UNION OF MEN OF CATHOLIC ACTION – Men of Catholic Action gathered in the Stadium of Domitian, on the Palatine, while Professor Gedda speaks, during the events for the Trentennium (12 Oct. 1932) – (photo Giordani)
Oblates. Meanwhile, the missionary seminary of Lyons had begun its mission among the blacks of the northern part of the Cape Colony in the Apostolic Prefecture of Cape of Good Hope, Central District, erected in 1874; they were succeeded in 1882 by the Oblates of St Francis de Sales, and in 1885 the territory was detached from the aforementioned prefecture to form the Apostolic Prefecture of the Orange River. A more intensive activity among the blacks was carried out by the Trappists, who arrived in 1880 in the eastern district of the Cape of Good Hope and in 1882 in Natal, and from their abbey of Mariannhill they founded flourishing missionary stations. In 1910, at the time of the foundation of the Union of South Africa, which included the Cape Colony, Natal and the Boer States that had submitted to the English after the Boer War of 1899–1902, the Orange Free State and Transvaal, there existed in the territory of the Union the following Apostolic Vicariates: Cape of Good Hope (Western District), Cape of Good Hope (Eastern District), Natal, Kimberley, Transvaal, Orange River, and the Apostolic Prefecture of Cape of Good Hope (Central District). In Transvaal, the Benedictines of the Cassinese Congregation took over the Apostolic Prefecture of Northern Transvaal, erected in that same year of 1910.
After the First World War, German missionaries also went in greater numbers to southern Africa: the Benedictines of St Ottilien to Zululand in 1921; the Pallottines to the Cape of Good Hope (Central District) in 1922, and to Queenstown in 1929; the Missionaries of the Holy Spirit to Kroonstad, Orange Free State; the Priests of the Sacred Heart to the Gariep, Eastern Cape; the Missionaries Sons of the Sacred Heart to Lydenburg, Eastern Transvaal, in 1923.
In 1921 Mariannhill became a separate Apostolic Vicariate, divided in 1930 into Mariannhill and Umtata; in 1935 the Apostolic Prefecture of Mount Currie was detached from Mariannhill and entrusted to the Franciscans of the Bavarian province. With these creations, missionary work, hitherto largely restricted to European Catholics, was extended to the indigenous peoples. Important progress was recorded, though hindered by conflicts and struggles between the races. In 1922 the Apostolic Delegation was established.
In the years following the Second World War, new divisions occurred, and the Apostolic Vicariates of Bethlehem and Pretoria were erected in 1948. On 11 January 1951, within the Union of South Africa, which included Basutoland and Swaziland, the ecclesiastical hierarchy was established with 4 archdioceses and 17 dioceses: Archdiocese of CAPETOWN, erected as an Apostolic Vicariate in 1818, named Cape of Good Hope in 1837, and from 1847 Cape of Good Hope, Eastern District, entrusted to the secular clergy. Diocese of ALIWAL, erected as the Apostolic Prefecture of Gariep in 1932, Vicariate of Aliwal in 1936, entrusted to the Priests of the Sacred Heart. Diocese of QUEENSTOWN, erected as a mission in 1929, Apostolic Prefecture in 1938, Apostolic Vicariate in 1948, entrusted to the Pallottines. Diocese of OUDTSHOORN, erected as the Apostolic Prefecture of Cape of Good Hope, Central District, in 1874, Vicariate of Domitian, on the Palatine, while speaking at the Trentennium (12 Oct. 1932) – (photo Giordani)
UNION OF MEN OF CATHOLIC ACTION – This is the male organization of Action (v.). According to the current Statute (11 Oct. 1946), it is composed of
“married men or those who have reached the age of 30.”
The history of the U. of M. of C. A. largely coincides with that of Catholic organizations for the laity in Italy from 1868, the year of the foundation of Italian Catholic Youth, to the present day. Already not a few adults joined or remained, especially if they were leaders, in their ranks; adults, in any case, formed the majority of the militant Catholics who in 1874 and 1875 held the Catholic Congresses of Venice and Florence, giving rise the following year to the Opera CATTOLICITÀ (v.). The Opera soon assumed primary importance in the life of the country, and in 1891 it divided into 5 sections, later groups. A new organization for militant Catholics was given in 1906 by Blessed Pius X. Apart from the Society of Catholic Youth and the University Federation, the following were created: the Popular Union (v.), the Economic-Social Union (v.), and the Catholic Electoral Union (v.). Finally, in 1922, a few months after his election to the papacy, Pius XI gave Italian Catholic Action that structure which it substantially retains today, emphasizing the link with the hierarchy and its character as a collaboration in the apostolate. And since in 1908 women and in 1918 young women had been added to the young men and university students, in 1918 the Pope entrusted A. Cirici with organizing the adults, which officially came into being with a decision of the Central Board of Catholic Action on 13 Dec.
The organization took the name of Italian Federation of Catholic Men; its first president was Augusto Cirici and its first ecclesiastical assistant was Monsignor Domenico Tardini, currently Pro-Secretary of State of His Holiness. The Federation quickly established itself, grouping numerous existing adult associations, gradually creating others, defining and deepening its aims, systematizing its organizational structures, training its cadres, and vigorously acting in various fields, especially those of spreading culture and religious practice, the family, morality, the press, and social action.
