Romano Amerio Romano Amerio, of Italian nationality, was born in Lugano, Switzerland in 1905. He obtained his doctorate in Philosophy from the Catholic University of Milan in 1927. He was the disciple of Fr. Gemelli, the founder of the University. A rare distinction, he was declared citizen of honor by the city of Lugano, where from 1928 to 1970 he taught Philosophy, Greek, and Latin at the Academy. He is renowned for his philosophical studies of the thought of Antonio Rosmini, and for a critical edition of the monumental work of Manzoni, Osservazioni sulla morale cattolica. These philosophico-theological studies are considered as irreplaceable for the bibliography of the greatest philosopher and poet of the 19th century. He is able to speak with unusual competence about the work of the Central Preparatory Commission of Vatican II, which prepared the drafts of the schemas that were to be discussed at the Council. The Bishop of Lugano, His Excellency Jelmini, was a member of that Commission, and he chose Professor Amerio to work with him as his peritus in studying the schemas and in drafting his comments. Professor Amerio thus gained a close working knowledge of all the documents of Vatican II. Professor Amerio now lives in retirement in northern Italy and occasionally gives conferences on the crisis in the Church. Iota Unum was published in Italy in 1985 by one of the most renowned publishing houses in Italy, Ricciardi. It obtained an immediate critical success. One critic, writing in the Roman daily II Tempo, said: In an era of undeniable crisis, the greatest gift that an elder of the faithful can make to his Church is to speak clearly.” Notice to the Reader There are no differing keys (as the current phrase goes) in which this book can be read. The meaning to be attributed to it is the meaning that it has, taken univocally in its immediate literal and grammatical sense. There are thus no intentions, or purposes or beliefs hidden in it, which others can devote themselves to finding, beyond or apart from those which the author put there. The author's meaning is not different from the meaning of the book, except of course in the places where he has written badly, that is, said what he did not mean to say. The author has no desire to return to the past, because to entertain such a desire would be to desire a return of human development to some previous stage of its own becoming, and would thus bring it to an end. That kind of fulfillment within earthly life is irreconcilable with the other worldly outlook that dominates the work. Even the res antiquae, the ancient things, in the motto drawn from Ennius at the beginning of the book, does not refer to things that are chronologically prior to our time, but to things that are ontologically prior to the whole of time, and belong to a changeless vision of the good. If the book has any ulterior reference, it is to the world of changeless values alone. The reader should not seek any other. IOTA UNUM A Study of Changes in the Catholic Church in the XXth Century Iota unum non praeteribit Not one jot, nor one tittle shall pass away. (Mt. 5:18) Miscuit in medio eius spiritum vertiginis The Lord hath mingled in the midst thereof the spirit of giddiness. (Is. 19:14) Moribus antiquis stat res romana virisque Old-fashioned ways and men make Rome stand strong. (Ennius)     contents Chapter 1 Courtesy of the Angelus Press, Kansas City, MO 64109 Only select chapters are presented here. To buy the whole book please click here