Giambattista Casoni

Giambattista Casoni (31 October 1830 – 4 August 1919) was an Italian journalist and politician. He was among the leading figures in the history of the Italian Catholic movement in the period after the Capture of Rome.

Biography

Giambattista Casoni was born in Bologna. During his childhood he lost his father, Giuseppe. His education was provided by his father's brother, Don Francesco, canon of the Basilica of San Petronio, who was for Casoni a "father, educator, benefactor." He completed his high school studies at the archiepiscopal seminary in Bologna, then graduated in law from the University of Bologna in 1851.

In 1848, at the age of 18, he began political activity. He took part in the movement of the "papal constitution-makers," supporters of the initiative of Pius IX, who had granted the Statute on March 14. At the end of the same year, the movement split as a result of the revolutionary liberals' seizure of power in Rome (Roman Republic). Casoni was among those who maintained loyalty to Pius IX, who was in exile in Gaeta, a guest of the King of Naples.

In 1850 he participated in the founding of the Catholic-Italian Society in Bologna; in 1853 he was among the founders of the Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas. In 1855 the new Archbishop, Michele Viale-Prelà (1798–1860), appointed him vice-chancellor for the civil forum of the Bologna Curia; Casoni would remain the Curia's legal advisor for a long time (even after 1859). In the early 1960s he rendered his services in defense of capitular vicar Monsignor Antonio Canzi, accused (by the Italian government) of denying ecclesiastical burial to a counselor of the court of appeals and of executing a papal bull without the exequatur of the civil authority. At the end of the trial, which caused a stir at the time, Canzi would be sentenced to three years in prison.

In 1858, with colleagues from the Academy of St. Thomas, he founded L'Osservatore Bolognese, a Catholic newspaper, siding in defense of the pontiff's prerogatives and against the spread of liberal ideas. The first editor was Canon Francesco Battaglini, president of the Academy; Casoni was the paper's main editor. With the end of papal rule in the Legations on June 10, 1859, the newspaper was suppressed. Casoni did not stay put: he wrote, under a pseudonym, two pamphlets: The Pope and His Power, of which seven thousand copies are sold in the city of Bologna alone, and The Papacy and Italy. Thoughts of a Young Italian Catholic.

Between 1861 and 1863 he was engaged in editing the Eco delle Romagne as well as writing several other pamphlets published in the series Piccole letture cattoliche (Small Catholic Readings) conceived by Giovanni Acquaderni. Among the titles are The Church and the State, The Pope-King, The Friends and Enemies of the Pope-King and Our Lady of St. Luke: Historical Scenes (all dated from 1863). At the end of 1863, the Eco delle Romagne was suppressed by the government. Casoni did not give up and founded, with Giulio Cesare Fangarezzi, a new paper Il patriota cattolico, which came out on January 31, 1864. He contributed to Fangarezzi's other periodical, the monthly Il Conservatore, founded the previous year.

During these years Casoni travelled extensively throughout Italy in order to forge relationships with people who, like him, defend the cause of the Church's independence; he met Pius IX's secretary of state, Cardinal Giacomo Antonelli, historian Cesare Cantù, diplomat Antonio Brignole Sale, and the Count La Margherita. He also undertook trips abroad (France, England, Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands) in order to meet the best minds in European Catholic thought. He attended the International Catholic Congress in Malines (Belgium) as a member of the Italian delegation (August 1863).

One of the most influential members of Italian intransigents, he participated in 1865 in the founding of the "Catholic Society for the Defense of the Freedom of the Church in Italy." This is the first nationwide association of lay Catholics. Giulio Cesare Fangarezzi is the president, Casoni is the secretary. In the same year Casoni stood as a candidate in the parliamentary elections in the seat of San Giovanni in Persiceto and Bettola, but was not elected. In 1866 the newly formed association ran into government repression that coincided with Italy's entry into the war against Austria. At the same time Il Patriota Cattolico and Il Conservatore were also suppressed. Fangarezzi took refuge in Switzerland, Casoni went to Rome, in the Papal States.

During his stay in Urbe, Casoni joined the editorial staff of L'Osservatore Romano, quickly attaining a leading position. Returning to Bologna in 1867, he collaborated with Giovanni Acquaderni and his Society of Catholic Youth. He received the task of promoting the foundation of a body that would bring together and direct the Catholic associations scattered throughout Italy. The work is completed in 1874: the body took the name Work of Catholic Congresses and Committees. In 1876 Casoni was appointed a member of the Standing Committee (i.e., management) of the Work. The following year he assumed the position of Secretary.

He continued, meanwhile, his journalistic efforts. Bologna lacked a Catholic newspaper for two years. In 1868 L'Ancora was born: Casoni worked on the paper (which he helped found) for eleven years, and in 1875 he founded and directed La Rivista Felsinea, which after a year took the name of L'Araldo. At the same time he is involved in a considerable number of charitable works: from the Workers' Mutual Aid Society to the Circolo di S. Petronio, from the St. Vincent's Conference to the Collegio dell'Immacolata, of which he is director for seven years. In 1878 the daily newspaper of Bologna's intransigent Catholics, L'Unione, was founded, replacing L'Araldo. Casoni had a leading role in the newspaper's editorial line from the very beginning. In the 1980s his major commitment is devoted to the Work of Congresses, creating new regional committees throughout Italy. In 1889 Casoni was elected vice-president of the Work.

In 1890 Casoni was called to the editorship of L'Osservatore Romano, the daily newspaper of the Holy See. He then moved to Rome, leaving all duties within the Work of Congresses. In the words of Pope Leo XIII, Casoni was chosen "not only in consideration of the services he has rendered to the Catholic cause and the firmness of her principles, but well also for the correct and dignified manner, with which he has always defended that cause and advocated these principles." He began directing the newspaper on June 16 of that year. He would retain the editorship of L'Osservatore until 1901.

Returning to Bologna, he made himself available again to the Work of Congresses until its dissolution in 1904. Thereafter, he continued to devote himself to charitable work and social assistance.

Giambattista Casoni died in Bologna on August 4, 1919.

Works

• Roma e Parigi (1862)
• Il Belgio e la Germania (1863)
• La libertà della chiesa in Italia: considerazioni e avvertenze dell'avvocato Giambattista Casoni (1863)
• Un nuovo trionfo della chiesa e del papato nell'11 aprile 1869: considerazioni dell'avvocato Giambattista Casoni (1869)
• La sovranita temporale del Papa e l'unita nazionale d'Italia: Brevi considerazioni (1886)
• Cinquant'anni di giornalismo (1846-1900): ricordi personali dell'avvocato Giambattista Casoni (1907)
• Pio IX e Vittorio Emanuele II: ricordi personali (1910)

References

• Albertazzi, Alessandro (1982). "Casoni." In: Dizionario storico del movimento cattolico in Italia, 1860-1980, Vol. 2. Casale Monferrato: Marietti, pp. 97–100.
• Gambasin, Angelo (1958). Il movimento sociale nell'Opera dei Congressi (1874-1904). Contributo per la storia del cattolicesimo sociale in Italia. Roma: Università Gregoriana.
• Invernizzi, Marco (2002). "Casoni Giambattista." In: I Cattolici contro l'unità d'Italia? L'Opera dei Congressi (1874-1904), con i profili dei protagonisti. Casale Monferrato: Piemme, pp. 180–85.