Books by Saretta Marotta
Il Mulino, May 2020
Quando, nel giugno 1960, Giovanni XXIII nominò il cardinale Augustin Bea a capo del Segretariato ... more Quando, nel giugno 1960, Giovanni XXIII nominò il cardinale Augustin Bea a capo del Segretariato per l’unità dei cristiani, molti, come il domenicano Yves Congar, restarono sbalorditi da quella che ritenevano una singolare scelta. Cosa aveva a che fare un porporato settantanovenne, esegeta conservatore tra i più fidati collaboratori di Pio XII e suo confessore personale, con la primavera ecumenica che dal Vaticano II, e proprio da quel Segretariato, ci si attendeva? Eppure il gesuita tedesco si sarebbe in breve tempo rivelato uno dei protagonisti più autorevoli del rinnovamento conciliare e tra gli interpreti più fedeli dell’eredità roncalliana. Cosa si cela dunque dietro quella che agli occhi di molti apparve come un’improvvisa conversione? Proprio tale interrogativo, che la storiografia ha indicato come “l’enigma Bea”, è al centro dell’indagine del volume, che, sulla base della documentazione degli archivi privati (tra cui l’inedito carteggio con il vescovo di Paderborn Lorenz Jaeger pubblicato integralmente in appendice), ricostruisce l’attività del gesuita nel decennio precedente al concilio, quando, dal 1949, era consultore del Sant’Uffizio. Quello che emerge è un originale profilo del futuro cardinale, divenuto progressivamente avvocato e intercessore dell’ecumenismo cattolico, in particolare tedesco, durante l’ultimo periodo del pontificato pacelliano. Fu proprio in quegli “anni di pazienza” che Augustin Bea maturò gradualmente le competenze e i contatti in ambito ecumenico che nel 1960 lo avrebbero reso tra i più stimati collaboratori di Giovanni XXIII e paladino di quell’ecumenismo destinato a rivoluzionare la chiesa cattolica durante il Vaticano II.
Saretta Marotta, dottore di ricerca in Storia contemporanea, si è formata presso La Sapienza Università di Roma, l’Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia e la Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität di München. Già membro della Fondazione per le scienze religiose Giovanni XXIII di Bologna, attualmente è ricercatrice in Storia della chiesa e della teologia presso la Katholieke Universiteit di Leuven.
----------------------------------
When, in June 1960, John XXIII appointed Cardinal Augustin Bea as head of the Secretariat for Christian Unity, many, like the Dominican Yves Congar, were stunned by what they considered a singular choice. What did a seventy-nine year old cardinal, a conservative exegete and one of Pius XII's most trusted collaborators and his personal confessor, have to do with the ecumenical springtime expected from Vatican II, and from that Secretariat? Yet the German Jesuit would soon prove to be one of the most authoritative protagonists of the Council renewal and among the most faithful interpreters of Roncalli's legacy. So what lies behind what appeared to many as a sudden conversion? It is precisely this question, which historiography has referred to as "the Bea enigma", that is at the centre of the investigation of this book. On the basis of documentation from private archives (including the unpublished correspondence with the bishop of Paderborn Lorenz Jaeger, published in full in the appendix), the book reconstructs the Jesuit's activity in the decade preceding the Council, when he was consultor at the Holy Office from 1949. What emerges is an original profile of the future cardinal, who gradually became an advocate and intercessor for Catholic ecumenism, particularly in Germany, during the last period of Pacelli's pontificate. It was precisely in those 'years of patience' that Augustin Bea gradually matured the skills and contacts in the ecumenical sphere that in 1960 would make him one of John XXIII's most esteemed collaborators and champion of that ecumenism destined to revolutionize the Catholic Church during Vatican II.
-----------------
Als Johannes XXIII. im Juni 1960 Kardinal Augustin Bea zum Leiter des Sekretariats für die Einheit der Christen ernannte, waren viele, wie der Dominikaner Yves Congar, verblüfft über das, was sie für eine einzigartige Wahl hielten. Was hatte ein neunundsiebzigjähriger Kardinal, ein konservativer Exeget und einer der vertrauenswürdigsten Mitarbeiter von Pius XII. und sein persönlicher Beichtvater, mit dem ökumenischen Frühling zu tun, den man vom Zweiten Vatikanum und von eben diesem Sekretariat erwartete? Doch der deutsche Jesuit sollte sich bald als einer der maßgeblichen Protagonisten der Konzilserneuerung und als einer der treuesten Interpreten von Roncallis Vermächtnis erweisen. Was steckt also hinter dem, was vielen als plötzliche Bekehrung erschien? Genau diese Frage, die von der Geschichtsschreibung als "das Bea-Rätsel" bezeichnet wurde, steht im Mittelpunkt der Untersuchung dieses Buches. Auf der Grundlage von Dokumenten aus privaten Archiven (einschließlich der unveröffentlichten Korrespondenz mit dem Paderborner Bischof Lorenz Jaeger, die im Anhang vollständig abgedruckt ist) rekonstruiert das Buch die Tätigkeit des Jesuiten in dem Jahrzehnt vor dem Konzil, als er ab 1949 Berater des Heiligen Offiziums war. Was dabei herauskommt, ist ein originelles Profil des zukünftigen Kardinals, der in der letzten Periode von Pacellis Pontifikat nach und nach zum Fürsprecher der katholischen Ökumene wurde, insbesondere in Deutschland. Gerade in diesen 'Jahren der Geduld' entwickelte Augustin Bea allmählich die Fähigkeiten und Kontakte im ökumenischen Bereich, die ihn 1960 zu einem der angesehensten Mitarbeiter von Johannes XXIII. und zum Verfechter jener Ökumene machen sollten, die die katholische Kirche während des Zweiten Vatikanischen Konzils revolutionieren sollte.
