PERICOLI, PAOLO. – Lawyer, pioneer of Catholic Action, born in Rome on 14 March 1859, died there on 19 January 1943. Of a noble Roman family devoted to the Holy See, while still very young he devoted himself to teaching catechism and disseminating good literature through the circulating libraries of the primary S. Carlo Association. In 1883 he became secretary of the first Roman Catholic University Circle. At the same time he worked in the Circle of S. Pietro, where he established the Work for the Dissemination of the Gospels and the Work for Religious and Civil Assistance in the Roman Agro, and in the Italian Catholic Youth movement, of which he was general president from 1900 to 1922.
Under his leadership there was a flourishing of associations (from 200 to 4,500) and activities: a relief committee for the Calabrian-Sicilian earthquake of 1908 and another for the Marsica earthquake in 1914; a fund-raising campaign to assist soldiers, field libraries, assistance for chaplains and the wounded, the subscription for the refugees from Caporetto, and the foundation of the National Union of War Veterans during and after the First World War; the foundation of the Federation of Italian Catholic Sports Associations and 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 serve on the triumvirate together 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...”. Having once again become president of the Circle of S. Pietro, he resumed his charitable activity, and death overtook him while he was multiplying works of assistance for the civilian population and combatants during the Second World War. In addition to his activity in Catholic Action, he practised law and was general councillor and president of the Court of First Instance in the Vatican City State, and a supernumerary honorary Chamberlain of Sword and Cape to His Holiness. In recognition of his merits, he received numerous high pontifical, Italian, and foreign honours and decorations.