Giuseppe Dossetti (13 February 1913 – 15 December 1996) was an Italian jurist, a politician, and from 1958 onward, a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

priest.

Political career

Dossetti was born in

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of Ge ...

, the son of a piedmontese pharmacist and a mother from Reggio Emilia, where the family settled quite soon to manage a pharmacy in the nearby agricultural and small industrial town of Cavriago. When he was young, he joined

Azione Cattolica The Azione Cattolica Italiana, or Azione Cattolica (Catholic Action) for short, is a widespread Roman Catholic lay association in Italy. History In Italy in 1905, Azione Cattolica was established as a non-political lay organization under the d ...

Catholic Action Catholic Action is the name of groups of lay Catholics who advocate for increased Catholic influence on society. They were especially active in the nineteenth century in historically Catholic countries under anti-clerical regimes such as Spain, Ita ...

"), and he obtained a law degree at 21 years of age. Soon after, as fairly common among young graduates at the time, even Catholics, particularly in the Bologna and Reggio Emilia area, he joined the Fascist party and became an appreciated speaker at student meetings organized by the fascist student organization (Guf). After postgraduate work in Canon and Roman Law at the Catholic University of Milan, in 1940 he passed the exam for teaching the discipline at university level and in 1942 he was appointed professor at the University of Modena, the youngest college teacher in the Kingdom of Italy. Later on, moved by profound political and moral beliefs,

antifascist Anti-fascism is a political movement in opposition to fascist ideologies, groups and individuals. Beginning in European countries in the 1920s, it was at its most significant shortly before and during World War II, where the Axis powers were ...

, he joined the

Italian Resistance The Italian resistance movement (the ''Resistenza italiana'' and ''la Resistenza'') is an umbrella term for the Italian resistance groups who fought the occupying forces of Nazi Germany and the fascist collaborationists of the Italian Social ...

under the name of "Benigno" and became President of the Committee for National Liberation of

Reggio Emilia Reggio nell'Emilia ( egl, Rèz; la, Regium Lepidi), usually referred to as Reggio Emilia, or simply Reggio by its inhabitants, and known until 1861 as Reggio di Lombardia, is a city in northern Italy, in the Emilia-Romagna region. It has abou ...

, even if he always refused to use

weapons A weapon, arm or armament is any implement or device that can be used to deter, threaten, inflict physical damage, harm, or kill. Weapons are used to increase the efficacy and efficiency of activities such as hunting, crime, law enforcement, s ...

. His political career was very fast. In 1945 he became vice-secretary of

Democrazia Cristiana Christian Democracy ( it, Democrazia Cristiana, DC) was a Christian democratic political party in Italy. The DC was founded on 15 December 1943 in the Italian Social Republic (Nazi-occupied Italy) as the ideal successor of the Italian People's ...

, and on 2 June 1946 was elected to become part of the "Costituente" (the political body in charge of drafting the new Italian republican constitution), of which he became one of the most active members. Exactly he took part in the first Subcommission in charge of the "rights and duties of the citizens". In 1946, with

Amintore Fanfani Amintore Fanfani (; 6 February 1908 – 20 November 1999) was an Italian politician and statesman, who served as 32nd prime minister of Italy for five separate terms. He was one of the best-known Italian politicians after the Second World War and ...

Giorgio La Pira Giorgio La Pira, TOSD (Raimondo in religious life; 9 January 1904 – 5 November 1977) was an Italian Catholic politician who served as the Mayor of Florence. He also served as deputy of the Christian Democrats and participated in the assembl ...

and Giuseppe Lazzati (described, not without a bit of deprecation, as "little professors") he founded the association ''Civitas Humana''. Dossetti was an atypical politician. He decided not to rerun for the 1948 elections and changed the idea only to obey to Monsignor Montini (

Pope The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

Paolo VI Pope Paul VI ( la, Paulus VI; it, Paolo VI; born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini, ; 26 September 18976 August 1978) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City, Vatican City State from 21 June 1963 to his ...

). His evangelist positions were more or less opposed to the

Alcide De Gasperi Alcide Amedeo Francesco De Gasperi (; 3 April 1881 – 19 August 1954) was an Italian politician who founded the Christian Democracy party and served as prime minister of Italy in eight successive coalition governments from 1945 to 1953. De Gasp ...

