Pope Pius XII Exhibit Opens
Pope Pius XII - Consensus or Controversy opens at Hudson County Community
Roger Jones (201-200-1080, rj@j-a-c.com)
November 25, 2015, Jersey City, NJ – Hudson
County residents and others will be afforded the opportunity to explore the
many facets of the consequential and controversial papacy of Pope Pius XII
through the exhibit, “Pope Pius XII: Consensus or Controversy?” The exhibit
will be displayed in the Hudson County Community College Benjamin J. Dineen,
III and Dennis C. Hull Gallery, which is located on the sixth floor of the
College’s Library Building at 71 Sip Avenue on the Journal Square Campus. The
exhibit will commence with a grand opening reception at 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday,
December 8, 2015; it will be open to the public from that afternoon through
Thursday, January 14, 2016. The Gallery will be closed December 22, 2015
through January 3, 2016.
Born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli,
Pius XII shepherded the Roman Catholic Church from 1939 until his death in
1958, a period that included the horrors of World War II and the Holocaust, as
well as the challenges of rebuilding post-war Europe. The exhibit includes
engravings, lithographs, photographs, contemporary news accounts and magazines
(Life, Look, Colliers, Time and others) that provide a biographical look
at Pius XII through all periods of his life. Artifacts such as his shoes,
zucchetti (skull caps) and handkerchiefs, as well as commemorative medals,
coins, stamps and plates from his papacy, are also included, as is film footage
of him of his life and career. Antique reliquaries, an altar and bishop’s chair
are included in the exhibit, which was curated by Hudson County Community
College’s Clifford J. Brooks and Dr. Andrea Siegel.
Most of the documents, artifacts and media in
“Pope Pius XII: Consensus or Controversy?” are from the Pius XII collections of
Sister Margherita Marchione, MPF (Religious Teachers Filippini), who worked for
decades on Pius XII, and has consequently earned access to Popes and other
important world leaders. Sister Margherita’s archives of thousands of items in
several languages are housed at the Mazzei Center, Villa Walsh in Morristown,
NJ. The extensive collection also includes Sister Margherita’s unpublished,
personal research that offers a first-hand account of the dealings of seven
Popes and their papacies. Sister Margherita has authored more than 60 books, 12
of which relate to Pius XII.
To provide perspective, the College has
scheduled two lectures by noted American historians who are experts on the Pius
XII papacy. Both will be held at 11:00 a.m. in the Benjamin J. Dineen, III and
Dennis C. Hull Gallery.
Dr. David G. Dalin, an American conservative
rabbi and historian, will deliver the first lecture, “In Defense of Pius XII,”
on Wednesday, December 9, 2015. Dr. Dalin is the author, co-author or editor of
10 books on American Jewish history and politics, and Jewish-Christian
relations, including The Myth of Hitler’s Pope: How Pope Pius XII Rescued
Jews from the Nazis. He is currently a professor of History and Politics at
Ave Maria University in Florida. Previously he served as associate professor of
American Jewish History at the University of Hartford, a visiting professor at
the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, and a Taube Research Fellow in
American history at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. Dr. Dalin
was also a visiting fellow at the James Madison Program in American Ideals and
Institutions at Princeton University.
Dr. Susan Sessions Zuccotti, an American
historian specializing in studies of the Holocaust, will deliver the second
lecture, “In Critique of Pius XII,” on Thursday, December 10, 2015. Dr.
Zuccotti, who holds a Ph.D. in Modern European History from Columbia
University, won the National Jewish Book Award for Holocaust Studies, and the
Premio Acqui Storia - Primo Lavoro for Italians and the Holocaust. In
addition, she was the recipient of a National Jewish Book Award for
Jewish-Christian Relations, and the Sybil Halpern Milton Memorial Prize of the
German Studies Association in 2002 for her book, Under His Very Windows.
The exhibit, “Pope Pius XII: Consensus or
Controversy?,” is open to the general public and there is no charge for
admission. The Benjamin J. Dineen, III and Dennis C. Hull Gallery is open
Tuesday through Sunday from 1:00 to 6:00 p.m.
Additional information on this exhibit, and
arrangements for group visits, may be obtained by contacting the Humanities
Division at (201) 360-4650 or email to gallery@hccc.edu.
Fantastic!
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