Enrico Tazzoli (priest)

Last updated
Enrico Tazzoli
Tazzoli1850.jpg
Photograph of Tazzoli taken around 1850
Born(1812-04-19)19 April 1812
Died7 December 1852(1852-12-07) (aged 40)
NationalityItalian
OccupationPriest
Known for Belfiore Martyr

Enrico Tazzoli (19 April 1812 - 7 December 1852) was an Italian patriot and priest, the best known of the Belfiore martyrs.

Contents

Early years

Enrico Tazzoli was born in Canneto sull'Oglio on 19 April 1812, son of Pietro Tazzoli, justice of the peace and magistrate, and Isabella Arrivabene, of a noble family. His given names were Enrico Napoleone. [1] In 1821 he was enrolled in the second class of the Goito secondary school, where he immediately began to show his inclination for the priestly life. Later he entered the seminary in Verona.[ citation needed ] He was ordained on 19 April 1835 by the bishop of Verona, since the Mantuan seat was vacant after the death of Giuseppe Maria Bozzi. [2] In 1844 he published the "Book of the people" which denounced social inequality. Tazzoli became a professor of philosophy at the seminary of Mantua, and taught school. He was never a pastor. He lived with his mother near Mantua Cathedral in the Zuccaro district. [a]

Tazzoli was arrested the first time on 12 November 1848 for giving a sermon in Duomo against the tyrannical imperial powers who allowed the sack of Mantua of 1630, evidently an allusion to the imperial Austrians of his time. [3] The arrest was ordered by the Captain Carl Pichler von Deeben, the same man who ordered Ugo Bassi shot in Bologna in 1849, and who in 1851 ordered the same fate for Giovanni Grioli. For the moment, however, the arrest was done only as a warning. In a search of the house he turned a blind eye to the tricolor scarf that was found among the books, but warned the priest's mother to burn the 5 giornate (5 days) of Ignazio Cantù and the poems of Giovanni Berchet. Don Enrico was then released, and on returning home found a large crowd applauding his courage and ideas. [4]

Conspiracy and arrest

Monument at Canneto sull'Oglio Canneto sull'Oglio-Monumento a don Enrico Tazzoli.jpg
Monument at Canneto sull'Oglio

While Tazzoli did not share the religious vision of Giuseppe Mazzini, he became convinced that his Young Italy movement was the only one that had the membership and organization needed to take concrete action. Very involved in Catholic philanthropy and popular education, he married the "enlightened" principles of his Christianity with the humanitarian and "democratic" spirit of the Risorgimento to define his supreme love of country, his second religion.

On 2 November 1850, in a house at number 10 on the street in Mantua which is today called via Giovanni Chiassi, twenty Mantuans [b] participated in the meeting which laid the foundation of an anti-Austrian insurrection plan. Don Enrico Tazzoli was the main organizer and coordinator of the conspiracy. He was also in contact with Mazzini, in exile in London, and was actively engaged in distributing Mazzini's leaflets. The Austrian police accidentally found some of these leaflets, and by using torture discovered the conspiracy. Don Enrico Tazzoli was arrested on 27 January 1852. Many documents were seized, including an encrypted register in which he noted receipts and expenses, with the names of members who had paid money. On 24 June, while in prison, Don Tazzoli learned that the Austrians had deciphered the key to understanding his book, which was based on his Pater Noster. Members from Mantua, Verona, Brescia and Venice were arrested.

Eponym submarine for Tazzoli (S 511)

USS Barb SS-220, a Gato-class submarine, was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the Barbus, a genus of ray-finned fish. After serving couragously in World War II for the United States, the submarine was loaned to the Italian Navy in 1954 and was renamed Enrico Tazzoli (S 511) by the Italian Navy, after Tazzoli.

The submarine was eventually sold for scrap in 1972 for approximately $100,000 (currently $728,000). Admiral Eugene B. Fluckey, the former American commander of the submarine on the last five of her 12 World War II patrols, noted that had the crew known of this, they would have bought the sub and brought her back to the United States to serve as a museum ship. [6]

Previously, Italian submarine Enrico Tazzoli (1935), which was lost during a blockade-running mission between Europe and the Far East in May 1943, was also named after Tazzoli.

