The society of Lawyers of Saint-Pierre (Avvocati di San Pietro in Italian), founded in Rome in, and removed in, was an international catholic organization formed to defend the interests of the papacy
In the years, the debates related to the roman question, and the secularization of several States are pushing the supporters of the pope to organize groups of lawyers and speakers capable of defending the interests of the papacy and of the catholic Church.
It is the object of the private corporation of the Lawyers of Saint Peter, founded in, and presided over by the count Cajetan Agnelli dei Malherbi, commander of the equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem.
Welcomed by pope Pius IX, it was officially recognized by pope Leo XIII in a brief dated the fifth of July.
Cardinal Parocchi, vicar general of the pontiff soon, is named protector of the work. Based in Rome, the company shall publish his annals, and is very common in several countries, where it is represented by different"colleges"and then"tips central". Initially reserved only for lawyers, solicitors, barristers, and doctors of law, and it opens gradually to notable catholics outside of the only legal professions and has around active members as early as the s. In September, after the death of Agnelli dei Malherbi, the general presidency is entrusted to a commercial traveller French, Marius-Pierre Lautier, said,"Lautier of Baudouin". In, the general chairman Agnelli dei Malherbi address a letter to the bishops of France to ask them to establish local committees of the work. The following year, various congresses and meetings are organized throughout the country (in Rennes and Lyon in, at Bourges, in.). This development is mainly due to Pierre Lautier Admitted to the association in, he was appointed"promoter-general"for France two years later before becoming general president in. These services are to be appointed camérier cloak-and-sword by a note from the secretariat of State of pope in.
Estimated to be approximately members in, the"lawyers"in French are placed under the direction of a central council.
This is chaired from by Féry of Esclands, with the politician George Berry for vice-president since. Members French organized works of charity and sponsoring in particular the clinic of Saint-Sulpice, established in no. of the rue Madame, where the poor receive free care provided by the doctor Hacks. At the beginning of the month of July, the"lawyers"celebrate religiously their patronal feast under the presidency of Monseigneur de l'escaille, the mass is often followed by a banquet presided over by Monseigneur Biet. Rose Marie, later replaced by The Echo of Rome, is their official organ In, the presidency of honour is awarded to Peter IV Geraigiry, patriarch melkite of Antioch, during his visit to Paris. The French section of the society is referred to as the"Order of the Lawyers of Saint Peter", which has led to misunderstandings as to the existence of an honorary order established under this name by the Holy see, especially as a badge, like a medal has been created by the"commander"Lautier. This last is, therefore, suspected, as early as, of engaging in a real traffic of decorations.
Informed of these noises, the cardinal Parocchi suspend the shipping of diplomas leading to admission between January and February, before you do adjourn sine die of the congress that the corporation should take place in Rome in march.
The scandal broke out finally in, after complaints against the abbot Raynaud-Wolda, the chaplain of the military prison of Marseille, who confess to having sold numerous medals of the"order"and even titles of nobility fanciful. Investigators in marseille suspecting a complicity with Lautier, the two men were arrested in February. Also convicted of another diversion, Raynaud-Wolda is sentenced on twenty-six June to six months in prison for fraud and breach of trust. Lautier, which is above all criticized the broadcast a foreign order is considered illegal (because it is not awarded by a sovereign power), is only sentenced to four months suspended, the procedure which revealed that the abbot had in part acted without his knowledge. He maintains his duties the following year The scandal at French leads to the abolition of the work in: contained in a motu proprio of pope Pius X dated the twenty-six may, the decision shall be published in the Acta Apostolicæ Sedis, the official newspaper of the Vatican, and then resuming by L'osservatore romano and many other Italian titles.
