BETTAZZI, RODOLFO. - Teacher, educator, apostle of action for the defense of morality, born in Florence on 14 Nov. 1861, died in Turin on 26 Jan. 1941. Resident in Turin, where he was professor of mathematics at the Liceo Cavour and at the Military Academy, he founded here the first League for Public Morality (1894), followed by similar associations in Naples, Treviso, Milan, etc., and then, from 1903, by Youth Unions (Rome, Florence, Padua, etc.) composed of secondary and university students.
The struggle against pornography and the vice industry was coordinated through several national congresses (Turin 1902; Milan 1906; Padua 1910; Naples 1914), which also prompted legislative measures. BETTAZZI, as the driving force behind the movement, supported it with the fight against the white slave trade, the establishment of the Work for the Protection of Young Women, and the Abolitionist Committee (for the abolition of the legalization of prostitution), as well as the founding of the Nuova Crociata, a Catholic association against abolition (v.). A compelling orator and writer, he found in his wife Marianna Bondi an outstanding mother for his large family and a collaborator in his charitable work, director of the journal Matilda and author of educational stories. BETTAZZI’s publications (mostly lectures) all pertain to the movement for public morality (v.) and youth education that he initiated, with particular attention to the education of purity. He also made a notable contribution to the development of Catholic Action.