PERICOLI, PAOLO. - Lawyer, pioneer of Catholic Action, b. in Rome on 14 March 1859, d. there on 19 Jan. 1943. Of a noble Roman family devoted to the Holy See, while still a youth he devoted himself to teaching catechism and to the diffusion of the good press through the circulating libraries of the Primary Association of St. Charles. In 1883 he was secretary of the first Roman Catholic university circle. At the same time he worked in the Circle of St. Peter, where he established the Work for the Diffusion of the Gospels and the Work for the Religious and Civil Assistance of the Roman Agro, and in the Italian Catholic Youth, of which he was general president from 1900 to 1922.
Under his guidance there was a flowering of associations (from 200 to 4500) and of activities: a relief committee for the Calabrian-Sicilian earthquake of 1908 and that for the Marsica in 1914; a collection of funds for assistance to soldiers, field libraries, assistance to chaplains and the wounded, the subscription for the refugees of Caporetto and the founding of the National Union of Veterans during and after the First World War; the founding of the Federation of Italian Catholic Sports Associations and of the Italian Catholic Scout Association, the International Congress of Catholic Youth in 1921. When Pius X wished to reorganize the Italian Catholic Action he called him to be part of the triumvirate together with G. Toniolo and Medolago Albani, with the special task of constituting the Italian Catholic Electoral Union. Pius XI proclaimed him meritorious "of the homeland and of religion, of the glory of God and of the Holy See...". Having returned as president of the Circle of St. Peter, he resumed his charitable activity and death overtook him while he was multiplying works of assistance to the civilian population and to combatants during the Second World War. Besides the activity of Catholic Action, he practiced law, was a general councillor and president of the Court of First Instance in the State of Vatican City, and a Chamberlain of Honor of Sword and Cape of number of His Holiness. For his merits he was awarded numerous and high pontifical, Italian and foreign honors and decorations.