Cardinal, Archbishop of Florence (1872–1961)
In May 1938, Mussolini welcomed Hitler to tour Italy, where he was warmly welcomed in Rome and other cities. The exception was Florence, where the Cardinal Archbishop, Elia Dalla Costa, shuttered the doors and windows of the episcopal palace and refused to join in the celebration.
Dalla Costa, archbishop of Florence since 1931, had long made clear his opposition to fascism. Later that year, he spoke out vehemently against the Italian Racial Laws directed at Italian Jews. But his most courageous resistance occurred during World War II, when he directed an elaborate network to hide and help Italian Jews and other refugees. He called on convents and monasteries throughout Florence to take in the refugees, and hid many in his own palace. A Franciscan monastery in Assisi provided forged documents. Named “Righteous Among the Gentiles” in 2012, the Yad Vashem Center in Jerusalem estimated that he had saved hundreds of lives.
After the war, Florence became a welcoming home for progressive Catholicism in Italy—a beacon in anticipation of Vatican II. Working closely with the progressive mayor Giorgio La Pira (now also in process toward canonization), he defended the poor and the working class, and reminded factory owners of their social responsibilities.
He participated in the conclave of 1958, and rejoiced in the election of his friend Angelo Roncalli as Pope John XXIII. Della Costa died on December 22, 1961, at the age of eighty nine, having served thirty years in his beloved Florence. In 2017 he was declared Venerable.
“I am not scared by the powerful since the Lord is with me.” —Cardinal Elia Dalla Costa
