ANOTHER HOLY REFORMER IN 20th CENTURY

 

"The saints are the permanent catechesis given to us by God over the course of history: The saints, in fact, are the ever-new translation of the Word of God into human life; in the saints, the Word becomes life, flesh, and blood…"                                                                                                    Pope Benedict XVI

One saint to be, certainly had a place in shaping the history of modern Europe, conscious of the place of Christ in the life of the world.

SERVANT OF GOD FATHER LUIGI STURZO was an Italian Catholic priest and prominent politician. He was known in his lifetime as a former Christian socialist turned popuarist, and is considered one of the fathers of the Christian democratic platform. In 1951, hee was also the founder of the Luigi Sturzo Institute, designed to endorse research in historical science, as well as in economics and politics. He was one of the founders of the Italian People's Party in 1919 but was forced into exile in 1924 with the rise of Italian fascism. In exile in London and later New York City, he published over 400 articles (published after his death under the title Miscellanea Londinese) critical of fascism. 

He would be  replaced as leader of the Popular Party by Servant of God Alcide De Gasperi  (see previous Blog) who was to change its name to the Christian Democratic Party.

Father Sturzo was born  in 1871 in Caltagirone, Sicily  and had a twin sister, Emanuela (also known as Nelina). His two brothers Luigi and Franco Sturzo were well-known Jesuits. His elder brother Mario Sturzo was a noted theologian and Bishop of Piazza Armerina.

 His two other sisters were Margherita and Remigia who became a nun (Sister Giuseppina). He began his studies for the priesthood in 1888 and was ordained in 1894. Following his graduation, Father Sturzo served as a teacher of philosophical and theological studies in Caltagirone. In 1898, he received a doctorate in his philosophical studies from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. He served as his town's Vice-Mayor from 1905 to 1920. 

Father Luigi Sturzo is one of the great thinkers in the history of the Church. He was concerned to reform society, not in an authoritarian way but through a genuine democratic spirit. He saw the presence of polarities in the Church and in society, and he was not desirous of eliminating them. 

He saw these polarities as creative in the growing rationalization of social living. At the same time he did his reforming work under the inspiration of Catholic social principles. These principles were seen not as an ideology but as a wisdom, based on the concrete historical knowledge of an integral sociology, as he Sturzo began his reforming work under the influence of Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum.

Father Sturzo became the target of a vulgar Fascist press campaign of vilification and once Mussolini started threatening reprisals against the whole clergy for the political opposition of Father Sturzo's party, he resigned as the party leader on 10 July 1923, following a consultation with the Holy See.

Father Sturzo himself leaned towards resignation, aware that his position in the party was vulnerable, as a priest, he was forbidden from sitting in the parliament, and his political power was limited because of his priesthood.

 It was, therefore, arranged that a secular Catholic, Servant of God Alcide De Gasperi, take over the leadership of the party. Father Sturzo remained active in the party until 1924 when Cardinal Gasparri himself arranged for his emigration to London after fascist pressures and physical threats against the priest escalated further.

Father  Sturzo was exiled from 1924 to 1946 first in London (1924–1940) and then in the United States (1940–1946). How painful it must have been for this reformer to sit back and watch the mess in his home country and much of Europe. 

Beginning in 1941, he cooperated with agents from the British Security Co-Ordination, as well as the Office of Strategic Services and the Office of War Information, providing them with his assessments of the political forces with the Italian resistance movement and radio broadcasts to the Italian peninsula. 

Father Sturzo returned to Italy in1946 but did not have a dominant role in Italian politics. He instead retired to the outskirts of Rome and was made a member of the Senate of the Republic  in 1952 and senator for life in 1953 at the behest of the then Italian president Luigi Einaudi and he obtained a dispensation from Pope Pius XII in order to accept the title.

On 23 July 1959, Father Sturzo celebrated Mass. When he came to the consecration of the Eucharist, he looked down and slumped. He was carried to his bed still in his vestments with his health taking a sharp decline until his death August 8, 1959. His remains were interred in the church of San Lorenzo al Verano but were transferred in 1962 to the church of Santissimo Salvatore in Caltagirone.

The beatification process for Father Sturzo opened under Pope  (St.) John Paul II in 2002. 

Photo bottom right is celebration of his 80th birthday

Top art: Colored litography on paper by Janos Hajnal (Budapest, 1913 - Rome, 2010) "The Constituent Fathers of the Christian Democrats: Don Luigi Sturzo, Alcide De Gasperi, Leo Valiani, 1976