Giuseppe Dossetti

Dossetti was born in Genoa on 13 February 1913. His father was from Piedmont and his mother from Emilia. Already in June of the same year, the family moved to Cavriago, a small town near Reggio Emilia, where this father had taken over the local pharmacy. The mother had a very strong spirituality, which she passed on to her children. Dossetti attended secondary school in Reggio Emilia, where he obtained his maturità classica, the classical high school diploma, in 1930. In 1934, under the guidance of father Agostino Gemelli, Dossetti moved to Milan, to conduct postgraduate work in both Canon and Roman Law at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart. That environment was favorable for an experience as consecrated layperson: in 1936, he was admitted to the Missionaries of the Kingship of Our Lord Jesus Christ, a lay association founded by Gemelli together with bishop Francesco Olgiati, whose lay members, divided into a male and a female branch, consecrated themselves in secret by making a vow of chastity and promises of poverty, obedience, and apostolate. In 1939, Dossetti prepared a memorandum, later sent by Gemelli to Pope Pius XII, on the nature of the associations of lay people consecrated to God while living in the world, which formed the basis of the Pope's decision to recognize secular institutes. In this text, published under Gemelli's own name, Dossetti developed the concept of self-giving and total self-offering, which would greatly influence his later monastic thought. During this phase, Dossetti matured a radically negative judgment of Fascism. == Member of the Italian Resistance ==

In 1940, Dossetti became assistant professor of Canon Law at the Catholic University, in the same year when Italy entered World War II. Concerned by the unfolding crisis, he started coordinating a group, including future politicians such as Amintore Fanfani, Giorgio La Pira, and the venerable Giuseppe Lazzati, who met on Fridays to discuss the events and the desirability of Catholic committed support to the establishment of a democratic political system. Dossetti later recalled this episode several times: two years later in a speech to the Constituent Assembly, again forty years later in an address at the Archiginnasio of Bologna, and also in a passionate letter to Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin following the Sabra and Shatila massacre. After the end of World War II in April 1945, Dossetti was confirmed as president of the CLN of Reggio Emilia, a sign of the prestige he had gained despite the strong presence of the Italian Communist Party among the Resistance fighters. == Political career ==

After the Liberation, Dossetti emerged as a prominent figure in the newly formed Christian Democracy party (DC). In April 1945 he was appointed a member of the Consulta Nazionale, the advisory body established to assist the government in the transition from Fascism to democratic institutions. Within the DC, he gained national visibility at the first conference of the youth groups in July 1945 and was subsequently elected Vice-Secretary of the party. Once in Rome, he worked to give the DC a stronger ideological foundation and advocated for a clear republican choice in the debate over the future institutional form of the Italian State, a position that brought him into tension with Alcide De Gasperi, who preferred to leave the issue open in order to avoid alienating monarchist voters. Dossetti was not intentioned to seek reelection in 1948 and changed his mind only at the urging of Monsignor Giovanni Battista Montini, then Substitute for General Affairs to the Vatican Secretariat of State, who later became Pope Paul VI. Indeed, despite his growing influence, Dossetti was increasingly clashing with De Gasperi’s more pragmatic leadership. He was actively working on many reforms, including the Cassa del Mezzogiorno, and argued that Christian Democracy should pursue a bold program of social reforms aimed at helping the poorest part of the population, rather than limit itself to contain the rise of the Communist Party. The disagreement emerged in several debates, including foreign policy and the future alignment of Italy in the Cold War. Dossetti initially opposed Italy’s accession to NATO, advocating instead for a more independent international position, but he ultimately voted in favour of its ratification in Parliament in 1949. After briefly serving again as Vice-Secretary of the party, however, he resigned from the leadership in 1951 and left Parliament in 1952, with the intention to withdraw from active political life. He would briefly return to the political arena in 1956, when, at the request of Archbishop Lercaro, he ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Bologna and represented the opposition in the City Council for two years, after which he definitively turned toward religious life and intellectual work. == Religious 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 (Little Family of the Annunciation), 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 ==

