On 31 July 1866, Mr John Hubbard rose in the House of Commons to address ‘certain circumstances relating to the great Benedictine monastery of Monte Cassino’. He was concerned, first and foremost, with the preservation of this distinguished seat of learning. Its monks ‘were not what we supposed the inhabitants of convents generally to be’; they ‘were men of family, education, and independence’, he said, ‘who in their retirement guarded literary treasures of great value, and whose learning had been of advantage to the whole of Europe’. Moreover, they ‘had taken a warm interest in the progress of Italy’, whose government had recently issued a ‘statute for the suppression of Ecclesiastical Corporations’. The House wished to gather more information on the matter, to discern whether the Italian government might make an exception to the law of suppression, or to find out whether institutions like Monte Cassino might be preserved without violating the sovereign decree.

The cause for concern was not merely political. Religious institutions like Monte Cassino were centuries old and distinguished. As such, it was asked, have they not ‘acquired the sympathy and respect of the civilized world?’ The answer from within the House was a resounding ‘yes’.