PART 2 OF 10: HISTORICAL CONTEXT I – September 11, 1860: The Silent Invasion of the Papal States
While the world remembers September 11, 2001, as the day the Twin Towers collapsed, few know that exactly 141 years earlier, another September 11th marked the beginning of a military operation that would forever change the political and religious geography of Italy. It was September 11, 1860.
On that day, General Manfredo Fanti, commander of the Sardinian army, received orders to cross the border of the Papal States. Piedmontese troops entered the Marche and Umbria regions, territories under the direct control of Pope Pius IX. It was not a formal declaration of war, but a calculated military invasion, officially justified as necessary to "restore order" and prevent Garibaldi's bands, who were moving up the peninsula after landing in Sicily, from attacking Rome and triggering an international crisis with France under Napoleon III, the Pontiff's protector.
Cavour's Strategy and the Role of Freemasonry
Behind this move was the astute direction of Prime Minister Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour. The goal was twofold: on one hand, to stop Giuseppe Garibaldi (a known Freemason and charismatic figure of the Risorgimento) before he could march on Rome, risking war with France; on the other, to annex the central regions to the newborn Kingdom of Italy under the aegis of the House of Savoy, ensuring that national unity was a process "from above," controlled by the monarchy and not by popular revolution.
It is no secret that many protagonists of these events were linked to Freemasonry. Garibaldi was a high-degree Freemason, just as many generals and politicians of the time saw the end of the Pope's temporal power as a necessary step towards the secular modernity of the State. September 11, 1860, can be read, in this key, as the day when secular and Masonic forces officially began their "work" of dismantling papal power.
The Battle of Castelfidardo: September 18
The invasion begun on September 11 culminated, seven days later, in the Battle of Castelfidardo (September 18, 1860). The papal army, composed largely of foreign volunteers (the famous "Pontifical Zouaves") and commanded by the French general Christophe de Lamoricière, was routed by the Piedmontese troops. Fanti's victory paved the way for the annexation of the Marche and Umbria and definitively isolated Rome, which remained the last bastion of the Pope's temporal power, protected only by the French garrison.
The Significance of the Date
Why start precisely on September 11th? There are no official documents citing esoteric motivations, but the coincidence is truly remarkable. For the Masonic lodges of the time, September was a month propitious for "initiatic" works and great endeavors. Starting a military operation of such magnitude on that date might not have been casual, but a symbolic signal for the "initiates": the beginning of a new era, the end of the old theocratic order.
That September 11, 1860, was the first act of a drama that would be consummated ten years later. If 1860 was the silent invasion, 1870 would be the final blow. And there too, the date of September 11th would play a crucial role.
Sources:
- Battle of Castelfidardo: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Castelfidardo
- Manfredo Fanti and the 1860 campaign: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manfredo_Fanti
- Freemasonry in the Risorgimento: Grande Oriente d'Italia
- The Papal States and the end of temporal power: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papal_States
Drafted with the support of EURIA AI
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