Articles in peer-reviewed academic journals by Saretta Marotta
JOMaCC. Journal of Modern and Contemporary Christianity, 2024
The aim of this paper is to reconstruct the attitude of the Holy See towards the international ec... more The aim of this paper is to reconstruct the attitude of the Holy See towards the international ecumenical movement during the pontificate of Pius XII, analysing in particular the debates triggered by the question of the participation of Catholic observers in the various international conferences and assemblies of the Faith and Order movement and the constituent Ecumenical Council of Churches. This analysis will be carried out through the study of Vatican documents, in particular from the archives of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Secretariat of State and the nunciatures, in order to trace the choices and strategies adopted by the Holy See in the face of the challenges posed by the growing importance of the World Council of Churches on the international scene
.
The article is available for free download at:
.
https://edizionicafoscari.unive.it/it/edizioni4/riviste/journal-of-modern-and-contemporary-christianity/2024/1/the-holy-see-and-the-question-of-sending-observers/
Rottenburger Jahrbuch für Kirchengeschichte, 2022
Die Katholische Konferenz für ökumenische Fragen von Johannes Willebrands 1 1. Die entstehung obg... more Die Katholische Konferenz für ökumenische Fragen von Johannes Willebrands 1 1. Die entstehung obgleich 1952 gegründet, liegen die Wurzeln der Katholischen Konferenz für ökumenische Fragen in zwei im Heiligen Jahr 1950 stattgefundenen ereignissen, die deren notwendige Voraussetzung und, man könnte sagen, deren auslöser darstellten. auf der einen Seite wäre ihre entstehung ohne die am 20. Dezember 1949 erlassene und im august 1950 bekannt gegebene Instruktion des Heiligen offiziums Ecclesia Catholica unmöglich gewesen. Diese Instruktion korrigierte das Monitum von 1948, das den Katholiken die teilnahme an der Versammlung von amsterdam verbat, und öffnete in einem gewissen Sinn die katholische Kirche zur Ökumene, indem sie den Beginn oder die Fortführung des theologischen Dialogs mit Christen anderer Konfessionen erlaubte und den lokalen Bischöfen die Verantwortung über die Überwachung und die Genehmigung dieser Initiativen überließ. Genau diese Dezentralisierung der Kontrolle über die aktivitäten der katholischen Ökumene von rom auf die Diözesen, wahrscheinlich durch das Beispiel dessen, was in Deutschland mit dem von Lorenz Jaeger (1892-1975) koordinierten referat für die Konferenz in Fulda geschah, angeregt 2 , bildete den Kontext, der die entstehung eines Gremiums wie der Katholischen Konferenz für ökumenische Fragen ermöglichte-was nicht selbstverständlich war. ein anderes, indirekt mit der entstehung der KKöF verbundenes ereignis war die in
Modernism : rivista annuale di storia del riformismo religioso in età contemporanea, 2022
What role did Cardinal Augustin Bea, former rector of the Pontifical
Biblical Institute, play wh... more What role did Cardinal Augustin Bea, former rector of the Pontifical
Biblical Institute, play when, on the eve of Vatican II, the traditionalist
exegesis promoted by the Pontifical Lateran University launched its attack
on Jesuit scholars, precisely putting the preparation of the Council
at stake? Based on documentation from private archives, this article sheds
light on Bea’s position in this affair, as well as his public and private steps
in defence of the historical-critical method. In doing so, it analyses Bea’s
contribution to a particular aspect of that issue, that is the dispute over the
historicity of the Gospels, from the early years of his career as a young lecturer
at the Biblical Institute to his role in the promulgation of the Pontifical
Biblical Commission’s instruction of 21 April 1964 on this subject, which
was later adopted by Dei Verbum 19.
