The Montini family and the Society of Jesus
At the centre of the column is the link between the Montini family and the Society of Jesus, the same family in which the future Paul VI, now a saint, born Giovanni Battista Montini, was born. The Arici College, run by the Jesuits and active from 1894 to 1956, saw the young Montini grow from primary school to high school. St Paul VI was very attached to the memory of the College throughout his life.
Our historical archive was contacted about two years ago by the Paul VI Institute of Brescia, which is engaged in the publication of Montini’s correspondence. The second tome of the impressive work was published last year: Giovanni Battista Montini.
Paolo VI, Carteggio II, 1924 – 1933, Brescia, 2018, the subsequent tomes are currently being worked on.
Thanks to assiduous and fruitful collaboration, it has been possible to restore an identity to the many people Don Montini mentioned in his letters in reference to the Colleges of the Society: Jesuits, lay teachers, novices, former students.
In some cases it is Montini himself who refers boys to the novitiates of the Society, as the letters show, yet Giovanni Battista Montini was not a Jesuit nor did he ever enter the Society of Jesus.
How can one explain the strong bond that Montini showed with the Society, not only as a priest but throughout his life?
The answer to this question lies in the biography of Pope Paul VI.
In 1903, Giovanni Battista, was enrolled in the Arici College in Brescia, of the Veneto-Milanese Province of the Society of Jesus, the same college where his brother, Lodovico, was meanwhile studying. The Arici College, active from 1894 to 1956, when it passed to the diocese, would see the young Montini grow from primary school to high school.
The Pontiff was very attached to the memory of the College throughout his life.
The link between the Montinis and the Society of Jesus, however, does not end with the enrolment of the young Giovanni Battista in the College, but also includes another member of the family. The reordering of the Veneto-Milanese Province fonds, currently in progress, has made it possible to reconstruct a part of it, during the inventory of the papers relating to the community and the works in Brescia.
Lodovico Montini, himself a pupil of ‘Arici’ in Brescia, a lawyer and senator, brother of Giovanni Battista, was among the members of the S. Brigida Society from the 1920s onwards.
The S. Brigida Society was founded at that time to enable the Veneto-Milanese Province to maintain certain properties and real estate and avoid confiscation by the State, an expedient used by several religious orders before the Lateran Pacts.
In the name of Lodovico Montini and other Brescia professionals, engineers, politicians, lawyers, the bonds of the Society were purchased to ensure the continuation of the life of the College. Lodovico Montini was considered by the Jesuits of Brescia a point of reference for administrative matters and a trusted person. The Society then donated the building to the college after 1929.
In the photo copies of deeds relating to the purchase and sale of shares in the Society by Lodovico Montini and the College diaries of the years in which the two brothers were boarders.
Maria Macchi
