Agostino Gemelli

The Rev. Agostino Gemelli, O.F.M.
The Rev. Agostino Gemelli, O.F.M.
Born	18 January 1878; Milan, Kingdom of Italy
Died	15 July 1959 (aged 81); Milan, Italy
Nationality	Italian
Known for	Founding the Catholic University of Milan; Neurophysiological research
	Scientific career
Fields	Medicine, Neuropsychology and Physiology
Institutions	Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore

Agostino Gemelli, (18 January 1878 – 15 July 1959) was an Italian Franciscan friar, physician and psychologist, who was also the founder and first Rector of Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore of Milan (Catholic University of the Sacred Heart).

Gemelli's Institute of Psychology was the most prominent institution of its kind in Italy. In 1959 he founded a teaching hospital for the Medical School of the University, located in Rome, the Agostino Gemelli University Polyclinic, which is now named after him. He focused some of his research on the psychology of the workplace.

Life

Early life

At San Giorgio in 1917 were also visiting the bishop of Castrense Monsignor Angelo Bartolomasi and father Gemelli, then Major physician director of the office of Psychiatry of Milan, and valuable collaborator of the Bishop of military chaplains in priestly rallies[1]

He was born Edoardo Gemelli in 1878 to an irreligious prosperous bourgeois milanese family, who were members of the Masonic movement.[2][3] In his youth, his commitment to social causes led him to become a member of the Italian Socialist Party. He went to Ghislieri College for his education. After his training as a physician, he carried out neurophysiological and psychological experiments, some with the famed physiologist Camillo Golgi.

Gemelli, who had been an agnostic from his upbringing, had a religious conversion from his experience of military service in a hospital, that brought him into contact with a chaplain there who impressed him deeply. This led him to join the Order of Friars Minor in 1903, at which time he took the name Agostino. He was professed in the Order on 23 December 1904, and ordained on 14 March 1908. As members of religious orders were barred by the Catholic Church from practicing medicine then, he continued his medical research, moving into the field of neuropsychology, where he was dissatisfied with many of the theories regarding the central nervous system held at the time.

Religious founder

At the same time, Gemelli undertook many spiritual activities, helping to found the secular institute of the Missionaries of the Kingship of Christ, established by Armida Barelli, a Christian social activist. He first led her to join the Third Order of St. Francis, and in 1919, seeking a greater commitment, under his guidance, Barelli joined with other Franciscan tertiaries to form this group. In 1928, he guided the establishment of a men's branch of the Institute, led by Giorgio La Pira who was a member of the Italian Senate.

Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore

Agostino Gemelli surrounded by some students

Gemelli founded the Catholic University in 1921, and soon gained the patronage of Pope Benedict XV. It was founded as an instrument of forming a new leadership class for a future Catholic state. This religiously motivated political goal was intended to counteract the anti-clerical state established by the unifiers of modern Italy in 1860.[4]

In 1929 the Holy See signed a Concordat with the government of Benito Mussolini, which made the Catholic Church the state religion of Italy. At that point, the university became a laboratory for Catholic social policies through which the church might bring the Fascist state in line with canon law and papal teachings.[5] Gemelli taught as a Professor of Applied Psychology at the university.

Despite Gemelli's accommodations to the state, he maintained relative autonomy for his university. This allowed the left-wing of the Christian Democratic Party to organize and develop at the Università Cattolica during Mussolini's peak years.[5]

There is a long lasting discussion about Gemelli's supposed antisemitism: on the one hand, he wrote vicious antisemitic article about the intellectual Felice Momigliano in 1924 (the article was published unsigned on Vita e pensiero and recognized later on). His alleged support of the Fascist regime's racial laws in 1938, which were aimed primarily at Jews, is controversial.[6] [7] On the other hand, he helped many Jews, especially several scientists (among others, Tullio Levi-Civita and Vito Volterra).

Death

Gemelli died in Milan on 15 July 1959.[8]

Academic legacy

Gemelli is also considered one of the 20th century's most prominent Franciscans. He worked to reconcile Christian faith and modern culture, though questions have arisen about his political legacy in recent times.[9]

Despite his many administrative duties as University Rector (which he performed until his death), Gemelli's endeavors involved both scientific and philosophical studies. At the request of Pope Pius XI, he also served as the first President of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences (1937). In addition, he wrote extensively on the contemporary meaning of Franciscan spirituality and was a pioneer in actively engaging the laity in the mission of the church.

Publications

Rivista di filosofia neoscolastica (1908)
La lotta contro Lourdes (1911), a book in which he took on the medical establishment of Milan regarding the scientific reliability of cures claimed at the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes in France, noted for the great number of healings taking place there
Vita e Pensiero (1914)
Biologie (1939)
La psicotecnica applicata alle industrie (1944)
La psicologia dell'orientamento professionale (1945)
Psicologia dell'età evolutiva, with Agatha Sidlauskas (1946)
La personalità del delinquente (1946)
Introduzione alla psicologia, with Giorgio Zunini (1947)
La criminologia e il diritto penale (1951)
Archivi della Psicología, Neurología e Psichiatría
Associazione Cattolica Internazionale degli Studi Medicali-Psicologici

Padre Pio controversy

Agostino Gemelli was a harsh critic of Padre Pio; calling him, "an ignorant and self-mutilating psychopath who exploited people's credulity" with his stigmata. Gemelli's criticism is believed to have been instrumental in moving the Vatican to take various measures in censuring Padre Pio, including a prohibition on celebrating Mass in public.[10]

References

Original Italian: A San Giorgio furono spesso in visita anche il vescovo castrense Mons. Angelo Bartolomasi e padre Gemelli, allora Maggiore medico direttore dell'ufficio di Psichiatria di Milano, e prezioso collaboratore del Vescovo dei capellani militari nei raduni sacerdotali
Albuzzi, Annalisa (2012-05-23). Il cuore di Milano: Identità e storia di una capitale morale. ISBN 9788858625262.
Agnoli, Francesco; Tanel, Giulia (2013-03-27). Miracoli: l'Irruzione del soprannaturale nella storia. ISBN 9788867370115.
Hammond, J. Casey (January 1, 2010). "Padre Agostino Gemelli and the crusade to rechristianize Italy, 1878--1959". University of Pennsylvania Repository of Dissertations: 1–362. Retrieved March 21, 2012
Hammond
Lovatti, Maurilio. "La presunta adesione di padre Agostino Gemelli al Manifesto della Razza: un falso storico?" (in Italian). Retrieved February 18, 2015
Cuomo, Franco. "I dieci. Chi erano gli scienziati italiani che firmarono il 'Manifesto della razza'" (in Italian). Retrieved July 16, 2020
HIMETOP
Massina, Dino (October 10, 2011). "La legenda nera di padre Gemelli, una interpretazione riduttiva". Corriere della Serra:I Blog (in Italian). Archived from the original on December 23, 2011. Retrieved March 21, 2012
Vallely, Paul (2002-06-17). "Vatican makes a saint of the man it silenced". The New Zealand Herald. Archived from the original on 2017-02-03. Retrieved 2019-01-14.