The poor banker

When faith marries the profession. One could compare Giuseppe Antonio Tovini (1841-1897), a lawyer and banker from Brescia, beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1998, to a modern Saint Matthew who is not asked to leave his tax office but to use the same for the poor ...
In the historical period in which he lived, Catholics hardly found space in the intellectual circles of the newborn Kingdom of Italy and the official Church, moreover, prevented them from participating in the political management of society. Our man, however, did not allow himself to be discouraged by the unfavorable context and succeeded in introducing Catholic social doctrine into the financial world.

he was in fact the founder of various banks, including the famous Banco Ambrosiano which rose to the judicial news because of Michele Sindona. What a difference with Tovini, who in the statute of the Banca San Paolo di Brescia obliged the administrators to do their work free of charge! The same attitude took him in the curial profession: in the profession he limited himself to ensuring the family a decent standard of living, also accepting to sponsor the causes of those who could not pay a fee. He promoted the rural funds for peasants in economic difficulties and workers' societies to defend industrial workers from the particularly aggressive exploitation of the time. For the unemployed he conceived economic kitchens. In short, Tovini was a modern saint who combined prayer and action, long talks with God with eyes and hands open to the brothers.


Annamaria Gobbato
NP June / July 2022