SANTUCCI, CARLO. — Catholic organizer, lawyer, and senator, born in Rome on 9 February 1849, died there on 29 July 1932.
A distinguished lawyer, he effectively defended religious Orders and charitable institutions against the application of the subversive laws. In 1885 he became a member of the Council of the Bar Association, remaining there until 1924, often serving as president. Provincial councillor (1877) and municipal councillor of Rome (1886), in 1916 he was appointed president of the Banco di Roma, a position he held for seven years. For several years he also presided over the Roman Union for administrative elections; and he succeeded Count Gentiloni as president of the Catholic Electoral Union (v.). When the Italian Popular Party was established after the war, he joined it and was appointed senator in October 1919.
Among his notable speeches were those delivered in the Municipal Council on the monument to Giordano Bruno (1888); the one on religious instruction in elementary schools (1893); and the one in honour of the Holy Cross desecrated at a public funeral (1894), as well as others marked by patriotic sentiment: for example, the speech on Italy’s entry into the last war of independence (1915). That year Pope Benedetto XV entrusted him with the task of travelling to Bern to obtain from the Swiss government hospitality for the most seriously wounded Italian and Austrian soldiers. In Catholic Action, he was among the founders of the Circolo S. Pietro of the Italian Catholic Youth. He also belonged to the Lazio Committee of the Opera dei Congressi cattolici, and in September 1900 he effectively presided over the XVII National Congress in Rome. His fervent apostolate in the Third Order of St Francis must also be recalled. He left a significant record of his Franciscan activity in the book: Manuale completo del Terz'ordine. He was also a member of the Society of St Vincent de Paul.