The most important milestones in the life of the Federation are the following: the Congress of Milan on 21 Dec. 1922; the establishment of the National Council on 7 March 1923; the first Congress of Diocesan Presidents held in Genoa on 8 September 1923, to which the Holy Father sent, through the future Cardinal Giuseppe Pizzardo, then substitute of the Secretariat of State, a programmatic document of the highest value, calling the Federation of Men, among other things, the backbone and the fulcrum of all Catholic Action; the National Assembly of Diocesan Presidents in Rome on 28–31 October 1926, during which Pius XI gave precise and further directives on the burning issue of politics, affirming that “while not engaging in party politics, Catholic Action aims to prepare for good politics, for great politics”; the appointment in 1929 of Monsignor Ferdinando Roveda as ecclesiastical assistant, who until 8 Dec. 1947 was to be the wise and unforgettable “father” of the Union; the celebration in 1932 of the first decade of the organization, which demonstrated its remarkable development; the appointment on 7 Nov. 1936 of Piero Panighi as central president, following the death of A. Cirici, who for ten years gave exceptional impetus to the great family of Men of Catholic Action; the celebration of the twentieth anniversary with the offering to the Pope, among other things, of countless gifts for the missions, collected in an exhibition in the Vatican, which Pius XII defined as “extraordinarily great and beautiful”; the life of the U. of M. of C. A. (this being the official name of the organization from 31 Dec. 1931) during the last war, with the north led by Piero Panighi and the centre-south guided by the central vice-president Urbano Ciocetti; the appointment as central president, following Panighi’s death, of Luigi Gedda, who gave the organization remarkable development, a deeper awareness of its mission, and vigorous momentum; the grand National Congress on 7 September 1947, when, in celebration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Union, overcoming difficulties of every kind
**UNION OF MEN OF CATHOLIC ACTION — Mons. Angelini Speaks to the Men of A.C. During the Midnight Mass Celebrated in Piazza di Siena on the Occasion of the Thirtieth Anniversary of the Men of A.C. (11-12 Oct. 1952) — Rome.**
In a night of intense darkness and extraordinary enthusiasm, over 70,000 men of Catholic Action from all over Italy gathered in Rome for a demonstration that *L’Osservatore Romano* did not hesitate to call “the greatest religious event in history,” culminating in St. Peter’s Square with a papal address; the appointment, on 8 December of the same year, of Monsignor Fiorenzo Angelini as Central Ecclesiastical Assistant; the establishment, in February 1948, under the impetus of the presidency of the Union of Men of Catholic Action, of the Civic Committees, which, under the leadership of Luigi Gedda, immediately and subsequently bore precious fruit for the Christian and civic good of the country; the founding, at Lourdes on 20 September 1952, at the initiative of the Union of Men of Catholic Action, of the International Federation of Catholic Men; the transition of Luigi Gedda to organizational leadership (and later to the general presidency of Italian Catholic Action) and, consequently, the appointment in October 1949 of Agostino Maltarello as the fourth Central President of the Union of Men; the celebration of the thirtieth anniversary of the organization, which saw 150,000 members converge on Rome on 12 October 1952 to present to the Pope the new parish complex of St. Leo I (church, rectory, meeting hall for associations, cinema-theatre, and clinic), built in the Prenestino district as a memorial of the great date; and the solemn conclusion of the thirtieth anniversary in Genoa on 25 October 1953.
These schematic data can, of course, provide only a faint idea of the structure and life of the Union of Men of Catholic Action; they need to be supplemented by some account of the organization’s structures and activities. First and foremost, it is worth quoting verbatim Articles 63 and 64 of the Statute of Italian Catholic Action:
**Article 63** — The Union of Men of Catholic Action has as its particular aims:
a) apostolate in public life and in the social environment;
b) the defense of the family;
c) the Christian education of youth;
d) the safeguarding of public morality.
**Article 64** — To this end, the Union of Men of Catholic Action:
a) takes special care to prepare its members for the exercise of public office;
b) instructs and keeps its members informed on religious, moral, and social issues requiring the attention and action of Catholics;
c) in collaboration with the Union of Women of Catholic Action, promotes the Family Front;
d) devotes particular attention to the fields of Christian education, public morality, and social life.
These aims and activities correspond almost word for word to those envisaged by the Italian Federation of Catholic Men at the Milan Congress of 1922.
Particular mention should be made of the annual religion courses held in all associations; the countless “religious weeks” organized throughout Italy “for the return of men to God”; the vigorous campaigns waged in defense of the family, for the observance of the Lord’s Day, against blasphemy, for the education of youth, for the salvation of abandoned or needy children, for “the great return” of social-communists to the Church, for a truly Christian way of life, and for the spread of Catholic press, especially daily newspapers. These activities were always supported by lively and sustained propaganda, carried out through visits by assistants and central leaders to the periphery, as well as through the publication of books, pamphlets, and, above all, the organization’s periodicals: *Noi Uomini* (a fortnightly sent to all members), *Prospettive* (a monthly sent to all diocesan centers), and *Sussidi* (a monthly sent to all associations).
The organization had nearly 300,000 members (as of October 1953), distributed among more than 12,000 associations and several thousand “nuclei,” small groups representing nascent associations. In the last six years, despite a temporary decline due to the events of the final war years and the immediate post-war period, the Union of Men of Catholic Action has grown by over 100,000 members; its activities have multiplied in scope and effectiveness; and its members have become increasingly aware of the importance of their organization, working with a dedication that gives great hope for the future, conscious of their responsibility to God and to their fellow men, even in the highest spheres of national life.