CL - HISTORICAL NOTES
1954:
Fr
Luigi Giussani, spurred by the intention to rebuild a Christian
presence in the world of the schools, left his position on the
faculty of the theological school of Venegono to go to teach religion
at Berchet high school in Milan. A small group of students immediately
formed around him, which then gradually grew and spread to other
schools. This was the birth of a movement called Gioventù Studentesca
(Student Youth), shortened to GS, which initially fell within the
ambit of Catholic Action in Milan. This new experience, which spread
also to other cities in Italy, was decisively encouraged by the
archbishop, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Montini.
1959:
The first text, systematically presenting the guiding ideas
and method for GS life, entitled Gioventù Studentesca:
riflessioni sopra un’esperienza [Student Youth: Reflections
on an Experience], was published with the imprimatur of
Monsignor Figini.
1964:
Fr Giussani began teaching introductory theology at the
Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan.
1966:
Fr Giussani left GS to devote himself – according to
the wishes of his Archbishop – to theological studies.
1969:
Fr Giussani returned to guiding the Movement which, after
the turbulence of 1968, was reborn in a more mature form with the
new name “Communion and
Liberation” (CL), bringing in not only high school students,
but an increasing number of university students and adults.
mid-1970s:
The first “Fraternity” groups
arose at the initiative of former university students who adhered
to CL and wanted to deepen, through a communional method, their
belonging to the Church in the situation of adult life and the
responsibilities it brings.
“School of
Community” became more and more central not only as
the wellspring of all the life of the Movement but also as
a fundamental moment of encounter and catechesis.
1975:
Pope Paul VI, during a youth pilgrimage to Rome for
Palm Sunday he had promoted, granted the use of the Nervi Auditorium
to CL for an assembly. In a private conversation, he encouraged
Fr Giussani with these words: “This is the path, go on like
this.”
In the Italian universities a coalition of Christian
groups, called the Cattolici Popolari (CP), arose; their slates
at the
first elections of university councils received a large number
of votes and in many cities defeated the coalitions of both the
left and the right.
The Movimento Popolare (MP) was born with
the efforts of Catholics, both CL and otherwise. Their first public
assembly was held on
December 21, at the Teatro Nuovo in Milan. MP presented itself
as an instrument of presence in society, opposing the elimination
of the Christian presence on the public stage and in favor of
a renewal the activity of Catholic movements.
Episodes of aggression and violence began against adherents
to Communion and Liberation and continued for some years, reaching
a peak in 1977 with a total of 120 attacks on persons and offices
belonging to CL throughout Italy
1978:
(May 27): the first issue of Il Sabato was published.
The combative weekly magazine continued publication until 1993.
1979:
(January 18): John Paul II (elected Pope on October
16, 1978) received Fr Giussani in a private audience. On March
31, the Pope received the CL university students (CLU) in an
audience.
1980:
The first Meeting
for Friendship among Peoples was held in Rimini, on the theme: “Peace
and the Rights of Man.” The great fair has been held every
year since then, gathering together thousands from countries
all over the world for artistic and cultural events of very high
quality.
1982:
(February 11): with a decree by the President of the
Pontifical Council for the Laity, the “Fraternità di
Comunione e Liberazione” was recognized to be a “juridical
entity for the universal Church” and declared an “Association
of Pontifical Right.”
1983:
Fr Giussani was named Monsignor by John Paul II, with
the title of Honorary Prelate to His Holiness.
1984:
For the thirtieth anniversary of the Movement, John
Paul II received 10,000 CL adherents in an audience, giving them
this mandate: “Go into all the world to bring the truth,
beauty, and peace that are encountered in Christ the Redeemer.
This is the task that I leave with you today.” New impulse
was thus given to the missionary spread of the Movement, which
is today present in some seventy countries.
mid-1980s: With the period of great and sometimes violent ideological clashes
by now over, the CL presence in the university was seen in the numerous offers
of aid to incoming students to orient them in their studies and to students
in search of housing, as well as various cultural and social initiatives to
obtain services suited to the needs of the students.
1985:
The Pope received five hundred CL priests at the end
of their annual Exercises, encouraging them with these words: “Continually
renew the discovery of the charism which has fascinated you and
it will more powerfully lead you to make yourself servants of
that one power which is Christ the Lord!”
