Luigi Sturzo (; 26 November 1871 – 8 August 1959) was an Italian Catholic priest and prominent politician. He was known in his lifetime as a former Christian socialist turned popularist, and is considered one of the fathers of the Christian democratic platform. He was also the founder of the Luigi Sturzo Institute in 1951. Sturzo was one of the founders of the Italian People's Party (PPI) 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. Sturzo's cause for canonization opened on 23 March 2002 and he is titled as a Servant of God. His two other sisters were Margherita and the nun Remigia (or Sister Giuseppina). From 1883 until 1886, he studied at Acireale and then in Noto. He commenced his studies for the ecclesial life in 1888. Sturzo received his ordination to the priesthood on 19 May 1894 from the Bishop of Caltagirone Saverio Gerbino at the Chiesa del Santissimo Salvatore in Enna. Following his graduation, Sturzo served as a teacher of philosophical and theological studies in Caltagirone; he served as his town's Vice-Mayor from 1905 to 1920. In 1898, he received a doctorate in his philosophical studies from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, and he taught that subject in his hometown from 1898 to 1903.

The stance of Pope Pius XI was ambiguous - according to Richard A. Webster, "there is no evidence that the Pontiff yielded so openly to Fascist coercion." 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, Alcide De Gasperi, take over the leadership of the party. 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 Sturzo escalated further.

Exile

Sturzo was exiled from 1924 to 1946 first in London (1924–1940) and then in the United States (1940–1946). Sturzo left Rome for London on 25 October 1924. Sturzo was consigned to a three-month educational trip in London; the choice of London was perhaps intended to isolate Sturzo because he did not speak the language and it did not contain a large population of like-minded Catholics. He moved to the residence of the Oblates of Saint Charles in Bayswater and then in January 1925 to the Servites at their priory of Saint Mary in Fulham Road where he was asked to leave in 1926 because the Servites' motherhouse in Rome was being denied funds as long as Sturzo was their guest.

In 1926, Sturzo refused an offer from the Vatican that was communicated through Cardinal Francis Bourne to serve as a chaplain in a convent in Chiswick and lodging for his twin sister Nelina in exchange for ending his journalistic activism and issuing a "spontaneous declaration" that he was retired from politics in full. In November 1926, he moved into a flat at 213b Gloucester Terrace in Bayswater with his sister where the pair lived as lodgers until 1933. After the signing of the Lateran Treaty in 1929, he was offered an appointment as a Canon of Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome again in exchange for his permanent renunciation of politics.

On 22 September 1940, Sturzo boarded the Samaria in Liverpool bound for New York hoping for an academic appointment and arrived there on 3 October 1940. He was instead sent to Saint Vincent's Hospital in Jacksonville, Florida, which was filled with priests who were ill and about to die.

Authorship

Sturzo was the author of several works in relation to philosophical and political thought. This included:

  • Church and State (1939)
  • The True Life (1943)
  • The Inner Laws of Society (1944)
  • Spiritual Problems of Our Times (1945)
  • Italy and the Coming World (1945)

Articles

  • "The Totalitarian State" (1936). Social Research. 3 (2): 222–235.
  • "Sociology of the Supernatural" (1942). The American Catholic Sociological Review. 3 (4): 204–214.
  • "Italian Problems in War and Peace" (1943). The Review of Politics. 5 (1): 55–81.
  • "The Roman Question before and after Fascism" (1943). The Review of Politics. 5 (4): 488–508.
  • "The Vatican’s Position in Europe" (1945). Foreign Affairs. 23 (2): 211–221.
  • "Alcide De Gasperi, Prime Minister" (1946). Blackfriars. 27 (312): 87–89.
  • "The Philosophic Background of Christian Democracy" (1947). The Review of Politics. 9 (1): 3–15.

References

Bibliography

  • De Grand, Alexander (1982). Italian Fascism: Its Origins & Development. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
  • Delzell, Charles F. (1980). "The Emergence of Political Catholicism in Italy: Partito Popolare, 1919–1926". Journal of Church and State. 22 (3): 543–546.
  • Farrell-Vinay, Giovanna (2004). "The London Exile of Don Luigi Sturzo (1924–1940)". HeyJ. XLV. pp. 158–177.
  • Molony, John N. (1977). The Emergence of Political Catholicism in Italy: Partito Popolare 1919–1926.
  • Moos, Malcolm (1945). "Don Luigi Sturzo—Christian Democrat". The American Political Science Review. 39 (2): 269–292.
  • Murphy, Francis J. (1981) "Don Sturzo and the Triumph of Christian Democracy". Italian Americana. 7 (1): 89–98.
  • Pugliese, Stanislao G. (2001). Italian Fascism and Anti-Fascism: A Critical Anthology. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
  • Riccards, Michael P. (1998). Vicars of Christ: Popes, Power, and Politics in the Modern World. New York: Herder & Herder.
  • Schäfer, Michael (2004). "Luigi Sturzo as a Theorist of Totalitarianism". Totalitarianism and Political Religions. 1. London: Routledge. 39–57.
  • Hagiography Circle
  • Catholic Culture
  • Luigi Sturzo – L'État totalitaire (1938)