Mgr Ugo Emilio Lattanzi and Maria Valtorta
Born in 1899 in Fermo (Ascoli Piceno), where he died in 1969, Monsignor[1] Ugo Emilio Lattanzi was a professor of fundamental theology. He was Dean of the Faculty of Theology at the Lateran (1960-1968) and Peritus (expert theologian) at the Second Vatican Council where he worked in the commission formed at the request of Cardinal Ottaviani to propose a conciliar text on the Church[2]. Consultant to various Vatican congregations and bodies, he was a member of the Pontifical Academy of Theology.
He spoke in favor of the work of Maria Valtorta whose theological value he recognized. He had studied it for "more than a year"[3], with a view to the imprimatur, at the request of Monsignor Fontevecchia, bishop of Sora, his compatriot[4] and friend. He found nothing opposing the Catholic faith and concluded it was from a preternatural source, but he was not sensitive to the descriptions that so charm readers. Likewise, he questioned some original positions without pursuing them in depth.
There exist two drafts of one of his “declarations,” both typed and signed by him. The first differs from the second (which is the one we report here) by some formal expressions as well as by the date (which is the 12th) and at the beginning (which omits the specification: because of the charge entrusted to me, etc).
DECLARATION[edit | edit source]
Because of the charge entrusted to me several years ago by Monsignor Michele Fontevecchia, bishop of Aquino, Sora and Pontecorvo, I have read almost all the volumes of “Words of Life.”I consider it absolutely impossible that the Woman who is the author, a woman of below-average culture, could have written such a quantity of pages with a pen without having undergone the influence of a preternatural power.
I say “preternatural” and not “supernatural”: indeed, I am not in a position to specify whether it is the intervention of the good spirit, even though I do not see how a Work of this kind could be attributed to the evil spirit.
These volumes contain splendid pages in terms of thought and form: descriptions of psychological situations worthy of Shakespeare and dialogues conducted in the manner of Socrates, worthy of Plato, finally tableaux of nature and living environments worthy of the most imaginative writer.
Whereas there are scenes in which the Lord and the Virgin Mary show themselves worthy of themselves, rare others leave one perplexed.
Likewise, alongside pages of extraordinary theological depth, one finds unusual expressions that I do not see how to harmonize with common Doctrine.
I had noted some of these “weaknesses” during my reading, but I have not found the booklet in which I wrote them.
In my humble opinion, these volumes, pruned of certain exuberant descriptions, expurgated from the scenes I have just mentioned, and corrected of their “unusual” expressions, could be published as a “Romanced Life of Jesus,” naturally without reference to presumed revelations which have not yet been proven.
Indeed, I am convinced that the reading of these volumes, thus revised, could lead more than one indifferent Soul to quench thirst at the source of Living Water: Sacred Scripture.
Rome, January 18, 1952
[Mgr Ugo Lattanzi]
On January 29, 1952, this declaration was attached to that of other personalities in the petition presented to the Holy Father by Monsignor Alfonso Carinci. It requested that Maria Valtorta's work be published "with the imprimatur" and that for this purpose Pius XII appoint a reviewer "competent in theology and exegesis." The petition followed the normal path and ended ... on the desk of the Holy Office. Monsignor Michele Fontevecchia (as well as his successor) would have granted the Imprimatur to the work if the Holy Office had not prevented it.
Monsignor Lattanzi notably wrote: “Il Vangelo dell’Infanzia è verità o mito?,” Acta Congressus Mariologici-Mariani, Lisboa/Fatima 4 (1967):
Notes and references[edit | edit source]
- ↑ Monsignor (Monsignore or Mons. in Italian) here designates the honorary title of Prelate and not a bishop in the sense of authority over a diocese.
- ↑ La civiltà cattolica, notebook 4013. September 2, 2017. Father Congar notes in his conciliar journal dated March 4, 1961: "There is a schema of Ecclesia, written by Monsignor Lattanzi, professor of fundamental theology at the University of the Lateran. He made three successive drafts, all handed to the members. But they only received these papers on Sunday, the eve of the day (February 13, I believe) when the session was held. Thus, the members and consultors could not read all the (numerous) papers given to them." The conciliar text on the Church was published on November 21, 1964 under the title of Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen gentium.
- ↑ Letters to Mother Teresa Maria, Volume 2, p. 287.
- ↑ They were both born in Fermo in the Marche region, central Italy. Monsignor Lattanzi in 1899 and Monsignor Fontevecchia in 1886 (May 8).