Giovanni Minzoni

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Father

Giovanni Minzoni
Portrait photograph of Giovanni Minzoni
ChurchCatholic Church
Orders
Ordination1909
Personal details
Born1 July 1885
Ravenna
Died23 August 1923(1923-08-23) (aged 38)
Argenta
Previous post(s)Army Chaplain
EducationScuola Sociale, Bergamo

Giovanni Minzoni (1 July 1885 – 23 August 1923) was an Italian anti-fascist

Catholic
priest who was killed by a fascist squad in 1923.

Early years

Minzoni was born on 1 July 1885 to a middle-class family in

Argenta (in Emilia-Romagna), which he left in 1912 to go to study in the Scuola Sociale in Bergamo
, where he was awarded his degree.

Called up by the army of the

Battle of the Piave River, he showed great courage, for which he was awarded the Silver Medal of Military Valor
.

Antifascism and the scout movement

At the end of World War I, Minzoni returned to Argenta, where he joined the Popular Party (

social rights, he became increasingly convinced of the need for cooperation, thus becoming an open enemy of the fascist regime that strongly favoured corporativism
.

Minzoni opposed the introduction of the fascist youth movement, the

Catholicism. After meeting Father Emilio Faggioli, who founded the scout group Bologna I in April 1917, and who became regional assistant for the Catholic Scouts in Emilia-Romagna, Minzoni became convinced of the virtues and good values taught by the Scout Movement. He therefore decided to found a scout group
in his own parish.

In July 1923, Minzoni invited Faggioli to speak about the aims of the Scout Movement in the parish hall in Argenta. Local fascists vocally objected to the formation of a youth group not under the control of Mussolini and vowed that no scouts would enter the main square, to which Faggioli replied that the scouts would enter the main square as long as Minzoni was there. More than seventy scouts were subsequently enrolled.[1]

Death

Increasingly in conflict with the local Mussolinian establishment, Minzoni was killed around 10:30 pm on 23 August 1923, by two fascist "squadristi",[2] Giorgio Molinari and Vittore Casoni,[3] who smashed his skull with a club; they were reportedly following orders of the local Console di Milizia Italo Balbo, who was so shaken by the scandal that he had to resign from his post temporarily. All the accused were later acquitted at trial in 1925.[1]

Just before his death, Minzoni wrote in his diary:

With an open heart, with a prayer for my persecutors that will never disappear from my lips, I await the tempest, the persecution, maybe even death, for the cause of Christ to triumph.

His death turned his prayer into reality, fulfilling a promise he made before departing for WWI:

I pray God to let me die, doing my duty as a Priest and an Italian until my last moment, and happy to end my brief life in the supreme sacrifice.

Aftermath

The Italian newspapers Il Popolo and La Voce Repubblicana, still operating with a degree of freedom, covered the murder extensively, naming those directly responsible and their instigator, Italo Balbo. They were absolved at trial due to interference and pressure from the fascist squads and media.

A new trial was held after the end of World War II, when the fascists were no longer able to threaten and cover up the truth. The verdict absolved Balbo and condemned Giorgio Molinari and Vittore Casoni for second-degree murder.

After the war, Minzoni became a symbol of the Italian

martyrdom. As of 2016, his death was still being commemorated by such groups as Azione Cattolica and the Christian Associations of Italian Workers.[4] Pope John Paul II wrote to the bishop of Ravenna on the 60th anniversary of Minzoni's death:[citation needed
]

Don Minzoni died as a "victim of choice" at the hands of blind and brutal violence, but the essence of his sacrifice goes further than simple opposition to a repressive regime, and puts him at the level required by the Catholic Faith. His spiritual attractiveness, exerted upon the people of those small towns, over the labourers and especially over the young, was the factor which triggered the aggression (against him). They especially wanted to hack at the roots of his teaching work, which aimed at raising young people to prepare them for both a Christian life and a commitment to changing and improving society. For these reasons, the Catholic Scouts have a debt towards him.

Bibliography

In Italian

See also

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 9780199338382
    .
  2. ^ Italian Fascism and Anti-Fascism: A Critical Anthology, pg. 47; Stanislao G. Pugliese, Manchester University Press, 2001
  3. ^ Giorgio Gandini (March 2004). "Il martirio di don Minzoni". la Nuova Ferrara (in Italian). Archived from the original on 7 May 2022. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
  4. ^ "'Ricordiamo don Giovanni Minzoni': cerimonia martedì 23 a Ravenna nell'anniversario della morte". Ravennanotizie (in Italian). 21 August 2016. Retrieved 27 September 2016.
  5. OCLC 315828470. Archived
    from the original on 29 August 2019. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
  6. OCLC 564609568. Archived
    from the original on 29 August 2019. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
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