VITALI, LUIGI. - Priest and writer, b. at Bellano (Como) in 1836, d. at Colico on 6 Nov. 1919.
He celebrated his first Mass on 23 June 1859, on the eve of the battle of Solferino - as he himself recalls (pref. to Patria e religione, Milan 1903, p. IX) - and he devoted his entire long activity as an orator and writer to the reconciliation of faith with patriotism. A follower of Rosmini's philosophy, an ideal disciple of Manzoni in literature, he collaborated assiduously with the Carroccio and the Conciliatore, arose to promote the culture of the clergy and the reconciliation between State and Church, and gave to the press numerous literary and pedagogical works, biographies, verses; and in the aforementioned volume he collected the speeches and funeral eulogies that he delivered, warm with Christian piety and fervent love of country (for the fallen of Dogali, of Adua and of China, for King Umberto, for A. Manzoni, for G. Verdi, etc.). But he gave the best of himself to the education of the blind, whose Institute in Milan he directed with apostolic charity and profound innovative competence from 1876 until his death, for about forty years. For this activity the Municipality of Milan awarded him the gold medal for civic merit.
Bibliography2 works
Renzo U. Montini