Cardinal Ferrari (Lalatta di Palanzano 1850 – Milan 1921), a man of renewed social sensitivity and lively intelligence, was a tireless pastor and guide for the Church in Lombardy at the end of the 19th century, capable of reaching even the most remote places of his archdiocese to listen and help every believer (sometimes going so far as to reach them at their place of work), with particular attention to the less well-off classes.
In this essay, Alberto Torresani restores the delicate ecclesial context in which Cardinal Ferrari’s pastoral action took place, underlining in particular the tensions between traditionalists and modernists, and the complicated period of post-unification Italy, when the conflict between Church and State was at its peak. Against this backdrop, Cardinal Ferrari perceived the need for a Catholic University, which he then concretely supported, to train priests and lay people capable of responding to contemporary challenges.