Theosophy in Italy, Under Fascist Police Rule, and Rosmini’s Influence

HISTORY OF THE ITALIAN THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY DURING WORLD WAR AND UNDER FASCIST RULE, INCLUDING THE PREFECT OF GENOA’S REPORT JAN 1939

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THEOSOPHY DURING THE ERA OF FASCIST ITALY

The Genoa Report of 1939 reports that the Theosophists in Italy teach doctrines contrary to the Fascist State. The history between the modern Theosophical Movement, the Society and Blavatsky to republicanism and the post-Risorgimento struggle that led to assassinations of Mazzini heirs by the Fascists which betrayed the republican line of the Risorgimento legacy are directly connected. Once the Fascists gained further power, they went after both the heirs of Mazzini and the Theosophists in Italy. These facts conflict with outdated ideologically motivated historical narratives and encyclopedias that scapegoated Theosophy after the war for occult influence within National Socialism who also persecuted and policed the German and Austrian Theosophists with Jesuits, Catholics and Jews alike who resisted them. This crucial context is often missed, and because it does not serve a simplistic polemical narrative of that period, revealing the involvement of those who did not resist the Fascists and National Socialism, the account is ignored.

Authors in the Theosophical Encyclopedia explained the history of the Theosophical Society in Italy:

“During World War I (1914-18) the activity of Italian Lodges was considerably reduced because of military service (in which several members died) and the shortage of paper for publishing the Section’s magazine and books. At the end of the war, membership and the number of Lodges increased, as did the printing of books. Theosophy flourished until the advent of the Italian Fascist government, which adopted Nazi race discrimination and persecution of Jews. In order to continue the work of the Society in Italy, the General Secretary, Tullio Castellani, proposed to abolish the first aim of the Theosophical to avoid a clash with the law. In a memorable meeting of representatives of almost all Lodges in Italy on November 20, 1938, that proposal was rejected. The Fascist government ordered the dissolution of the TS in Italy by a decree issued by the Prefect of Genoa. However, members meetings continued secretly from time to time in another place, but this did not escape the notice of the police and several members were threatened with internment, harassed, and some were imprisoned and deported to Germany. Some did not survive. The following is the text of the decree abolishing the TS in Italy issued by the Fascist government”

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THE ROYAL PREFECTURE OF GENOA

The Prefect. According to the report of the local police headquarters of 30th November 1938-XVII it appears that the Italian Theosophical Society in the greatest part of its members is composed of persons who show little comprehension of the basic principles of Fascism and carry on an activity often in opposition to the politics of the National Government under the pretext of spiritual studies. Considering that many members of the Italian Theosophical Society far from pursuing any high ideal indulge, especially of recent times, in sectarian and demagogical manifestations; pursuant to the telegram by the Hon. Home Ministry n. 470-442 of 4th January 1939-XVII and according the article 210 of the law in force, of the civil police.

DECREES

The Italian Theosophical Society with its central seat in Genoa, Piazza del Ferro, 3 is dissolved; consequently are dissolved all Groups of the same Society extant at Genoa under the title ‘Giordano Bruno’ and in the following towns: Bari, Forlì, Milan, Rome, Turin, Florence, Venice and Trieste. “The police inspectors of Genoa and of the other aforesaid towns are ordered to execute this decree. Genoa, 14th January 1939-XVII.

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The president, George S. ARUNDALE, appointed Giuseppe Gasco as presidential agent in Italy, and he held the office until the end of World War II (1939-1945). Thereafter, Gasco was elected General Secretary until his retirement in the year 1956. Immediately after the war, the Section experienced a great renewal of activity, with new Lodges, an increased number of members, and the publishing of Theosophical books.”

This content on Theosophy in Italy before Blavatsky also features in the article, Bl. Antonio Rosmini-Serbati’s Systematic Theology and the Rosminians in Italy. Theosophists acknowledge and attribute the rise of the modern Theosophical Society in Italy to Rosmini-Serbati and the Rosminians introducing Italians to its meaning through his systematic theology.

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HELENA P. BLAVATSKY frequently visited Italy, in namely Bologna, Bari, Trieste, Venice, Rome, and Naples. Many of her acquaintances in Italy became members of the Theosophical Society. In 1851, H.P.B. met Giuseppe Mazzini, and at the “Battle of Mentana” (Rome) in 1867, she participated with volunteers, alongside the troops of Giuseppe Garibaldi.

Both were Italian patriots, during the Risorgimento period. Through the Italian philosopher and Catholic priest, Antonio Rosmini-Serbati (1797-1855) and his Rosminians, Italy had an expression of Theosophy before the T.S. founding. After Antonio Rosmini-Serbati’s death, a work of eight volumes was published, under the title “TEOSOFIA.”

This is indicative of the programme here, as to the eighteenth-century theosophers, French Illuminés and Spanish Alumbrados (Catholic mystics). Instead, Antonio Rosmini-Serbati and the Rosminians were condemned and opposed by the Jesuits before the Church reformed the Jesuit order. Pope Leo XIII condemned forty of Rosmini’s propositions in 1887. However, in 1998, Pope John Paul II in the encyclical Fides et Ratio named Rosmini one of the greater Christian thinkers, and Rosmini was beatified 18 November 2007 in Novara, Italy.

The authorization for benediction, was decreed by Pope Benedict XVI 3 June 2007. Rosmini was declared to be “Venerable.” Antonio Girardi and Edoardo Bratina, in their Theosophy in Italy contribution to the Theosophical Encyclopedia suggest, that the rapid growth of Theosophy in Italy is connected to the Rosminians. Helped by Alfredo Pioda, who established the first Theosophical Center in Switzerland, J. Murphy established the first Theosophical Center in Milan in 1890.

Alfredo Pioda began the magazine, La Nuova Parola. The first Lodge and library was established in Rome, 1897, by C.A. Lloyd and Decio Calvari, who was the secretary of the Italian Parliament. Lodges were established in Genoa and Palermo by British Consul, Macbean Reginald Gambier. Isabel Cooper-Oakley, later establishes lodges in Milan, Florence, Naples, Torino and Rome.