THE ANTONELLI SCANDAL.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5268, 11 February 1878, Page 3

THE ANTONELLI SCANDAL.

(From the Correspondent of the Daily News,) Rome, December 3.

The “ Romance of the Forum”, receives its latest and not least striking contribution from no less a quarter than the Vatican. : Yes, in the rooms immediately above the Pontifical apartments begins the story whose subsequent scenes are enacted in many other localities of the Holy City, scenes which offer in strange but instructive medley traits of character and conflicts of motive at once racy of Roman soil and universal in their interest. Let the curtain rise on any one of them and the mind is atones arrested and riveted on the singular tableau. The time is twenty-four years ago, and to that portion of the Vatican palace which is occupied by the P >pe a young lady may be seen ascending till she pauses on the threshold of the rooms of the Secretary of State. Alone, and seemingly a stranger to the place, the attention she naturally excites is enhanced by the grace of her figure, which is tall and sylph-like, and by the distinction of her features, which bear the stamp of aristocracy. Her blue eyes and blonde hair suggest Teutonic—that is, English or German nationality—an inference which is strengthened when, in unfamiliar French, eked oat by indifferent Italian, she inquires for his Eminence; Cardinal Antonelli, and after some further parley is admitted. “ Tamhurlaui,” says the Cardinal, “ oggi sono aunualato,” an announcement which Tamburlani, the majordomo, understands to mean, “ I am not to he interrupted at this interview.” What relation this fair young stranger bore to his Eminence was unknown even to bis valet, and unknown it : would for ever have remained but for revelations to be presently made.

These shall be taken from the first of the series of printed documents that lie before me, documents which have been handed into the chancery of the Roman tribunal before which has again come on for heariag the now famous suit of Lambertini v. Antonelli. The documents contain the depositions, taken down and legally authenticated by a notary public, of the witnesses for the plaintiff, and such extracts shall be made from them as will explain the grounds ,of the action while incidentally unfolding the romance. Anna Gervasi, residing in the Via Rasella, No. 55, deposes that in the early part of 1855, there came to hei house Dr. Lucchini, a physician well known to her as having often been in “ relation with her in her capacity of sage femme. ‘The matter,’said the doctor, which brings me here to-day is one of the gravest importance, requiring, therefore, the most solemn secrecy.’ I thanked him,-said Dame Gervasi, for the confidence he placed in me, and adding that secresy was one of the first qualifications of my calling, I begged him to proceed. ‘You must assist me,’he said,‘in the treatment pf a lady of high rank, who, finding herself enoiente, is most anxious, being unmarried, to bury the affair in the profoundest secresy.’ I answered, ‘That is easily arranged; there is the San Spirite quite at hand.’ But the doctor put on a grave look, and said, ‘ This is a more serious matter than you are aware of. The lady in question shrinks with horror from the idea of the foundling hospital, and unless satisfied that her, offspring will be reared according to her rank, and does not appear before society with the stain of illegitimate birth, there ii no saying what may befal her. In fact,’ continued the’ doctor, ‘this lady wants to find some means of obtaining for her child a lawful position ; and, in,one word, it is necessary that it should be placed in the house of married people as their offspring.’ I at once answered, ‘Do you want .pose me to as mother ?’ and I gave him to understand that it was not my habit to make my profession the instrument of intrigue. I persisted in this refusal till the doctor, drawing his chair close to; mine, and taking me by the hand, whispered in my ear the following words ;—‘Mariana, I am a physician, and you know that the physician is more than the confessor ; you are a licensed sage femme, and in certain secrets of the world you know that the sage femme is moie than the physician. We both know the world, men and their failings, and I confide to you a profound secret. The father of the child in question is no other than ids Eminence the Secretary of State, Cardinal James Antonelli.’

“At this,” says Dame Gervasi, “I was thrown into the most abject terror. I knew what manner of man Cardinal Antonelli was. For him, as they said in Rome, one word was little, and another was too many. His arm was long, and reached everywhere. There was nothing, therefore, but to obey, and I answered that! was quite ready to be of service, but that it would be most difficult to find the married pair who would consent to assume the parentage of the child. Dr. Lucchini thought he could arrange that, and again binding me to the most scrupulous secrecy, he went away, promising to return in a few days. He kept his word, and resumed the subject by saying that he had seen me in the house of one Signora Antonietta Marconi, and from my intimacy with her I must know her familiar relations with Cardinal Antonelli. I owned that I did, and then he told me it was precisely this Signora Marconi whom he had thought of being married, though separated from her husband, and therefore just the person to serve them.”

