MEDA, FILIPPO. - Statesman and publicist, b. in Milan on 1 Jan. 1869, d. there on 31 Dec. 1939. As a high-school student he began publishing articles in newspapers and reviews (Corriere della domenica, Eco della gioventù, Eco di s. Luigi, etc.), was a very active member of Catholic organizations and promoter of the Piccola Biblioteca scientifico-letteraria. In 1891 he took his degree in letters at the R. Accademia scientifico-letteraria of Milan and the following year in law at Genoa.
He founded the Associazione degli elettori cattolici with the newspaper L'elettore cattolico (1891) and shortly afterwards was called by Fr. Davide Albertario to the editorial staff of the Osservatore cattolico. He became its director in 1902, and when (1907) the Osservatore merged with the Lega lombarda he was director of the Unione until its transformation into Italia (1912). A prolific and versatile writer, he collaborated intensively with Nuova antologia, La scuola cattolica, Rassegna nazionale, Vita e pensiero and in 1919 founded the political-social review Civitas, which lasted until 1925. The deviser and champion of the formula "preparation in abstention" with respect to the "non expedit" (in 1904 he refused the candidacy at Rho), he was part of the group of Catholic deputies who entered Parliament in 1909; but already from 1902 he had been a member of the Provincial Council of Milan. He was re-elected in the XXIV legislature (1913) and was Minister of Finance in the Boselli and Orlando cabinets (19 June 1916-19 June 1919). He was again re-elected in the XXV legislature as a deputy of the Partito popolare italiano: on 4 June 1920 he declined the invitation to form a government and accepted the portfolio of the Treasury in the Giolitti cabinet (Aug. 1920-Apr. 1921). He was the author of a praised project of tax reform, which remained a dead letter because of the advent of fascism. In 1924, dissenting from the attitude of his party, he did not stand again for election and devoted himself to the legal profession, to study and to journalism. An exemplary Catholic, he received this praise from Pius XI: "de re catholica multipliciter benemerito".
Principal works: Fatti e idee (Milan 1898); Discorsi parlamentari (ibid. 1913); Nella storia e nella vita (7th ed., Florence 1914); Intermezzo (Lecco 1916); Storie brevi (Milan 1920); La riforma generale delle imposte dirette sui redditi (ibid. 1920); Pensiero e azione (ibid. 1921); Uomini e tempi (ibid. 1921); Lungo la via (ibid. 1923); Il socialismo politico in Italia (ibid. 1924); Stati cattolici (ibid. 1926); I cattolici italiani nella guerra (ibid. 1928); Universitari cattolici italiani (ibid. 1928); S. Agostino (ibid. 1930).