Giuseppe Toniolo (1845-1918), professor of Economics at the University of Pisa, combined the seriousness of scientific commitment with an intense religious and social sensitivity. He was among the men who prepared the climate of the rerum Novarum and he worked to translate Leo XIII's guidelines into practice, establishing himself as one of the most far-sighted leaders of the Catholic movement. Domenico Sorrentino clearly draws the man, the scholar, the Christian who knew how to preserve, in the midst of an exciting commitment to history, the spirit of contemplation and an intimate union with God. In his spiritual experience, here reread with the theological method, not only does the value of a great lay figure emerge, but the sense of the Church itself which, in this horizon of holiness, manifests its face and mission.

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