Il movimento amministrativo cattolico bergamasco dall'intransigentismo al clerico-moderatismo (1876-1893)

[Autom. eng. transl.] The essay reconstructs the administrative action of Catholics in Bergamo between the seventies and the early nineties of the nineteenth century. In an uncompromising setting, designed by Non expedit, the municipal commitment restored depth to the citizenship of the laity. A greater presence in the town hall enhanced the Catholic tradition as a historical legacy of the Italian identity. Such a civil apostolate accepted the Risorgimento state without abjuring the temporal power of the papacy, clashing with internal and external resistance: on the one hand, in the Church, that integralist Catholicism which refused any mediation with the liberal state and modern culture; on the other hand, in secular society, that liberalism which presented itself as the guarantor of national unity, despite the growing tensions between moderates, progressives and radicals. The administrative commitment of the laity grew through the expansion of the democratic space, favored by the extension of suffrage and the success of the social movement. The rise of the masses, organized by both the Church and the left, marginalized the Bergamo constitutionalists, favoring a convergence between Catholics and the ancient ruling class of the Risorgimento. Clerical-moderatism responded to profound social changes, inaugurating a long season that accompanied the modernization and growth of the city.