Beati Paoli is the name of a secretive
sect
A sect is a subgroup of a religious, political, or philosophical belief system, usually an offshoot of a larger group. Although the term was originally a classification for religious separated groups, it can now refer to any organization that b ...
thought to have existed in medieval
Sicily
(man) it, Siciliana (woman)
, population_note =
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, population_blank1 =
, demographics_type1 = Ethnicity
, demographics1_footnotes =
, demographi ...
and possibly also in
Malta
Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...
. The sect, as described by the author Luigi Natoli in his
historic novel ''I Beati Paoli'' (written as a series under the pseudonym William Galt in 1909, then re-published as books in 1921 and 1949), resembles an
order of
knights
A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...
fighting for the poor and the commoners.
[The Beati Paoli]
by Roberto Savona, Best of Sicily magazine Whereas the novel is fictitious, Sicily's history bears some evidence that the Beati Paoli actually existed.
In 1071
feudalism
Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of structur ...
was introduced in Sicily by its conqueror, the
Norman
Norman or Normans may refer to:
Ethnic and cultural identity
* The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries
** People or things connected with the Norm ...
lord
Roger II de Hauteville.
[The Middle Ages]
Best of Sicily magazine As the nobles started to exploit their feudal rights in the centuries to come, the
Inquisition
The Inquisition was a group of institutions within the Catholic Church whose aim was to combat heresy, conducting trials of suspected heretics. Studies of the records have found that the overwhelming majority of sentences consisted of penances, ...
also got a foothold in Sicily. Any action by the commoners that could be interpreted by the state or the church as acts of
treason
Treason is the crime of attacking a state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplo ...
or
heresy
Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, in particular the accepted beliefs of a church or religious organization. The term is usually used in reference to violations of important religi ...
was punishable by death. Such actions could be unauthorized assemblies or formation of societies with goals other than supporting the current state/church regime. In this environment, several orders and sects rose to existence – albeit a secret one. The Beati Paoli was allegedly formed to oppose both the church and the state, defending the commoners from infringements posed by the regime.
[ They wore black hooded coats and operated at night from their refuge in the remains of the catacombs and underground channels of ]Palermo
Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...
. It is not known when the Beati Paoli was established, but the novel by Luigi Natoli sets the scene in the first two decades of the 18th century, mainly in the town of Palermo. The origin of the name is also unknown, although some tie it to Saint Francis of Paola, or Beato Paola.[
The Beati Paoli have the same connotation to many Sicilians as ]Robin Hood
Robin Hood is a legendary heroic outlaw originally depicted in English folklore and subsequently featured in literature and film. According to legend, he was a highly skilled archer and swordsman. In some versions of the legend, he is depic ...
has to Northwestern Europe
Northwestern Europe, or Northwest Europe, is a loosely defined subregion of Europe, overlapping Northern and Western Europe. The region can be defined both geographically and ethnographically.
Geographic definitions
Geographically, North ...
ans. Today, traces of the Beati Paoli can be found in the Capo district of Palermo
Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...
, where a square, a street and a restaurant bear their name. The Beati Paoli have also tradition meanings to the Maltese. A Maltese old saying -"qala`xebba tal-beati pawli", meaning ``he was hit hard the Beati Paoli way``, may refer to this old sect . Some historians suggested that the Beati Paoli were real and that may have had roots also in Malta
Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...
(circa the 15th till at least to the early 19th century)
and that Malta may have been the sect's last stronghold. Today there is even a small restaurant in Valletta
Valletta (, mt, il-Belt Valletta, ) is an Local councils of Malta, administrative unit and capital city, capital of Malta. Located on the Malta (island), main island, between Marsamxett Harbour to the west and the Grand Harbour to the east, i ...
city (Malta`s capital) named Beati Paoli and a devote statue of Saint Francis of Paola is in Saint Elmo street corner also in Valletta Malta. There are even rumors that the Beati Paoli are probably still present even today but whether the sect is still active or not remains a mystery . If so makes the `Beati Paoli` one of the most ancient and most illusive sects .
