MAESTRI CATTOLICI. — The Italian Catholic teachers’ organization is centered on two flourishing associations: the Movimento maestri di Azione Cattolica and the Associazione Italiana M. C., each with its own statutes and organizational life, complementary to the other, that is, each functioning in support of the other: a connection and concord that ensure their vitality and unified action.
In 1900 the first organization of teachers came into being in Italy, calling itself the « Unione magistrale nazionale », with the purpose of improving the condition of national education and safeguarding the economic and legal status of teachers. The union, which received widespread support, guaranteed in its statutes absolute political and religious neutrality and full respect for all convictions. Before long, however, contrary to its statutes, it took a definite position in favor of the secular school. The Catholics, compelled to leave it for reasons of dignity, freedom, and conscience, founded in 1906 the Associazione magistrale italiana « Nicolò Tommaseo », with the purpose of reconciling the proper safeguarding of teachers’ interests with the advancement of popular instruction and education on the basis of Christian principles. The « Tommaseo » flourished until the Fascist regime suppressed all professional and occupational associations, and in 1929 it was obliged to suspend its activities altogether. The m. c. joined the « Maestri di Azione Cattolica » section.
This section, having set itself the religious and moral formation of teachers for the apostolate in the school as its aim, succeeded in keeping united, through regular though necessarily limited activity, several thousand teachers who remained constant, despite difficulties, in pursuing the ideal of an educational mission inspired by the doctrine of truth. The importance and effectiveness of this section became evident in 1944–45 when, after the fall of the Fascist regime, the urgent need arose for a large teachers’ association that would gather together the traditions of the « Tommaseo » and, by organizing itself, formulate a program in accordance with changed requirements. The members of the section called their colleagues together; the diocesan organizational network expanded, and thus the Associazione Italiana M. C. arose. On 4 November 1945 Pius XII indicated its specific purpose as being to: « procure and promote the perfect formation of the teacher, providing him with the means to fulfill as well as possible his arduous but great and noble mission ». Unified trade unionism and democratic practice gave a precise character to the new professional association, openly inspired by Catholic principles, by requiring only adherence to those principles, without binding the political opinions of individual members: a pre-trade-union and mass association. In September 1946 the Supreme Pontiff Pius XII promulgated the new statutes of Italian Catholic Action. In consideration of the absolute need for an apostolic nucleus constituting the permanent backbone of a mass association (the experience of the Maestri section had been revealing), and of the necessary specific formation for the apostolate, especially with regard to elements as influential in social life as teachers, these statutes provided, alongside the large organizations already in existence, for a new association of Catholic Action (no longer a section), namely the « Movimento Maestri di Azione Cattolica ». The teachers’ organization thus acquired its definitive structure: on the one hand, the large mass association, professional and pre-trade-union, requiring only adherence to Catholic principles; on the other, a movement of animators, on a par with the other Catholic Action associations, committed to a special and direct collaboration with the hierarchical apostolate of the Church. Teachers who, as militants, feel called to more demanding apostolic activity enroll in the « Movimento di Azione Cattolica » and receive its specific formation; but the movement’s own statutes direct them all to the « Associazione Italiana M.C. » (A.I.M.C.), where they carry out all external activity among their colleagues and together with their colleagues. The A.I.M.C. is responsible for extensive and multifaceted professional activity, as well as social affirmation and dissemination. The m. c. have held the majority in all democratic contests for elected bodies in the specific sector (Teachers’ Trade Union, third section of the Higher Council of Public Education, National Teachers’ Assistance Agency), eventually reaching 80 percent of the voters.
The organization of the Movimento Maestri di A. C. is diocesan and is divided into groups in diocesan centers and nuclei in smaller centers; the appointment of presidents and vice-presidents belongs to the ecclesiastical authority, as in the other branches of Catholic Action. The principal initiatives of the Movimento are national, regional, and diocesan formation courses and schools of apostolate. Its organ is the monthly Lettera fraterna, supplemented by the Sussidiario for leaders and by La Via for graduates of the teacher-training institute. The organization of the A.I.M.C. is diocesan, with provincial coordination, and is divided into local sections reporting to diocesan, provincial, and national councils. Its governing bodies are elected by the members. The National Congress elects the National Council every three years. Important national and local activities and initiatives of the A.I.M.C. include the Study Center, the Teachers’ Assistance Secretariat, the Pre-Trade-Union Office, the Popular Education Office with its center for teaching technique, the now three thousand schools for illiterate and semi-literate adults scattered throughout Italy, and the traveling chair of popular culture; specific activities for principals and inspectors, for young teachers, and for nursery-school teachers; the publishing house Il Maestro; the monthly journal for educators, L'indice d'oro, which deals with art and literature for young people; and the Villa « Il Maestro », which accommodates the Association’s conferences and meetings, as well as 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.
MAESTRI OSTIARI DI « VIRGA RUBEA ». — The m. o. di « V. r. » are ecclesiastics of the papal chapel who, in it and during papal functions and processions, are responsible for the care and custody of the papal cross. On such occasions, they go to collect the said cross from the honor antechamber of the Apostolic Palace and carry it to the vestments room, where they hand it over to the last auditor of the Rota, who carries it in the procession before the pope. Once the procession reaches the chapel, the auditor returns the papal cross to the m. o. di « V. r. », who always remains at his side and, throughout the ceremony, places it in cornu Evangelii on a special perforated base. Once the service is over, the m. o. di « V. r. » returns the cross to the auditor of the Rota, who carries it as far as the vestments room, where the m. o. di « V. r. », having taken it, carries it back to the honor antechamber.
The m. o. di « V. r. » form a college and are appointed by the pope by a note from the monsignor majordomo, on whom they subsequently depend. They are members of the papal household and, whereas in the past they were numerous, there are currently two. They wear a cassock, a sash with tassels, a purple-silk collar, a mantle of serge or similar cloth of the same color, black silk stockings, and shoes with buckles.
These ecclesiastics are called ostiaries because for a long time they were entrusted with guarding the door (Latin ostium) of the vestments room, that is, the room where the vestments which the pontiff must put on are placed upon a bed (a remnant of ancient papal customs). They subsequently also acquired the designation « a virga rubea », since they carry a rod or staff approximately 2 palms long, covered with red velvet and ornamented at the ends and in the middle with silver-plate ferrules. The ostiaries have been part of the papal household since its earliest development. As a college they are already found organized in the 12th century: 2 « de virga rubea » master ushers are recorded in a register under Paul IV (1555). The Statutes of the m. o. of « V. r. » were confirmed by Clement X with the constitution In apostolicae Sedis dignitatis culmine, of 5 December 1671 (published in Rome by the Stamperia della R. Camera Apostolica in 1671).