PAX ROMANA
Pax Romana is an apostolic work considered on an international level; it seeks to achieve, amidst a disoriented world, the union of Catholic students and intellectuals, with the aim of proclaiming the Christian message. Its program is summarized in the motto: *Pax Christi in regno Christi*.
After numerous attempts to organize Catholic students internationally—attempts that can be traced back to the first contacts between Swiss and French students in 1887, encouraged by Baron George de Montenach and Count Albert de Mun, and which alternated between hope and failure—Pax Romana was finally established in Fribourg (where a first constitutive meeting had already been held on August 23, 1889, without effect) on July 20, 1921, as the "International Secretariat of National Associations of Catholic University Students." Twenty countries immediately affiliated with the new Secretariat. The program included student exchanges, financial support for spiritual assistance works in universities, aid to needy students, international meetings, and more. The Secretariat developed rapidly, and its growing vitality was demonstrated in subsequent annual congresses (Fribourg 1922, Salzburg 1923, Budapest 1924), until at the Bologna Congress (1925) it transformed into an international confederation, the "Confederatio Studiorum Universitatum Orbis Terrarum Catholicorum."
Pax Romana continued its activities at an increasing pace until the outbreak of the Second World War. Meanwhile, a group of graduates and professionals had formed within it, educated in its spirit and ideals, who were unwilling to disband and disperse. Therefore, at the end of the war, the Congress held in Fribourg in 1946 for the 25th anniversary of Pax Romana’s founding took up the idea of establishing an autonomous section for intellectuals and professionals. The project was soon realized, and during Easter week 1947, two simultaneous assemblies in Rome and Anzio consecrated the reorganization of Pax Romana into two international movements: that of intellectuals and professionals (*Mouvement International des Intellectuels Catholiques* [M.I.I.C.]) and that of university students (*Mouvement International des Étudiants Catholiques* [M.I.É.C.]).
According to the new statutes, the two sections of the single Pax Romana are autonomous and possess their own governing bodies; however, they collaborate closely, particularly through the "Pax Romana Committee," composed of a president, a vice-president, and the general secretaries of each branch. Msgr. Charrière, Bishop of Lausanne, Geneva, and Fribourg—in whose diocese Pax Romana has its headquarters—serves as the general ecclesiastical assistant and appoints an ecclesiastical assistant for each of the two movements. Common to both movements is the "Bureau de Secours," which gathers information on the needs of students and intellectuals in war-devastated countries, coordinates efforts, and distributes funds.
Members of the M.I.É.C. are the national federations of Catholic university students (74 national federations in 46 countries at the beginning of 1950); members of the M.I.I.C. are Catholic associations of intellectuals and professionals, whether of national character or pursuing specific aims (38 organizations representing 31 countries at the beginning of 1950). The general secretariats of both branches are based in Fribourg (Switzerland), while the various international secretaries are located in different countries.
Every three years, a world congress is held, attended by representatives of both movements. Pax Romana publishes its own monthly organ, common to both movements, in French, German, English, and Spanish, as well as *Scrinium* (a universal bibliographic bulletin).