1986:
Young university graduates and adults in the Movement,
along with others – both Catholics and non-Catholics – gave
rise to an initiative of civil presence within the channel marked
out by the social doctrine of the Church. This became the Company
of Works, which slowly and constructively took the place
of the Movimento Popolare; MP ceased activity in 1993, exhausted
by the ambiguities and harshness of the political struggle of
that period.
1988:
The Pontifical Council for the Laity recognized the Ecclesial Association Memores
Domini as a private association of the faithful of pontifical right.
It gathers together adherents to CL who have chosen to dedicate themselves
totally to God, living the path of chastity, poverty, and obedience.
1991:
At the invitation of the President of the CEI (Italian
Bishops Conference), Cardinal Camillo Ruini, the Fraternity of
Communion and Liberation participated in the Council of Lay Associations.
1993:
The successful series, “I
Libri dello spirito cristiano” (“Books of the Christian
Spirit”), under the direction of Fr Giussani, began publication
by BUR-Rizzoli, with the aim of offering to the publishing market
novels, essays, and poetry testifying to the question asked by
man since the beginning of time, and in particular the Christian
spirit engaged in discovering and verifying the reasonableness
of faith.
Since then, Fr Giussani has published a number of books with Rizzoli and other
publishing houses (San Paolo, Marietti, SEI) which were immediately translated
into numerous languages: English, French, Spanish, German, Russian, Polish,
Portuguese, Slovakian, Slovenian, Hungarian, Greek, and Albanian.
1995:
Fr Giussani was awarded the National Catholic Culture
Prize.
1997:
The first CD appeared in the successful series entitled “Spirto
Gentil,” under the direction of Fr Giussani, whose aim
is to make known a repertory at times forgotten or appreciated
only by a select few, by offering to the wider public an introduction
to the music capable of drawing forth the highest essence of
the artistic experience.
The Spanish edition of the official magazine of Communion and
Liberation is born, Huellas. The magazine will also be distributed
in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay, Perù,
the Dominican Republic, Spain and Venezuela.
In March the first edition of Little Traces, the bimonthly magazine
for children, is published.
1998:
CL representatives took part, contributing in various
ways, in the World Congress of Ecclesial Movements organized
by the Pontifical Council for the Laity in Rome from May 27 to
29. After the close of the Congress, on May 30, John Paul II
met the members of the movements in St. Peter’s Square.
Fr Giussani, along with three other founders (Chiara Lubich,
Kiko Arguello, and Jean Vanier) offered his testimony in the
presence of the Holy Father.
On October 16, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Archbishop of
Buenos Aires, presents the Spanish edition of The Religious Sense
by Luigi Giussani.
1999:
The “Centro Internazionale di Comunione e Liberazione” (International
Center of Communion and Liberation) opened in Rome as an instrument
of connection for the various aspects of the Movement throughout
the world and as service to the Church, especially in view of
the Great Jubilee of 2000.
Among various meetings, on October 20, in collaboration with the
General Secretariat for the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000, and on
the occasion of the Synod of Bishops for Europe, the book by Giussani-Alberto-Prades,
Generare tracce nella storia del mondo (Generating Traces in the
History of the World) (Rizzoli) is presented. Among the speakers
are Bishop Crescenzio Sepe, Secretary of the Jubilee Committee, and
Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, Archbishop of Vienna.
With the first number of January, the English edition of the official
magazine of Communion and Liberation, Traces, is born. The magazine
will be distributed in Australia, Canada, Great Britain, Hong Kong,
Ireland, Kenya, Nigeria, Taiwan, Uganda and the United States.
The Brazilian edition, Passos, published bimonthly since 1996, becomes
a monthly.
On January 21, at UNESCO, Fr Luigi Giussani’s book, La
conscience religieuse de l’homme moderne (Ed. Cerf), is presented. The
meeting is attended by delegates of about ten countries represented
at UNESCO. Among the speakers are Bishop Lorenzo Frana, Permanent
Observer of the Holy See at UNESCO, Professor Rémy Brague,
philosopher at the Sorbonne, and the then President of the Pontifical
Lateran University, Bishop Angelo Scola.
The Priestly Fraternity of the Missionaries of Saint Carlo Borromeo,
born of the charism of Communion and Liberation, and founded in 1985
by Fr Massimo Camisasca, is recognized on March 19 as a Society of
Apostolic Life of Pontifical Right by John Paul II.
