Pope Leo XIII's Humanum genus

 

Wikipedia:

Humanum genus is a papal encyclical promulgated on 20 April 1884 by Pope Leo XIII.

Released in the ascent of the industrial age, Marxism, and the aftermath of the September 20, 1870, Capture of Rome by the Kingdom of Italy military forces from the Papal States, Humanum genus is principally a condemnation of Freemasonry. It states that the late 19th century was a dangerous era for the Roman Catholic Church, largely due to numerous concepts and practices it attributes to Freemasonry, namely naturalism, popular sovereignty, and the separation of church and state.

An excerpt from, "Humanum genus" By Pope Leo XIII, April 20, 1884, The Holy See:

The race of man, after its miserable fall from God, the Creator and the Giver of heavenly gifts, "through the envy of the devil," separated into two diverse and opposite parts, of which the one steadfastly contends for truth and virtue, the other of those things which are contrary to virtue and to truth. The one is the kingdom of God on earth, namely, the true Church of Jesus Christ; and those who desire from their heart to be united with it, so as to gain salvation, must of necessity serve God and His only-begotten Son with their whole mind and with an entire will. The other is the kingdom of Satan, in whose possession and control are all whosoever follow the fatal example of their leader and of our first parents, those who refuse to obey the divine and eternal law, and who have many aims of their own in contempt of God, and many aims also against God.

2. This twofold kingdom St. Augustine keenly discerned and described after the manner of two cities, contrary in their laws because striving for contrary objects; and with a subtle brevity he expressed the efficient cause of each in these words: "Two loves formed two cities: the love of self, reaching even to contempt of God, an earthly city; and the love of God, reaching to contempt of self, a heavenly one."(1) At every period of time each has been in conflict with the other, with a variety and multiplicity of weapons and of warfare, although not always with equal ardour and assault. At this period, however, the partisans of evil seems to be combining together, and to be struggling with united vehemence, led on or assisted by that strongly organized and widespread association called the Freemasons. No longer making any secret of their purposes, they are now boldly rising up against God Himself. They are planning the destruction of holy Church publicly and openly, and this with the set purpose of utterly despoiling the nations of Christendom, if it were possible, of the blessings obtained for us through Jesus Christ our Saviour. Lamenting these evils, We are constrained by the charity which urges Our heart to cry out often to God: "For lo, Thy enemies have made a noise; and they that hate Thee have lifted up the head. They have taken a malicious counsel against Thy people, and they have consulted against Thy saints. They have said, 'come, and let us destroy them, so that they be not a nation.'(2)

3. At so urgent a crisis, when so fierce and so pressing an onslaught is made upon the Christian name, it is Our office to point out the danger, to mark who are the adversaries, and to the best of Our power to make head against their plans and devices, that those may not perish whose salvation is committed to Us, and that the kingdom of Jesus Christ entrusted to Our charge may not stand and remain whole, but may be enlarged by an ever-increasing growth throughout the world.

4. The Roman Pontiffs Our predecessors, in their incessant watchfulness over the safety of the Christian people, were prompt in detecting the presence and the purpose of this capital enemy immediately it sprang into the light instead of hiding as a dark conspiracy; and , moreover, they took occasion with true foresight to give, as it were on their guard, and not allow themselves to be caught by the devices and snares laid out to deceive them.

5. The first warning of the danger was given by Clement XII in the year 1738,(3) and his constitution was confirmed and renewed by Benedict XIV(4) Pius VII followed the same path;(5) and Leo XII, by his apostolic constitution, Quo Graviora,(6) put together the acts and decrees of former Pontiffs on this subject, and ratified and confirmed them forever. In the same sense spoke Pius VIII,(7) Gregory XVI,(8) and, many times over, Pius IX.(9)

