RIGHETTI, IGINO. - Promoter, founder, and first president (1933) of Movimento laureati di Azione Cattolica (v.), b. at Riccione on 3 March 1904, d. at Roma on 17 March 1939.
He was one of the most distinguished representatives of the renewed activity of the Catholic laity during the period that saw the rise of fascism in Italy and the regime’s opposition to Catholic youth organizations. LUCIO (v.) in 1925, at a time of serious difficulties for the Federation after the Bologna Congress, and subsequently president, he not only gave broad impetus to the activity of the FUCI but, through his fruitful personal action, imparted to it that character which later distinguished the FUCI itself through its cultural and formative commitment. Among his achievements, in addition to the Movimento laureati, should be recalled the organization of the university Easter celebration, the graduates’ conferences, which for a time took the place of the social weeks of Italian Catholics, the Weeks of Religious Culture at Camaldoli, and the Studium publishing house; among his ideas, the affirmation of the necessity for, and promotion of, qualified and demanding cultural activities on the part of Catholic Action. These ideas are extensively illustrated in his writings, which enriched the official journal of the FUCI, Azione fucina, founded by him in 1928, Studium (v.), which he made into an authoritative voice of Catholic culture.