's more pragmatic ones. He was against

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two Nor ...

accession of Italy, which he considered dangerous, and in favour of social reforms aimed at helping the poorer parts of the population. Dossetti was presented to the Congress with over one-third consensus. The contraposition with De Gasperi was very clear. He accepted the challenge and returned as deputy secretary of the

party A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often feature f ...

. During the following years, he was actively involved in working at many reforms, including the Cassa del Mezzogiorno. He left politics in 1951, and he returned for a while in 1956 just to run for mayor in Bologna, in which City Council he will stay for the following two years.

After politics

In the meantime, on 6 January 1956, he took religious vows after that, some months before, the Church authorities approved the monastic community of the "Piccola famiglia dell'Annunziata", founded by him and based on ''"silence, prayer, work, and poverty"''. After three years, he was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform vari ...

a priest. During the 1960s, he contributed as a collaborator of Cardinal Lercaro, but since his presence was not welcome by some sectors of the ecclesiastical hierarchy, he chose to retire in silence. According to Cardinal Giacomo Biffi, Dossetti's personal role during the

Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the , or , was the 21st ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church. The council met in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome for four periods (or sessions), each lasting between 8 and 1 ...

was of great importance, because he contributed to making the Council less conservative and traditional than what was originally planned.Cardinal Biffi Breaks Another Taboo. On Dossetti
/ref> During the following years, his community expanded: from the first section near Bologna, in Terrasanta, to Giordania in Casaglia di Montesole. He reappeared in public in 1994, when he publicly expressed his worries for the proposed modifications of the

Italian constitution The Constitution of the Italian Republic ( it, Costituzione della Repubblica Italiana) was enacted by the Constituent Assembly on 22 December 1947, with 453 votes in favour and 62 against. The text, which has since been amended sixteen times, ...

. Dossetti died two years later, on 15 December 1996.

Selected works

; Politics * ''Sentinella, quanto resta della notte? Commemorazione di G. Lazzati nell'anniversario della morte'', San Lorenzo, Reggio Emilia, 1994 * A. Melloni (cur.), ''La ricerca costituente (1945-1952)'', Il Mulino, Bologna, 1994 * ''I valori della Costituzione'', San Lorenzo, Reggio Emilia, 1995 * G. Trotta (a cura di), ''Scritti politici (1943-1951)'', San Lorenzo, Reggio Emilia, 1995 * R. Villa (a cura di), ''Giuseppe Dossetti. Due anni a Palazzo d'Accursio. Discorsi a Bologna 1956-1958'', Aliberti editore, Reggio Emilia, 2004 ; Religion * A. Alberigo - G. Alberigo (a cura di), ''Con Dio e con la storia. Una vicenda di cristiano e di uomo'', Marietti, 1986 * ''Non restare in silenzio, mio Dio'', San Lorenzo, Reggio Emilia, 1987 * G. Dossetti - U. Neri, ''La gioia del cristiano'', San Lorenzo, Reggio Emilia, 1987 ''Credo in un solo Dio padre onnipotente. Il problema di Dio, il mondo spirituale e l'idolatria, il fine soprannaturale dell'uomo'', San Lorenzo, Reggio Emilia, 1990 ''Credo in un solo Signore Gesù Cristo'', San Lorenzo, Reggio Emilia, 1991 ''Credo in un solo Signore Gesù Cristo. Figlio di Dio crocifisso'', San Lorenzo, Reggio Emilia, 1992 * C. M. Martini - G. Dossetti - U. Neri, ''Come un bambino in braccio alla madre. Atti del Convegno (il 17 febbraio 1993)'', San Lorenzo, Reggio Emilia, 1993 * ''Conversazioni'', In Dialogo, 1994 * ''L' esegesi spirituale secondo d. Divo Barsotti'', San Lorenzo, Reggio Emilia, 1995 * ''Il concilio ecumenico Vaticano II. Prolusione inaugurale per l'anno accademico 1994-'95 dello Studio teologico interdiocesano di Reggio Emilia'', San Lorenzo, Reggio Emilia, 1995 ''Il Vaticano II. Frammenti di una riflessione'', Il Mulino, 1996 * Piccola famiglia dell'Annunziata (a cura di), ''La parola e il silenzio. Discorsi e scritti 1986-1995'', Il Mulino, Bologna, 1997 * ''Eucaristia e città'', AVE, 1997 * Piccola famiglia dell'Annunziata (a cura di), ''Un solo Signore. Esercizi spirituali'', EDB, 2001 * Piccola famiglia dell'Annunziata (a cura di), ''L' identità del cristiano'', EDB, 2001 * G. Alberigo - G. Ruggieri (a cura di), ''Per una «Chiesa eucaristica». Rilettura della portata dottrinale della costituzione liturgica del Vaticano II. Lezioni del 1965'', Il Mulino, Bologna, 2002 *Piccola famiglia dell'Annunziata (a cura di), ''La parola di Dio seme di vita e di fede incorruttibile'', EDB, 2002 *''Il viaggio della vita. Un cammino spirituale per uscire dalla tossicodipendenza e diventare uomini'', EDB, 2003 *''La piccola famiglia dell'Annunziata. Le origini e i testi fondativi 1953-1986'', Paoline Editoriale Libri, 2004 *''Omelie del tempo di Natale'', Paoline Editoriale Libri, 2004 *Piccola famiglia dell'Annunziata (a cura di), ''Omelie e istruzioni pasquali 1968-1974'', Paoline Editoriale Libri, 2005 ; Law *''Grandezza e miseria del diritto della Chiesa'' (raccolta di scritti), Il Mulino, Bologna, 1996

