Who doesn't know Casa Toniolo in Treviso? The giant picture of Professor Toniolo welcomes those who every day, for fifty years, have entered what is the seat of the pastoral offices but, even before that, the historical seat of the laity and of the Treviso Catholic Action. It was Msgr. Antonio Mistrorigo, bishop of Treviso from 1958 to 1989.

Mons Mistrorigo, who was one of the last council fathers and the dean of the Italian bishops, died on January 14, 2012 at almost a hundred years old (he would have turned them on March 26). From 1962 to 1965 he took part in the Second Vatican Council and was among the promoters of the liturgical reform, which aimed to encourage the participation of the faithful in the rites. In Treviso he led the liturgical and pastoral renewal following the Council and promoted two Synods, one in 1961 and one in the 80s, the post-Council Synod.

To the ecclesial organization of the laity Msgr. Mistrorigo immediately dedicated a strong contribution of thought and direction (present at the Presidency meetings, since 1959 he established the "Diocesan Day of Catholic Action" celebrated on the day of the Immaculate Conception in all parishes), with the apex in the publication in October 1984 of a pastoral letter on "Catholic Action today in the light of the Council", but also wanted to equip it with adequate material structures, in order to facilitate its penetration into the environments of everyday life: Casa Toniolo, inaugurated on December 26, 1960 at presence of the Patriarch of Venice, card. Urbani became the place destined to remain for decades the physical fulcrum of the organized presence of the laity in the Treviso diocese. And the dedication to Toniolo was very apt.

Site of the diocese of Treviso