From the allocution of Pius IX to the Roman Patriciate and Nobility on June 17, 1871:
One day a Cardinal, a Roman prince, presented his nephew to one of my Predecessors, who on that occasion made a very true statement: that thrones should be upheld principally through the nobility and clergy. For there is no denying that nobility, too, is a gift from God, and although Our Lord chose to be born in a stable, in two Gospels we can read His long genealogy, showing His descent from princes and kings. You must use your privilege worthily, and keep the principle of legitimacy sacred.
Continue, therefore, to use this prerogative wisely; one truly noble use of it would be toward those who, though belonging to your class, do not subscribe to your principles. A few loving words from good friends could have a great influence on their minds, and a few prayers an even greater one. Tolerate with a generous heart the disagreements you may encounter. May God bless you your whole life long, as I pray Him to do with all my heart.
Louis VII receiving the oriflamme by Jean-Baptiste Mauzaisse
Discorsi del Sommo Pontefice Pio IX (Rome: Tipografia di G. Aureli, 1872), Vol. I, p. 127 in Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira, Nobility and Analogous Traditional Elites in the Allocutions of Pius XII: A Theme Illuminating American Social History (York, Penn.: The American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family, and Property, 1993), Documents IV, p. 469.