The reader may ho spared the next stages of the deposition, which are too professional for publication.- Suffice it to say that the young lady of rank was attended, in apartments specially provided for her, at Dame Gervasi’a ; that in a house hard by Signora Marconi had for weeks been simulating pregnancy; that on the young lady being delivered of a female child it was swiftly and successfully ■ smuggled from the one house to the other, and that the whole mystification was so well contrived and kept up that scarcely one of the neighbors suspected that Signora Marconi was not the mother of the infant. “I retired,” says Dame Gervasi, thinking with just pride of her professional laurels, “and all the people of the house were in great glee because everything had gone well, and the baby bore a marvellous resemblance (as indeed was the fact) to Cardinal Antonelli. Interrogated as to the husband of Signora Marconi, she replied she had never seen him, that he was a man far advanced in years, and had long been separated from his wife. “I sometimes accompanied Signora Marconi to the Cardinal ; sometimes also accompanied the little baby when, during the Pope’s villeggiatufa at Castel Gandolfo, the Cardinal used to visit him. On these occasions Signora Marconi was informed when his Eminence was to return, and she would then take me in a carriage beyond the gats of St. John Lateran, and wo would eat our luncheon in a vineyard ; thereafter prosecuting bur journey until the Cardinal came up ; and I remember perfectly, when the two carriages met, his Eminence with those unmistakable eyes of his (con- quei suoi certi occM) would look out as the nurse Annunziata held up the baby to him, and made it blow kisses to him in return for his nods and •miles. Our coachman would then turn round, and we would follow the Cardinal’s carriage up to the Vatican. After Marconi’s death several people came and asked me about these facts ; and a certain arch-priest, called Don Vincenzo, seemed to he aware of the whole story, but I gave him no explanation, not even after the, offer of a handsome bribe, replying that I would carry my professional secrets with mo to, the grave, unless, indeed, I was called upon to depone before the Tribunal, or found it absolutely necessary to break silence in the child’s behalf. After the death of Marconi little Loretina, bo the child

was called,.was so pushed-about that I thought; of presenting myself to the ('ordinal, telling, him how she was neglected, but I never carried: out my intention, always in terror of him as I was. I knew the (Cardinal iwfts really fond of i his little daughter;' so muol/sb that' about two; days after her birth, and before, she was bap-l tised; he sent Marconi 22,000 Roman' scudi, - instructing her to invest iffor Loretina. The baptism took place, I think, on the 25th Octo-i her, 1855, and on that occasion the father ofSignora Marconi, Signor Ballerini, falsely as-; sumed the title of her husband, and called himself Angelo Marconi, recognising Loretiua as, his legitimate daughter. But! held my tongue; on this subject, because I r had great fear of , the Cardinal, seeing, as I did, his chamber-1 lain constantly coming and going between: the house and the Vatican.” Interrogated as to the true mother, Dame Gervasi said,“After her confinement in my house I was informed by Df. Lucchini that on a given night he would come and take her away in a carriage, just as he had brought her in one to me ; and, in fact, X remember distinctly he arrived after midnight in a close conveyance with red blinds down.” Interrogated as to this young stranger,. Dame Gervasi deposed that she was not her Royal Highness Donna! Luisa de Bourbon, Duchess of Saxony—a princess whom she well knew ; and that the child was really the aforesaid young lady’s, by Cardinal Antonelli, because Doctor, Lucchini assured her of the fact, and because the Cardinal came himself, to her house on; two separate occasions to visit the young' mother and child. “ The first time I saw him I opened the door to him, and he was disguised, and stooped, his head, be-: cause the roof was low. He was accompanied by Dr. Lucchini, and they talked in French—a language I know something of. I remember, too, on bringing in the cup of consomme for the young lady, the Cardinal took ’ the spoon from her hand, and saying he wanted to knowhow they treated her he tasted the soup, and nodded his head in approval. The second time I did not see, him, but I knew he had come in, and I heard his voice distinctly in conversation with Dr. Lucchini. The young lady,” (continued Dame Gervasi, “ was rather tall, slender, with light hair and blue eyes ; her language was unknown to me, but when she spoke to the Cardinal or the doctor she used French, and when she spoke to me she used indifferent Italian. Her years might lie from 20 to 25.”

Dame Gervasi’s evidence concludes with depositions, as attested by other witnesses. It is to the effect that the Cardinal made tho infant wear a medal with‘his name and armorial bearings, while the Cardinal himself carried a violet silk purse containing'the portrait of his child in the act of praying for him. Interrogated again as to the second time the Cardinal came to her house to see the young lady in her confinement, Dame Gervasi said, “ I listened, and distinctly heard the sound of kisses, and the young lady wept and . continually sniffed with her nose. ‘, She, was. greatly agitated in speaking to the Cardinal, and anticipating the hour of her delivery, she feared she might die, and recommended the baby to him, saying she trusted him implicitly. Then she made him promise the greatest secrecy, because if ever she should be married and it came to be known what had happened to her it would drive her out of her mind. I remember also she asked him if he was sure of the landlady’s not having been told anything, and the Cardinal replied, ‘lt is I who have to be afraid. As for you, she does not know who you are ; but keep your mind easy, for the doctor guarantees perfect secrecy.’”