Giuseppe Dossetti
Giuseppe Dossetti was an Italian professor, politician, and Catholic priest who served as a member of the Chamber of Deputies from 1948 to 1952. A prominent anti-fascist, Dossetti previously served as a member of the Italian Constituent Assembly from 1946 to 1948.
Early life and career
Dossetti was born on 13 February 1913, in Genoa. In his childhood, he joined the lay association Azione Cattolica. Dossetti obtained a law degree at age 21, and soon after joined the National Fascist Party, as was common among young graduates at the time. He became widely popular as a speaker at student meetings organized by the party's student branch, Gruppi Universitari Fascisti. After postgraduate work in both canon and Roman Law at the Catholic University of Milan, he was appointed professor at the University of [Modena and Reggio Emilia|University of Modena] in 1942. Later, in a reversal of his prior fascist leanings, Dossetti joined the Italian Resistance under the name "Benigno", where he became president of the Committee for National Liberation of Reggio Emilia.In 1945, Dossetti became vice-secretary of the newly-established Christian Democracy party. On 2 June 1946, he was elected a member of the Italian Constituent Assembly, a parliamentary chamber charged with drafting a new Italian constitution, where he served as a member of the Subcommittee on the Rights and Duties of the Citizens. Around that time, Dossetti, along with politicians Amintore Fanfani, Giorgio La Pira, and Giuseppe Lazzati, founded the association Civitas Humana. In 1947, Dossetti and Lazzati founded the political magazine Cronache Sociali.
Dossetti was an atypical politician. He decided not to run for reelection in 1948 and changed the idea only at the urging of Monsignor Giovanni Battista Montini. His evangelist positions were more or less opposed to the Alcide De Gasperi's more pragmatic ones. He was against Italy's accession to NATO, which he considered dangerous, and was 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 contrast with De Gasperi was very clear. He accepted the challenge and returned as deputy secretary of the party. 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 to run for mayor in Bologna, in whose City Council he would stay for the following two years.
Later life
In the meantime, on 6 January 1956, he took religious vows. 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 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 was of great importance, because he contributed to making the Council less conservative and traditional than what was originally planned.
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. 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, La ricerca costituente , Il Mulino, Bologna, 1994I valori della Costituzione, San Lorenzo, Reggio Emilia, 1995
- G. Trotta, Scritti politici , San Lorenzo, Reggio Emilia, 1995
- R. Villa, Giuseppe Dossetti. Due anni a Palazzo d'Accursio. Discorsi a Bologna 1956-1958, Aliberti editore, Reggio Emilia, 2004
- A. Alberigo - G. Alberigo, Con Dio e con la storia. Una vicenda di cristiano e di uomo, Marietti, 1986Non 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 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 , San Lorenzo, Reggio Emilia, 1993Conversazioni, In Dialogo, 1994L' esegesi spirituale secondo d. Divo Barsotti, San Lorenzo, Reggio Emilia, 1995Il concilio ecumenico Vaticano II. Prolusione inaugurale per l'anno accademico 1994-'95 dello Studio teologico interdiocesano di Reggio Emilia, San Lorenzo, Reggio Emilia, 1995
- Piccola famiglia dell'Annunziata, La parola e il silenzio. Discorsi e scritti 1986-1995, Il Mulino, Bologna, 1997Eucaristia e città, AVE, 1997
- Piccola famiglia dell'Annunziata, Un solo Signore. Esercizi spirituali, EDB, 2001
- Piccola famiglia dell'Annunziata, L' identità del cristiano, EDB, 2001
- G. Alberigo - G. Ruggieri, 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, 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, Omelie e istruzioni pasquali 1968-1974, Paoline Editoriale Libri, 2005
- Grandezza e miseria del diritto della Chiesa, Il Mulino, Bologna, 1996