Anna Maria LIBERATI,
L’ “Ara Pacis Nova” in un discorso tenuto dal Cardinale Arcivescovo di Milano il 26 febbraio 1937-XV [The “Ara Pacis Nova” in a speech given by the Cardinal Archbishop of Milan on February 26, 1937-XV]
Keywords: Ildefonso Schuster, Emperor Augustus, Emperor Constantine, Ara Pacis Augustae, Catholic Church, Fascism, Mostra Augustea della Romanità, Museum Studies.
Abstract: The “Ara Pacis Nova” in a speech given by the Cardinal Archbishop of Milan on February 26, 1937-XV. This paper illustrates and comments on the speech of the Cardinal Archbishop of Milan Ildefonso Schuster delivered on February 26, 1937 at the Scuola di Mistica Fascista. In September of the same year, the Mostra Augustea della Romanità was inaugurated in Rome to celebrate the 2.000th anniversary of the birth of Augustus. In the light of the Lateran Pacts of 1929 and the proclamation of the empire in 1936, Schuster’s speech and the Mostra Augustea exemplify the fleeting – also because caused by different purposes – historical convergence between temporal power, aimed at supremacy over men, and spiritual power, aimed at the control of consciences. This parallel action takes place against the background of the classical tradition that both Fascism and the Catholic Church interpret in different ways but with the sole aim of achieving the classic values of “Romanità” and “Universality”.
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