles to whomever he pleased and drew up the patent how he saw fit. The Pontiff conferred the titles of prince, duke, marquis, count, (the most frequent) viscount (only one known), baron and noble. The titles were mostly ad personam but could be hereditary by order of primogeniture either for all male descendants or for the descendants of either sex. The Pope also granted arms to families and issued briefs recognizing and confirming ancient titles.

The sovereign rights of a Pope without land have, in the course of history, been subjected to so many restrictions, that there was no reason to restrict him from the privilege of proffering distinctions. While he has not deprived himself of it, truth forces one to say that a papal title was much like the coin of the same name, not particularly well thought-of. That being said, some of these titles were granted for perfectly honorable reasons i.e. for eminent services to the Pontiff, and even military services. He granted duchies and counties to the families of those Pontifical Zouaves who had succumbed at the battle of Castelfidardo (1860). The large majority, however, was simply acquired with money, just like at the green grocer’s.

It seems that the traffic in these titles was organized quasi commercially. Toison d’Or (Golden Fleece) a facilitator for those interested in acquiring honors of various sorts, related the visit by a prelate to a gentleman friend of his in 1880:

- You have, said the ecclesiastic, important contacts in the world; you know many untitled gentlemen. When I say "gentlemen" I mean rich individuals who live like gentlemen without being so.

- You mean financiers?

- Exactly. And amongst these financiers there must be some who would not be averse to being greeted as count, or even more simply baron. It is not that I suspect them of silly vanity, but they would find themselves more at ease in their surroundings if they bore a title which would place them on par with their peers. Finally, coats of arms and crowns are rather nice ornaments to place above the door of the town and country home that one has built.

" The chap, -added the host- was offering me arguments in case I wanted to go into the business with him. At the time of his visit he was only asking me to have a few doors opened to him. His prices weren’t exaggerated: 10,000 francs for the title of count, and half for that of baron.

" They were being given away!

"But, curiosity having gotten the better of me, I asked, what sovereign authority concedes these titles, what guarantees would potential customers have?

- The letters come from the Roman chancery and include all the elements which give them an authentic character. Besides, the client only deposits a small down payment; the rest of the amount is deposited with a banker who does not liberate the funds until after all formalities have been completed. The matter is handled in the most straightforward manner. Thus, any person, provided he is honorable if he so wishes, can obtain the right to a title, honor being the first and foremost consideration."

The deal was made; doors opened and the canvasser completed several profitable operations for the Roman chancery and for himself.

The prices mentioned above increased considerably, which is logical given the quasi-monopoly that the Sovereign Pontiff held for the distribution of nobiliary titles.
There were, incidentally, two rates for titles: the official chancery price and the price defined according to the cut of the client’s jib and resources.

Jean de Bonnefon told an amusing anecdote on this subject. It seems that a banker had applied for a title; when he was presented with the bill, he noticed that the price was double that which had been previously agreed to. The financier within him rose to his gorge and he started to argue. Cardinal Antonelli never reacted but wrote the postulant addressing the letter : Ill. Sig. X, Count of Monte Avarico. (Illustrious Mr. X, Count of Mount Chintzy) The banker understood and paid!

Another story is that of the Levantine who was promised that he would be honored with the title of count, was received by the Holy Father. Having genuflected and kissed the Pope’s slipper, he handed the Pontiff a large beautifully bound volume: each page was made out of a 1000 franc note (these were gold francs, at the time).

The high prices of Roman titles (circa 1900 Jean de Bonnefon estimated that the titles of duke, count and baron went for 100,000, 20,000 and 12,000 respectively) resulted in the rise of a lucrative fraudulent commerce in papal titles.

" There were two sorts Roman noblemen: those who received the title and those who took it. The former concealed the date of their distinction; the latter boasted of having received what they had taken for themselves.

"Since 1831, with the exception of prelates whose titles were ad personam, there have been no more than three hundred French families titled by the Pope. But more than two thousand individuals bear "pontifical" coronets. (J. de Bonnefon: Les anoblis de la République.)

The procedure to obtain a papal title being general knowledge it is no wonder that they were held in rather low esteem.

Many beneficiaries willingly styled themselves with the purchased title, but preferred that its origin not be divulged.

