Giorgio La Pira

Venerable Giorgio La Pira TOSD
La Pira in 1946
Mayor of Florence
In office 7 March 1961 – 15 February 1965
Preceded by	Special Commissioner
Succeeded by	Lelio Lagorio
In office 5 July 1951 – 27 June 1957
Preceded by	Mario Fabiani
Succeeded by	Special Commissioner
Member of the Chamber of Deputies
In office 5 July 1976 – 5 November 1977
Constituency	Florence
In office 12 June 1958 – 18 April 1961
Constituency	Florence
In office 8 May 1948 – 22 December 1952
Constituency	Florence
Member of the Constituent Assembly
In office 25 June 1946 – 31 January 1948
Constituency	Florence
Personal details
Born	Giorgio La Pira (1904-01-09)9 January 1904 Pozzallo, Kingdom of Italy
Died	5 November 1977(1977-11-05) (aged 73) Florence, Italy
Resting place	Basilica di San Marco, Florence, Italy
Political party	Christian Democracy
Alma mater	University of Messina
Profession	Teacher

Giorgio La Pira, TOSD (Raimondo in religious life; 9 January 1904 – 5 November 1977) was an

Giorgio La Pira was born on 9 January 1904 in Pozzallo, Ragusa, Sicily, to a Sicilian packing-house worker. He was the first of six children born to Gaetano La Pira (1870–1937) and Angela Occhipinti (1876–1943). He was baptized on the following 7 February with his maternal uncle Luigi (1880–1973) as his godfather.^[1] His maternal aunt was Settimia Machi Bartolini (1888–1945). His siblings were Salvatore (1905–1975), Giuseppina (1908–1990), Giovannino (1912–2003), Maria Cristina (1913–1980) and Ernesto (1915–2005).

One close friend was

World War II

On the eve of World War II he founded the review Principi (in English, Principles) which promoted human rights and criticized Fascism in an open manner — criticism that became even greater once Benito Mussolini passed the racial laws in 1938 and entered the war in 1940.^[2] After Italian police raided his offices on 29 September 1943 La Pira escaped to Siena and then to Rome. On 30 September the governorship of the Vatican issued him with an identification as a staff member of the L'Osservatore Romano so as to keep him safe. He returned to Florence in September 1944. At a National Congress held in Assisi in 1942 he spoke in praise of "the peace that constructs" and of "the love that rebuilds". La Pira also rejected the criticisms of Luigi Sturzo on an alleged economic statism.^[3]

Mayor

Once the war ended La Pira set about rebuilding Florence, which was struggling to recover from the destruction the war caused in most Italian cities at the time. As mayor he steered Florence from the haphazard reconstruction efforts that were evident for other Italian efforts in reconstruction and rehabilitation. He believed that the focus of rebuilding should be self-sufficient neighborhoods. These neighborhoods centered around local shops and public gardens as well as around markets and tree-lined streets with schools and churches. The most well-known of these is Isolotto – or the "little island". These revitalized neighborhoods became the heart and soul of post-war Florence and continue to thrive at present. La Pira led the effort for the reconstruction of bridges such as the Vespucci and

La Pira often took an even more active role in job creation. When Florence's oldest industrial plant "Pignone" threatened to close due to a slump in demand, he persuaded Enrico Mattei – the President and CEO of ENI – to take it over, thus saving more than a thousand jobs (about 1750 workers).^[2] ENI later renamed itself as Nuovo Pignone and still operates now as a division of General Electric. But some adversaries – even within his own ranks – accused La Pira of statism or spurious Marxism.

Religious life and international ventures

La Pira became a professed member of the

He was also active in national and international politics. He sought to put Florence on the world stage as a leading hub for peace initiatives and forums. He struck

He died on 5 November 1977 in the Clinic of the English Sisters in via Cherubini. Cardinal

Legacies

Birth centennial

The centennial of La Pira's birth was celebrated at the palace of Montecittorio on 25 February 2004, in which former Prime Minister (and La Pira's good friend) Giulio Andreotti gave an address to those gathered. Andreotti said that the former

Also in attendance at this celebration was the President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, as well as Cardinals Carlo Maria Martini and Ennio Antonelli.

