CATHOLIC FRIENDSHIP.
The project for this society was presented at the meeting of the A.C. held in Turin on 3 March 1817 by Cav. Luigi Provana di Collegno. It was intended to promote the diffusion of good books in contrast to the Protestant Bible Society of London, which widely distributed Bibles and treatises of a religious-moral character. The project was accepted and approved by Lanteri, the First Librarian of the A.C., and immediately put into practice. The two societies were to collaborate closely with each other, but after about a year (1818), Catholic Friendship completely absorbed the A.C., whose programme it retained, modifying its statutes in order to render its action more effective and more in keeping with the new religious and political climate of the Restoration.
Catholic Friendship had as its purpose the free distribution of books of religion and piety. The society was directed by ten administrators, men known for their virtue, learning, and social position, headed by a secretary. The books proposed by Catholic Friendship, both for printing and for reading, were listed in a catalogue in which readers were divided into eleven classes. Tens of thousands of volumes were distributed free of charge by Catholic Friendship, more than 10,000 of which were sent to North America. Charles Felix suppressed it in 1828. The guiding spirit of this society was the Marquis Cesare d'Azeglio (v.), a pioneer of Catholic journalism.
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