There is a story that a specialist in the publication of Who’s Whos and social registers once sent an advertisement to all the holders of papal titles that he had come across. He was proposing, on a fee basis, to publish their names along with the full color reproduction of the coats of arms granted by the Roman chancery. He received many replies offering to pay twice the fees but on the condition of not publishing their names or distinctions.

The clever businessman understood and only published the names of those title holders who had neglected to furnish convincing arguments.

Thus, the vain pay for titles and also pay for it not be known that they have obtained them!
That is why the semi-official lists of Roman title-holders are generally incomplete or contain many errors. Some even have the appearance of being the result of blackmail.

One such register which was quite successful was "The Vatican Ménagerie" published by Jean de Bonnefon in 1906. It often included uncomplimentary comments on the cited individuals. The book has become unavailable; it can be found in the "reserve" of the National Library in Paris and students requesting it are warned of the calumnies it contains.
The question, whether there are any official Vatican lists published, is often asked. The answer is a definite No, and that’s the problem. People have tried to obtain them through Roman friends. The chancery refuses obstinately to divulge them, as if it were not very proud of its task! On the other hand it takes precautions. The texts of the brieves never mention the name of the beneficiary: the name only appears on the back side of the diploma. And with respect to the text itself it is virtually impossible to find as those so recognized have a tendency - for modesty’s sake, undoubtedly, - to consider it confidential in view of the panegyric with which they are covered. Here is a passage from the Brief dated 15 March 1887 by which Pope Leo XIII conferred the hereditary title of marquis to Mr. Augier de Moussac (Marie-Louis-Laurent-Jean):

"Quum nos non lateat quae et quanta sit tua ergo nos et hanc apostolicam sedem observantia et pietas, et quantum operae studie que impendere soleas in omnibus rebus quae ad ecclesiae rationes pertinent, te tuosque posteros de descendentes in primogenitorum linea masculina…Marchiones facimus, constituimus renuntiamus…"
When one slips into the nobility through the Roman door, the only thing left to do is to display the title.

Socially there’s no problem. People smile at first, then habit takes over and one is known as Count X. the transmission of the title, its division into family fragments takes place with the same whimsy with which it was originally acquired.

To use a foreign title officially in France is somewhat more difficult. We have seen how some municipal officials, assured of the impunity with which the government enforces official decrees do not hesitate to include Vatican titles in birth and marriage certificates. In some documents one finds the mention of "Count X", or "Marquis Y"; in other one reads: " X,…Roman count" which is less irregular.

The exact terms of French legislation (Decree of 5 March 1859) state that foreign titles - i.e. Roman titles - are expressly forbidden:

Article 1: No Frenchman may bear in France a title conferred by a foreign sovereign, without having been authorized to do so by means of an imperial decree, issued following a judgment of the Seal of the Ministry of Justice. This authorization is only granted under grave and exceptional circumstances.

Article 2: The title holder is subject to the same fees of the Seal as would be perceived in France for the conferment of the same title (French).

Thus the use of a papal title in France required (and still does) the government’s confirmation (the same rule as during the ancien régime) and the payment of the corresponding fees.

There is no point in adding that no fees were ever paid and that the use of papal titles, even the bogus ones was widespread. During the Second Empire, a rather large number of papal nobles tried to receive confirmation which was generally refused.

During the Third Republic only five were confirmed in 1876.

Note 1: The Pontifical Almanach of 1901 explains the procedure to be used to enter these orders. A request approved by the Ordinary must be sent and the applicable chancery fees which are not light must be paid.. Naturally one must deserve the distinction "for religious services and, for example, to have dedicated large sums in the interest of the Church. It is better, also not to submit the request oneself. The Almanach gives this charming explanation: "Let us remember that we are in the Church and that a little humility is always appropriate. To ask personally is to declare that one recognizes oneself to be worthy and there is something shocking at such a request to the Sovereign Pontiff by the would-be beneficiary . Better is it to have the request submitted by at least the parish priest or the religious community which benefits from the contribution of the future knight.

The signature of the requester being different from that of the beneficiary, it will be easier to recommend the client, to specify everything he has done for the Church, to enumerate the various charitable works to which he has contributed, the sacrifices which he has not hesitated to make, and finally to describe the moral qualities required by the Sovereign Pontiff for those he wishes to receive as a knight in his orders…. "

(To be continued)

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