Catholic Exegesis – Historicity of the Gospels – Pontifical Biblical
Institute – Second Vatican Council – Augustin Bea (1881-1968)
Journal of Modern and Contemporary Christianity, Dec 13, 2022
A historiographical hypothesis ascribed the Holy See's first postwar pronouncement on ecumenism (... more A historiographical hypothesis ascribed the Holy See's first postwar pronouncement on ecumenism (5 June 1948) to information gathered during ad limina visits of German bishops that year. This article aims to verify it. 'Case studies' have therefore been chosen from among the dioceses most involved in the 'Una-Sancta-Arbeit'. What emerges, in particular, is the urgency of the refugee problem and the practice of the simultaneum, i.e., the sharing of churches between denominations. This analysis will also help to verify whether and how the 'literary genre' of relationes can be used as a source in the field of the history of Catholic ecumenism.
Archivum Historiae Pontificiae, 2018
L’articolo ricostruisce, sulla base della documentazione d’archivio, le vicende che portarono all... more L’articolo ricostruisce, sulla base della documentazione d’archivio, le vicende che portarono all’istituzione del Segretariato per l’Unità dei cristiani. La paternità dell’iniziativa è da attribuirsi principalmente al cardinale Augustin Bea, che sug- gerì già nel novembre 1959 all’arcivescovo di Paderborn Lorenz Jaeger di presen- tare alla Santa Sede una supplica in tal senso. Decisivi inoltre furono gli interventi di Bea nella stesura dello statuto del nuovo organismo, operazione per la quale si avvalse della collaborazione anche dei teologi Eduard Stakemeier e Josef Höfer.
This contribution reconstructs, on the basis of archival sources, the genesis of the institution of the Secretariat for Christian Unity.The initiative was taken prin- cipally by the cardinal Augustin Bea, who already in November 1959 suggested to the archbishop of Paderborn Lorenz Jaeger to submit to the Holy See such a proposal. Bea intervened decisively also in the drafting process of the statute of the new institution, in close collaboration with the theologians Eduard Stakemeier and Josef Höfer.
Focusing on the correspondence between Augustin Bea SJ, who was Holy Office’s consultant and Pace... more Focusing on the correspondence between Augustin Bea SJ, who was Holy Office’s consultant and Pacelli’s confessor, and Lorenz Jaeger, bishop of Paderborn and referent for the ecumenical questi- ons at the Bishops’ Conference of Fulda, this study provides a reconstruction of the „ecumenical conversion“ which lead the first one to act as a link between Rome and the circles of Catholic ecumenism, above all the German ones, during the pontificate of Pius XII. It was Jaeger, indeed, who chose Bea, among the many consultors of the Holy Office, as a contact men for ecumenical questions to be submitted to the Holy See, putting him at the crossroads of a network of contacts and relationships which involved also the ecumenical circles in Switzerland, Austria and Holland. The correspondence between the two men takes place since 1951 and its reconstruction permits to study the evolution of the ecumenical thought of the Jesuit and his attitude towards the question of individual conversions, the activities of the movement Una Sancta and the evolution of the World Council of Churches.
This study provides a reconstruction of the influence of Augustin Bea SJ, future President of the... more This study provides a reconstruction of the influence of Augustin Bea SJ, future President of the Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity, upon the activities of the German ecumenical movement Una Sancta, which was lead from 1945 to 1951 by the theologian Matthias Laros and from 1953 to 1963 by the benedictine monk Thomas Sartory. Urged by the archbishop Lorenz Jaeger, referent for the ecumenical questions at the Bishops’ Conference of Fulda, Bea, at that time consultor of the Holy Office and private confessor of Pius XII, during Pacelli’s pontificate acted as a link between Rome and the circles of Catholic ecumenism, above all the German ones. In particular, the activities of the Una-Sancta-Bewegung were cause of concern for the Ro- mans authorities, especially after the Holy Office’s Monitum of 1948 and the following Instructio Ecclesia Catholica of 1950.
This study proposes the reconstruction of the whole debate within the Roman Curia about the parti... more This study proposes the reconstruction of the whole debate within the Roman Curia about the participation of Italian Catholics to general elections, since 1860 until 1888. New elements therefore integrate the acquisitions of classical and recent historiography upon this theme. They are drawn from a rich and unpublished documentary heritage not yet systematically examined, in particular reports and documentation of three of the most important ministries of the Holy See’s government: the Apostolic Penitentiary, the Inquisition and the Congregation for Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs. Following this documentation, it is clear how the Vatican’s “closed” position on the involvement of Italian Catholics in national political life was neither effective nor definitive, even after the Holy Offi ce officially proclaimed the non expedit as a prohibition, in 1886.