6. For as soon as the constitution and the spirit of the masonic sect were clearly discovered by manifest signs of its actions, by the investigation of its causes, by publication of its laws, and of its rites and commentaries, with the addition often of the personal testimony of those who were in the secret, this apostolic see denounced the sect of the Freemasons, and publicly declared its constitution, as contrary to law and right, to be pernicious no less to Christiandom than to the State; and it forbade any one to enter the society, under the penalties which the Church is wont to inflict upon exceptionally guilty persons. The sectaries, indignant at this, thinking to elude or to weaken the force of these decrees, partly by contempt of them, and partly by calumny, accused the sovereign Pontiffs who had passed them either of exceeding the bounds of moderation in their decrees or of decreeing what was not just. This was the manner in which they endeavoured to elude the authority and the weight of the apostolic constitutions of Clement XII and Benedict XIV, as well as of Pius VII and Pius IX.(10) Yet, in the very society itself, there were to be found men who unwillingly acknowledged that the Roman Pontiffs had acted within their right, according to the Catholic doctrine and discipline. The Pontiffs received the same assent, and in strong terms, from many princes and heads of governments, who made it their business either to delate the masonic society to the apostolic see, or of their own accord by special enactments to brand it as pernicious, as, for example, in Holland, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, Bavaria, Savoy, and other parts of Italy.

7. But, what is of highest importance, the course of events has demonstrated the prudence of Our predecessors. For their provident and paternal solicitude had not always and every where the result desired; and this, either because of the simulation and cunning of some who were active agents in the mischief, or else of the thoughtless levity of the rest who ought, in their own interest, to have given to the matter their diligent attention. In consequence, the sect of Freemasons grew with a rapidity beyond conception in the course of a century and a half, until it came to be able, by means of fraud or of audacity, to gain such entrance into every rank of the State as to seem to be almost its ruling power. This swift and formidable advance has brought upon the Church, upon the power of princes, upon the public well-being, precisely that grievous harm which Our predecessors had long before foreseen. Such a condition has been reached that henceforth there will be grave reason to fear, not indeed for the Church - for her foundation is much too firm to be overturned by the effort of men - but for those States in which prevails the power, either of the sect of which we are speaking or of other sects not dissimilar which lend themselves to it as disciples and subordinates.

8. For these reasons We no sooner came to the helm of the Church than We clearly saw and felt it to be Our duty to use Our authority to the very utmost against so vast an evil. We have several times already, as occasion served, attacked certain chief points of teaching which showed in a special manner the perverse influence of Masonic opinions. Thus, in Our encyclical letter, Quod Apostolici Muneris, We endeavoured to refute the monstrous doctrines of the socialists and communists; afterwards, in another beginning "Arcanum," We took pains to defend and explain the true and genuine idea of domestic life, of which marriage is the spring and origin; and again, in that which begins ''Diuturnum,"(11) We described the ideal of political government conformed to the principles of Christian wisdom, which is marvellously in harmony, on the one hand, with the natural order of things, and, in the other, with the well-being of both sovereign princes and of nations. It is now Our intention, following the example of Our predecessors, directly to treat of the masonic society itself, of its whole teaching, of its aims, and of its manner of thinking and acting, in order to bring more and more into the light its power for evil, and to do what We can to arrest the contagion of this fatal plague.

9. There are several organized bodies which, though differing in name, in ceremonial, in form and origin, are nevertheless so bound together by community of purpose and by the similarity of their main opinions, as to make in fact one thing with the sect of the Freemasons, which is a kind of center whence they all go forth, and whither they all return. Now, these no longer show a desire to remain concealed; for they hold their meetings in the daylight and before the public eye, and publish their own newspaper organs; and yet, when thoroughly understood, they are found still to retain the nature and the habits of secret societies. There are many things like mysteries which it is the fixed rule to hide with extreme care, not only from strangers, but from very many members, also; such as their secret and final designs, the names of the chief leaders, and certain secret and inner meetings, as well as their decisions, and the ways and means of carrying them out. This is, no doubt, the object of the manifold difference among the members as to right, office, and privilege, of the received distinction of orders and grades, and of that severe discipline which is maintained.

