imported>Referencer12: Adding local short description: "Catholic organization dedicated to defending the church in civil courts (1878–1909)", overriding Wikidata description "organization"

2023-03-29T04:20:07Z

Adding local short description: "Catholic organization dedicated to defending the church in civil courts (1878–1909)", overriding Wikidata description "organization"

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{{Short description|Catholic organization dedicated to defending the church in civil courts (1878–1909)}}
The '''Advocates of Saint Peter''' (Italian: ''Avvocati di San Pietro'', French: ''Avocats de Saint-Pierre'') were a body of [[jurist]]s, whose stated main object was the defense of the [[Holy See]] in its rights and privileges, both in the spiritual and [[Temporal power (Papal)|temporal order]]. It was established in 1878 and suppressed in 1909.

==History==
They constituted a society whose statutes were confirmed ''[[Wikt:approbatio|approbatio]]'' <ref>[http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/encyc01.html?term=Advocates%20of%20St.%20Peter ccel.org][Retrieved 2011-12-28]</ref> within a July 5 brief of [[Leo XIII]] during 1878.

It bound its members to refute [[defamation|false statements]] of enemies of the Church, whether derived from distortions of history, [[jurisprudence]], or [[dogma]], but above all were they to devote their legal knowledge to a defense of the Church's rights before civil [[tribunal]]s. The society was formed in 1877, on the occasion of the Golden Episcopal Jubilee of [[Pope Pius IX]], and the Advocate Count Cajetan Agnelli dei Malherbi, of [[Rome]], became its first [[president (corporate title)|president]]. The ordinary members were jurists, but the society also enrolled as honorary members distinguished ecclesiastics or laymen who have made it a practice to defend Church interests along the lines of this organization.

Pope Pius IX warmly approved of the undertaking and desired a wide extension of the society.

The society spread rapidly over the Catholic world, and branches of the society were found in many countries. Colleges of the Advocates of Saint Peter, numbering many hundred members, existed in [[Italy]], [[England]], [[Austria]], [[France]], [[Spain]], [[Germany]], [[Canada]] and [[South America]]. All of their bodies were affiliated to the directory in [[Rome]].

The body was transformed into a [[chivalric order]], with [[France]] as its center. Then abuses crept in. [[Pope Pius X]] ordered an inquiry, which resulted in the Pope's decision to suppress the association in August 1909, stating that it no longer responded to the needs of the times.<ref>[http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SFC19090816.2.40.10 ''San Francisco Call'', 16 August 1909: "Advocates of St. Peter Suppressed by Pope"]</ref>

==Sources==
{{reflist}}
*{{Catholic Encyclopedia |wstitle=Advocates of St. Peter |volume=1 |first=William Henry Windsor |last=Fanning}}

==External links==
*[http://www.verwaltung.steiermark.at/cms/bilder/41134/75/357/596/32f6ef5d/Avvocati%20di%20San%20Pietro.jpg?as_is=J&download=J Photography of the Order's cross]

[[Category:1878 establishments in Vatican City]]
[[Category:1909 disestablishments in Vatican City]]
[[Category:Catholic advocacy groups]]
[[Category:19th-century Catholicism]]
[[Category:Jurists of religious law]]

Advocates of Saint Peter - Revision history

imported>Referencer12: Adding local short description: "Catholic organization dedicated to defending the church in civil courts (1878–1909)", overriding Wikidata description "organization"