The "days of omnipotence". Luigi Gedda at the electoral appointment of 1952
This article draws o... more The "days of omnipotence". Luigi Gedda at the electoral appointment of 1952
This article draws on the documents, almost entirely unedited, from the personal archive of Luigi Gedda, the founder of the Civic Committees (CC) and champion of the catholic Activism during the WW2 postwar. In this paper is examined in particular the Gedda's thought and role in preparation for the administrative elections of 1951-1952, which formed a fundamental preview of the political consultations of 1953. The declines in support for the DC, accompanied with the rise of socialist-communist forces constituted a source of great concern for the Holy See, which devised the famous "Operation Sturzo", trying to force De Gasperi to make an alliance with the right parties, like the Monarchist National Party (PNM) and the neo-fascist Italian Social Movement (MSI), to which, however, the Christian Democracy Party (DC) had a strong reserve because of their unconstitutional nature. The new documents presented in this paper help to better delineate the "political project" of Luigi Gedda, his personal evaluation of DC and of the role of catholics in italian policy, the network of contacts between the CC and the Italian Social Movement and the opposition encountered within the national leadership of Catholic Action (AC).
keywords: Luigi Gedda - Civic Committees, Catholic Action - Holy See and italian elections.
Cristianesimo nella storia, Jan 1, 2010
During the capture of Rome in 1870, the government in Florence pro- posed a solution to the “Roma... more During the capture of Rome in 1870, the government in Florence pro- posed a solution to the “Roman Question” suggesting that the “Borgo” quarter, known as “città leonina,” bordering the Vatican, be left to the Holy See. The day after the breach of Porta Pia, however, Cardinal An- tonelli requested the Italian army’s occupation of the zone on the right bank of the Tiber, which until then belonged to the papacy, in order to guarantee the safety of the pontiff and the cardinals. The article reconsi- ders the phases of the event and the historiographical interpretations of the decisions made in those hours by analyzing available testimonies and providing new documentary evidence, specifically the unedited drafts of the epistolary correspondence between Antonelli and the Italian general Raffaele Cadorna concerning the presence of the Italian troops in the “cit- tà leonina.” The collection of letters, discovered thanks to the reordering of the archives of Pope Pius XI, focuses above all on the need for the Italian army’s continued occupation of the città leonina.
Chapters in books and conference proceedings by Saretta Marotta
Vatican II After Sixty Years Developments and Expectations Prior to the Council, 2023
in: M. Lamberigts, A. Pizzey, K. Schelkens (ed.), Vati-can II After Sixty Years: Developments and... more in: M. Lamberigts, A. Pizzey, K. Schelkens (ed.), Vati-can II After Sixty Years: Developments and Expectations Prior to the Council, Turnhout: Brepols 2023, pp. 249-266
in: B. Hallensleben, A. Arjakovsky, (ed.), Le Concile de Florence (1438/39) – une relecture œcuménique (Studia Oecumenica Friburgensia, 99), Aschendorff, Münster 2021, pp. 270-285, 2021
Lorenz Jaeger als Ökumeniker, hg. von A. Otto, N. Priesching, Ferdinand Schöningh Verlag, 2020
Benedict XV. A Pope in the World of the ‘Useless Slaughter’ (1914–1918), dir. by A. Melloni, ed. by G. Cavagnini and G. Grossi Turnhout, Brepols, 2019, pp. 983–1001 , 2019
S. Marotta, „Ökumenische Ungeduld“: Das Tandem Augustin Bea - Lorenz Jaeger und die Errichtung de... more S. Marotta, „Ökumenische Ungeduld“: Das Tandem Augustin Bea - Lorenz Jaeger und die Errichtung des Sekretariats zur Förderung der Einheit der Christen, in: C. Brodkorb, D. Burkard, Der Kardinal der Einheit.
Zum 50.Todestag des Jesuiten, Exegeten und Ökumenikers Augustin Bea (1881-1968), Regensburg 2018, pp. 229-246
S. Marotta, L'ecumenista Bea alla luce del suo archivio privato (1951-1960) in Il Concilio Vatica... more S. Marotta, L'ecumenista Bea alla luce del suo archivio privato (1951-1960) in Il Concilio Vaticano II e i suoi protagonisti alla luce degli archivi. Atti del convegno internazionale di studi organizzato dal Pontificio Comitato di Scienze Storiche (Roma, 7-9 dicembre 2015), a cura di P. Chenaux , K. Plamen Kartaloff, Libreria editrice vaticana, Roma 2017, pp. 57-73;
S. Marotta, L’agonia del non expedit, in Benedetto XV. Papa Giacomo Della Chiesa nel mondo dell’«... more S. Marotta, L’agonia del non expedit, in Benedetto XV. Papa Giacomo Della Chiesa nel mondo dell’«inutile strage», directed by A. Melloni, edited by G. Cavagnini, G. Grossi, Bologna 2017, pp. 667-679.
