| Description | Letters from Merry del Val, mainly to Joseph Broadhead, with some to George Phillips. The letters are mostly of a personal nature but allude to his role as papal secretary of state and archpriest of St Peter's Basilica, including matters of Catholic protocol, the arrangement of papal audiences, his meetings with various Catholic notables, Ushaw College during the First World War and its aftermath, discussions of appointments to episcopal positions, as well as references to various religious and political controversies, most notably involving Theodore Roosevelt. They also include 11 photographs of Ushaw College, St Peter's Basilica, Merry del Val, and Joseph Broadhead. |
| Admin_History | Raphael Merry del Val was born in London in 1865. After studying in England and Belgium, he began seminary training at Ushaw College before transferring to the Pontifical Scots College in Rome in 1885. Following Pope Leo XIII's wishes, he was ordained at the Pontificia Accademia dei Nobili Ecclesiastici in December 1888. He entered the papal diplomatic service as a chamberlain and developed an enthusiam for the conversion of England. This led him to contribute towards the preparation of the apostolic letters Amantissimae voluntasisand Apostolicae curaebetween 1895 and 1896, and he was appointed apostolic delegate to Canada in the following year (1897). He was also appointed president of the Accademia dei Nobili Ecclesiastici in 1900. Immediately following the election of Pius X as pope in October 1903, Merry del Val was offered the position of papal secretary of state and was created a cardinal. In this appointment, he not only developed a close relationship with the pope, becoming his closest advisor and counsellor, but he also courted controversy through the publication in the Socialist journal, L'Humanité, of a petition of protest against the visit of the French president, Loubert, to the King of Italy in Rome. Pius X's death in 1914 ended Merry del Val's involvement in politics but he continued to remain prominent in public life as the archpriest of St Peter's Basilica, secretary of the Holy Office, member of several Roman congregations, and papal legate to Assisi. He died in 1953 and was buried in the grotto of St Peter's Basilica at the foot of Pius X's tomb. |