Early life of Pope Pius XII
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Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli, later Pope Pius XII was born March 2,1876, to Filippo and Virginia (née Graziosi) Pacelli, in Rome. His grandfather, Marcantonio Pacelli, had been minister of finance for Pope Gregory XVI and minister of foreign affairs under Pius IX from 1851 to 1870. His father Filippo, was a lawyer in the Congregation of the Sacred Rota. The family's parish church in Rome was the Chiesa Nuova where the body of St. Philip Neri was under the altar and is now in a silver casket.
He was the third of four children, the second son. Two days after his birth, he was baptized at the Church of Saints Celso and Giuliano by his uncle, Monsignor Giuseppe Pacelli. His godparents were his maternal uncle Filippo Graziosi and paternal aunt Teresa Pacelli.
In the apartment where he grew up, there was a shrine of the Madonna with a prie-dieu Pacelli would frequently pray. He attended a kindergarten and elementary school conducted by the Sisters of Divine Providence at the age of four. In 1939, a bust of Pius XII was unveiled at the school.
After elementary school, at age 7, Pacelli began his studies at the Ennio Quirino Visconti Lyceum, where he learned several languages, including Latin. Pacelli also served as an alter boy.
He had a passion for acting and public speaking. In his family summer home in Onano, he would ride horses, swim and canoe in Lake Bolzena, and hike frequently. He was also interested in stamp collecting and Archaeology. The latter would manifest itself years later in Divino Afflante Spiritu.
Records show that he graduated with highest honors and is reported to have had a photographic memory. At age twelve, he announced that he would enter the priesthood instead of becoming a lawyer. In 1894, at the age of 18, he entered he Capranica Seminary and enrolled at the Gregorian University.
He lived at home (an unprecedented dispensation) while continuing his studies at the Sapienza School of Philosophy and Letter and the Papal Athenaeum of St. Apollinaris for Theology, receiving Baccalaureate and Licentiate degrees summa cum laude. His frail health prevented his participation at the graduation ceremony.
He was ordained on Easter Sunday, April 2, 1899 and celebrated his first mass the following day in Borghese Chapel of the Basilica of Saint Mary Major in Rome.
[edit] References
- Sr. Margherita Marchione, Pope Pius XII: Architect for Peace (Paulist Press, 2000). ISBN 0-8091-3912-X
