Giuseppe Dossetti

Giuseppe Dossetti (13 February 1913 – 15 December 1996) 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.

Giuseppe Dossetti
Member of the Chamber of Deputies
In office 8 May 1948 – 18 July 1952
Constituency	Parma
Member of the Constituent Assembly
In office 25 June 1946 – 31 January 1948
Constituency	Parma
Personal details
Born	(1913-02-13)13 February 1913 Genoa, Italy
Died	15 December 1996(1996-12-15) (aged 83) Monteveglio, Italy
Political party	Christian Democracy
Alma mater	University of Bologna
Occupation	University professor, priest

Early life and career

Dossetti was born on 13 February 1913, in Genoa. In his childhood, he joined lay association Azione Cattolica ("Catholic Action"). Dossetti obtained a law degree aged 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 ("Fascist University Groups"). After postgraduate work in Canon and Roman Law at the Catholic University of Milan, he was appointed professor at the University of Modena in 1942. Later, in a reversal of his prior 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 political party Democrazia Cristiana. On 2 June 1946, he was elected 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 association Civitas Humana.^[1] In 1947, Dossetti and Lazzati founded political magazine Cronache Sociali.^[1]

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 Paolo VI). His evangelist positions were more or less opposed to the Alcide De Gasperi's more pragmatic ones. He was against NATO 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. 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.

Later life

Dossetti's grave, in the cemetery at Monte Sole

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 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.^[2]

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 (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