Oration “Magna pars vestrum / Speravimus fratres” of Pope Pius II (1 July 1459, Mantua). Ed. and transl. by Michael von Cotta-Schönberg : (Orations of Enea Silvio Piccolomini / Pope Pius II; 36)

Shortly after his coronation, Pope Pius II summoned the European rulers to a Congress in Mantua to discuss a joint military response to the Turkish invasion of Europe, in papal terms a “crusade”. The congress was to open on 1 July 1459. On that date, very few participants had arrived in Mantua, and it was not known how many more would come. The pope gave a short oration to those envoys who were present, expressing his disappointment that so few had arrived on time, and the hope that more come