Christopher de Paus

{{Short description|Norwegian landowner and socialite}} {{Infobox noble | name = Christopher Paus | title = Count of Paus | image = Christopher de Paus.JPG | caption = Christopher Paus (painting, [[Herresta]]) in the [[court dress]] of a [[papal chamberlain]], in [[Spanish Renaissance]] style | alt = | succession = | CoA = [[File:Paus COA (comital).svg|140px]] | more = no | full name = | styles = | titles = | noble family = [[Paus]] | father = Major Johan Altenborg Paus | mother = Agnes Tostrup | birth_date = 10 September 1862 | birth_place = [[Oslo|Christiania]], [[Norway]] | death_date = 10 September 1943 | death_place = [[Skodsborg]], [[Denmark]] | burial_date = | burial_place = [[Vår Frelsers gravlund]] }} [[Count]] '''Christopher de Paus''' (10 September 1862 – 10 September 1943){{efn|His full name in Norwegian was Christopher Tostrup Paus, though he often omitted his middle name, Tostrup. Internationally, he was commonly known as Christopher de Paus, and as Cristoforo de Paus in Vatican contexts.}} was a [[Norway|Norwegian]]-born aristocrat, papal [[courtier]] and philanthropist.

A member of the [[Paus family]]—the name means [[pope]]—he was heir to the Norwegian timber firm [[Tostrup & Mathiesen]] and inherited a fortune from his grandfather, timber magnate [[Christopher Henrik Holfeldt Tostrup|Christopher Tostrup]]. From the 1870s, he spent much of his life in [[Rome]], where he converted to Catholicism. He was appointed as a [[papal chamberlain]] by [[Pope Benedict XV]] in 1921 and conferred the title of count by [[Pope Pius XI]] in 1923. He was a prominent benefactor of museums and the Catholic Church. He donated the [[Paus collection]] of classical sculpture that now forms part of the [[National Museum of Norway]]. Paus was considered "the founder of the National Gallery's antiquities collection" by [[Harry Fett]].<ref name=Fett>{{ cite book | author = [[Harry Fett|Fett, Harry]] | date = 1934 | title = Romere i marmor | publisher = Gyldendal Norsk Forlag| url = http://urn.nb.no/URN:NBN:no-nb_digibok_2015072108167 | page = }}</ref>

Christopher Paus, a close relative of playwright [[Henrik Ibsen]], was the only member of Ibsen’s family who visited him during his decades-long exile. In 1923 he bought the estate [[Herresta]] in Sweden which is still owned by descendants of his cousin [[Herman Paus]], who was married to a granddaughter of [[Leo Tolstoy]].

==Biography==

[[File:Altenburg2.png|thumb|left|A [[silhouette]] of Christopher Paus' grandfather, Henrik Johan Paus (no 2 from left), with [[Henrik Ibsen]]'s mother Marichen Altenburg (right) and her parents Johan Altenburg and Hedevig née Paus, probably from the late 1810s]]

Born in [[Oslo|Christiania]], he belonged to the [[Skien (town)|Skien]] branch of the [[Paus family]]. The family name derives from a [[Middle Low German]] word for [[pope]], perhaps originally applied in medieval Oslo as a pious or satirical nickname. He was the son of Major and War Commissioner in [[Molde (town)|Molde]] [[Johan Altenborg Paus]] (1833–1894) and Agnes Tostrup (1839–1863). His father was a son of lawyer and judge [[Henrik Johan Paus]] (1799–1893), who owned the estate Østerhaug in [[Elverum (town)|Elverum]], while his mother was a daughter of timber magnate [[Christopher Henrik Holfeldt Tostrup]] (1804–1881), one of the two main owners of [[Tostrup & Mathiesen]], one of Norway's largest timber companies. Christopher Paus's father was also a first cousin of playwright [[Henrik Ibsen]].<ref>{{cite book |title= Henrik Ibsen: herregårder, kammerherrer, godseiere og proprietærer : brokker av en slektshistorie |last1=Høgvoll |first1=Arvid |last2=Bærland |first2=Ruth |year= 1996 |page=83 }}</ref> As a young man, Christopher Paus would visit the then-famous Henrik Ibsen in Rome, where he lived. His great-grandfather Christian Lintrup was one of the pioneers of the medical profession in Norway.<ref>Hans Petter Schjønsby, "[http://tidsskriftet.no/article/2055087 Amtsfysikus Christian Lintrups virke i Hedemarkens amt i årene 1800 - 31]", Tidsskr Nor Legeforen 2010; 130:2484-7</ref>

