MONTI, GIUSEPPE. – Apologist and publicist,
b. in Bologna on 14 November 1879, d. in Rome on 31 December
1949. Ordained a priest on 19 December 1903, he attended
special courses at the Institut Catholique and the École pra-
tique des Hautes Études in Paris, at the University of
Munich, and at other institutions of higher education. Contact
with intellectuals of all nations, especially Gardeil (v.), and the encouragement
of Benedict XV directed M. toward apologetic studies and the
practical organization of the social movement of Catholics.
In the numerous offices he held (rector of the Belgian College
at the University of Bologna, director of the National Centre
of Culture and of the International Office of Catholic
Organizations, consultor to the S. Congregation of the Council
for the catechetical office, deputy for the censorship of books
at the S. Congregation of the S. Office, professor of apologetics
at the Pont. Lateran Athenaeum from 1932 to 1949), Msgr. M.
was an indefatigable worker. He reorganized the revival of the
social weeks after the war, prepared the historic world exhibition
of the Catholic press in the Vatican (1935–36), and published
valuable works: L'apologetica scientifica della re-
ligione cattolica (Turin 1922); Manuale internazionale
delle organizzazioni cattoliche (there 1924, translated into French,
English, Spanish, and German); La libertà della scuola
(Milan 1928, translated into Spanish); La formazione dei
laici all'apostolato (2nd ed., Rome 1928); La libertà scolastica (there 1949): a work of maturity, valuable for the study of comparative constitutions. He collaborated on the Enc. Catt.: v., e.g., APOLOGETICA.