In the Spring of 1900, Oscar Wilde arrived at the Vatican, and like any tourist he had his photograph taken. He was on a Roman holiday to spend a little time with friends—but, as it turned out, he spent a lot of time with the Pope.

Wilde was no stranger to the Vatican. In April 1877 as he was returning from a tour of Greece with his Trinity College tutor, the Rev. John Mahaffy, when his friend David Hunter-Blair arranged an audience for him with the then Pope Pius IX.

23 years later in 1900, again in April, and just seven months before he died, Oscar met the current pontiff—this time the aging Pope Leo XIII.¹

Continue reading “Wilde at the Vatican” →