OPERA NAZIONALE ASSISTENZA RELIGIOSA MORALE OPERAI (O.N.A.R.M.O.). — This is an apostolic work of a religious and social nature among workers. Founded in Aug. 1926, ONARMO, from its very beginnings, placed itself under the high patronage of the S. Congregation of the Council, which appoints its director general. The central organization of ONARMO consists of the General Directorate in Rome, from which extend throughout the country 18 regional delegations, 127 diocesan delegations, and 14 district delegations.
The characteristic activity of ONARMO consists in the religious service provided by the chaplains for workers, who carry out their apostolate inside factories, construction sites, offices, and mines; in the fields, at stations, in the large villages of farm laborers, and in the shepherds’ sheepfolds. The chaplains for workers, through their daily presence among the workers, simply preach Christ and seek to bring his truth and his Grace into souls. In the factories they encourage the formation of the workers’ Conferences of s. Vincenzo, establish the apostolate of prayer among male and female workers, and also offer them the Work of retreats for workers, in addition to the common celebration of Holy Easter and the liturgical solemnities.
In coordination with this apostolate, ONARMO carries out, in the same settings, a complex social, educational, medical, and economic activity directed toward workers, placing multiple services at their disposal. These are: 1) The social service, entrusted to social workers who operate both in factories and in workers’ districts, agricultural and pastoral centers, applying the current techniques of the “individual case” and “group work.” 2) The medical service, which supplements 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 permanent and summer colonies for workers and workers’ children. 3) Adult education, provided in workshops and in the outlying districts of Rome and in the Puglie, through popular schools, which are managed under commission from the superintendents of studies. 4) Vocational training, organized in collaboration with the Ministry of Labor in retraining courses and in school construction sites established in Lazio, the Puglie, Sicily, and Sardinia. 5) Finally, the group of economic services, which serve to improve the nutrition of the popular classes: in workshops, through company canteens and refectories; in cities, through popular canteens offered to the unemployed; and through inexpensive restaurants for the entire population. ONARMO carries out similar assistance work also in Belgium, in Brussels and in the charbonnages of Charleroi, Mons, Houtrage, and Liège, where it has opened flourishing centers for Italian miners.
For the preparation and further training of qualified personnel to carry out the activities mentioned above, ONARMO makes use of specialized institutions: a) the Seminary of S. Cristina, for the training of chaplains for workers, in Bologna; b) the Higher Schools of Social Assistance of Rome and Bari and the Sissel ONARMO School of Social Service and Labor Experts of Naples; c) the ONARMO Association of Social Workers, to deepen and enhance the profession in the light of the Gospel through the study of social problems.