Candidates are generally commanded to promise - nay, with a special oath, to swear - that they will never, to any person, at any time or in any way, make known the members, the passes, or the subjects discussed. Thus, with a fraudulent external appearance, and with a style of simulation which is always the same, the Freemasons, like the Manichees of old, strive, as far as possible, to conceal themselves, and to admit no witnesses but their own members. As a convenient manner of concealment, they assume the character of literary men and scholars associated for purposes of learning. They speak of their zeal for a more cultured refinement, and of their love for the poor; and they declare their one wish to be the amelioration of the condition of the masses, and to share with the largest possible number all the benefits of civil life. Were these purposes aimed at in real truth, they are by no means the whole of their object. Moreover, to be enrolled, it is necessary that the candidates promise and undertake to be thenceforward strictly obedient to their leaders and masters with the utmost submission and fidelity, and to be in readiness to do their bidding upon the slightest expression of their will; or, if disobedient, to submit to the direst penalties and death itself. As a fact, if any are judged to have betrayed the doings of the sect or to have resisted commands given, punishment is inflicted on them not infrequently, and with so much audacity and dexterity that the assassin very often escapes the detection and penalty of his crime.

10. But to simulate and wish to lie hid; to bind men like slaves in the very tightest bonds, and without giving any sufficient reason; to make use of men enslaved to the will of another for any arbitrary act ; to arm men's right hands for bloodshed after securing impunity for the crime - all this is an enormity from which nature recoils. Wherefore, reason and truth itself make it plain that the society of which we are speaking is in antagonism with justice and natural uprightness. And this becomes still plainer, inasmuch as other arguments, also, and those very manifest, prove that it is essentially opposed to natural virtue. For, no matter how great may be men's cleverness in concealing and their experience in lying, it is impossible to prevent the effects of any cause from showing, in some way, the intrinsic nature of the cause whence they come. "A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor a bad tree produce good fruit."(12) Now, the masonic sect produces fruits that are pernicious and of the bitterest savour. For, from what We have above most clearly shown, that which is their ultimate purpose forces itself into view - namely, the utter overthrow of that whole religious and political order of the world which the Christian teaching has produced, and the substitution of a new state of things in accordance with their ideas, of which the foundations and laws shall be drawn from mere naturalism.

Controlled Demolition - 3/3 'Ordo Ab Chao', with Michael of Ninevah

An excerpt from the Preface to, "Freemasonry and the Anti-Christian Movement" by Rev. Edward Cahill, M. H. Gill & Son, 1930:

"The governments of the present day," spoke a great English statesman more than fifty years ago," have to deal not merely with other governments, with emperors, kings and ministers, but also with the secret societies which have everywhere their unscrupulous agents, and can at the last moment upset all the governments' plans." "It is not emperors or kings, nor princes," said Cardinal Manning a year later, "that direct the course of affairs in the East [viz., the Balkans], There is something else over them and behind them; and that thing is more powerful than they." "Including almost every nation", wrote Leo XIII a quarter of a century still later, "in its immense grasp it unites itself with other sects of which it is the real inspiration and the hidden motive power. It first attracts and then retains its associates by the bait of worldly advantage which it secures for them. It bends governments to its will sometimes by promises, sometimes by threats. It has found its way into every class of society, and forms an invisible and irresponsibe power, an independent government, as it were within the body corporate of the lawful state." And these words apply with even greater tone to-day . . .

Within the bosom of almost every State in Europe and America there exist at the present time secret societies firmly established and actively functioning. Like a foreign body embedded within the human organism, which needs must be a constant source of pain disease and unrest, these underground associations are something quite apart from the natural life and activities of the State. They are linked up directly or indirectly by a community of principles, aims and methods, with the great international Masonic Order under whose influence and guidance they operate.

With the aid of US local units and through the instrumentality of international finance, the capitalistic press, and other means still more unscrupulous, Freemasonry and its allied forces can paralyse the activities of the legitimate government and thwart all its efforts for the protection and prosperity of the people. During the past two centuries Freemasonry has been an ever growing power in European and American politics, and has had a constantly increasing share in directing the course of events, till to-day it has almost attained to the position of an usurping super-government "bestriding our narrow world like a colossus."

