GROSOLI, GIOVANNI. - Count, senator, born at Carpì on 20 Aug. 1859, died at Assisi on 20 Feb. 1937.
Having entered the Catholic organizations while still very young, he developed their work in Ferrara, where he resided. In 1902 he was called by Leo XIII to the presidency of the Opera dei Congressi at a particularly difficult moment due to the excesses of Don Romolo Murri and the rising tide of Modernism. Grosoli failed to reconcile the discordant currents and in 1904 was obliged to resign. He then devoted himself to Catholic journalism, but even in this field his work did not meet with the approval of the Holy See and he had to withdraw.
Pope Benedict XV, however, restored him to prominence by entrusting him—together with the Marquis Crispolti and Count Dalla Torre—with the direction of Italian Catholic Action and by withdrawing the condemnation imposed on the so-called “trust” of Catholic newspapers that were under Grosoli’s control (Avvenire d’Italia, Momento, Corriere d’Italia, Corriere di Sicilia, Italia).
After the First World War he was among the founders of the Partito Popolare. At the advent of Fascism, in the hope of reconciling the Catholic movement with the regime, he threw himself into the formation of the Centro Nazionale. Disillusioned in his hopes and gravely affected in his financial resources by the collapse of banking institutions he had founded, he spent his last years in seclusion and prayer. From 3 Oct. 1920 he was a senator of the Kingdom of Italy.
RENZO U. Montini