Giorgio La Pira

He was the first of six children born to Gaetano La Pira (1870–1937) and Angela Occhipinti (1876–1943).

He was baptized on the following 7 February with his maternal uncle Luigi (1880–1973) as his godfather.

His maternal aunt was Settimia Machi Bartolini (1888–1945).

Giorgio La Pira, TOSD (Raimondo in religious life; 9 January 1904 – 5 November 1977) was an Italian Catholic politician who served as the Mayor of Florence.

He also served as a deputy for Christian Democracy and participated in the assembly that wrote the Italian Constitution following World War II.

In his public and private life he was a tireless champion of peace and human rights who worked for the betterment of the poor and disenfranchised.

La Pira belonged to the Third Order of Saint Dominic.

Giorgio La Pira was born on 9 January 1904 in Pozzallo, Ragusa, Sicily, to a Sicilian packing-house worker.

His siblings were Salvatore (1905–1975), Giuseppina (1908–1990), Giovannino (1912–2003), Maria Cristina (1913–1980) and Ernesto (1915–2005).

One close friend was Salvatore Quasimodo who was a future Nobel prize-winner for literature and another friend was Giuseppe Lazzati.

He often read Dante Aligheri as well as Plato and Saint Thomas More.

La Pira attended the Giacinto Pandolfi school from 1909 to 1913 as part of his education and entered the Antonello Technical-Commercial College from 1914 until 1917.

He studied accounting in Messina (from 1914 to 1922) and received a law degree from the Florence college in 1925.

Throughout 1921 he worked alongside his maternal uncle Luigi so as to contribute towards keeping himself in school.

His Catholic upbringing and in particular the teachings of Saint Francis of Assisi had a vital role in shaping his political and philosophical beliefs.

He saw all that he did and each position he took as an expression of his spiritual beliefs.

In 1922 he studied for his high school examination where he obtained his diploma in Palermo.

It was at this time that he often visited the home of Federico Rampolla who helped him prepare for his final exam in Latin and Greek.

It was also where he met Federico's cardinal brother Mariano.

It was in 1924 that he experienced a profound religious calling that would forever set the pattern for his life.

He became professor of Roman Law there in 1933 and his openness helped him achieve a cordial relationship with his students.

From 1934 until his death he lived in the San Marco complex.

La Pira was a staunch advocate for peace and made several trips to the East to places such as China and the Soviet Union which were sometimes deemed to be controversial in the Cold War era.

Those trips were undertaken to discuss peace ventures and ends to conflict with La Pira also prioritizing ecumenism as a reason for visiting Moscow where he often met with members of the Russian Orthodox Church.

On the eve of World War II he founded the review Principi (in English, Principles) which promoted human rights and criticized Fascism in an open manner — criticism that became even greater once Benito Mussolini passed the racial laws in 1938 and entered the war in 1940.

At a National Congress held in Assisi in 1942 he spoke in praise of "the peace that constructs" and of "the love that rebuilds".

La Pira also rejected the criticisms of Luigi Sturzo on an alleged economic statism.

Once the war ended La Pira set about rebuilding Florence, which was struggling to recover from the destruction the war caused in most Italian cities at the time.

As mayor he steered Florence from the haphazard reconstruction efforts that were evident for other Italian efforts in reconstruction and rehabilitation.

He believed that the focus of rebuilding should be self-sufficient neighborhoods.

These neighborhoods centered around local shops and public gardens as well as around markets and tree-lined streets with schools and churches.

The most well-known of these is Isolotto – or the "little island".

These revitalized neighborhoods became the heart and soul of post-war Florence and continue to thrive at present.

La Pira led the effort for the reconstruction of bridges such as the Vespucci and Santa Trinita Bridge as well as the Alle Grazie.

Other public works projects included such job-creating projects as the expansion of the water works, a waste system, and public transportation networks.

After Italian police raided his offices on 29 September 1943 La Pira escaped to Siena and then to Rome.

On 30 September the governorship of the Vatican issued him with an identification as a staff member of the L'Osservatore Romano so as to keep him safe.

He returned to Florence in September 1944.

La Pira's cause for sainthood opened in the 1980s and he was a Servant of God.

He became titled as Venerable on 5 July 2018 when Pope Francis confirmed that he had lived a life of heroic virtue.