Death and aftermath

Shrewdly the Austrian authorities obtained a special order from Pope Pius IX, who overrode the bishop and ordered the defrocking of Enrico Tazzoli. This was done on 24 November. [7] Monsignor Giovanni Corti was forced to read the formula of condemnation, remove the vestments and scrape with a knife the skin of the fingers that had held the host of the Eucharist. There now being no conflict with ecclesiastical law, on 4 December the Austrians gave the ten people who had been tried the judgment of the Austrian Council of War, which on 13 November had already decreed the death sentence.

Mantua, plaque on Enrico Tazzoli's house Mantova, Lapide a Enrico Tazzoli.jpg
Mantua, plaque on Enrico Tazzoli's house

The emotion aroused and the subsequent intervention of the Lombard religious authorities led the Governor General Josef Radetzky to commute some of the sentences to years in prison, but he upheld the death penalty for Tazzoli, Scarsellini, Poma, Canal and Zambelli. On 7 December 1852 the condemned men were executed by hanging in Belfiore, just outside the walls of the city of Mantua.

Twenty years after their martyrdom, 7 December 1872, Enrico Tazzoli was commemorated with the national premiere of the play by Riccardo Bonati "Enrico Tazzoli and the martyrs of 1852", presented at the Andreani theater of Mantua. [8]

Writings

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Giuseppe Mazzini</span> Italian nationalist activist, politician, journalist and philosopher

Giuseppe Mazzini was an Italian politician, journalist, and activist for the unification of Italy (Risorgimento) and spearhead of the Italian revolutionary movement. His efforts helped bring about the independent and unified Italy in place of the several separate states, many dominated by foreign powers, that existed until the 19th century. An Italian nationalist in the historical radical tradition and a proponent of a republicanism of social-democratic inspiration, Mazzini helped define the modern European movement for popular democracy in a republican state.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mantua</span> City in Lombardy, Italy

Mantua is a comune (municipality) in the Italian region of Lombardy, and capital of the province of the same name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Arcole</span> 1796 battle during the War of the First Coalition

The Battle of Arcole or Battle of Arcola was fought between French and Austrian forces 25 kilometres (16 mi) southeast of Verona during the War of the First Coalition, a part of the French Revolutionary Wars. The battle saw a bold maneuver by Napoleon Bonaparte's French Army of Italy to outflank the Austrian army led by József Alvinczi and cut off its line of retreat. The French victory proved to be a highly significant event during the third Austrian attempt to lift the siege of Mantua. Alvinczi planned to execute a two-pronged offensive against Bonaparte's army. The Austrian commander ordered Paul Davidovich to advance south along the Adige River valley with one corps while Alvinczi led the main army in an advance from the east. The Austrians hoped to raise the siege of Mantua where Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser was trapped with a large garrison. If the two Austrian columns linked up and if Wurmser's troops were released, French prospects were grim.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Province of Mantua</span> Province of Italy

The province of Mantua is a province in the Lombardy region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Mantua. It is bordered to the north-east by the province of Verona, to the east by the province of Rovigo, to the south by the province of Ferrara, province of Modena, province of Reggio Emilia and province of Parma, to the west by the province of Cremona and to the north-west by the province of Brescia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vincenzo I Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua</span> Duke of Mantua and Montferrat

Vincenzo Ι Gonzaga was the ruler of the Duchy of Mantua and the Duchy of Montferrat from 1587 to 1612.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Attilio Ruffini</span> Italian politician (1924–2011)

Attilio Ruffini was an Italian politician.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Goito</span> Comune in Lombardy, Italy

Goito is a comune with a population of 10,005 in the Province of Mantua in Lombardy. Goito is 20 kilometres (12 mi) north of Mantua on the road leading to Brescia and Lake Garda, and straddles the old east–west Via Postumia between Cremona and Verona. The town is on the right bank of the Mincio River at a key crossing. The birthplace of Sordello, Goito is part of the historic region known as Alto Mantovano and was the site of a notable fortress.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mantua Cathedral</span> Church in Italy

Mantua Cathedral in Mantua, Lombardy, northern Italy, is a Roman Catholic cathedral dedicated to Saint Peter. It is the seat of the Bishop of Mantua.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roman Catholic Diocese of Mantua</span> Roman Catholic diocese in Italy

