Talk:Mazzatello

A fact from Mazzatello appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 23 August 2008, and was viewed approximately 6,643 times (disclaimer) (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that mazzatello—a method of execution employed in the Papal States in the 18th and 19th centuries—involved smashing a mallet into the head of the condemned?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2008/August.

Wikipedia

Death Low‑importance

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Death, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Death on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.DeathWikipedia:WikiProject DeathTemplate:WikiProject DeathDeath articles
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.

Catholicism Low‑importance

Mazzatello is within the scope of WikiProject Catholicism, an attempt to better organize and improve the quality of information in articles related to the Catholic Church. For more information, visit the project page.CatholicismWikipedia:WikiProject CatholicismTemplate:WikiProject CatholicismCatholicism articles

Low

This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.

Catholicism task list:

Here are some tasks awaiting attention:

Article requests : see Draft articles
Assess : see Category:Unassessed Catholicism articles; Category:Unknown-importance Catholicism articles
Cleanup : Blessed Virgin Mary (see the talk page)
Collaborate : Invitation template needed, see Category:WikiProject invitation templates
Copyedit : Cuthbert Tunstall
Expand : Angelus; Roman Catholicism in Kosovo; Bishop Adolph John Paschang; Cum sæpe accidere; Altar Society; American Board of Catholic Missions; Bernard Häring
NPOV : Americanism (heresy); Ensoulment
Photo : see Category:Wikipedia requested photographs of Catholicism
Stubs : see Category:Stub-Class Catholicism articles; Category:Catholic Church stubs
Update : Peer review; John Aloysius Maguire
Verify : Archdiocese of Glasgow; Archbishop of Westminster; Bishop; Saint Mungo; Sanctification; Westminster Cathedral
Other : Watch recent changes for Catholicism articles

Cruelty?[edit]

Cruelty? Sounds like a quick death.
Papal states relied on beheading and (since 1810) guillotine. The article mentions that mazzatello were rare, but did they actually take place in 19th century? Numbers? NVO (talk) 09:54, 18 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The cruelty issue is a quote; it's not stated as an objective fact. If you find a source that disagrees with this viewpoint feel free to add that. I wrote the article which you are referring to for the second point; it says that mazzatello was used in limited circumstances after the introduction of the guillotine, it makes no claim about the prevalence of the mazzatello before that date. I have not yet found a source which is more specific on the fact of when it started or how often it was used, however the one that states it was used in the 18th century is sufficiently reliable. Savidan 23:00, 18 August 2008 (UTC)[reply]