Romanism! Part VII. The latest in the Ongoing Series.
Pope Pius XII celebrating Mass. Notice Eva Peron to extreme right in Black Mantilla.
The Belgian Royal Family 1922, Vatican City
The King and Queen of Italy 1939, Vatican City
President of Ireland, Sean Thomas O’Kelly, received by Pope Pius XII.
You amaze me with what you find. Don’t be offended, but the King and Queen of Italy photo reminds me of a Marx Brothers comedy. Excellent visual documentation however. Y
Thank you.
1) I love any picture Cardinal Dante is in! Excellent Papal M.C., especially when he is at work during Papal ceremonies!
2) Eva’s pictures: As a friend told me, and I later saw in a documentary on “Peronismo,” Eva Peron was really expecting to receive the title of Papal Duchess from Pope Pius XII. She was very disappointed when she did not get anything. Well, she did get a rosary, but that is not what she was expecting at all. If I remember correctly, her audience with the Pope lasted only about 20 minutes, then she was out of St. Peter’s.
3) Cardinal Roncalli’s picture. This picture was right before the conclave. He is wearing the Cardinals’ mourning dress – notice that he is not wearing a laced rochet.
Terry, no offense at all, it does kind of look like a dinner party from the Marx Bros, or even better, the 3 Stooges. They’ll end up throwing pies, or soup at each other. Not to mention the Queen is about 2 feet taller than the King. He kind of looks like the lil’ old bald guy in the Benny Hill show. Benny used to take off the guys hat, and quickly smack him on the top of the head.
Latinmass, Very observant on Card Roncalli, and Eva Peron info was good. Papal Duchess? The nerve!She was just some actress who married a guy. Also, check on the link (also on my blogroll) for a latin Mass Site in Sweden named in honour of Cardinal Dante: http://kristkonung.se/
Kenny,
Very observant on the height of the Queen and King! Only royalty can get away with that! (he he he).
Eva, for someone who claimed to be one of the “people,” showed her true colors when she wanted to be set apart from them by wanting to be named a Papal Duchess. She was received like royalty (or head of state -even though she was not the official president of Argentina) when she went to Spain and Italy. But of course, Franco was in Spain and Italy (at least at that time) seemed to welcome the idea that Italy and Argentina were “sister nations” due to the heavy Italian population in Argentina (or at least a heavy population of Italian descent). So, no surprises there…
The other thing about Eva – She was not a natural blond! I’m guessing she was the one who started the whole thing that blonde is better, especially if you are in front of cameras. She, as you said, was an actress, but not a good one. However, when she spoke, she did have some talent for that – I think…. even if what she said was not always good or true all the time.
Thanks for the link to Mgr. Dante’s Latin Mass. I had seen it before, but I had not saved it. Then a while back, I saw it again in your blogroll and now it is part of my favorites-folder. I have a lot of pictures of him – some of which I have gotten from your site!- and I would not mind finding more pictures of him at work!
It seems that the Swiss guards of then were much older than the Swiss guards of today, who are really teenagers.
I think maye they were still more a “professional soldier” group back then. I think now they only stay for a few years, perhaps then it was more of a lifetime thing?
Whose the bald guy with the eye patch?
He’s a prince, and the Grand Master of the Sacred Hospital. I will have a post with him, and others of the Pontifical Court shortly.
Andrew,
The name of the prince was Prince Ruspoli [I'm not sure of his Christian name]. Eva Peron was about 25 minutes late for the audience, and so Pius XII kept her waiting for 25 minutes before she was given entrance to the audience chamber. On the way to the audience her motorcade was splattered with tomatoes and fruit. She turned to Prince Ruspoli and complained that some of the jeerers had shouted out ‘whore!’ The prince replied, ‘don’t worry, my dear I haven’t been to sea for many years but some people still call me “Admiral”‘
As far as I can ascertain, his name was Alessandro Ruspoli: I believe he was also Best Man at Tyrone Power’s wedding to Linda Christian in the Church of St Francesca Romana in the Roman Forum, 1947.