[[File:Seal-c-paus-1862.svg|thumb|left|Personal seal of Christopher Paus]] [[File:Trystorp manor.jpg|thumb|left|[[Trystorp]] château]] [[File:Christopher Paus.jpg|thumb|Christopher Paus ca. 1890]] [[File:Christopher Tostrup.jpg|thumb|Christopher Tostrup Paus' grandfather, timber magnate [[Christopher Henrik Holfeldt Tostrup]]]] [[File:Magleås herregård.jpeg|thumb|[[Magleås]] outside [[Copenhagen]], Denmark]] Christopher Paus became a millionaire as a young man when he inherited a fortune from his maternal grandfather and his two childless uncles Oscar and Thorvald Tostrup, who were all co-owners of Tostrup & Mathiesen. His family sold their shares of Tostrup & Mathiesen to their business partners, the [[Mathiesen family]], in the 1890s, and the company was since renamed [[Mathiesen Eidsvold Værk]] and continued under that name and as [[Moelven Industrier]]. His maternal grandfather had also owned the estate [[Kjellestad]] in [[Stathelle]].

A convert from [[Lutheranism]] to [[Roman Catholicism]], he was appointed a [[Papal chamberlain|Privy Chamberlain of the Sword and Cape]] (''Cameriere Segreto di Spada e Cappa'') by [[Pope Benedict XV]] on 22 February 1921<ref>''[[Acta Apostolicae Sedis|Acta Apostolicae Sedis: Commentarium Officiale]]'', XIII, MCMXXI (1921), p. 183</ref> and re-appointed by [[Pope Pius XI]] on 8 February 1922<ref name="acta1922">''[[Acta Apostolicae Sedis|Acta Apostolicae Sedis: Commentarium Officiale]]'', XIV, MCMXXII (1922), p. 173</ref> and by [[Pope Pius XII]] on 7 March 1939.<ref>''[[Acta Apostolicae Sedis|Acta Apostolicae Sedis: Commentarium Officiale]]'', Annus XXXI, Series II, Vol. VI, M DCCCC XXXIX (1939), p. 241</ref> By tradition, a Norwegian Catholic would hold this position, and he succeeded [[Wilhelm Wedel-Jarlsberg]] who held the post some years earlier.<ref>''[[Aftenposten]]'' 1943.09.13</ref> He was conferred the title and rank of [[Count#Holy See|Count]] by [[Pope Pius XI]] on 25 May 1923.<ref name="Gerber">{{Cite book|last1= Gerber |first1= Tage von |title= Sveriges ointroducerade adels kalender 1925 |year= 1924 |publisher= Sveriges Ointroducerade Adels Förening |location= Malmö |language= sv |page= 94 |chapter= de Paus }}</ref> He bought the [[Estate (land)|estate]] Narverød near [[Tønsberg]] (Norway) in 1892, the estate [[Trystorp]] with château in [[Lekeberg Municipality|Lekeberg]] (Sweden) in 1914, and the estate [[Herresta]] outside [[Mariefred]] (Sweden) in 1923. In 1942, he bought the mansion [[Magleås]] outside [[Copenhagen]] in Denmark. He divided his time between his various properties in Scandinavia and [[Rome]].

Christopher Paus is known for the [[Paus collection]] of classical sculpture that forms part of the [[National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design]] in Norway. Previously the largest private collection of classical sculpture in the Nordic countries, he donated it to the [[National Gallery (Norway)|National Gallery]] between 1918 and 1929 as the intended foundation of a Norwegian museum or department of classical sculpture.<ref>"Hva Nasjonalgalleriet skylder kammerherre Paus", [[Aftenposten]], 13 September 1943, p. 3</ref> He also made donations to museums throughout the [[Nordic countries]] and in [[Rome]].

He died in [[Skodsborg]] in Denmark without children in 1943, and bequeathed much of his estate to select members of the Paus family. In 1938, [[Herresta]] was sold to his second cousin Herman Paus, who had married Countess Tatyana [[Tolstoy (family)|Tolstoy]], a granddaughter of [[Leo Tolstoy]]; their descendants still own Herresta and other Swedish estates. Magleås was inherited by Thorleif Paus, who sold it to the Catholic Church some years later. It was held a mass for him, as a member of the [[Papal Court]], in the Pope's private chapel on 14 September 1943 with [[Pope Pius XII]] in attendance.<ref>''Aftenposten'', 15 September 1943, no. 425, p. 3</ref> He is buried at [[Vår Frelsers gravlund]] in Oslo, in the same grave as his mother, maternal grandfather and other members of the Tostrup family.

