NATIONAL WORK OF RELIGIOUS AND MORAL ASSISTANCE FOR WORKERS (NATIONAL WORK FOR RELIGIOUS AND MORAL ASSISTANCE TO WORKERS). - It is a work of religious and social apostolate among workers. Founded in August 1926, O.N.A.R.M.O., from its very earliest origins, placed itself under the high patronage of the Sacred Congregation of the Council, which appoints its director general. The central organization of O.N.A.R.M.O. consists of the General Directorate in Rome, from which branch out to the periphery 18 regional delegations, 127 diocesan delegations and 14 compartmental delegations.
The characteristic activity of O.N.A.R.M.O. consists of the religious service provided by labor chaplains, who carry out their apostolate inside factories, building sites, offices, mines; in the fields, at stations, in the large hamlets of day laborers, in the shepherds' folds. The labor chaplains, through their daily presence among the workers, simply preach Christ, and seek to bring his truth and his Grace into souls. They encourage in the factories the formation of workers' Conferences of St. Vincent, they establish the apostolate of prayer among male and female workers and also offer them the Work of workers' retreats, in addition to the common celebration of Holy Easter and of the liturgical solemnities.
In coordination with this apostolate, O.N.A.R.M.O. carries out, in the same environments, a complex social, educational, health and economic activity directed at workers, placing many services at their disposal. These are: 1) The social service, entrusted to social workers who operate both in factories and in workers' neighborhoods, in agricultural and pastoral centers, applying the current techniques of the "individual case" and of "group work". 2) The health service, which complements that of public institutions, and is provided through specialized units, the Policlinico del lavoro in Rome, the Ospedale dei lavoratori in Triggiano (Bari), the Convalescenziario di Biandrommo and the permanent and summer colonies for workers and children of workers. 3) Adult education, provided in the workshops and in the outlying neighborhoods in Rome and in Apulia, through the popular schools, which are managed on behalf of the Provveditori degli studi. 4) Vocational training, which is organized in collaboration with the Ministry of Labor in retraining courses and in the school building sites, established in Latium, Apulia, Sicily and Sardinia. 5) Finally the group of economic services which provide for increasing the better nutrition of the popular classes, in the workshops with company canteens and refectories, in the cities with popular canteens, offered to the unemployed, and with inexpensive restaurants for all the people. O.N.A.R.M.O. carries out similar welfare action also in Belgium, in Brussels, in the charbonnages of Charleroi, Mons, Houtrage and Liège, where it has opened flourishing centers for Italian miners.
For the preparation and updating of qualified personnel to carry out the above-mentioned activities, O.N.A.R.M.O. makes use of specialized institutes, which are: a) the Seminary of St. Christina, for the formation of labor chaplains in Bologna; b) the Higher Schools of social assistance of Rome and Bari and the Sissel ONARMO School of social service and of labor experts of Naples; c) the ONARMO Association of social workers for deepening and enhancing the profession in the light of the Gospel, in the study of social problems.