Freemasonry is the central enemy of the Catholic Church. The partial dechristianisation of France, the unification of the German States under an anti-Catholic hegemony (1871), the temporary destruction of the Papal monarchy, the Portuguese revolution, the constant upheavals and revolutions in Spanish America, the rise of Bolshevism, have all been worked mainly under the guidance and with the aid of secret societies of which Freemasonry is the source and centre. Today we behold the apparently strange phenomenon of the most capitalistic government of the world (that of the United States of America) aiding and abetting in its disruptive and tyrannical measures the anti-Christian government of Mexico, which is avowedly Bolshevist in principle and aim, and openly professed a close alliance with the Soviet Government of Russia. We see, too. the capitalistic press of the world engaged in a conspiracy of silence or misrepresentation regarding the Mexican position. But these phenomena cease to be strange when we recollect that the capitalistic press, the U.S.A. government, the Mexican government and the Russian Soviet government apparently antagonistic to one another in many ways, are all equally Masonic, and more or less under Masonic influence or control.

Hence when, in recent years, a definite move was made in Italy and Spain to revert from Liberalism and re-establish something of a Christian regime, the leaders of the movement in each case made it one of their first cares to suppress or expel the Masonic secret societies. The results are familiar to every student of contemporary history. The forces of international Freemasonry, through the press and the news agencies, have carried on a persistent campaign of misrepresentation against the newly established governments. Obstinate efforts have been made in both countries to overthrow them assassinations or uprisings; even though in the meantime the restored Christian organization, incomplete and confronted with difficulties as it may be, has inaugurated in each country a new era of security, prosperity and social peace.

And it is not merely in the political and military spheres that Freemasonry exerts influence. Its more dangerous, because more subtle and permeating, activities are in the social and intellectual life of the people. During the past two hundred years European society in every country, including our own, has become more and more permeated by Masonic and Liberal principles which operate as dissolvents on the whole Christian system.

The striking contrast between the tenor of the repeated Papal pronouncements on Freemasonry (the strength and uncompromising character of which have never weakened or wavered during the past two hundred years), and the attitude ol so many well-meaning Catholics towards it, seems to be an indication of the extent to which the Masonic and Liberal mentality has interpenetrated our public life. This attitude and the prevailing ignorance among Catholics of the Church's teaching as to the real character of Freemasonry, are an effect of the Masonic policy of silence and subtle misrepresentation which several of the Popes have noted as an outstanding characteristic of Masonic methods: and which has led a great Catholic publicist to say that modem so-called history is largely a conspiracy against the truth.

Quite lately Mr. Belloc has called attention to the conspiracy of silence in regard to the Jews which is (or was till recent times) so noticeable in English society and English current literature. Up to the post-war period, or at least up to the Russian revolution, there existed an unwritten rule prohibiting all special reference to the Jews as such; while all the time the leading members of the Jewish nation were silently interpenetrating the higher ranks of English and French society and gradually winning control of nearly the whole economic and political life of the two nations.

Already nearly sixty years before, the penetrating mind of Bishop Ketleler had observed a similar phenomenon in regard to Freemasonry. German and French publicists, historians and university professors, themselves predominantly Masonic, scarcely ever referred to Freemasonry in their ordinary writings or public lectures; although some of these same men knew well, and actually described in works destined only for Masonic readers the dominating influence of the Masonic movement upon public life. "By a general consent or conspiracy," writes Ketteler, "among European writers Freemasonry alone is regarded as a sacrosanct subject, which no one must touch upon. Everybody fears to speak of it as if it were a kind of evil spirit. This strange position of, affairs is of itself a proof of the immense power which Freemasonry exercises in the world."

Although there is a very considerable mass of continental literature, especially in French, German and Italian, dealing with Freemasonry from the Christian standpoint, there is very little of the kind in English. Indeed, the seventeen-page article in the Catholic Encyclopedia by Herman Gruber, a German Jesuit, is, we believe, the only comprehensive study of Freemasonry in the English language. How small has been the interest taken in the subject among English speaking Catholics is further illustrated by the fact that there is no English version of the Papal condemnations of Freemasonry. The great encyclical of Leo XIII dealing with Freemasonry (Humanum Genus) is omitted in the English Catholic Truth Society collection entitled The Pope and the People; s nor have we seen any English version of Leo's Apostolic letter addressed to the Bishops of the world, March 1902, treating of the modem anti-Christian movement of which, as he says, Freemasonry is the animating principle. Again, not even the Dublin public libraries contain any of the standard Catholic works that treat of the subject.

