Rescuing An Important Apostle of the Counter-Revolution from Oblivion

Rescuing An Important Apostle of the Counter-Revolution from Oblivion
Rescuing An Important Apostle of the Counter-Revolution from Oblivion

At 9 a.m. on August 5, 1830, Father Pio Brunone Lanteri died in the odor of sanctity at the Oblate Fathers of the Virgin Mary’s St. Clair House in Pinerolo, Italy. The seventy-one-year-old priest was more than a member of the Congregation; he was its founder.

 Father Lanteri was an unyielding champion of orthodoxy and the sacred rights of the Holy See. To defend the Pope’s position, he courageously and successfully struggled against Napoleon’s soldiers and police. His fruitful apostolate began in Turin and spread throughout Italy. Indeed, he was one of the most extraordinary counter-revolutionary figures of the nineteenth century.

After his passing, his disciples and the Congregation faced intense and brutal persecution. The Piedmontese 1 The government’s push for the unification of Italy was supported by revolutionaries of all shades. These men knew that Father Lanteri’s work hindered their goals. They employed all the tricks of anticlerical governments, from police raids to restrictive laws. The radicals’ goal was clear—to prevent the Congregation’s development and eliminate every last trace of its actions. They could not allow the spirit Father Lanteri imprinted on his apostolic activities to create obstacles to the march of their Revolution.

The revolutionaries successfully laid a veil of silence over Father Lanteri’s life. The following generations were unaware of his apostolate, which should have served as a model for the Catholic movement after the French Revolution.

In 1870, one of Father Lanteri’s spiritual sons, Fr. Pietro Gastaldi, unsuccessfully tried to raise him out of oblivion. Father Gastaldi published a book titled Della vita del Servo di Dio Pio Brunone Lanteri, fondatore della Congregazione degli Oblati di Maria Vergine [On the Life of the Servant of God, Pio Brunone Lanteri, Founder of the Congregation of the Oblates of the Virgin Mary].

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However, the Revolution’s methods changed as time passed. By the early twentieth century, aggressive anticlericalism was no longer fashionable. The Oblates of the Virgin Mary resumed their labors for their founder’s canonization. In 1926, the new circumstances allowed the Oblates’ Rector Major, Father Tomaso Piatti, to publish the book Un precursore ‑ Pio Brunone Lanteri ‑Apostolo di Torino ‑Fondatore degli Oblati di Maria Vergine [A Precursor—Pio Brunone Lanteri—Apostle of Turin, Founder of the Oblates of the Virgin Mary. In its pages, the Servant of God’s figure resurfaced in all its greatness.

With the books’ success, Italy rediscovered Father Lanteri almost a century after his death. Several editions of the work sold out quickly. Suddenly, this entirely unknown life inspired the public’s interest. Commenting on the book, the May 20, 1926 edition of Osservatore Romano aptly summed up the admiration.

“The first and irresistible question that spontaneously comes to mind reading these admirable pages is: How is it possible that so much greatness remained hidden until now like a lamp under a bushel, and his name does not yet shine among the most illustrious in the history of the nineteenth century’s religious movement?”

Father Lanteri quickly emerged from the oblivion to which he was relegated. One of his most enthusiastic admirers, the Marquis Filippo Crispolti, encouraged the laity to take him as a model for the modern apostolate of the Italian Catholic movement of the time. In 1927, Pius XI confirmed the conviction that arose in readers of Father Piatti’s book. The Pontiff presided over the annual assembly of the leadership of Italian Catholic Action. At the conclusion of the assembly, he responded to a request to choose a protector for the organization. The Pontiff declared that Father Lanteri would be its protector for as long as he, the Pope, lived. He added: “I’ve asked the Lord to have Father Pio Brunone Lanteri raised to the altars soon. He will be the natural patron of Catholic Action in its present form.”

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In 1928, responding to the Holy Father’s desire, the clergy of Turin gathered. They asked for Father Lanteri’s cause of beatification to be introduced. The diocesan process took place in the Curia of Pinerolo. A decree of Pope Pius XII on December 23, 1952, formally introduced Father Lanteri’s cause in Rome.

The centennial of this Servant of God’s death came in 1930. On that occasion, several solemnities recalled his admirable apostolate. In 1931, Italian Catholic Action prepared to pay great tribute to the memory of Father Pio Brunone Lanteri. Unfortunately, a grave crisis arose as the fascist government suspended all public activities. However, the initial impetus had been given. Father Lanteri was no longer unknown in Italy.

At the same time, Father Piatti’s book awakened historians to the importance of Father Lanteri’s activities in the history of the Church. Extensive historical research has since revealed his influence in Italy and on the entire European Catholic movement.

In 1964, Rev. Fr. Candido Bona, IMC, wrote La Rinascita Missionaria in Italia [The Missionary Rebirth in Italy, which focused on Amicizia, the famous association directed by Father Lanteri. In so doing, Father Bona opened new horizons for the study of Father Lanteri’s rich and fruitful life.2

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Outside of Italy, the founder of the Oblates of the Virgin Mary is still little known. Therefore, we believe that readers will be interested in a biographical sketch of the apostle of Turin. The next articles in this series will contain such a sketch. This is an indispensable starting point for our series of articles on Italian Catholics in the nineteenth century.

Footnotes

  1. Piedmont was the name of the section of Italy whose rulers would unite Italy under its rule over the course of the nineteenth century. In 1870, that government usurped Pope Pius IX’s Papal States and, in the process, instituted the modern Italian state.
  2. Father Bona’s work has never been translated into English. However, in 1957, Msgr. Leon Cristiani wrote A Cross for Napoleon: The Life of Father Bruno Lanteri. The book was reprinted in 1981. It is no longer in print. However, the Oblates of the Virgin Mary makes it freely accessible over their website, A Cross for Napoleon – Venerable Bruno Lanteri (omvusa.org)

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