On May 24th, at the UN Building in New York, the book by Fr Luigi
Giussani, At the Origin of the Christian Claim (Ed. McGill Queen’s
University Press), is presented. In addition to Bishop Renato Martino,
Permanent Observer of the Holy See at the UN, other speakers are
the Archbishop of New York, John O’Connor, Rabbi Neil Gillman,
Director of the Department of Theology at the Jewish Seminary of
New York, and the Afghan ambassador, Razan A.G. Farhadi.
June 4: Fr Luigi Giussani speaks at the Conference on “The Paternity of
God and Paternity of the Family”, organized by the Pontifical Council for
the Family, in Vatican City.
On June 18, as part of the Seminar organized by the Pontifical Council for the
Laity, entitled “Ecclesial Movements and New Communities in the Pastoral
Solicitude of the Bishops,”Fr Luigi Giussani offers his testimony, describing
the characteristics and scope of CL.
2000:
During the entire Jubilee Year, beginning with the rite of opening the Holy Door,
celebrated by John Paul II on Christmas night, numerous large groups of Communion
and Liberation participate in the various celebrations with the Pope: the Workers’ Jubilee,
and those of Youth, University Students
and Families. On the latter occasion,
Fr Luigi
Giussani speaks at the International Theological-Pastoral Congress on “Children,
the Spring of the Family and Society”,
organized by the Pontifical Council for the Family (October 10-12).
The Russian edition of the official magazine of Communion and Liberation, Sled,
begins for the communities of the ex-Soviet Union, from Novosibirsk to Moscow,
to Kazakhstan, and the French edition, Traces.
On September 18th, the new headquarters of the International Center of CL in
Rome is inaugurated. The moment is presided over by Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Secretary
of State for His Holiness, who reads, in the presence of numerous bishops and
ambassadors, a letter from John Paul II, sent for the occasion.
2001:
Numerous initiatives are promoted by members of Communion and Liberation to promote
freedom of education, scholastic parity, and “good school.” Two large
manifestations initiate the “battle” for school reform. The first
takes place in Milan (ten thousand present at the Filaforum, Dec. 2, 2000) and
the second in Rome (Piazza Santi Apostoli, Dec. 7, 2000).
October 14: Fr Luigi Giussani receives the tenth «Corona Turrita» award,
presented by the city of Desio in recognition of its illustrious citizens.
2002:
February 11: the twentieth anniversary of the pontifical recognition of the Fraternity
of Communion and Liberation. For the occasion, John Paul II writes Fr Giussani
a long autograph letter. Subsequently, Fr Giussani writes all the members of
the Fraternity to call attention to the great value of the Pope’s letter
and to the importance of the indications conveyed.
In October over 20 thousand Fraternity members in Italy gather in pilgrimage
at the Sanctuary of Loreto. Marian pilgrimages
are also organized on five continents.
The Via Crucis in New York, crossing the Brooklyn Bridge, arriving at Ground
Zero. This public gesture proposed by CL following September 11th, 2001, involves
three thousand people, beginning with the Mayor of New York.
Bassano del Grappa, June 7: Il Comune dei Giovani (The Municipality of Youth,)
a work of Fr Didimo Mantiero, confers on Fr Giussani honorary citizenship.
December 21, the President of the Province of Milan, Ombretta Colli, in the presence
of Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi, confers on Fr Giussani the Isimbardi Gold Medal
of Gratitude award.
The German edition of Traces, Spuren, is born, as is the Russian version of Little
Traces.
October 15th: Fr Giussani’s 80th birthday. He receives over two thousand
faxes, e-mails, and telegrams from all over the world, from important figures
of politics, culture, the Church and other religions, from individuals and from
communities.
2003:
Traces marks new editions in Portuguese (Passos, distributed in Portugal
and
Mozambique,) Polish (Slady), Hungarian (Nyomaink) and Japanese.
March: Fr Giussani receives the Macchi Award, given by the Association of Catholic
School Parents, to distinguished figures in the field of education.
April 4-5: Georgetown University hosts a conference on The Risk of Education
by Luigi Giussani. Fifty university professors participate, including eminent
philosophers and theologians.
June 22: Fr Luigi Giussani writes a letter to the CL Fraternity after the annual
pilgrimage to Loreto. Reactions and comments from journalists, intellectuals,
ecclesiastics and politicians arrive from all over the world.
