CARLO BARATTA. — Educator, Salesian sociologist, born at Druogno (Novara) on 10 Oct. 1861, died at Salsomaggiore on 23 Apr. 1909. Admitted to the Society by Fr. Bosco, he taught at the Casa d’Alessio and was ordained priest there (1884). He then moved to Parma where he undertook extensive apostolic work in the oratory, the college, and the School of Religion for students which he founded in 1889, the first of its kind in Italy, as well as the Agricultural School. In the latter he implemented the programme of agricultural renewal advocated by Stanislao Solari (q.v.), with whom he was a friend and collaborator. Baratta was an apostle and theorist of the “new physiocracy”: in a pamphlet of 1895 (Di una nuova missione del Clero) he advocated the role of priests in promoting national agricultural production; in his Principi di sociologia he presented rational agriculture as a prerequisite for a Christian solution to the social question. In 1904 he transferred to Turin as an inspector, continuing his zealous apostolate. Founder of the Rivista di Agricoltura, author of numerous religious, sociological, and musical publications.
BARATTA, FRANCESCO – Ecstasy of St. Francis. Rome, S. Pietro in Montorio.
Works: La libertà dell’operaio, Parma 1901; Principi di sociologia cristiana, ibid. 1902; Il pensiero e la vita di S. Solari, ibid. 1907.