Throughout the pontificate of Pius XII, Augustin Bea, who was Holy Office’s consultant and Pacell... more Throughout the pontificate of Pius XII, Augustin Bea, who was Holy Office’s consultant and Pacelli’s confessor, served as a link between Rome and the circles of Catholic ecumenism, above all the German ones, but also those in the Swiss, Austrian, French and Dutch milieux. This study provides a reconstruction of the evolution of his “ecumenical conversion”, focusing on the correspondence between Bea and Lorenz Jaeger, bishop of Paderborn and referent for the ecumenical questions at the Bishops’ Conference of Fulda. It was Jaeger who chose Bea, among the many consultors of the Holy Office, as a contact man for ecumenical questions to be submitted to the Holy See, putting him at the crossroads of this network of contacts and relationships. Since 1951 it takes place the correspondence between the two men, whose reconstruction allows us to study the evolution of the ecumenical thought of the Jesuit and his attitude towards the question of individual conversions, the activities of the movement Una Sancta and the evolution of the World Council of Churches. The essay ends by reconstructing the origin of the proposed establishment of the Secretariat for Christian Unity, proposal drawn precisely by Jaeger and Bea jointly.
published in Dizionario biografico degli italiani, vol. 79, Istituto dell'enciclopedia italiana Treccani, Roma 2013, pp. 223-224
Uploads
Books by Saretta Marotta
Saretta Marotta, dottore di ricerca in Storia contemporanea, si è formata presso La Sapienza Università di Roma, l’Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia e la Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität di München. Già membro della Fondazione per le scienze religiose Giovanni XXIII di Bologna, attualmente è ricercatrice in Storia della chiesa e della teologia presso la Katholieke Universiteit di Leuven.
----------------------------------
When, in June 1960, John XXIII appointed Cardinal Augustin Bea as head of the Secretariat for Christian Unity, many, like the Dominican Yves Congar, were stunned by what they considered a singular choice. What did a seventy-nine year old cardinal, a conservative exegete and one of Pius XII's most trusted collaborators and his personal confessor, have to do with the ecumenical springtime expected from Vatican II, and from that Secretariat? Yet the German Jesuit would soon prove to be one of the most authoritative protagonists of the Council renewal and among the most faithful interpreters of Roncalli's legacy. So what lies behind what appeared to many as a sudden conversion? It is precisely this question, which historiography has referred to as "the Bea enigma", that is at the centre of the investigation of this book. On the basis of documentation from private archives (including the unpublished correspondence with the bishop of Paderborn Lorenz Jaeger, published in full in the appendix), the book reconstructs the Jesuit's activity in the decade preceding the Council, when he was consultor at the Holy Office from 1949. What emerges is an original profile of the future cardinal, who gradually became an advocate and intercessor for Catholic ecumenism, particularly in Germany, during the last period of Pacelli's pontificate. It was precisely in those 'years of patience' that Augustin Bea gradually matured the skills and contacts in the ecumenical sphere that in 1960 would make him one of John XXIII's most esteemed collaborators and champion of that ecumenism destined to revolutionize the Catholic Church during Vatican II.
-----------------
Als Johannes XXIII. im Juni 1960 Kardinal Augustin Bea zum Leiter des Sekretariats für die Einheit der Christen ernannte, waren viele, wie der Dominikaner Yves Congar, verblüfft über das, was sie für eine einzigartige Wahl hielten. Was hatte ein neunundsiebzigjähriger Kardinal, ein konservativer Exeget und einer der vertrauenswürdigsten Mitarbeiter von Pius XII. und sein persönlicher Beichtvater, mit dem ökumenischen Frühling zu tun, den man vom Zweiten Vatikanum und von eben diesem Sekretariat erwartete? Doch der deutsche Jesuit sollte sich bald als einer der maßgeblichen Protagonisten der Konzilserneuerung und als einer der treuesten Interpreten von Roncallis Vermächtnis erweisen. Was steckt also hinter dem, was vielen als plötzliche Bekehrung erschien? Genau diese Frage, die von der Geschichtsschreibung als "das Bea-Rätsel" bezeichnet wurde, steht im Mittelpunkt der Untersuchung dieses Buches. Auf der Grundlage von Dokumenten aus privaten Archiven (einschließlich der unveröffentlichten Korrespondenz mit dem Paderborner Bischof Lorenz Jaeger, die im Anhang vollständig abgedruckt ist) rekonstruiert das Buch die Tätigkeit des Jesuiten in dem Jahrzehnt vor dem Konzil, als er ab 1949 Berater des Heiligen Offiziums war. Was dabei herauskommt, ist ein originelles Profil des zukünftigen Kardinals, der in der letzten Periode von Pacellis Pontifikat nach und nach zum Fürsprecher der katholischen Ökumene wurde, insbesondere in Deutschland. Gerade in diesen 'Jahren der Geduld' entwickelte Augustin Bea allmählich die Fähigkeiten und Kontakte im ökumenischen Bereich, die ihn 1960 zu einem der angesehensten Mitarbeiter von Johannes XXIII. und zum Verfechter jener Ökumene machen sollten, die die katholische Kirche während des Zweiten Vatikanischen Konzils revolutionieren sollte.