All this would at first sight seem strange in view of the fact that the English speaking countries are the real stronghold of Freemasonry, while they contain at the same time close upon thirty millions of Catholics. The explanation is that that large Catholic population, the greater part of which is of the Irish race, nowhere (except to a certain extent in Ireland itself) forms a homogeneous Catholic body maintaining its own Catholic social system and traditions. They are scattered over immense areas, intermingled with non-Catholic or non-Christian populations like the Christian communities of the early centuries within the Roman Empire: or if homogeneous, or mostly so as in Ireland, they have had a Liberal social system forced upon them. They are thus largely out of touch with the Catholic culture and tradition; and have to maintain a constant struggle in defence of the bare essentials of their Catholic life. It is clear that in such circumstances a Catholic social literature must be slow of growth.

Apropos of all this the words of that very able exponent of Freemasonry, the Protestant writer, Ed. Eckert, are worthy of consideration: "No statesman can understand the present epoch, nor the motives underlying international events, nor the developments in the political and social life of the nations, nor even the very meaning of certain current phrases and terms, in a word, he sees only the facts but cannot fathom their import, and knows not what attitude to adopt in their regard—unless he has made a profound study of Freemasonry and has made himself master of all that appertains to its character and activities."

It is peculiarly difficult to treat the subject of Freemasonry with justice and accuracy, and to avoid saying too little or too much. The veil of secrecy under which Freemasons usually strive to hide not only their activities and aims, but even their moral and philosophic teaching; the ambiguous character of the formulas they employ; the apparent inconsistency of the policies they adopt or support at different times or in different places; all conspire to make the subject obscure elusive. Again, the ingrained belief of many Irish and English Catholics, well informed in many other subjects, that Anglo-American and Irish Freemasonry is something different from Continental Freemasonry, and is comparatively harmless if not praiseworthy; and the fact that this belief is sincerely shared by very many Freemasons themselves, make it still harder to convince the average inquirer of the pernicious character of all Freemasonry, and the perils to religion and society, and above all to our own country, which it contains.

Wikipedia:

Edward J. Cahill, S.J. (18 February 1868–16 July 1941) was an Irish Jesuit priest and academic, born in Ballyvocogue, Cappagh, County Limerick. He was educated in Theology at Maynooth, and ordained a priest in 1897. He served on the staff of Mungret College and in the years before the Easter Rising he was known for facilitating Irish Volunteers in their training in Mungret. In 1924, he joined the staff of the Jesuit Milltown Park Institute in Dublin as Professor of Church History, Lecturer in Sociology, and later, Spiritual Father.

. . .Cahill's anti-mason message, delivered in the 1920s and 1930s, also served as an analysis and apologetic against Talmudic Judaism. In his works he cites papal teaching which describes the Masons as enemies of the Catholic Church, and gives evidence that these same Masons are influenced and given guidance by Jews

Video Title: Controlled Demolition - 3/3 'Ordo Ab Chao', with Michael of Ninevah. Source: The Two Cities Podcast. Date Published: June 3, 2023. Description: 

In the final part of a three-part series on the 'Controlled Demolition' of the American Empire and the West, Michael ('Jonah of Ninevah') concludes his thesis by examining why the secret forces (as identified by Leo XIII & St Pius X) are intentionally breaking institutions down. He argues that they are following the key principle of alchemy and pursuing a 'spiritual transmutation', through a process of 'solve et coagula'. 

"Welcome to the new, new world order, same as the old, except now they get to stop pretending."

Michael situates contemporary events in his interpretation of the timeline of the Book of the Apocalypse.

Michael ends with an exhortation to follow Our Lady in total fidelity to Our Lord Jesus Christ, and for a return to 'radical Christianity'. 

Brian Copenhaver on Renaissance Magic

 

Wikipedia:

Brian P. Copenhaver (born December 21, 1942) is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Philosophy and History at The University of California, Los Angeles. He teaches and writes about philosophy, religion and science in late medieval and early modern Europe.

