Carlo Cattaneo: the Religiosity of a Relunctant Revolutionary
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Brigham Young University BYU ScholarsArchive Theses and Dissertations 2007-06-06 Carlo Cattaneo: The Religiosity of a Relunctant Revolutionary Carolyn Bennett Ugolini Brigham Young University - Provo Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd Part of the History Commons BYU ScholarsArchive Citation Ugolini, Carolyn Bennett, "Carlo Cattaneo: The Religiosity of a Relunctant Revolutionary" (2007). Theses and Dissertations. 1004. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/1004 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. CARLO CATTANEO: THE RELIGIOSITY OF A RELUCTANT REVOLUTIONARY b y Carolyn Bennett Ugolini A thesis submitted to the faculty of Brigham Young University in partial fulfillment of Master of Arts Department of History Brigham Young University April 2007 BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY GRADUATE COMMITTEE APPROVAL of a Master’s Thesis submitted by Carolyn Bennett Ugolini This thesis has been read by each member of the following graduate committee and by majority vote has been found satisfactory. Date Mark I. Choate, Chair Date Rodney Bohac Donald Harreld BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY As chair of the candidate’s graduate committee, I have read the MA thesis of Carolyn Bennett Ugolini in its final form and have found that (1) its format, citations, and bibliographical style are consistent and acceptable and fulfill university and department style requirements; and (2) the final manuscript is satisfactory to the graduate committee and is ready for submission to the university library. Date Mark I. Choate Chair, Graduate Committee Accepted for the Department Kendall Brown Graduate Coordinator Accepted for the College Elaine Walton Associate Dean, College of Family, Home and Social Sciences ABSTRACT CARLO CATTANEO: THE RELIGIOSITY OF A RELUCTANT REVOLUTIONARY Carolyn Bennett Ugolini Department of History Master of Arts Carlo Cattaneo (1801-1869) would have been a remarkable man in any time period. He was interested in everything, and as a man of ideas was involved in the astonishing technological and stimulating political events of the nineteenth century. He encouraged the building of railways as a way to unite the Italian peninsula, and he was involved in connecting Italy to the rest of Europe through the St. Gothard Tunnel. An innovator of gas lighting in his native Milan, the great Lombard thinker was a prolific writer, and kept prodigious notes and copies of his correspondence. His economic and scientific involvement in the latest technology was emblematic of the intellectual strides he made. For example, he logically and rationally argued for racial and religious tolerance of the Jews over one hundred years before the enactment of the infamous Racial Laws in Fascist Italy. Today, most know Carlo Cattaneo as the father of Italian federalism. During the Cinque Giornate insurrection in Milan in 1848, Carlo Cattaneo was an integral part of the war committee, and its spokesman. Although he had many liberal ideas about government and the rights of men, Carlo Cattaneo was a reluctant revolutionary, preferring exile in Switzerland over pledging allegiance to the Savoyard monarchy during the Risorgimento. Historians have almost unanimously declared that Carlo Cattaneo was anticlerical and irreligious. This was not true. CARLO CATTANEO: THE RELIGIOSITY OF A RELUCTANT REVOLUTIONARY examines the writings and the correspondence of Carlo Cattaneo, and concludes that the Cattanean opus is replete with Biblical references and allusions, Christian traditions and ideas. Historians have not taken the religiosity found in the writings of Carlo Cattaneo seriously. This thesis does. E cosí molti insegnamenti di libertà stanno nell’evangelio; ma il popolo li ha sempre ignorati; perché quello è tesoro del quale i nemici della libertá tengono la chiave. And so many teachings of liberty are found in the gospel; but the people have always been ignorant; because that is a treasure for which the enemies of liberty hold the key. Carlo Cattaneo, Archivio Triennale, 1849 SPE I, 375. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This thesis is the cumulation of many years of study and preparation. Since I was an undergraduate thirty years ago, I have wanted to pursue a Master’s Degree in History. Needless to say the submission of this thesis is a dream come true. I am very appreciative of the many faculty members of the History Department who encouraged me as I resume my studies. I am particularly grateful to professors Blair Holmes, William Hamblin and Donald Harreld for guiding me through their undergraduate courses as I prepared to enter graduate school. Smiling Julie Radle, the History Department secretary has been a constant guide and help as I made my way through the graduate program from start to finish. The graduate course work was invigorating; the readings were fascinating. The professors (Rod Bohac, Craig Harline, Don Harreld, Paul Kerry and Paul Pixton) were inspiring and stimulating each in their own way. Thank you. I have had the good fortune to work with three graduate coordinators, Mary Stovall Richards, Kathryn Daynes and Kendall Brown. Thank you for your guidance, encouragement and support. My graduate committee, professors Mark I. Choate, Rod Bohac and Don Harreld, was very supportive. I particularly enjoyed our exchanges during the defense, and reading their comments of my thesis. It was thrilling to engage with each committee member’s perspective and viewpoint. It was a marvelous intellectual experience. I am particularly grateful to Mark Choate for his encouragement, support and friendship during the past three years. We made a plan and stuck with it. It has also been a great experience working with him as a Research Assistant. He is truly a great scholar. Most of all, I am very grateful to my family, especially my husband, Valeriano Ugolini, as they have allowed Carlo Cattaneo to become an unseen, but often heard member of our family. Valeriano is an inspiration in engaging new thoughts and rethinking old. We persevered through his graduate work together, and endured mine. I am truly grateful for the hours we have discussed my course work and my Cattanean readings ad nauseam. Valeriano has read almost every word I have written during my graduate studies. His suggestions have been priceless. He has supported me as our house has filled with books, and more books. I am so grateful to you, Valeriano, for your example, love and support, and I love you very much. My daughters, Sharon and Allyson have also been very supportive, and allowed me to invade their territory, Brigham Young University. Both have since graduated. Without their help, encouragement and assistance, I would not be at this point. I am grateful for their examples. All of my family has pitched in with running our household. We have survived stronger than ever. I love you, Sharon and Allyson. Graduate studies has been a marvelous experience, which I have thoroughly enjoyed. I have learned so very much. My thinking and analytical abilities have greatly improved and been enhanced. I look forward to applying these newly refined skills in both my personal and professional lives. As Carlo Cattaneo exhorted, “every man has an interest in the culture of mankind as a whole” (Del pensiero come principio d’economia publica, 101). Personal progression in intelligence and free will are essential for society’s success. CONTENTS ABSTRACT........................................................................................................................v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................vii INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................. 1 CHAPTER ONE HISTORIOGRAPHY OF THE WRITINGS AND LIFE OF CARLO CATTANEO ........................................................................................................ 18 CHAPTER TWO RELIGIOSITY IN THE WRITINGS OF CARLO CATTANEO ........................ 43 CHAPTER THREE THE RELIGIOSITY OF CARLO CATTANEO IN HIS CORRESPONDENCE ......................................................................................... 66 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................ 87 BIBLIOGRAPHY ...........................................................................................................103 ix INTRODUCTION Carlo Cattaneo (1801-1869) was one of the finest writers and intellectual minds of nineteenth-century Italy.1 During his illustrious life, Cattaneo was diversified and eclectic in his interests. He was a lawyer, economist, teacher, historian, philosopher, politician, scientist, writer and editor. In these roles, Cattaneo participated in many of the salient events of nineteenth-century Italian history, and the impact of his writing reverberates into the twenty-first century Italy and Europe.2 Nonetheless, most casual scholars and 1This is an opinion held by contemporaries as well as historians. Jessie White Mario, called a Risorgimento revolutionary by her biographer Elizabeth Adams Daniels, was an intimate (along with her husband, Alberto Mario) of Garibaldi, Mazzini, Cattaneo and other participants in the Risorgimento. While writing as a correspondent for the Nation on current affairs in