Month: August 1959

On 6 August 1959, L’Osservatore Romano announced the appointment by Pope John XXIII of a new management committee for COPECIAL, following the departure of Vittorino Veronese, who had been appointed secretary-general of UNESCO.

The six members were:

• Silvio Golzio, president of the committee. Golzio was a professor of statistics at the University of Turin and director of the Piedmont Hydro-Electric Company. He was also president of the Movimento laureati, the Italian Catholic Action movement for Graduates.

• Jean-Pierre Dubois-Dumée, a French publisher, who was then working with Cardijn for the eventual publication of a book.

• Prince Karl zu Lôwenstein, a German nobleman, who was also the president of the Central Committee of German Catholics.

• Claude Ryan, secretary-general of Catholic Action in English-speaking Canada.

• Ramon Sugranyes, a Catalan exile living in Switzerland, who played a significant role in the foundation of Pax Romana ICMICA and in the organisation of the World Congresses on Lay Apostolate.

• Juan Vasquez, an Argentine mathematics professor who also worked for the Argentine Ministry of Transport. He was also responsible for international relations for the Central Committee of Catholic Action in Argentina and president of the International Federation of Catholic Youth.

There was an obvious absence of worker representation here and, no doubt after some feedback if not protest, this was remedied by the addition of three more members:

• Marguerite Fiévez, Belgian former leader of the JOC Internationale, now working as Cardijn’s personal secretary.

• Patrick Keegan, another former leader of the JOC Internationale, originally from Britain, now involved with developing an adult lay apostolate in the UK and also coordinator of “The Team,” an exclusive group of mainly former YCW leaders devoted to the lay apostolate.

• Martin Work, an American, who was secretary-general of the National Council of Catholic Men of the USA.

SOURCES

Bernard Minvielle, L’apostolat des laïcs à la veille du Concile (1949-1959)

Golzio, Silvio (Treccani)

Ramon Sugranyes de Franch (Website)

Ramon Sugranyes de Franch (Wikipedia.fr)

Tribute to Ramon Sugranyes de Franch (Pax Romana ICMICA)

Karl, 8th Prince of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg (Wikipedia)

PHOTO

Ramon Sugranyes