Il concetto cristiano di corporazione in Léon Harmel

Abstract

«The first modern corporate experiment» was defined by what Pierre Louis Léon Harmel (1829-1915) had achieved in his yarn factory in Val des bois in the town of Warmeriville close to Rheims in the French department of Marne. Harmel was a French Catholic entrepreneur very sensitive to the social issues of his time. Harmel, while he was progressively turning away from the paternalism of his father, although he was nicknamed "le Bon Père", moved along the tracks of the social doctrine of the Church and the principles of social Catholicism, inspired in particular by Œuvre des Cercles by Rene La Tour du Pin and Albert de Mun. He decided to turn his factory in a kind of community where the basic principles of Christian justice could merge with the modern aspirations of organized workers. He played a decisive role concerning the opening of the Church to the problems of modern society. Besides he was a close relative of the pope Leon XIII by whom he was very much appreciated, Harmel tried to put in place practical teachings, showing that the teaching of the social Catholicism was alive and real.