CHRISTIAN FRIENDSHIP. - A secret Catholic society for the diffusion of good literature, founded in Turin by Father Niccolò von Diessbach (v.) between the years 1778-80. In documents it is always indicated by the abbreviation A. C.
It was composed of 12 members called Christian Friends, six men, laymen and priests, and six women, drawn from the aristocratic and educated class. The directing part of the society was reserved to the men, whose head, called the First Librarian, had to possess a broad and solid literary and bibliographical knowledge. The A. C. achieved its purpose, namely intellectual apostolate, through an intelligent distribution of good books. The Friends gathered every eight days, then every fifteen, to discuss everything relating to the Society; the meetings were held in the library, the ideal center of the A. C. The books intended for the Friends alone constituted the so-called immovable library, while those intended for lending constituted the movable library; other books were intended to be distributed free of charge. In order not to err in recommending a book, a catalogue of good books was prepared, divided into eight classes, according to the spiritual needs of the readers.
The most absolute secrecy bound the Friends, in order to escape both the intrigues of the wicked and the criticisms of the mediocre, as well as the harassment of the police. There prevailed the use of a conventional language among the Friends and also of ciphers in correspondence. From Turin the A. C., between 1780 and 1803, spread to various cities in Italy and abroad, such as Milan, Fribourg in Switzerland, Paris, Vienna, Augsburg in Bavaria, Florence, Rome, Warsaw, etc. The driving center always remained Turin, directed by the founder Diessbach, then by the servant of God Pio Brunone Lanteri (v.); in Florence it was supported by Marquis Leopoldo Ricasoli, in Milan by Count Pertusati, in Vienna by the famous Baron Penkler, etc. In Paris, the Friends distinguished themselves by their activity during the pre-revolutionary and revolutionary period; indeed some of its members died for the faith. The society was almost entirely dispersed by the revolutionary and Napoleonic storms.
After the Restoration, Lanteri attempted to revive it in Turin (1817), but by then its character as a secret society had become an obstacle to its development. It was thought to place alongside it a society of a public character, which was called, on the suggestion of Count Giuseppe de Maistre, "Amicizia Cattolica."