CATHOLIC FRIENDSHIP.
The plan for this society was presented at the meeting of the A. C. held in Turin on 3 March 1817 by Cavaliere Luigi Provana di Collegno. It was to promote the dissemination of good books in opposition to the Protestant Bible Society of London, which was widely distributing Bibles and tracts of a religious-moral character. The plan was accepted and approved by Lanteri, First Librarian of the A. C., and immediately put into practice. The two societies were to collaborate closely with each other, except that after about a year (1818) the Amicizia Cattolica completely absorbed the A. C., whose program it retained, modifying its statute in order to make its action more effective and more in keeping with the new religious and political climate of the Restoration.
The purpose of the Amicizia Cattolica was the free distribution of books of religion and piety. The society was directed by 10 administrators, men known for virtue, learning and social standing, at the head of whom was a secretary. The books that the Amicizia Cattolica proposed both for printing and for reading were listed in a catalogue, in which readers were divided into 11 classes. Tens of thousands of volumes were distributed free of charge by the Amicizia Cattolica, of which more than 10,000 were sent to North America. Charles Felix suppressed it in 1828. The soul of this society was the Marquis Cesare d'Azeglio (v.), a pioneer of Catholic journalism.
Bibliography
A. Pietro Frutaz