MAMMON & THE GREEN UMBRELLA

The Church of Rome last week stepped up its crusade to save Italy from going Communist in next month's election. Said Pope Pius (addressing 1,500 streetcar motormen and conductors): "The doctrine of Christian truth and faith is irreconcilable with materialistic maxims. . . ." Proclaimed the Catholic Action Committee: ". . . It is the hour of the great battle for Christ or against Christ."

On the whole, the battle was going badly. Few & far between were Catholic organizers who reached the Italian people with the zeal, organizing ability and imagination of Don Francesco Miconi, parish priest of Riofreddo, a village of 914 souls, high up in the Apennines. TIME Correspondent William Rospigliosi cabled the following account of how Don Francesco went forth to battle:

His imperious nose resembling a mountain bird's beak, Don Francesco majestically strides along under an immense faded green umbrella; its edges are much frayed by rubbing against the grey stone walls that lean over the narrow, cobbled streets. Shepherds, wrapped in lambskins, and black-shawled women bow low to let the priest's umbrella sweep over them as he sails by. "God be with you, Don Francesco," say the men. "God preserve you and us," say the women.

The priest's answer varies. For those who "are strong in the faith," he has a smile and words of encouragement. "We shall win the elections with God's help--it's Christ against Mammon." But encountering one whose faith he judges to be wavering, Don Francesco, with a flick of a powerful wrist, lowers the umbrella on the miscreant's head. "You didn't come to the theater last night, Nicola," he says, or "Agata, your girl hasn't learned her lines."

These are somewhat unusual admonitions from a priest. The explanation is simple: together with the local schoolmaster, Giorgio Rainaldi, Don Francesco has gone into business as a theatrical producer. Said Rainaldi: "We must defend ourselves from Communism through happiness. . . . 'Servite Domino in laetitia' ('serve the Lord with gladness')."

Nails in a Good Cause. The youth of Riofreddo, who had feared that Catholic Action would be rather dull, loved the idea. The reluctant few were convinced by the monitory appearance of Father Francesco's green umbrella before their doors. Arturo Vasselli, the carpenter, volunteered to construct a rough stage in a barn. The play chosen was Le Pistrine (the name of the prisons where early Christian martyrs waited their turn to be thrown to the lions).

Eagerly, the cast studied their parts. Ezzio Caffari, the bootmaker, kept his eyes on the script as he worked, glanced only now & then at the nails he drove into the boots. "If some of them stick out it may hurt a bit," he said, "but they'll know it's for the cause." After only four days of preparation, the show was set to open. The whole village turned out.

One man was missing: surly, bewhiskered Olinto Conti, who was Riofreddo's only avowed Communist.

"No good taking the umbrella to him," mused Don Francesco, "he's quite insensitive to its taps." Counting on his fingers, he said: "There's him, there's his wife Maria, his daughter. Think of it, three votes for the Communists. What a disgrace for all of us." Then he brightened. He had hit on a scheme. He knew that raven-locked Maria Conti, the only woman in Riofreddo who wore modern clothes, hated the drudgery of housework: she was a career woman at heart. Swinging his green umbrella. Father Francesco promptly departed to make Maria Conti head of the women's branch of Catholic Action.

The Senator's Daughter. Meanwhile, at the barn the show went on. The actors looked magnificent in their red robes and cardboard helmets. Who cared if now & then they glanced at the scripts in their hands? The play concerned a Roman senator who is to make a speech in favor of the Christians. Pagan priests kidnap the senator's daughter (played by Riofreddo's only blonde). Caffari, the bootmaker, playing the senator's role, lifted trembling hands to heaven. Said he: "Though my daughter shall suffer, I will do my duty and speak! I am a Christian!" But the Christians rescue the girl and convert the chief of their persecutors.

At this happy moment a wild shout was heard at the back of the barn. The audience turned to see allegory brought up to date. Brandishing a long broom, Maria Conti rushed in behind her Communist husband. "If you think you can keep me just listening to your ideas when it's my duty to occupy an important official post," she shouted, "you'll have to buy me a new broom."

Don Francesco came in behind the Contis. His umbrella was closed. Not a single Communist was left in Riofreddo.

But elsewhere in Italy the Marxist Mammon fared better.

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