Stefano Jacini

Count Stefano Jacini of San Gervasio (3 November 1886 – 31 May 1952) was an Italian politician and historian, a leading figure of the Christian Democrats.

Family and early career Stefano Jacini was the eldest of the six children born to Giovanni Battista Jacini and his wife Carolina Cavi. He was named after his grandfather, Risorgimento politician Stefano Jacini who had served several times as Minister of Public Works. The younger Stefano graduated in law from the University of Genoa in 1908. The following year he married Elisabetta Borromeo Arese, daughter of :it:Giberto Borromeo Arese, prince of Angera, with whom he had his son Giovanni, later a professor of chemistry in Milan.

Young Stefano was strongly influenced by Piero Martinetti, whose university lectures he attended, and by his spiritual mentor Ambrogio Ratti, the future Pope Pius XI. After graduating, he contributed to a short-lived literary-religious magazine, :it:Il Rinnovamento, along with :it:Tommaso Gallarati Scotti, Alessandro Casati, Ajax Antonio Alfieri and Uberto Pestalozza. His family's friendship with bishop Geremia Bonomelli also brought him into contact with the initiatives of the Association for Assistance to Emigrants, making him an expert in the complex problems linked to emigration. He did not support the Aventine Secession, believing in the importance of maintaining the integrity of parliament. Despite his views he took part in opposition initiatives to restore democratic governance. He hoped that Vittorio Emanuele III would lead the country in this direction and was among the 54 signatories of the message addressed to the king, on 6 June 1925, by the constitutional deputies of the opposition. Disappointed by the king’s inaction, he continued to push for the opposition to return to Parliament. President of the Senate Foreign Affairs Commission from 1948 until his death and Vice President of the Council of Europe from 1949 until his death.

Selected works Un conservatore rurale della nuova Italia (“ A Rural Conservative of the New Italy ”) Bari, Laterza, 1926 Il tramonto del potere temporale (“The Decline of Secular Power”) Bari, Laterza, 1931 Storia del Partito Popolare Italiano (“History of the Italian People’s Party”) Milano, Garzanti Editore, 1951