The First Vatican Council and the Capture of Rome (1870)

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Par chappeaux rouges querelles & nouueaux scismes,
Quand on aura esleu le Sabinois,
On produira contre luy grands sophismes,
Et sera Rome lesee par Albanois.

Quarrels and new schism by the red hats
When the Sabine will have been elected:
They will produce great sophism against him,
And Rome will be injured by those of Alba.


The Sabine is Cardinal Luigi Serafini.  He was ordained bishop of Viterbo e Tuscania on July 17, 1870.  The following day the First Vatican Council declared the doctrine of papal infallibility leading to controversy and schism within the Catholic Church.  Serafini was born in Magliano Sabina and later became bishop of Sabina.  The First Vatican Council ended prematurely with the capture of Rome on September 20, 1870.  Alba is in the Piedmont region of Italy.