''I Beati Paoli'' (novel)
Written by prolific author and journalist Luigi Natoli, "I Beati Paoli" was at first released split into 239 episodes, published between 6 May 1909 and 2 January 1910 by the daily newspaper '' Il Giornale di Sicilia''. Divided into four main parts, the historical novel tells the story of the conflict between on the one hand an evil, greedy and ambitious Don Raimondo Albamonte, a Sicilian aristocrat, duke of Motta, and the main antagonist of the book, and, on the other hand, the sect of Beati Paoli, an amorphous, secret and when necessary violent organization of individuals committed to punish Don Raimondo for his crimes. In the words of scholar Rino Coluccello: "the action in the Beati Paoli is created by the conflict between good and bad characters". The novel is set in Sicily over a period of about 20 years, at the beginning of the 18th century. More precisely, the events narrated in the first part takes place in 1698. The second and third parts are set in the years 1713–1714, the fourth in 1718.
Predecessors of the Mafia?
In Sicily the Beati Paoli came to be seen – both in the popular imagination and in the ideology of mafia groups – as a proto-manifestation of the Mafia
"Mafia" is an informal term that is used to describe criminal organizations that bear a strong similarity to the original “Mafia”, the Sicilian Mafia and Italian Mafia. The central activity of such an organization would be the arbitration of d ...
.[Paoli, Organised Crime in Italy, p. 264] Sicilian mafiosi love to portray themselves as the successors of the Beati Paoli, and Cosa Nostra likes to trace its origin to the sect. The novel is still alive in today's Mafia culture and its main characters are models of the ideal-typical sets of attitudes and behaviour of a mafioso. In one of their first confrontations in court, the Mafia boss of bosses Totò Riina
Salvatore Riina (; 16 November 1930 – 17 November 2017), called (, Totò being the diminutive of Salvatore), was an Italian mobster and chief of the Sicilian Mafia, known for a ruthless murder campaign that reached a peak in the early 1990s ...
and the turncoat
A turncoat is a person who shifts allegiance from one loyalty or ideal to another, betraying or deserting an original cause by switching to the opposing side or party. In political and social history, this is distinct from being a traitor, as the ...
(pentito
''Pentito'' (; lit. "repentant"; plural: ''pentiti'') is used colloquially to designate collaborators of justice in Italian criminal procedure terminology who were formerly part of criminal organizations and decided to collaborate with a public ...
) Gaspare Mutolo Gaspare Mutolo (Palermo, February 5, 1940) is a Sicilian mafioso, also known as "Asparino".[informant
An informant (also called an informer or, as a slang term, a “snitch”) is a person who provides privileged information about a person or organization to an agency. The term is usually used within the law-enforcement world, where informan ...]
, Antonio Calderone
Antonino Calderone (October 24, 1935January 10, 2013) was a Sicilian Mafioso who turned state witness (''pentito'') in 1987 after his arrest in 1986.
Antonino was born in Catania, the brother of Giuseppe Calderone, the boss of the local Mafia. ...
, said he was told when he was initiated in Cosa Nostra that a mafioso should "follow the example of the Beati Paoli."[Gambetta, ''The Sicilian Mafia'', p. 13] The novel is dealt with extensively in Coluccello's book on Mafia's legitimisation. In Natoli's novel, the Beati Paoli act not out of economic interest but solely on moral grounds, for the sake of justice. As put by the main leader of the organization: "our justice is not written on any royal charter, it is written on our hearts: we follow it and we force others to follow it".
References
Works cited
*Gambetta, Diego (1993). ''The Sicilian Mafia: The Business of Private Protection'', London: Harvard University Press,
* Paoli, Letizia (2003).
Mafia Brotherhoods: Organized Crime, Italian Style
', New York: Oxford University Press
*Paoli, Letizia (2004).
Organised Crime in Italy: Mafia and Illegal Markets – Exception and Normality
in Cyrille Fijnaut & Letizia Paoli (eds). ''Organised Crime in Europe: Concepts, Patterns and Control Policies in the European Union and Beyond''. The Netherlands; Norwell, MA: Springer.
*Charles William Heckethorn, ''The Secret Societies of All Ages and Countries'', 1897, pages 169-17
{{authority control
Secret societies related to organized crime
Medieval Sicily
History of the Sicilian Mafia
History of Palermo