PAOLO PERICOLI. — Lawyer, pioneer of Catholic Action, born in Rome on 14 March 1859, died on 19 January 1943. Of a noble Roman family devoted to the Holy See, he devoted himself from his youth to teaching catechism and promoting good literature through the circulating libraries of the primary S. Carlo Association. In 1883 he was secretary of the first Roman Catholic University Circle. At the same time he worked in the Circolo di S. Pietro, where he established the Work for the Distribution of the Gospels and the Work for Religious and Civil Assistance in the Roman countryside, and in the Italian Catholic Youth, of which he was general president from 1900 to 1922.
Under his leadership there was a flourishing of associations (from 200 to 4500) and activities: a relief committee for the Calabrian-Sicilian earthquake of 1908 and that of the Marsica in 1914; a fund-raising campaign for soldiers, field libraries, assistance to chaplains and the wounded, the subscription for the refugees of Caporetto and the foundation of the National Union of Veterans during and after the First World War; the foundation of the Federation of Italian Catholic Sports Associations and of the Italian Catholic Scout Association, and the International Congress of Catholic Youth in 1921. When Pius X wished to reorganize Italian Catholic Action, he called him to be part of the triumvirate along with G. Toniolo and Medolago Albani, with the special task of establishing the Italian Catholic Electoral Union. Pius XI
proclaimed him a benefactor of the fatherland and of religion, of the glory of God and of the Holy See... Returning to the presidency of the Circolo di S. Pietro, he resumed his beneficent activity and death overtook him while he was multiplying works of assistance to the civilian population and to combatants during the Second World War. Apart from his Catholic Action activities, he practised law, was general councillor and president of the Court of First Instance in the State of the Vatican City, and honorary chamberlain of Sword and Cape in the number of His Holiness. For his merits he was awarded numerous and high pontifical, Italian and foreign decorations.