Copenhaver was educated at Loyola College (Baltimore), Creighton University and The University of Kansas, before doing post-doctoral studies at the Warburg Institute. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, past President of the Journal of the History of Philosophy and a member of the Council of the Instituto Nazionale di Studi sul Rinascimento in Italy. He serves or has served on the boards of Renaissance Quarterly, Annals of Science, the Journal of the History of Ideas, Early Science and Medicine, the International Archives of the History of Ideas, and the I Tatti Renaissance Library. He was the charter co-editor of Magic, Ritual and Witchcraft, and was the Editor of the History of Philosophy Quarterly, His research has been supported by the Guggenheim Foundation, the Getty Trust, the American Council of Learned Societies, the American Philosophical Society, the Medieval Academy of America and by a Fulbright Scholarship.

Google Books - "The Book of Magic: From Antiquity to the Enlightenment" by Brian P. Copenhaver (2015):

An odd feature of the Bible is that it is full of stories featuring forms of magic and possession - from Joseph battling with Pharaoh's wizards to the supernatural actions of Jesus and his disciples. As, over the following centuries, the Christian church attempted to stamp out 'deviant' practices, there was a persistent interest in magic that drew strength from this Biblical validation. A strange blend of mumbo-jumbo, fraud and deeply serious study, magic was central to the European Renaissance, fascinating many of its greatest figures.

Brian Copenhaver's wonderful anthology will be welcomed by everyone from those with the most casual interest in the magical tradition to anyone drawn to the Renaissance and the tangled, arcane roots of the scientific tradition.

Video Title: HoP 367 - Brian Copenhaver on Renaissance Magic. Source: history of philosophy without any gaps. Date Published: February 7, 2021. Description:

Our guest Brian Copenhaver joins us to explain how Ficino and other Renaissance philosophers thought about magic.

Hitler's Monsters: A Supernatural History of the Third Reich with Dr. Eric Kurlander

 

"Hitler's Monsters: A Supernatural History of the Third Reich" by Eric Kurlander, Yale University Press, 2018.

Wikipedia:

Eric Kurlander (born January 1973) is an American historian who currently serves as the William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of History at Stetson University. He received his B.A. in history from Bowdoin College, and his M.A. and Ph.D. in modern European history from Harvard University. Kurlander is a specialist in modern German history and particularly of Nazi Germany, about which he has written three books. The most recent, Hitler's Monsters: A Supernatural History of the Third Reich, was nominated for the Bookseller/Diagram Prize for Oddest Title of the Year in 2019.

Description of the book (Yale University Press):

The Nazi fascination with the occult is legendary, yet today it is often dismissed as Himmler’s personal obsession or wildly overstated for its novelty. Preposterous though it was, however, supernatural thinking was inextricable from the Nazi project. The regime enlisted astrology and the paranormal, paganism, Indo-Aryan mythology, witchcraft, miracle weapons, and the lost kingdom of Atlantis in reimagining German politics and society and recasting German science and religion. In this eye-opening history, Eric Kurlander reveals how the Third Reich’s relationship to the supernatural was far from straightforward. Even as popular occultism and superstition were intermittently rooted out, suppressed, and outlawed, the Nazis drew upon a wide variety of occult practices and esoteric sciences to gain power, shape propaganda and policy, and pursue their dreams of racial utopia and empire.

Video Title: Hitler's Monsters: A Supernatural History of the Third Reich with Dr. Eric Kurlander. Source: William Ramsey Investigates, v4. Date Published: December 4, 2025.

Nazi Germany's Greatest Crime

 

First they came for the bells . . .

Nazi Germany's greatest crime was not the Holocaust but the looting of Europe's church bells for the war effort. 

An excerpt from, "The seizing of Europe’s bells" by Stephen J. Thorne, Legion Magazine, October 8, 2025:

The bells that rang out across allied nations after the First World War ended what for many had been a four-year silence enforced by regulation in some places and imposed by confiscation in others.

In Germany and across Europe, tens of thousands of bronze bells—some imparting “the songs of the angels” since the 12th century—had been seized and melted down for arms and munitions.

During the First World War, 44 per cent of the bells in Germany alone were lost, many given willingly to support the war effort—and some not so willingly.

