Aristocracy of Blood and Spirit: the Marquis Luigi Coda Nunziante

'Marchese Luigi Coda Nunziante, an aristocrat who was strongly committed to the battles in defense of the natural order, the family and tradition.'

From One Peter Five

By Aurelio Porfiri

Many years ago I served as choir director for the traditional Mass celebrated in the Roman church of Jesus and Mary. That Mass was very popular with some of the protagonists of Roman Catholic traditionalism. I remember meeting Eric de Saventhem (1919-2005), founder of the international federation Una Voce , Abbé Frank Quoex (1967-2007), a distinguished liturgist who was also briefly my spiritual director, or Wolfgang Waldstein (1928-2023), a distinguished jurist. But I especially remember Marchese Luigi Coda Nunziante (1930-2015), an aristocrat who was strongly committed to the battles in defense of the natural order, the family and tradition. I think that all those who knew the Marquis will agree with me in calling to mind his great nobility: he was truly the emblem of what one would expect from those who, worthy of the aristocracy of blood, understand that even more important is the aristocracy of spirit. He was a cordial and affable person, but his innate kindness suggested respect, not inappropriate familiarity. He was someone whom I would always address formally (and vice versa) but to whom I was nevertheless bound by deep affection and friendship.

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On the subject of Aristocracy, I often quote a statement by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira (1908-1995), a great Brazilian thinker and counter-revolutionary Catholic, who was certainly a great inspiration for the actions of the Marquis Coda Nunziante. That phrase is this:

God entrusts certain people with the mission of being symbols. They have a bearing, a way of being that corresponds to a certain grace, accompanied by the ability to sensitively express this grace. They have a way of being that makes the virtues linked to grace particularly attractive. Therefore they are called not only to practice it in an excellent way, but to symbolize it.

I find these words very beautiful because they say a lot about what should be the aspiration of every man and every woman, the need to cultivate what the great Chinese thinker Confucius called “the superior man”. In people like the Marquis Coda Nunziante, one indeed observed “a bearing, a way of being that corresponds to a certain grace, accompanied by the ability to sensitively express this grace”. Unfortunately, all this has been flattened into an American-style egalitarianism (the fatal outcome of French egalité ) whereby aristocracy is not established by traditions and spiritual values but by the ability to accumulate money by transforming oneself into the most successful products of capitalist fury.

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The family was one of the areas of action for the Marquis Coda Nunziante. In recalling his commitment in this sense, and much more, Antonio Pannullo (Secolo d’Italia ) outlines his path as follows:

He actively participated in all the activities of the Lepanto Cultural Foundation. In 1987 he founded and directed the Associazione Famiglia Domani, for which he conceived and organized public campaigns in defense of family values, including the March for Life. Together with Princess Elvina Pallavicini, in 1997 he founded the association Noblesse et Tradition. His last public speech, according to the chronicles of Corrispondenza Romana, took place on March 9 of [2015] at Palazzo Pallavicini to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the death of the Roman princess.

It should not be forgotten that in 1989 he joined Anti 89 to commemorate the crimes of the French Revolution. He also writes in his memoirs Corrispondenza Romana: «He was an exemplary Catholic and a perfect gentleman formed in the feelings of honor and attachment to patriotic and religious values that he was able to transmit to his family. He was married to Countess Gabriella Spalletti Trivelli with whom he had five children and fifteen grandchildren».

We could not have said it better.

Certainly his commitment to the Famiglia Domani association and his collaboration with the Lepanto Cultural Center of Professor Roberto de Mattei was an important aspect in the activity of the Marquis, an activity that also saw political commitment and a military career.

I imagine that if he were still alive today, the Marquis Coda Nunziante probably would not be happy with how the situation has evolved in the Church and in society, and not only with regard to the family. Yet I believe he would still be inspired by Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira who said:

This is our goal, our great ideal. Let us advance toward the Catholic civilization that can be born from the ruins of the modern world, as medieval civilization was born from the ruins of the Roman world. Let us advance toward the conquest of this ideal, with the courage, the perseverance, the determination to face and overcome all obstacles, with which the crusaders marched toward Jerusalem.

Of course it discourages us to see so many of us fall among the ruins, but I imagine that only by looking upward (that gaze that the Marquis tried to maintain throughout his life) can we make sense of the senselessness that unfortunately surrounds us.

Pictured: Il Marchese Luigi Coda Nunziante with His Eminence Raymond Leo, Cardinal Burke