Father Lanteri Finds an Eager and Capable Collaborator to Help Build Amicizia in Turin

As mentioned in previous installments of this series, little is known about the Amicizia apostolate in Italy in the years leading up to the French Revolution. Father Pio Brunone Lanteri unquestionably organized Aa, Amicizia Sacerdotale, and Amicizia Cristiana in Turin. He was also a driving force in disseminating good books.

At the same time, Father Nicholas Diessbach won supporters for the sodality in Vienna and several Swiss cities.

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In Paris, Father Luigi Virginio collaborated closely with Father Pierre Picot de la Clorivière. This association allowed him to introduce Amicizia in France and become familiar with the French Catholic environment. Unfortunately, this work was interrupted when the French Revolution broke out in 1789. Eventually, Father Virginio had to leave France. A few years later, the French invasion of the Piedmont region of Italy dispersed the Amicizia Cristiana from Turin and Milan. These had been Italy’s two most successful nuclei. This setback made it difficult to continue the intellectual apostolate.

However, one important development from the pre-Revolutionary period remains to be discussed. In 1788, the Marquis Cesare d’Azeglio joined the Turin Amicizia. In addition to his noble rank, the Marquis was also an outstanding Italian Catholic journalist. He became one of the mainstays of the association and dramatically assisted Father Lanteri’s work.

The Marquis was a son of Count Roberto de Lagnasco and Countess Cristina de Genola. His older brother, Vittorio Ferdinando, Marquis of Montanesa, died very young. Cesare inherited his ancestors’ titles, becoming the Count of Lagnasco, Genola and Costadona, and Marquis of Montanesa and d’Azeglio. The family name was Taparelli, but upon inheriting his titles, he began using d’Azeglio, by which he became best known. His descendants retained that name.¹

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In a quick sketch of his father’s life, I miei ricordi, Massimo d’Azeglio comments on the eighteenth-century Piedmontese nobility. It was deeply devoted to the House of Savoy, had a marked military character, and was zealous of its traditions. A passage seems to summarize the picture aptly:

“In old Piedmont, full of excellent qualities, these traits of immutability, love of tradition, and distrust of novelty that characterize all strong races that remain so for a long time were ubiquitous.”²

One episode recounted in that book shows how deeply ingrained tradition was in the nobility of the time. The origin of the Taparelli family is not well known. It is certain, however, that a knight named Brénier Chapel went to Italy, accompanying the expedition of Charles of Anjou, brother of Saint Louis IX, King of France. He settled in the north of the Peninsula, possibly in Savigliano. His name, Chapel, changed to Taparelli over time.

Some centuries later, a Brénier from Brittany came to Savigliano and saw his own coat of arms displayed in a palace. Curious, he sought out its owner – a Taparelli—to see if they were related. After talking at length without concluding how their genealogies intertwined, the French knight remembered a fool-proof test. He asked what saint the Taparelli family was most devoted to, and the answer dispelled all doubts: Saint Mary Magdalene, the saint most often invoked by Brittany’s Bréniers.

Cesare d’Azeglio was born on February 10, 1763. Following the custom of Piedmont’s aristocracy, he joined the army at age 11. However, he was soon promoted to cadet and officer of the Queen’s Regiment and served in various Italian cities. In 1780, he returned to Turin and was appointed squire to the Duke of Aosta, the future Victor Emmanuel I, King of Sardinia, from 1801 to 1821.

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Although his Catholic family always remained faithful to the Church and the papacy in the struggles between Italy’s temporal and spiritual powers, the young Cesare lost his faith. He began leading an intense social life with young people of his age group. He became intoxicated with all the errors that led to the French Revolution. He gave up practicing religion, although he attended services when social conventions required.

In 1784, he converted and changed his life entirely after hearing a sermon in the Turin cathedral. The news caused a stir at court, which might have shaken his good resolutions. However, a severe illness kept him away from social life until 1788. That year, he married the Marquise Cristina Morozzo de Bianzé. They had eight children, only three of whom survived to adulthood: Count Roberto d’Azeglio, Massimo d’Azeglio, and the celebrated Jesuit Luigi Prospero Taparelli d’Azeglio.

Father Lanteri’s papers, Father Candido Bona found an undated note from before 1798. In it, Cesare d’Azeglio was already identified as Amicizia’s secretary. As we shall see, he left Turin during the wars with revolutionary France, so this note may date from the early years after his admission to the sodality.

As it turned out, the Marquis had little time to devote to the Amicizia apostolate in this first phase of his collaboration with Father Lanteri. In 1792, France invaded the Piedmont region. Cesare d’Azeglio served in the Piedmontese royal army. First, he was an aide-de-camp to Count Saint André, who commanded the troops in the County of Nice. Later, he became lieutenant colonel of the Vercelli regiment in the Valley of Aosta. In this role, he distinguished himself by acts of bravery.

 After the battle of Marengo (June 14, 1800), he returned briefly to Turin and withdrew to Florence in voluntary exile. Only in 1807 was he able to return to his home permanently. In 1817, he re-established his relationship with Father Lanteri and Amicizia, and they worked together closely until both men’s deaths in 1830.

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