The Diocese of Mantua is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Italy. The diocese existed at the beginning of the 8th century, though the earliest attested bishop is Laiulfus (827). It has been a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Milan since 1819.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Belfiore martyrs</span> Group of pro-independence fighters during the Italian Risorgimento

The Belfiore martyrs were a group of pro-independence fighters condemned to death by hanging between 1852 and 1853 during the Italian Risorgimento. They included Tito Speri and the priest Enrico Tazzoli and are named after the site where the sentence was carried out, in the valley of Belfiore at the south entrance to Mantua. The hanging was the first in a long series of death sentences imposed by Josef Radetzky, governor general of Lombardy–Venetia. As a whole these sentences marked the culmination of Austrian repression after the First Italian War of Independence and marked the failure of all re-pacification policies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paride Suzzara Verdi</span>

Paride Suzzara Verdi was an Italian patriot, journalist and politician.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Giovanni Corti</span>

Giovanni Corti was an Italian priest who became Bishop of Mantua. He supported the cause of Italian reunification at a time when his diocese was under Austrian rule, although he defended the temporal powers of the Pope.

Giovanni Battista Bellé was an Italian priest who became Bishop of Mantua, based in the city of Mantua, Italy.

The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Mantua in the Lombardy region of Italy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Palazzo San Sebastiano</span>

The Palazzo San Sebastiano is a 16th-century palace in Mantua. Built by the Gonzaga family, since 19 March 2005 it has housed Mantua's city museum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Castello di San Giorgio, Mantua</span>

The Castello di San Giorgio is part of the Ducal palace of Mantua. It is a moated rectangular castle, each of which's four corners has a large tower and the moat is crossed by three drawbridges.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pietro Frattini</span>

Pietro Domenico Frattini was a supporter of Italian unification and one of the Belfiore martyrs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Giuseppe Finzi</span> Italian politician

Giuseppe Finzi was a patriot and Italian politician.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Castel Goffredo</span> History of the municipality of Castel Goffredo, Italy

The history of Castel Goffredo, an Italian municipality located in Upper Mantua on the border with the province of Brescia, began in the first half of the 3rd millennium B.C., although the present town was founded in Roman times and then developed over the following centuries. In the early medieval period the history of the city was closely linked to the control of the powerful families of the Visconti, Della Scala and the Republic of Venice. However, the city's history remains inextricably linked to the Gonzaga, who ruled it for 400 years. An autonomous fief from 1444 to 1602 under the first marquis Alessandro Gonzaga, it was at this town, in 1511 with Aloisio Gonzaga, that the collateral branches of the "Gonzaga of Castel Goffredo, Castiglione and Solferino" and the minor branch of the "Gonzaga of Castel Goffredo" originated, which died out in 1593. Castel Goffredo became one of the historic Gonzaga capitals, the forerunner of other small capitals from Castiglione to Sabbioneta, due to its urban layout of 1480, equipped with a strict orthogonal grid. With the advent of Napoleon, the town was part of the Cisalpine Republic and, after its fall, of the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia; in 1861 it was finally united to the Kingdom of Italy, following its subsequent historical events.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scipione Agnelli</span> Italian Catholic bishop (1586-1653)

Scipione Agnelli was an Italian Catholic bishop, scholar and jurist.

References

Notes

  1. Tazzoli's former house is on what is now Via Don Enrico Tazzoli
  2. The twenty Mantuans were, in alphabetical order, Acerbi Giovanni, Borchetta Giuseppe, Borelli Giuseppe, Castellazzo Luigi, Chiassi Giovanni, Ferrari Aristide, Giacometti Vincenzo, Marchi Carlo, Mori Attilio, Pezzarossa Giuseppe, Poma Carlo, Quintavalle Giuseppe, Rossetti Giovanni, Sacchi Achille, Siliprandi Francesco, Suzzara Verdi Paride, Tassoni Dario, Tazzoli Enrico, Vettori Alessandro, Zanucchi Omero. [5]

Citations

  1. Cantù 1869, p. 153.
  2. Martini 1870, p. 141.
  3. Cantù 1869, p. 181.
  4. Luzio 1908, pp. 16–17.
  5. Cipolla 2006, p. 163.
  6. Fluckey 1997 , p.  423
  7. Cantù 1869, pp. 226–227.
  8. Don Tazzoli, teatro e mostra.

Sources