Articles in peer-reviewed academic journals by Saretta Marotta
.
The article is available for free download at:
.
https://edizionicafoscari.unive.it/it/edizioni4/riviste/journal-of-modern-and-contemporary-christianity/2024/1/the-holy-see-and-the-question-of-sending-observers/
Biblical Institute, play when, on the eve of Vatican II, the traditionalist
exegesis promoted by the Pontifical Lateran University launched its attack
on Jesuit scholars, precisely putting the preparation of the Council
at stake? Based on documentation from private archives, this article sheds
light on Bea’s position in this affair, as well as his public and private steps
in defence of the historical-critical method. In doing so, it analyses Bea’s
contribution to a particular aspect of that issue, that is the dispute over the
historicity of the Gospels, from the early years of his career as a young lecturer
at the Biblical Institute to his role in the promulgation of the Pontifical
Biblical Commission’s instruction of 21 April 1964 on this subject, which
was later adopted by Dei Verbum 19.
Catholic Exegesis – Historicity of the Gospels – Pontifical Biblical
Institute – Second Vatican Council – Augustin Bea (1881-1968)
This contribution reconstructs, on the basis of archival sources, the genesis of the institution of the Secretariat for Christian Unity.The initiative was taken prin- cipally by the cardinal Augustin Bea, who already in November 1959 suggested to the archbishop of Paderborn Lorenz Jaeger to submit to the Holy See such a proposal. Bea intervened decisively also in the drafting process of the statute of the new institution, in close collaboration with the theologians Eduard Stakemeier and Josef Höfer.
This article draws on the documents, almost entirely unedited, from the personal archive of Luigi Gedda, the founder of the Civic Committees (CC) and champion of the catholic Activism during the WW2 postwar. In this paper is examined in particular the Gedda's thought and role in preparation for the administrative elections of 1951-1952, which formed a fundamental preview of the political consultations of 1953. The declines in support for the DC, accompanied with the rise of socialist-communist forces constituted a source of great concern for the Holy See, which devised the famous "Operation Sturzo", trying to force De Gasperi to make an alliance with the right parties, like the Monarchist National Party (PNM) and the neo-fascist Italian Social Movement (MSI), to which, however, the Christian Democracy Party (DC) had a strong reserve because of their unconstitutional nature. The new documents presented in this paper help to better delineate the "political project" of Luigi Gedda, his personal evaluation of DC and of the role of catholics in italian policy, the network of contacts between the CC and the Italian Social Movement and the opposition encountered within the national leadership of Catholic Action (AC).
keywords: Luigi Gedda - Civic Committees, Catholic Action - Holy See and italian elections.
Chapters in books and conference proceedings by Saretta Marotta
Zum 50.Todestag des Jesuiten, Exegeten und Ökumenikers Augustin Bea (1881-1968), Regensburg 2018, pp. 229-246
Saretta Marotta, dottore di ricerca in Storia contemporanea, si è formata presso La Sapienza Università di Roma, l’Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia e la Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität di München. Già membro della Fondazione per le scienze religiose Giovanni XXIII di Bologna, attualmente è ricercatrice in Storia della chiesa e della teologia presso la Katholieke Universiteit di Leuven.
----------------------------------
When, in June 1960, John XXIII appointed Cardinal Augustin Bea as head of the Secretariat for Christian Unity, many, like the Dominican Yves Congar, were stunned by what they considered a singular choice. What did a seventy-nine year old cardinal, a conservative exegete and one of Pius XII's most trusted collaborators and his personal confessor, have to do with the ecumenical springtime expected from Vatican II, and from that Secretariat? Yet the German Jesuit would soon prove to be one of the most authoritative protagonists of the Council renewal and among the most faithful interpreters of Roncalli's legacy. So what lies behind what appeared to many as a sudden conversion? It is precisely this question, which historiography has referred to as "the Bea enigma", that is at the centre of the investigation of this book. On the basis of documentation from private archives (including the unpublished correspondence with the bishop of Paderborn Lorenz Jaeger, published in full in the appendix), the book reconstructs the Jesuit's activity in the decade preceding the Council, when he was consultor at the Holy Office from 1949. What emerges is an original profile of the future cardinal, who gradually became an advocate and intercessor for Catholic ecumenism, particularly in Germany, during the last period of Pacelli's pontificate. It was precisely in those 'years of patience' that Augustin Bea gradually matured the skills and contacts in the ecumenical sphere that in 1960 would make him one of John XXIII's most esteemed collaborators and champion of that ecumenism destined to revolutionize the Catholic Church during Vatican II.
