75_Cover_PopeNew Pope

A new pope was elected at the Vatican on March 2, 1939. His name is Pope Pius XII, previously known as Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli, and was officially installed 10 days afterwards. The image of the new pope graced the cover of the spring 1939 issue of Bulletin of the St. La Salle Auxiliary (Ammendale, MD). Pope Pius is familiar with the De La Salle Christian Brothers because on July 31, 1933, then-Cardinal Pacelli was named cardinal protector of the institute.

Bulletin of the St. La Salle Auxiliary, March 1939, pp. 47-48.

ARCHIVIST’S NOTE: Several years before this papal election, Cardinal Pacelli (in his role as secretary of state of the Vatican) visited American cities in autumn 1936, including several days in Philadelphia. In mid-October that year, Cardinal Pacelli toured Independence Hall and the Church of the Holy Child (since renamed Our Lady of Hope) on Broad Street, only two miles from La Salle College.