==Titles and honours== He was conferred the title of [[Count]] by [[Pope Pius XI]] on 25 May 1923. He was [[style (manner of address)|styled]] as "[[His Excellency]]" in accordance with custom.

He was usually known as Christopher Tostrup Paus or just Christopher Paus in Norway, but like some other family members he used the name ''de Paus'' abroad as an international form of the name, and he was ennobled under the name de Paus by the Holy See. In the ''[[Acta Apostolicae Sedis]]'' and the ''[[Annuario Pontificio]]'', his name is partially translated into Italian as ''conte Cristoforo de Paus.''<ref name="acta1922" /><ref>''[[Annuario Pontificio]]'', p. 859, 1928</ref> He used the translation von Paus in German contexts.<ref>''[https://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=clt&datum=19070715&seite=2 Cur-Liste von Teplitz-Schönau]'', 15 July 1907</ref>

===Honours===

'''Papal and Catholic honours''' *{{flagicon|Holy See}} Knight of the [[Order of Pius IX]] *{{flagicon|Holy See}} Knight Grand Cross of the [[Order of St. Gregory the Great]] *{{flagicon|Holy See}} Knight Commander with star of the [[Order of the Holy Sepulchre (Catholic)|Order of the Holy Sepulchre]] *{{flagicon|Sovereign Military Order of Malta}} Knight of the Magistral Grace ''in gremio religionis'' of the [[Sovereign Military Order of Malta]] (1924) *{{flagicon|Two Sicilies}} Knight Grand Cross of the [[Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George]] (1923) *{{flagicon|Holy See}} Gentleman of the Chamber

'''Scandinavian orders of knighthood''' *{{flagicon|Iceland}} Commander with Star (''Stórriddarakross með stjörnu'') of the [[Order of the Falcon]] (1937) (Commander, 1924) *{{flagicon|Norway}} Commander of the [[Order of St. Olav]] (1938) (Knight First Class, 1919) *{{flagicon|Denmark}} Commander of the [[Order of the Dannebrog]] (1922) *{{flagicon|Sweden}} Commander of the [[Order of Vasa]] *{{flagicon|Finland}} Knight First Class of the [[Order of the White Rose of Finland]]

A list of honours as of 1934 is found in the book ''Den Kongelige Norske St. Olavs Orden''.<ref>S. Blom (red.): ''Den Kongelige Norske St. Olavs Orden'', A. M. Hanches Forlag, 1934, p. 114</ref> {{clear}}

==Ancestry==

{{Ahnentafel | collapsed = yes | 1 = '''Christopher Paus''' | 2 = [[:no:Johan Altenborg Paus|Johan Altenborg Paus]] (1833–1894), Major and War Commissioner | 3 = Agnes Tostrup (–1863) | 4 = [[:no:Henrik Johan Paus|Henrik Johan Paus]] (1799–1893), jurist | 5 = Sophie Lintrup (1806–) | 6 = [[Christopher Henrik Holfeldt Tostrup]] (1804–1881), landowner and co-owner of [[Tostrup & Mathiesen]] | 7 = Julie Camilla Schaft | 8 = [[:no:Ole Paus (Skien)|Ole Paus]] (1776–1855), ship-owner and landowner | 9 = [[:no:Johanne Plesner|Johanne Plesner]] (1770–1847), (in her first marriage married to [[:no:Henrich Ibsen|Henrich Ibsen]] 1765–1797) | 10 = [[:no:Christian Lintrup|Christian Lintrup]] (1768–1844), county physician (amtsfysikus) | 11 = Johanne Hoelfeldt (1774–) | 12 = Nicolay Tostrup (1768–1858), Captain | 13 = Thale Margrethe Resen Holfeldt (1779–1860) | 14 = [[Andreas Schaft]] (1760–1826), civil servant | 15 = Petronelle Nicoline Green (1771–1857) }}

==Footnotes== {{notelist}}

==References== <references />

{{DEFAULTSORT:Paus, Christopher de}} [[Category:Counts in Italy]] [[Category:Papal counts]] [[Category:Papal chamberlains]] [[Category:Norwegian Roman Catholics]] [[Category:Converts to Roman Catholicism from Lutheranism]] [[Category:Paus family|Christopher de]] [[Category:Knights of Malta]] [[Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Gregory the Great]] [[Category:Commanders of the Order of the Dannebrog]] [[Category:Grand Knights with Star of the Order of the Falcon]] [[Category:Commanders of the Order of Vasa]] [[Category:Knights of the Order of Pope Pius IX]] [[Category:Members of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre]] [[Category:Henrik Ibsen]] [[Category:Burials at the Cemetery of Our Saviour]] [[Category:1862 births]] [[Category:1943 deaths]]