Statuti per la Real Congregazione e Monte del S.S. Sagramento de Nobili Spagnoli.

Naples, dalla Reale Tipografia della Guerra, 1826.. FIRST EDITION. Large 8°, contemporary full crimson morocco (edges slightly bumped), spine with gilt bands (very minor wear at foot), crown and three fleur-de-lys on each cover of Maria Cristina, Princess of the Two Sicilies, later Queen of Spain, within a gilt roll-tooled border; spine gilt, marbled endleaves, all edges gilt. Printed on high-quality paper. A few very small brown spots, but overall in fine condition. Engraved title page, 99, (1) pp., (1 l. indice, 1 blank l.), 3 modellos [numbered 1, 2, and 2 bis]. *** FIRST EDITION in this form of these updated statutes for a charitable organization established to benefit Spaniards and their descendants in Naples. The Prefazione (pp. 5-8) gives a brief history of the Real Congregazione e monte del Santissimo Sacramento de Nobili Spagnoli, which was founded in 1614 by Pedro Fernandez de Castro, Conde de Lemos, and issued its first statutes in 1624. Its members visited prisons and hospitals, gave alms, and assisted with marriages and funerals.The preface mentions the demolizione of the home of the Congregazione soon after 1812, and that it was given a new home in the Chiesa di S. Giacomo. The church of San Giacomo degli Spagnoli was commissioned in 1540 by the Spanish Viceroy Pedro Alvarez de Toledo, Marquis of Villafranca. Dedicated to St. James (Santiago), patron saint of Spain, it was a landmark of Naples until 1816, when by order of Ferdinand I of Naples, it was enveloped in the neoclassical Palazzo San Giacomo in the Piazza Municipio, which today serves as the city hall.Provenance: Bound for Maria Christina Ferdinanda di Borbone of the Two Sicilies, 1806-1878. Daughter of Francis I of the Two Sicilies and Maria Isabella of Spain, she was born in Palermo, Sicily. Soon after the third wife of Ferdinand VII of Spain died in 1829, Maria Christina became his fourth wife and was queen consort of Spain until Ferdinand’s death in 1833. Upon his death she became regent for her elder daughter, whose claim to the throne was disputed by her uncle in the Carlist Wars. Within months of Ferdinand’s death, Maria Cristina secretly married an ex-sergeant of the royal guards, to whom she bore several children. In 1844, when the regency ended, her daughter Isabella II gave official consent and the pair was publicly wed. Under Alfonso XII's reign, Maria Christina and daughter Isabella both died in exile in France.*** ICCU: Milan, Biblioteca del Dipartimento di diritto privato e storia del diritto dell'Università degli studi; Naples, Biblioteca nazionale Vittorio Emanuele III (3 copies and a digitized version); Rome, Biblioteca Angelica. Not located in Jisc. Not located in NUC.