SODALITIUM PIANUM

Sodalitium pianum, or the Sodality of St. Pius V, known also as Sapinière, was a more or less secret Catholic society or federation of secret societies founded by Umberto benigni in 1909, to implement the condemnations of pius x against Modernism. It turned out to be a chief instrument of integralism, one of whose leaders was Benigni. On three occasions (July 5, 1911, July 8, 1912, and July 6, 1914) Pius X (1903–14) endorsed Sapinière's generic aims, but the pope never gave a formal, definitive approval. The Sodalitium's activities were supposedly known to higher ecclesiastical authorities; but the clandestine nature of this work has left the movement's history very imperfectly known, even to the present. In its anti-Modernistic zeal the Sodalitium raised suspicions concerning the orthodoxy of several reputable Catholic scriptural scholars, theologians, philosophers, and ecclesiastical historians. These condemnatory judgments were published in La Correspondenza and Agence internationale de Rome, newsletters founded by Benigni in 1909 and 1912 and copied by European Catholic newspapers. Opponents of Catholic Liberalism and Christian Democracy also used Sapinière as a rallying point.

After Pius X's death, the organization disbanded for a year, and then revived despite the warning of benedict xv (1914–22) against restricting free discussion within the Church (Nov. 1, 1914). During World War I the German occupation troops in Ghent, Belgium, seized documents revelatory of Sapinière's work. These were transmitted to the Holy See (1921) and were largely instrumental in the suppression of the Sodalitium (November 1921) by the cardinal prefect of the Congregation of the Council, who acted seemingly at the Pope's urging. The sole public explanation was that the organization had served its purpose and was no longer needed. Some French leaders of the Sodalitium were believed to have joined action franÇaise.

The investigation by the Congregation of Rites preceding Pius X's beatification delved into the Sodalitium's activities. The results were published in the historical Disquisitio which supplies a fairly detailed history of the Sodalitium.

Bibliography: f. antonelli and g. lÖw, Disquisitio circa quasdam objectiones modum agendi servi Dei Pii X respicientes in modernismi debellatione cum summario additionali ex officio compilato (Vatican City 1950). o. weiss, Modernismus und Antimodernismus im Dominikanerorden: zugleich ein Beitrag zum "Sodalitium pianum" (Regensburg, Germany 1998).

[g. j. o'brien/eds.]