Pope Leo XIII Creates Knight St. Gregory w/ Badge &Case

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Leo XIII document signed, one page, folio 11 x 16 inches, Rome, April 22, 1882, awarding the Knighthood of the Order of St. Gregory the Great to Georges Firmin-Didot, and signed on behalf of the Pope by Teodolfo Cardinal Mertel, the last layman named by any Pope as a Cardinal of the Church. This is the highest award a layman can receive from the Pope and oddly, signed by the last Lay Cardinal of the Church. Along with original transmittal letter signed by Lodovico Cardinal Jacobini and addressed envelope bearing blind papal seal on reverse. Along with the Knights Cross, Order of St. Gregory the Great, Knighthood, which measures 3.75 x 2 inch from top of ribbon to end of medal. The Order is in its red leather, white silk and black velvet gilt marked, case of issue with jeweler hallmark and imprint. Rare to find a complete Papal Knighthood documentation and Knights Cross in case of issue. The Knights Cross itself is green, red, and blue enamel on metal and has the image of St. Gregory on one side. Cardinal Mertel was a lawyer was created a Cardinal by Pope Pius IX in 1858 and ordained a deacon the day after his appointment. The Papal document has been scanned in sections because of its size, and bears a one and half inch circular red seal of the Pope showing St. Peter in a boat, and it and accompanying letter and envelope are in excellent condition. The Knights Cross case has some aging, nicks and some soiling as shown in scan, and the ribbon on one side has some fading, otherwise in excellent condition. Photo not included. I have been a member of the Manuscript Society since 1956 and am selling part of my collection. See my other Ebay Historical Autographs listed today. Leo XIII worked to encourage understanding between the Church and the modern world, though he preferred a cautious view on freedom of thought, stating that "is quite unlawful to demand, defend, or to grant unconditional freedom of thought, or speech, of writing or worship, as if these were so many rights given by nature to man", and rejected some forms of egalitarianism: "People differ in capacity, skill, health, strength; and unequal fortune is a necessary result of unequal condition. Such inequality is far from being disadvantageous either to individuals or to the community."[1] He firmly re-asserted the scholastic doctrine that science and religion co-exist, and required the study of Thomas Aquinas[2] and opened the Vatican Secret Archives to qualified researchers, among whom was the noted historian of the Papacy Ludwig von Pastor. Leo XIII was also the first Pope to come out strongly in favour of the French Republic, upsetting many French monarchists. In his relations with the Italian state, Leo XIII continued the Papacy's self-imposed incarceration in the Vatican stance, and continued to insist that Italian Catholics should not vote in Italian elections or hold elected office. In his first consistory in 1879 he elevated his older brother Giuseppe a cardinal. Pope Leo XIII Leo XIII was the first Pope of whom a sound recording was made. The recording can be found on a compact disc of Alessandro Moreschi's singing; a recording of his performance of the Ave Maria is available on the web. He was also the first Pope to be filmed on the motion picture camera. He was filmed by its inventor, W. K. Dickson, and blessed the camera afterward. Leo XIII brought normalcy back to the Church after the tumultuous years of Pius IX. Leo's intellectual and diplomatic skills helped regain much of the prestige lost with the fall of the Papal States. He tried to reconcile the Church with the working class, particularly by dealing with the social changes that were sweeping Europe. The new economic order had resulted in the growth of an impoverished working class, with increasing anti-clerical and socialist sympathies. Leo helped reverse this trend. Coat of Arms of Pope Leo XIII Under Bismarck, the anti-Catholic kulturkampf in Germany led to massive reprisals against the Church. Under Leo, the anti-Catholic measures subsided. The Centre Party in Germany ... read more

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