-----------------
Als Johannes XXIII. im Juni 1960 Kardinal Augustin Bea zum Leiter des Sekretariats für die Einheit der Christen ernannte, waren viele, wie der Dominikaner Yves Congar, verblüfft über das, was sie für eine einzigartige Wahl hielten. Was hatte ein neunundsiebzigjähriger Kardinal, ein konservativer Exeget und einer der vertrauenswürdigsten Mitarbeiter von Pius XII. und sein persönlicher Beichtvater, mit dem ökumenischen Frühling zu tun, den man vom Zweiten Vatikanum und von eben diesem Sekretariat erwartete? Doch der deutsche Jesuit sollte sich bald als einer der maßgeblichen Protagonisten der Konzilserneuerung und als einer der treuesten Interpreten von Roncallis Vermächtnis erweisen. Was steckt also hinter dem, was vielen als plötzliche Bekehrung erschien? Genau diese Frage, die von der Geschichtsschreibung als "das Bea-Rätsel" bezeichnet wurde, steht im Mittelpunkt der Untersuchung dieses Buches. Auf der Grundlage von Dokumenten aus privaten Archiven (einschließlich der unveröffentlichten Korrespondenz mit dem Paderborner Bischof Lorenz Jaeger, die im Anhang vollständig abgedruckt ist) rekonstruiert das Buch die Tätigkeit des Jesuiten in dem Jahrzehnt vor dem Konzil, als er ab 1949 Berater des Heiligen Offiziums war. Was dabei herauskommt, ist ein originelles Profil des zukünftigen Kardinals, der in der letzten Periode von Pacellis Pontifikat nach und nach zum Fürsprecher der katholischen Ökumene wurde, insbesondere in Deutschland. Gerade in diesen 'Jahren der Geduld' entwickelte Augustin Bea allmählich die Fähigkeiten und Kontakte im ökumenischen Bereich, die ihn 1960 zu einem der angesehensten Mitarbeiter von Johannes XXIII. und zum Verfechter jener Ökumene machen sollten, die die katholische Kirche während des Zweiten Vatikanischen Konzils revolutionieren sollte.
.
The article is available for free download at:
.
https://edizionicafoscari.unive.it/it/edizioni4/riviste/journal-of-modern-and-contemporary-christianity/2024/1/the-holy-see-and-the-question-of-sending-observers/
Biblical Institute, play when, on the eve of Vatican II, the traditionalist
exegesis promoted by the Pontifical Lateran University launched its attack
on Jesuit scholars, precisely putting the preparation of the Council
at stake? Based on documentation from private archives, this article sheds
light on Bea’s position in this affair, as well as his public and private steps
in defence of the historical-critical method. In doing so, it analyses Bea’s
contribution to a particular aspect of that issue, that is the dispute over the
historicity of the Gospels, from the early years of his career as a young lecturer
at the Biblical Institute to his role in the promulgation of the Pontifical
Biblical Commission’s instruction of 21 April 1964 on this subject, which
was later adopted by Dei Verbum 19.
Catholic Exegesis – Historicity of the Gospels – Pontifical Biblical
Institute – Second Vatican Council – Augustin Bea (1881-1968)
This contribution reconstructs, on the basis of archival sources, the genesis of the institution of the Secretariat for Christian Unity.The initiative was taken prin- cipally by the cardinal Augustin Bea, who already in November 1959 suggested to the archbishop of Paderborn Lorenz Jaeger to submit to the Holy See such a proposal. Bea intervened decisively also in the drafting process of the statute of the new institution, in close collaboration with the theologians Eduard Stakemeier and Josef Höfer.
This article draws on the documents, almost entirely unedited, from the personal archive of Luigi Gedda, the founder of the Civic Committees (CC) and champion of the catholic Activism during the WW2 postwar. In this paper is examined in particular the Gedda's thought and role in preparation for the administrative elections of 1951-1952, which formed a fundamental preview of the political consultations of 1953. The declines in support for the DC, accompanied with the rise of socialist-communist forces constituted a source of great concern for the Holy See, which devised the famous "Operation Sturzo", trying to force De Gasperi to make an alliance with the right parties, like the Monarchist National Party (PNM) and the neo-fascist Italian Social Movement (MSI), to which, however, the Christian Democracy Party (DC) had a strong reserve because of their unconstitutional nature. The new documents presented in this paper help to better delineate the "political project" of Luigi Gedda, his personal evaluation of DC and of the role of catholics in italian policy, the network of contacts between the CC and the Italian Social Movement and the opposition encountered within the national leadership of Catholic Action (AC).
keywords: Luigi Gedda - Civic Committees, Catholic Action - Holy See and italian elections.