In the parish of Kusel in southwestern Germany, Deacon Karl Munzinger had grudgingly resigned himself to the inevitable after resisting a decree ordering the surrender of bells to be melted down and converted to guns and shells.

“They will speak a different language in the future,” Munzinger said in his sermon on July 22, 1917. “It goes against any feelings that they, who like no other preach peace and should heal wounded hearts, should tear apart bodies in gruesome murders and open wounds that will never heal.”

The practice wasn’t limited to the conflict of 1914-18, either.

Between 1939 and 1945, 175,000 bells across Europe were taken by Nazi Germany. They were transported to collection points, known as Glockenfriedhöfe, or bell cemeteries, the biggest of them in Hamburg. Some 150,000 were delivered to foundries and melted down to make shell casings and armaments.

Benito Mussolini’s government actually forged a prewar agreement with the Vatican providing for the “mobilization” of Italian bells under which half were to be claimed for war industries. As was the case in Germany, at least one bell designated by local authorities was to remain in every tower.

The bells were to be broken up in Italy and the scrap sent to Hamburg for processing because Italian smelting plants did not have the capacity to meet the deluge.

Bell metal is typically made of a hard alloy usually composed of four parts copper to one part tin. It is known for its hardness and rigidity, but the Germans broke up the bells, then smelted and refined the bell metal, separating the copper, tin and other metals, including lead, zinc, even silver and gold. A tonne of bell metal would typically yield 760 kilograms of copper and 180 of the more sought-after tin.

After the Second World War, Canadian Percival Price, Canada’s first dominion carillonneur and, in fact, the designer of the Peace Tower carillon in Ottawa, was dispatched to help investigate and repatriate as many bells as possible.

Price was serving as a consultant to the Vatican Commission for the Restoration of Bells and the Inter-Allied Commission on the Wartime Preservation of Artistic and Historic Monuments in War Areas, better known as the Monuments Men.

A member of the Canadian army’s Enemy Science and Technology Investigation Section, Price spent two years helping Austrian, Belgian, Dutch, West German and Italian government commissions locate and repatriate bells.

An excerpt from, "When Nazis Took All the Bells" The National Bell Festival:

Between 1939 and 1945, the National Socialist German Workers' Party under Adolf Hitler – the Nazis – confiscated over 175,000 bells from towers throughout Europe. That staggering sum is only part of the devastation and horror exacted by the Nazis during World War II, but it speaks to the plundering of identity and soul that made the Nazi occupation so catastrophic. 

Much was destroyed during World War II. From human lives to cultural artifacts, the Nazis were unrelenting in their conquest. But to feed their war machine and keep their armies outfitted, the Nazis needed vast quantities of metals – and like plucking fruit from a tree, they turned to peaceable, defenseless bell towers to pillage their scrap.

Bells are composed of bronze, an alloy of roughly four parts copper to one part tin. Both metals were crucial to the German armament industry. Nations pleaded for their bells to be spared, but in blatant indifference to the 1907 Hague Convention treaty that prohibited such wartime conduct, they were ignored. In defiance, some communities attempted to hide their bells, often by burying them in surrounding grounds or on parishioners’ land. This, however, had to be completed before Nazis took a local inventory and in collusion with the presiding clergy. It was a grave risk.

The Nazis graded or categorized bells into four groups, A through D, based on their historical or cultural value. “A” bells were cast within the preceding ninety years and therefore generally considered without merit. They were the first to be destroyed. Similarly, “B” bells and then “C” bells were sent for smelting. “D” bells, or those cast before 1740, were treated more like art than commodity and preserved for their noble virtues, which the Nazis relied upon to build a façade of legitimacy. Often, the Nazis would allow one bell of insignificant size to remain in a tower, for the village or community to ring in emergency. The rest were transformed into weapons of war.

Confiscated bells from across the Third Reich’s conquered territories were funneled into Germany for processing – from Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, France, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, the USSR, and Yugoslavia. The Vatican, in a prewar agreement with Mussolini’s government, sought to preserve at least half of the bells in church towers. This, of course, all but guaranteed the other half would be claimed for war industries.

Video Title: The Hidden Truth About Church Bells. Source: Beyond the Bell. Date Published: March 31, 2025.