Renzi's homage

Matteo Renzi was elected as a successor to La Pira on 22 June 2009 and his first official visit was to La Pira's grave.^[2]

Praise

Cardinal Stanisław Ryłko hailed La Pira for his courage to express and show witness to his faith in the exercise of a public office. The cardinal referred to La Pira as "a Christian of unsurpassable coherence", whose faith was "the axis of all of his life".^[5]

On 1 November 2004 the pope sent a letter to Cardinal Antonelli for the occasion of the centennial of La Pira's birth and recalled La Pira's "great intellectual and moral energy, strengthened and refined by extensive daily study, thought, ascesis and prayer". The pope further praised La Pira for his fusion of politics and faith while remembering that La Pira liked the motto contemplate aliis tradere which he had learned from

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger – future Pope Benedict XVI – hailed La Pira in an address to the National Association of Italian Local Authorities on 26 April 2004 as "an eminent figure in politics" who "worked for the cause of fraternal existence among nations" and attempted to promote the "basic good in various spheres" of life whether it be politics or culture.^[7]

Dorothy Day in October 1963 referred to La Pira as "a saint in politics" who "took the unused homes of the rich to make homes for the poor". La Pira's close friend Paul VI characterized him as "the example every Christian ought to keep firmly in mind during his earthly passage towards the kingdom of God", in his General Audience address on 9 November 1977. John Paul II later remarked that La Pira was "an exemplary lay Christian".^[8][6]

Beatification process

The cause for La Pira's beatification commenced in Florence in a diocesan phase that Cardinal

. Upon the closure of the diocesan process all documents were sealed in boxes to be sent to the C.C.S. in Rome for assessment where the congregation validated this process on 24 October 2007.

The official

Venerable

.

The current

Dominican

priest Gianni Festa.

Electoral history

Election	House	Constituency	Party		Votes	Result
1946	Constituent Assembly	Florence–Pistoia		DC	10,879	Y Elected
1948	Chamber of Deputies	Florence–Pistoia		DC	21,231	Y Elected
1958	Chamber of Deputies	Florence–Pistoia		DC	35,016	Y Elected
1976	Chamber of Deputies	Florence–Pistoia		DC	35,175	Y Elected

Source: [1]

See also

• List of mayors of Florence
• Third Order of Saint Dominic

Published works

La Pira published a great deal of books which is as follows:

• G. La Pira, La successione ereditaria intestate e contro il testament in diritto romano, Firenze, Vallecchi, 1930.
• G. La Pira, L'anima di un apostolo. Vita interior di Ludovico Necchi, Milano, Vita e Pensiero, 1932.
• G. La Pira, La nostra vocazione sociale, Roma, AVE, 1945.
• G. La Pira, La vita interior di Luigi Moresco, Roma, AVE, 1945.
• G. La Pira, Premesse della politica, Firenze, Liberia Editrice Fiorentina, 1945.
• G. La Pira, Il valore della persona umana, Milano, Istituto di Propaganda Libraria, 1947.
• G. La Pira, Architettura di uno Stato democratico, Roma, Edizione Servire, 1948.
• G. La Pira, Istituzioni di Diritto Romano, Firenze, Editrice Universitaria, 1948.
• G. La Pira, L'attesa della povera gente, Firenze, Libreria Editrice Fiorentina, 1951.
• G. La Pira, Per un architettura Cristiana dello Stato, Firenze, Libreria Editrice Fiorentina, 1954.
• G. La Pira, Principi, a cura di Angelo Scivoletto, Firenze, Philosophia, 1955.
• G. La Pira, Così in terra come in cielo, Edizioni O.R., Milano, 1970.
• G. La Pira, Unità, disarm e pace, prefazione di H. Camara, Firenze, Cultura, 1971.
• G. La Pira, Le genesi del sistema nella giurisprudenza romana, Firenze, Setti, 1971.
• G. La Pira, Principi, ristampa fotostatica con prefazione di Giorgio La Pira, Firenze, Libreria Editrice Fiorentina, 1974.

References

External links

• Hagiography Circle
• Giorgio La Pira - Servant of God
• Fondazione La Pira Archived 2018-09-20 at the Wayback Machine
• Santi e Beati