October 17: Fr Giussani’s book The Religious Sense in Russian is presented
in Almaty, in Kazakhstan. Speakers: the President of the Kazakh-Arab university,
a philosopher, a noted pianist, a writer and an Italian astrophysicist.
For the twenty-fifth anniversary of the pontificate of John Paul II, Fr Luigi
Giussani writes a letter to the Holy Father. The Italian weekly Panorama (October
30, 2003) dedicates a cover and a long article to this “special”.
November 12: the terrorist attack in Nassiriya, Iraq, in which Italian carabinieri
and soldiers are killed. On the occasion of the funerals (November 18), Fr Giussani
writes the text for the 8:30 p.m. opening coverage for Italian state television
RAI 2.
2004:
Communion and Liberation celebrates fifty years. For the occasion, Fr Giussani
writes the Pope (January 26, 2004) and John Paul II responds with a long letter
to Fr Giussani, dated February 22, 2004.
To celebrate the anniversary, hundreds of meetings to present Fr Giussani’s
book, Why the Church? are organized in Italy and abroad, involving important
figures from the world of culture and politics, exponents of the Catholic Church
and of other religions.
Among others, of note is the talk/testimony of the Archbishop of Boston, Sean
Patrick O’Malley, during the presentation in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
March 16: during the fifth Celebration of the Statute of the Lombardy Region,
Luigi Giussani is awarded one of the sixteen Sigilli Longobardi (Longobard Seals)
assigned to citizens distinguished for particular social merits.
2005:
February 22, Fr. Giussani dies in his home in Milan.
February 24, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger presides over the funeral Mass in the Milan Cathedral as the personal representative of John Paul II, giving his homily before forty thousand people.
March 8, the municipality of Rome organizes a commemoration ceremony for Fr. Giussani on the Capitoline, with Walter Veltroni, Maria Pia Garavaglia, Giulio Andreotti, Fr. Julián Carrón and Tarcisio Bertone.
March 19, the Central Diaconia of the Fraternity of CL meets in Milan to nominate its new president, the successor to Fr. Giussani, electing Fr. Julián Carrón, with whom during the previous year Fr. Giussani had chosen to share his responsibility as leader of the entire Movement, calling him from Spain.
August 26, Fr. Carrón is granted an audience with Benedict XVI in Castel Gandolfo.
August 27, during the conclusion of the Meeting of Rimini the new edition of Fr. Giussani’s book, The Risk of Education, is presented as the first salvo of a cultural battle on education to take place in Italy and the world in the following months. Part of this iniziative is an “Appeal on Education” signed by scores of key figures and thousands of others.
October 26 ottobre, the municipality of Milan organizes a conference entitled “Fr. Giussani and the Search for Beauty”, with Claudio Risè, Stefano Zecchi, Lorenzo Ornaghi, Franco Loi, Fr. Julián Carrón and Franco Branciaroli.
November 5, the municipality of Desio names a square in honor of Fr. Giussani.
2006:
January 17, the Sisters of Charity of the Assumption announce that their General Chapter has declared Fr. Giussani the founder of their Institute together with Fr. Pernet, and that the Holy See has approved and confirmed this decision.
February 22, on the occasion of the first anniversari of the death of Fr. Giussani, memorial Masses are offered throughout the world.
March 19, the gardens of Via Solari, in Milan, are named after Fr. Giussani.
22 aprile, la città di Caravaggio intitola una via a don Giussani.
June 3, Fr. Carrón speaks in Saint Peter’s Square during Pope Benedict XVI’s meeting with the ecclesial movements.
July 5, Fr. Carrón speaks at the Pastoral Theology Conference on the occasion of the V World Meeting of Families with Benedict XVI in Valencia.
The first edition of the Arab translation of The Religious Sense by Fr. Giussani is presented at the Meeting of Rimini and in the Aula Magna of The Catholic University of Milan.
December 5, a ceremony in Ascoli Piceno marks the naming of a nursery and primary school in honor of Fr. Giussani, the first school named in his memory in Italy.
2007:
February 1, Msgr. Dominique Mamberti, Vatican Secretary for Relations with other States, presents the second edition of the Arab translation of The Religious Sense by Fr. Giussani.
February 22, the second anniversary of Fr. Giussani’s death, is observed with Masses in his memory throughout the world.
The “Spirto Gentil” music series founded by Fr. Giussani marks its tenth anniversary. Over 40 titles have been released in collaboration with the main record companies. |
