26 Facts About Vittorino Veronese

Vittorino Veronese was an Italian anti-fascist lawyer and activist who served as UNESCO's Director-General from 1958 to 1961.

Three years after the appointment as the Director-General, Veronese had to resign due to health concerns.

Vittorino Veronese would continue to hold roles within the Catholic Church after his career with UNESCO, and to be prominent in the international sphere until his death in 1986 at the age of 76.

Vittorino Veronese was born in a country town near Venice, Vicenza on 1 March 1910.

Vittorino Veronese's father worked in a local electric plant as a chief technician, and his mother was a school teacher.

Young Vittorino Veronese started school early and advanced with his scholastic peers.

Vittorino Veronese was not proficient in sports, but would cite a passion for music later in life.

Vittorino Veronese graduated from the University of Padua with a doctoral degree in law before he reached twenty-one.

Vittorino Veronese's thesis was about the right of Vatican citizenship.

Vittorino Veronese worked as a lawyer for ten years after graduation, then started to pursue a career in the fields of sociology and education.

Vittorino Veronese became a sociology instructor at the Institute of Social Sciences at Ateneo Angelicum University in Rome.

Vittorino Veronese became the editor of the review in a later year.

Vittorino Veronese was a captain for a time in the infantry reserve and discharged during the war because of his suffering from arthritis.

Vittorino Veronese served as a high officer during his twenties in the Catholic Movement of University Graduates and he was close with the Vatican-including activism there.

Vittorino Veronese did not participate in the Fascist movement under the rule of Mussolini.

In 1939, at the age of twenty-nine, Vittorino Veronese was invited by Montini to Rome and appointed to the position of general secretaryship of the Movimento Laureati affiliated with Italia Catholic Action.

Vittorino Veronese continued to hold this role until his appointment as UNESCO Director-General.

Vittorino Veronese advocated for the importance of self-determination without discrimination in education as well as the importance of its inclusion of linkages to daily life.

Vittorino Veronese believed that education went along with the benefits of industrialization.

From 1960, Vittorino Veronese led the start of the International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia.

Vittorino Veronese resigned from the position of Director-General of UNESCO in 1961 and returned to Rome, which he cited as being due to illnesses.

Vittorino Veronese served as the head of the Banco di Roma until he retired in 1976.

Vittorino Veronese was involved in the creation of the Second Vatican Council in 1963, together with Frenchman Jean Guitton.

Vittorino Veronese was initially competing for the lay auditor position to the Second Vatican Council with Guitton, debating back and forth to decide which one of them should have the honor.

In LIFE magazine June 21,1963 issue, Vittorino Veronese was cited of his opinion on the selection of the new Pope due to his history being involved in Italian Catholic Association and his closeness to Montini, who will later take on the name Paul VI as Pope from 1963 to 1978.

In 1967, Vittorino Veronese was awarded an honorary doctorate in law by Universite Laval in Quebec.