Friuli in the nineteenth century

In the nineteenth century, Friuli also went through a time of great social and political turmoil and great social and cultural upheavals. With the arrival of Napoleon, came also the wind of revolution, a spirit of “illuminism”, a government with strong anticlerical and anti-religious attitude. Even under the Austro-Hungarian Empire it was not easy to preserve the freedom of religion, as Josephism claimed to rule and control.

Illiteracy was common, especially among women. Fr. Luigi was a forerunner of the empowerment of women, dedicating all his energies for the young girls and then, for the Sisters.

Another constant concern of his was to preserve the freedom and autonomy of his activities, especially the freedom of education, the autonomy of the educational plan of his Home, against the attempts of the Austrian government and then that of the Italian, to control it. It was better to renounce the recognition rather than being subjected to foreign protection; better to give up even significant public donations rather than giving up the freedom of education. He, then, never failed to claim the dignity of the Sisters and defend their works, asking various institutions to recognize their worth.

When various governments came up, one after the other, muzzling the Church, he had no fear to stand by the side of the Bishop and the Pope. He was not a saint living in isolation but participated in all the events of the local Church, supporting its various initiatives morally and financially, while maintaining himself and his works of charity as well. He had an open and far-sighted vision, so much so, for example, he was one among the staunchest supporters of the Catholic Press. He participated personally contributing to sustain the origin of a Catholic newspaper in Udine, unique among other five liberals and anticlerical, belonging to Freemason movement. He lived in contact with the best Catholic minds of the time, both in social and cultural field. In addition to be in communion with his Church, he practised an open missionary spirit, which enabled him to respond promptly to the requests for the presence of his Sisters to ever more distant places: first in various places in Friuli, then in Trent, Tyrol and Istria. The important thing was to place themselves at the service of the poor, who, for him, were the living embodiment of Jesus Christ.