THE ANTONELLI WILL CASE.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume VII, Issue 340, 24 October 1879, Page 17

THE ANTONELLI WILL CASE.

(From the Dublin Freeman.) A tklegkam from Rome announces that the lengthened litigation between the Brothers Antonelli and the Countess Lambertini has terminated in the Roman Court of Appeal by a decision in favour of the Antonelli and against the Countess, who having been beaten in the courts below appealed from their decision, and has now had her appeal refused with costs. Thus has terminated the famous Antonelli Will Case, which it was at one time predicted would bring disaster and disgrace on the Court of Rome, the memory of one of its Princes, and, indeed, the Catholic Church at large. The facts of the case are few and simple. Cardinal Antonelli inherited from his father a large patrimonial estate, and by his will he left this estate to his brothers and nephews. Before many months elapsed after the death of th» Cardinal a claimant appeared for his estate in the person of a Roman lady of rank, the Countess Lambertini. About the birth of this young lady a great mystery hung, but she was possessed of some fortune, and was wedded to one of the Roman noblesse. The case which the Countess set up was that she was the daughter of Cardinal Antonelli by an unknown lady of rank, and if she proved this case she would have been entitled, under the laws of Italy, to a great portion of the Cardinal's estate, for the Code Napoleon does not allow the disin* heriting by a father even of his illegitimate children. When the Countess appeared on the scene Piotestant England received her case with a shout of confidence and delight. No one questioned the guilt of the Cardinal, and we were assured by the Roman correspondents of English papers that the story rested upon proof which placed its accuracy beyond question. In the fulness of time the case of Lambertini v. Antonelli ripened into trial, and was investigated before the Roman Court of First Instance. The judges of the Italian Kingdom are not inclined to view churchmen living or dead with special favour, but in the Italian courts arc some magistrates of great learning and love of justice, and the cause eclebre got from the court a fair trial. The result is known to every one. The story of the Countess and her witnesses was thoroughly investigated, and, as all the world knows, the result was that it was shattered to atoms, and that it was satisfactorily shown that there was not one word or shadow of truth in the charges against the dead Cardinal. The Court unanimously gave a decision against the Countess, and that lady having appealed from the decision, the Supreme Court of the Kingdom, as already stated, confiimed the decision of the Court below. In a word, the myth has been relegated to the limbo of lying stories of which the tale of Pope Joan is the type. The

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