Suchergebnisse

Few philosophers in our tradition have raised structures of speculation more complex than those of Giambattista Vico. Nevertheless, in following the course of his speculation, from the earliest orations through the De Antiquissima Italorum Sapientia, the massive Diritto Universale, and, finally, the successive transformations of the Scienze Nuova, certain definite themes appear which engage his meditation at every stage and impart, as a consequence, unity and coherence, though never simplicity, to the whole. Basic among these is the theme of the civil education of man.

With the passing of Don Luigi Sturzo, in the depth of the Roman summer, a presence and a power passed from among us and with its passing brought to a close an era in the history of the Christian spirit.In memorializing a life so filled with achievement, it is a temptation to fix attention upon action and event. This would be a mistake. It is far more important to fix the image of the person, for it is from the person, as originative center, that the achievement flows. The sentiment which, before all others, the presence of Don Sturzo awakened was awe. Not the awe of invested power of rank and status, of resource and influence, though these he attained in a measure and in a measure spurned. Rather, it was awe of the living and almost limitless spiritual élan which the human person can enclose and a frail body incorporate. This spiritual power was in him a compressed flame, and an unsheathed sword. Inevitably, with time and continued acquaintance, this first sentiment was succeeded by another, which can only be called love. Again, however, not the love of man toward man, strong and ennobling as that might be, but the love which only the charity of Christ, having taken residence in a man, can inspire. For Don Sturzo lived by the charity of Christ alone. It was in him the oil which fed the flame and the hand which unsheathed the sword.

In historical retrospect,* the period between the last great formations of European nationalism, German unification and the Italian Riorgimento, and the second world war, must appear as among the most crucial and decisive eras in the political life of the West. The single, but ultimately all-embracing, phenomenon which gives this period its special character is the emergence of the ethical and monistic lay state—the state which, from the sociological point of view, and hence ethically, juridically and politically, seeks the effective subordination to itself of all forms of social life. In Italy, this process, as the result of conditions prevalent there, was especially articulated; and the logic of the new state was developed almost hyperbolically in certain of its dimensions and aspects. In that same country, also as a result peculiar to its conditions, the diagnosis and the contraindications of the monistic state emerged simultaneously with the emergence of that state itself. The ideas and the forces which were effectively to stabilize and then to reverse the process of the lay state were present and active from the moment that state made its effective appearance. For this reason the history of Italy must possess as especial interest during this period. The man who has been, perhaps beyond all others, the expressive and dynamic symbol of those ideas and forces, is Don Luigi Sturzo. As a consequence his career, like the history of his country, has arresting, if not unique, interest.