Opera omnia • Giuseppe Dossetti. I testi : I, Archivio della famiglia e Lettere alla comunità :: I.1, ''La Piccola famiglia dell'Annunziata. Le origini e i testi fondativi, 1953-1986'', Milano, Paoline, 2004. ISBN 88-315-2742-8. :: I.2, Lettere alla comunità, 1964-1971, Milano, Paoline, 2006. ISBN 88-315-3051-8. :: I.3.1, Discorsi ed esercizi spirituali, Milano, Paoline, 2006. ISBN 88-315-2957-9. : II, Omelie :: II.1, Omelie del tempo di Natale, Milano, Paoline, 2004. ISBN 88-315-2736-3. :: II.2, Omelie e istruzioni pasquali, 1968-1974, Milano, Paoline, 2005. ISBN 88-315-2780-0. :: II.3, Omelie del tempo di Pasqua, Milano, Paoline, 2007. ISBN 978-88-315-3217-4. :: II.4, Omelie e istruzioni pasquali, 1975-1978, Milano, Paoline, 2009. ISBN 978-88-315-3575-5. :: II.5, Omelie delle feste del Signore, tempo ordinario, Milano, Paoline, 2011. ISBN 978-88-315-4094-0. : III, Discorsi ed esercizi spirituali :: III.1, La parola e il silenzio. Discorsi e scritti 1986-1995, Milano, Paoline, 2005. ISBN 88-315-2957-9. : IV, Pensieri e consigli spirituali :: IV.1, La coscienza del fine. Appunti spirituali 1939-1955, Milano, Paoline, 2010. ISBN 978-88-315-3830-5. Political Writings Dossetti, Giuseppe. Chiesa e Stato democratico. Rome: Servire, 1947. —. Conversazioni. Milan: In Dialogo, 1994. —. Costituzione e Resistenza. Rome: Sapere 2000, 1995. —. Dossetti giovane: Scritti reggiani, 1944–1948. Rome: Cinque Lune, 1982. —. I discorsi di Giuseppe Dossetti a Palazzo d’Accursio: 30 giugno 1956–30 gennaio 1958. Bologna: Centro Studi Sociali e Amministrativi, 1958. —. I valori della Costituzione. Reggio Emilia: San Lorenzo, 1995. —. I valori della Costituzione: Giuseppe Dossetti e Nilde Iotti a Monteveglio. Reggio Emilia: Pozzi, 1995. —. I valori della Costituzione italiana. Modena: Mucchi, 1995. —. La Costituzione: Le radici, i valori, le riforme. Rome: Lavoro, 1996. —. Scritti politici (1943-1951). Giuseppe Trotta, ed. Reggio Emilia: San Lorenzo, 1995. —. Sentinella, quanto resta della notte? Commemorazione di G. Lazzati nell’anniversario della morte. Reggio Emilia: San Lorenzo, 1994. —. Sentinella, quanto resta della notte? Riflessioni sulla transizione italiana. Rome: Lavoro, 1994. Dossetti, Giuseppe, Leonilde Iotti, and Meuccio Ruini. Interventi alla Costituente: Contributi reggiani. Bologna: Analisi, 1986. Villa, R., ed. Giuseppe Dossetti: Due anni a Palazzo d’Accursio. Discorsi a Bologna 1956–1958. Reggio Emilia: Aliberti, 2004. Religious Writings Dossetti, Giuseppe. Credo in un solo Dio Padre onnipotente: Il problema di Dio, il mondo spirituale e l’idolatria, il fine soprannaturale dell’uomo. Reggio Emilia: San Lorenzo, 1990. —. Credo in un solo Signore Gesù Cristo. Reggio Emilia: San Lorenzo, 1991. —. Credo in un solo Signore Gesù Cristo: Figlio di Dio crocifisso. Reggio Emilia: San Lorenzo, 1992. —. Don Gianfranco Magnani: Un prete per la Chiesa e per la città. Cavriago: Tipolitografia Bertani, 1988. —. Eucaristia e città. Rome: AVE, 1997. —. Ho imparato a guardare lontano. Cavriago: Comune di Cavriago, 1988. —. Il Concilio ecumenico Vaticano II: Prolusione inaugurale per l’anno accademico 1994–95 dello Studio teologico interdiocesano di Reggio Emilia. Reggio Emilia: San Lorenzo, 1995. —. Il viaggio della vita: Un cammino spirituale per uscire dalla tossicodipendenza e diventare uomini. Bologna: EDB, 2003. —. Il Vaticano II: Frammenti di una riflessione. Bologna: Il Mulino, 1996. —. L’esegesi spirituale secondo d. Divo Barsotti. Reggio Emilia: San Lorenzo, 1995. —. Non restare in silenzio, mio Dio. Reggio Emilia: San Lorenzo, 1987. —. Se tu non mi parli, io sono come chi scende nella fossa. Reggio Emilia: San Lorenzo, 1988. Dossetti, Giuseppe. Introduction to Luciano Gherardi. Le querce di Monte Sole: Vita e morte delle comunità martiri fra Setta e Reno, 1898–1944. Bologna: Il Mulino, 1987. Dossetti, Giuseppe, and Luigi Giussani. Per la vita del mondo. Bologna: Edizioni Dehoniane, 1990. Dossetti, Giuseppe, and Umberto Neri. La gioia del cristiano. Reggio Emilia: San Lorenzo, 1987. Martini, Carlo Maria, Giuseppe Dossetti, and Umberto Neri. Come un bambino in braccio alla madre: Atti del Convegno, 17 febbraio 1993. Reggio Emilia: San Lorenzo, 1993. Piccola Famiglia dell’Annunziata, ed. La parola di Dio seme di vita e di fede incorruttibile. Bologna: EDB, 2002. —, ed. La parola e il silenzio: Discorsi e scritti 1986–1995. Bologna: Il Mulino, 1997. —, ed. La Piccola famiglia dell’Annunziata: Le origini e i testi fondativi, 1953–1986. Milan: Paoline Editoriale Libri, 2004. —, ed. L’identità del cristiano. Bologna: EDB, 2001. —, ed. Omelie e istruzioni pasquali, 1968–1974. Milan: Paoline Editoriale Libri, 2005. Legal Writings Dossetti, Giuseppe. Funzioni e ordinamento dello Stato moderno. Rome: Studium, 1961. —. Grandezza e miseria del diritto della Chiesa. Bologna: Il Mulino, 1996. —. Il concetto giuridico dello status religiosus in Sant’Ambrogio. Milan: Vita e Pensiero, 1940. —. La formazione progressiva del negozio nel matrimonio canonico: Contributo alla dottrina degli sponsali e del matrimonio condizionale. Bologna: Zanichelli, 1954. —. La violenza nel matrimonio in diritto canonico. Milan: Vita e Pensiero, 1943. —. Le persone giuridiche ecclesiastiche e il nuovo libro primo del Codice civile. Milan: Vita e Pensiero, 1939. == References ==