May 17, 1938: A Signed Letter to the Swiss Guard Commandant from Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli, Secretary of State

This letter, signed by the Cardinal Secretary of State, Eugenio Pacelli, is dated May 17, 1938 and is signed E. Cardinal Pacelli.

The letter is untranslated.

This framed photo is also signed and is from 1938 while he was Secretary of State to Pope Pius IX.  It is also signed.

Pius XII was a tall, slender and ascetic man known for his friendly manner. He made a profound impression on the millions who flocked to Rome for the Holy Year of 1950 and the Marian Year of 1954 and on the thousands who attended his innumerable audiences. He was the first pope to become widely known through radio and television. From 1944 he acted as his own Secretary of State and increasingly diminished the role of the cardinals. In his last years, this authoritarian policy coupled with serious illness placed undue power in the hands of a very narrow circle of people on which he chose to depend. He died at Castel Gandolfo in October 1958 and is considered to be a great teacher, a strong leader, a holy man and a prophet who helped lead the church to reform and renewal. Pope Paul VI who had collaborated closely with Pius prior to 1955 opened his cause for canonization in 1965. In 2009, Pope Benedict XVI declared both Pius XII and John Paul II Venerable, the first step toward canonization.

He is buried in the Vatican Grottoes. A bronze monument was erected to him in St. Peter’s Basilica.

Papal Artifacts honors the life and memory of Pope Pius XII.