References

;Additional sources *A. Alberigo - G. Alberigo, ''Con tutte le tue forze. I nodi della fede cristiana oggi. Omaggio a Giuseppe Dossetti'', Marietti, 1993 *Vincenzo Saba, ''Quella specie di laburismo cristiano. Dossetti, Pastore, Romani e l'alternativa a De Gasperi (1946-1951)'', Edizioni Lavoro, 1996 *Giuseppe Lazzati, ''Lazzati, Dossetti, il dossettismo'', AVE, 1997 *Vittorio Peri, ''La Pira, Lazzati, Dossetti. Nel silenzio la speranza'', Studium, 1998 *G. Alberigo (a cura di), ''Giuseppe Dossetti. Prime prospettive e ipotesi di ricerca'', Il Mulino, Bologna, 1998 *O. Marson - R. Villa (a cura di), ''Giuseppe Dossetti. Il circuito delle due parole'', Nuova Dimensione, 2000 *P. Acanfora - L. Santoro (a cura di), ''Giuseppe Dossetti'', Morcelliana, 2002 *M. Tancini (a cura di), ''Fondo «Cronache Sociali» 1947-1952. Con annessi documenti del vicesegratario della Democrazia Cristiana (1945-1951) Giuseppe Dossetti'', Il Mulino, Bologna, 2002 *Associazione Giorgio La Pira (a cura di), ''Con tutto il cuore, con tutta l'anima e la mente. Per ricordare e ripensare agli insegnamenti di don Giuseppe Dossetti'', San Lorenzo, Reggio Emilia, 2002 *Leopoldo Elia - Pietro Scoppola, ''A colloquio con Dossetti e Lazzati. Intervista (19 novembre 1984)'', Il Mulino, Bologna, 2003 *Achille Ardigò, ''Giuseppe Dossetti e il Libro bianco su Bologna'', EDB, 2003 *L. Giorgi, ''Una vicenda politica. Giuseppe Dossetti 1945-1956'', Edizioni Scriptorium, Milano, 2003 *Giorgio Campanini, ''Dossetti politico'', EDB, 2004 *Salvatore Fangareggi, ''Il partigiano Dossetti'', Aliberti editore, Reggio Emilia, 2004 {{DEFAULTSORT:Dossetti, Giuseppe 1913 births 1996 deaths Politicians from Genoa Christian Democracy (Italy) politicians Members of the National Council (Italy) Members of the Constituent Assembly of Italy Deputies of Legislature I of Italy Clergy from Genoa Italian resistance movement members 20th-century Italian Roman Catholic priests University of Bologna alumni Academic staff of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia Second Vatican Council