RUMOR, GIACOMO. - Catholic and social organizer, b. at Vicenza on 26 Jan. 1858, d. there on 24 Feb. 1931.
A member of a family that, following his example, also distinguished itself extensively thereafter in the field of the Catholic laity, he founded the St. Joseph printing house and, living with the workers in a Christian brotherhood of labor, made it prosper, turning it into the publisher (later episcopal and pontifical) of many book and newspaper publications. For thirty years the Catholic daily Il Berico was printed there, to which was added the weekly L'operaio cattolico, created by R. himself. Originator, and foremost among the founders, of the Banca cattolica vicentina, he also founded the first Catholic workers' society and a popular school of Catholic culture. The greatest amount of work was devoted by him, from as early as '83, to the Mutual Aid society, promoting the Catholic workers' and agricultural societies which in 1887 came together in a federation of which he was elected president: within a decade about a hundred of them arose. To the Mutual Aid society were later added the Professional Unions of the type recommended by Toniolo, the Federation of rural banks, the cooperative dairies and cheese factories, and agricultural livestock insurance. R. summarized the history of these institutions in a pamphlet entitled: Ricordi gloriosi di Azione cattolica sociale (Vicenza 1921). He was president of the Diocesan Board for Catholic Action, president of the Association of Catholic Voters of Vicenza and of the Diocesan Electoral Section for forty years (called "the great elector"). A municipal councillor (1892) and provincial councillor (1895), president of the Chamber of Commerce, in the field of charity he promoted the popular cheap kitchens, the cheap lodgings, and during the world war of 1915-18 the canteens for impoverished families.
Bibliography
Agostino Vian