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Don Luigi Sturzo

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2009

A. Robert Caponigri
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Extract

In historical retrospect,* the period between the last great formations of European nationalism, German unification and the Italian Riorgimento, and the second world war, must appear as among the most crucial and decisive eras in the political life of the West. The single, but ultimately all-embracing, phenomenon which gives this period its special character is the emergence of the ethical and monistic lay state—the state which, from the sociological point of view, and hence ethically, juridically and politically, seeks the effective subordination to itself of all forms of social life. In Italy, this process, as the result of conditions prevalent there, was especially articulated; and the logic of the new state was developed almost hyperbolically in certain of its dimensions and aspects. In that same country, also as a result peculiar to its conditions, the diagnosis and the contraindications of the monistic state emerged simultaneously with the emergence of that state itself. The ideas and the forces which were effectively to stabilize and then to reverse the process of the lay state were present and active from the moment that state made its effective appearance. For this reason the history of Italy must possess as especial interest during this period. The man who has been, perhaps beyond all others, the expressive and dynamic symbol of those ideas and forces, is Don Luigi Sturzo. As a consequence his career, like the history of his country, has arresting, if not unique, interest.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Review of Politics , Volume 14 , Issue 2 , April 1952 , pp. 147 - 165
Copyright
Copyright © University of Notre Dame 1952

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References

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Among Sturzo, Don's longer works the following may be considered fundamental: Dall'Idea al Fatto (Roma, Ferrari, 1910); Riforma Statale e Indirrizzi Politici (Firenze, Vallecchi, 1923); Italy and Fascismo (New York, Harcourt Brace and Co., 1926); The International Community and the Right of War (New York, Richard R. Smith, 1930); Les Guerres Modernes et la Pensée Catholique (Montreal, Edition de l'Arbre, 1942); The Inner Laws of Society (New York, P. J. Kenedy and Sons, 1944); The True Life (Washington, Catholic University Press, 1943).Google Scholar
2. From Sturzo, Don's continuous and prolific journalistic activity, the following may be considered representative and interesting: “Christian Democracy in Italy,” Commonweal, 01 28, 1944; “Corporatism-: Christian-Social and Fascist,” Catholic World, July, 1937; “Fascism and Nazism,” Quarterly Review, July, 1933; “Geopolitik, Realpolitik e i piccoli Stati,” Il Mondo, November, 1942; “History and Philosophy,” Thought, March, 1946; “The Influences of Social Events on Ethical Conceptions,” Thought, March, 1945; “Le Vatican et le Fascisme,” La Vie Intellectuelle, Feb. 10, 1939; “Lo Stato Laico,” L'Italia, Aprile 27, 1947; “My Political Vocation,” Commonweal, September 26, 1941; “Nemesis of Political Immorality,” Hibbert Journal, October, 1937.Google Scholar
3. Of extended studies on Don Sturzo, the following may be mentioned: Ferrara, M.: Luigi Sturzo (Roma, Formiggini, 1925); A. Gaudenti: Luigi Sturzo, Il Pensiero e le Opere (Roma, Societa' Editrice Libraria Italiana, 1945); G. Petrocchi: Don Luigi Sturzo, Note e Ricordi (Roma, Appollon, 1944); interesting treatment of Don Sturzo's thought and activity may be found in: D. Binchy: Church and State in Fascist Italy (London, Oxford University Press, 1941); H. Finer: Mussolini's Italy (New York, Henry Holt and Co., 1936); Count Carlo Sforza: Contemporary Italy (New York, E. P. Dutton Co., 1944); M. Vaussard: L'Intelligence Catholique dans l'Italie du XX Siècle (Paris, Lecoffre, 1921).Google Scholar
4. Among review articles dealing with aspects of Don's Sturzo's activity the following are representative: Borgese, G. A.: “Don Sturzo's Liberal Catholicism,” Nation, 04 27, 1940; M. Einaudi: “Don Sturzo's Fifty Years of Work for God and Italy,” America, May 29, 1944; M. Millar: “Don Sturzo's Church and State,” Thought, December, 1940; R. Pollock: “Mind of Luigi Sturzo,” Thought, June, 1946; M. Moos: “Don Luigi Sturzo: Christian Democrat,” American Political Science Review, April, 1945;; A. Robert Caponigri: “Ethical and Sociological Bases of Italian Politics,” Ethics, LIX (October, 1948).Google Scholar