BENEDICT XV: (1854-1922) Pope of the Roman Catholic Church 1914-22. His Pontificate was dominated by World War I, which he termed ''The suicide of Europe''. An excellent and lengthy A.L.S. `Benedictus PP XV´, three pages, 4to, `Dal Vaticano, 7th March 1917´, to Cardinal Giulio Boschi, in Italian. The letter bears to the heading of the front page a very attractive and colourful golden embossed seal with the papal monogram of the Genovese family of the Pope, della Chiesa, showing an eagle and a church. Benedict XV, in his capacity as Pope, states in part `Eminenza, Dalla sua lettera di ieri rilevo con piacere che la salute di Vostra Eminenza va migliorando; pero credo che per ora Ella non debe pensare a tornare a Ferrara. Temo che non abbia fatto bene a lasciare Amalfi troppo presto, ma ora farebbe peggio ad esporsi al lungo viaggio, anche perché mi dicono che in Romagna l´inverno e straordinariamente rigido…´ (Translation: “Your Eminence, From your letter yesterday I note with pleasure that Your Eminence's health is improving; but I think that for the moment you shouldn't think about returning to Ferrara. I fear that you did not do well leaving Amalfi too early, but now you would do worse to expose yourself to the long trip, also because they tell me that winter in Romagna is extraordinarily harsh…  “) Further, referring to the Amalfi lottery, the Pope states in part `…Le faccio poi rimettere il premio per la Lotteria di Amalfi, supponendo che Le possa far piacere di trasmetterlo al Presidente della Conferenza di St. Vincenzo de Paoli con la benedidizione apostolica per lui e per i socii della Conferenza…´ (Translation: “…I therefore ask you to return the prize for the Amalfi Lottery, supposing that you would like to pass it on to the President of the Conference of St. Vincent de Paul with the apostolic blessing for him and for the members of the Conference…”) very small minor crease to the right edge, otherwise VG

 

Giulio Boschi (1838-1920) Italian Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. Archbishop of Ferrara 1900-19.