CATHOLIC TEACHERS. – The Italian Catholic teaching organization is headed by two flourishing associations: the Teachers’ Movement of Catholic Action and the Italian Association of Catholic Teachers (Associazione Italiana M. C.), each with its own statutes and organizational life, complementary to one another, that is, one functioning in relation to the other. This connection and agreement guarantee their vitality and unified action.
In 1900, the first organization of teachers in Italy came into being, called the “National Teachers’ Union,” with the aim of improving the state of national education and safeguarding the economic and legal conditions of teachers. The union, which attracted widespread support, guaranteed in its statutes absolute political and religious neutrality and full respect for all convictions. Soon, however, contrary to its statutes, it took a clear stance in favor of secular schools. Catholics, compelled to leave due to questions of dignity, freedom, and conscience, founded in 1906 the Italian Teachers’ Association “Nicolò Tommaseo” with the aim of reconciling the necessary protection of teachers’ interests with the promotion of popular instruction and education based on Christian principles. The “Tommaseo” flourished until the Fascist regime suppressed all professional and trade associations, forcing it to suspend its activities in 1929. Catholic Teachers adhered to the “Teachers of Catholic Action” section.
This section, proposing the religious and moral formation of teachers for their apostolate in schools, succeeded in uniting, through regular—though necessarily limited—activity, several thousand teachers who remained steadfast in pursuing, despite difficulties, the ideal of an educational mission inspired by the doctrine of truth. The importance and effectiveness of this section were revealed in the years 1944–45, when, with the fall of the Fascist regime, the urgent need arose for a large teachers’ association that would carry on the traditions of the “Tommaseo” and, organizing itself, formulate a program in line with changing needs. The members of the section called their colleagues together; the diocesan organizational network expanded, and thus the Italian Association of Catholic Teachers (A.I.M.C.) was born. On 4 November 1945, Pius XII pointed to its specific purpose: “To procure and promote the perfect formation of the teacher, providing him with the means to fulfill in the best possible way his arduous, yet great and noble mission.” Unified unionism and democratic practice gave the new professional association a precise identity, openly inspired by Catholic principles, requiring only adherence to these principles without binding the political opinions of individual members: a pre-union and mass association. In September 1946, the Supreme Pontiff Pius XII granted new statutes to Italian Catholic Action. In consideration of the association’s
The organization of the Teachers’ Movement of Catholic Action is diocesan and structured into groups at the diocesan center and nuclei in smaller centers; the appointment of presidents and vice presidents falls to ecclesiastical authority, as with the other branches of Catholic Action. The main initiatives of the Teachers’ Movement are national, regional, and diocesan training courses and schools of apostolate. The Movement’s official organ is the monthly *Lettera fraterna*, compiled by the Subsidiaries for leaders and by *La Via* for graduates of the Teachers’ Institute.
The organization of the Teachers’ Movement of Catholic Action is diocesan with provincial coordination and is structured into local sections that report to diocesan, provincial, and national councils. The governing bodies are elected by members. The national congress elects the national council every three years. Important national and peripheral activities and initiatives of the A.I.M.C. include the Study Center, the Secretariat for Teachers’ Assistance, the Presidency Office, the Office of Popular Education with its Center for Teaching Techniques, the now three thousand schools for adult illiterates and semi-literates spread throughout Italy, and the traveling popular culture chair, specific activities for directors and inspectors, for young teachers, for kindergarten teachers, the publishing house *Il Maestro*, the monthly journal for educators, *L’indice d’oro*, which deals with art and literature for children, and the Villa “Il Maestro,” which hosts conferences and meetings of the Association and teachers passing through Rome.
The A.I.M.C. publishes the monthly *Il Maestro* for all members, the bimonthly *Dirigenti A.I.M.C.* for leaders, and the monthly *Notiziario sindacale*.
MASTERS OF THE “VIRGA RUBEA” OF THE PONTIFICAL CHAPEL. – The Masters of the “Virga Rubea” (red staff) are ecclesiastics of the Papal Chapel who have the care and custody of the papal cross in the chapel and during pontifical functions and processions. On such occasions, they go to retrieve the said cross in the antechamber of honor of the Apostolic Palace and carry it to the vestment room, where they hand it over to the Auditor of the Roman Rota, who carries it in the procession before the pope. Upon arrival at the chapel, the Auditor returns the papal cross to the Master of the “Virga Rubea,” who always stands beside him and, throughout the ceremony, places it at the Gospel side on a special perforated stand. At the end of the function, the Master of the “Virga Rubea” returns the cross to the Auditor of the Rota, who carries it back to the vestment room, where the Master takes it again and returns it to the antechamber of honor.
The Masters of the “Virga Rubea” form a college and are appointed by the pope through a letter from the Monsignor Majordomo, by whom they are then dependent. They are familiars of the pope and, while in the past they were numerous, there are currently two. They wear a cassock with sashes, a purple silk sash with ribbons, a mantle of serge or coarse cloth of the same color, black silk stockings, and shoes with buckles.
These ecclesiastics are called “ostiaries” (ushers) because for a long time they were entrusted with the custody of the door (Latin *ostium*) of the vestment room, that is, the room where, on a bed (a remnant of ancient papal customs), the vestments to be worn by the pope are placed. They later added the designation “a virga rubea” because they carry a staff or cane about two palms long, covered in red velvet and adorned at the ends and in the middle with silver filigree. The ushers have been present in the Papal Household since its earliest development. As a college, they are already organized in the 12th century: two Masters of the “Virga Rubea” are mentioned in a roster under Paul IV (1555). The Statutes of the Masters of the “Virga Rubea” were confirmed by Clement X with the constitution *In apostolica Sedis dignitatis culmine*, of 5 December 1671 (published in Rome by the Stamperia della R. Camera Apostolica in 1671).