Zum 50.Todestag des Jesuiten, Exegeten und Ökumenikers Augustin Bea (1881-1968), Regensburg 2018, pp. 229-246
Based on the documentation of private archives, in particular those of Cardinal Augustin Bea in Munich, this paper will attempt to shed light on the role played by Cardinal Augustin Bea, former Rector of the Pontifical Biblical Institute, during the sessions of the Second Vatican Council in the querelle between traditionalist exegesis and the defenders of the historical-critical method. In order to do so, Bea's contribution to a particular aspect of the problem will be analysed, namely the dispute over the historicity of the sacred books, and in particular the historicity of the Gospels, on which he distributed a pamphlet under his own signature to the Council Fathers in the first weeks of the Council, and which would not be published until 1964. It is precisely from this pamphlet, the publication of which Bea had in fact been preparing since 1960, that it will be possible to glean clues, corroborated by his private correspondence, about the position that the Cardinal took in public and in private on the well-known querelle between the Biblicum and the Lateran, to the point of postulating his important role in the preparation, also probably begun in 1960, of the Instruction of the Pontifical Biblical Commission on the subject, which was finally promulgated on 21 April 1964, in parallel with the drafting of the future conciliar Constitution Dei Verbum. Such an analysis thus makes it possible to add other elements to the reconstruction of the struggle for the preparation of the Council, and to confirm the responsibility of the Secretary of State Domenico Tardini, who asked the Holy Office to take the measures that most damaged the reputation of the exegetes of the Pontifical Biblical Institute at that time, and which seemed to give a definitive victory to the traditionalist wing represented by the Roman Theological Academy.
Per informazioni e per ottenere il link Zoom, scrivere a: prof.ssa Valentina Ciciliot: [email protected]
Online Conference: 16, 17 and 18 March 2022
This conference is the first in the The Vision of Vatican II on Revelation, Church, Ecumenism, and Education project, a collaboration between the Centre for the Study of the Second Vatican Council (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven), the Research Centre for the Studies of the Second Vatican Council (Australian Catholic University), and the Tilburg School of Catholic Theology (Tilburg University).
This conference will bring together unknown aspects of the antepreparatory and preparatory stage of the council with regard to the themes of revelation, church, ecumenism and education, as well as aspects of the redaction history of the conciliar documents.
The seminar will be held at KU Leuven and broadcast live online via Zoom.
In Zusammenarbeit mit dem Geschichtsverein der Diözese Rottenburg-Stuttgart
Il cardinale Augustin Bea (1881-1968) e il cammino ecumenico Giornata di Studio in occasione del 50° anniversario della scomparsa del cardinale Bea, Venezia 22 novembre 2018, istituto studi ecumenici San Bernardino
The conference aims to bring together the most recent studies on the experience of Catholic ecumenism in the different European countries in the 1950s, in the light of the new documentary acquisitions made possible by the opening of the Vatican Archives and the increasing availability of the private archives of various protagonists of that period. During the conference, the parallel study of experiences at the same historical juncture in different national contexts will make it possible to identify mutual influences, possible emulations, collaborations or points of contact also at a transnational level. Moreover, the confrontation of scholars on such a large scale will also make it possible to analyse the action-reaction dynamic and the strategy adopted both by these groups in order to continue their activities and avoid Roman censure, and by the Holy See with regard to these ecumenical experiences, which were increasingly appearing inside and outside the Catholic Church, and towards which it was led to adopt a moderately tolerant attitude, deluding itself that it could "control their growth".
Bologna, 18th-20nd June 2017
Saretta Marotta ha ricostruito l’avvicinamento del card. Agostino Bea alla prospettiva ecumenica sulla base di una vasta ricerca e di una intelligente lettura critica della documentazione. Il volume affronta il problema, in precedenza non risolto, dell’evoluzione delle posizioni di Bea tra fine anni Cinquanta e l’inizio degli anni Sessanta del secolo scorso, proponendone una interpretazione fondata e convincente.
In particolare, l’Autrice illustra in modo efficace la cruciale influenza che il cattolicesimo tedesco e le esperienze ecumeniche in Germania hanno avuto sul card. Bea e attraverso di lui sul S. Uffizio e su altre congregazioni romane, nonché sullo stesso Pio XII. L’opera si segnala per le conoscenze nuove che porta nel campo della storia dell’ecumenismo, intorno ad una questione di particolare rilievo non solo per la storia contemporanea della Chiesa ma anche per le sue implicazioni indirette sotto il profilo dei rapporti internazionali e delle relazioni interculturali. È stata giudicata pienamente meritevole del Premio Pirovano perché si distingue per l’importanza della tematica trattata, per la qualità della ricerca, per la validità dell’interpretazione e per la padronanza di una materia indubbiamente complessa
l
Ricorre il 16 novembre 2018, il 50.esimo della morte del cardinale tedesco Agostino Bea, l'uomo che, come spiega ai nostri microfoni la ricercatrice Saretta Marotta, lavorò instancabilmente per aprire la Chiesa cattolica al dialogo con le altre Chiese e Confessioni cristiane. A lui si deve, inoltre, la Dichiarazione conciliare "Nostra aetate" che diede inizio ad un nuovo capitolo nelle relazioni tra Chiesa cattolica e popolo ebraico.
Intervista a cura di Adriana Masotti.