1921: Foundation of "Pax Romana" The International Confederation of Catholic Students

In 1920, Georges de Montenach was chosen as the president of the newly created International Catholic Study Union, (forerunner of ICMICA). In this spirit, the Swiss students were again inspired to recreate an international union of their own. This desire was deepened by the urgency for reconciliation in a world recently torn apart by the First World War.

In 1920, the Swiss Students' Society charged its president and secretary, Max Gressly and Father Tschuor, to deepen the contacts with other students groups, especially those in Holland and Spain. Dr. Gerard Brom, General Secretary of the Netherlands Catholic Associations of Students responded quickly to this effort and a coalition of students from the three neutral countries during the war (Switzerland, Holland and Spain) was created.

At a meeting between Max Gressly and Dr. Brom in early 1921, it was decided to gather together the different associations of students in July. Mr. Gressly sought approval from the Vatican for this effort and on June 5^th, 1921 Pietro Cardinal Gasparri conveyed the approval of the Vatican for this effort. With this approval, an organizing committee was set up with student representatives from Switzerland, Spain and Holland.

On July 19^th, 1921, these efforts came to fruition when student leaders from twenty-three countries from all over war torn Europe, the United States, Argentina, and Java (Indonesia) met in Fribourg, Switzerland for the first Pax Romana Congress. Peace was a central theme of this meeting as the students wanted to bring reconciliation to a world torn apart by war.

Most of the students at the Congress either fought in the First World War or knew people who had and as a result they were divided at the beginning of the Congress. By the end of the Congress, however, the participants were embracing each other, German, French, Italian, American, Swiss, etc. It was in this spirit that the Congress decided to create an international secretariat under the name "Pax Romana" with the idea that the students could work to build peace in world under the motto of "Pax Christi in Regno Christi."

At the first Congress, Max Gressly was elected as the first President of Pax Romana with Abbé Johannes Tschuor as Secretary General.

In August of 1921, shortly following the first Congress, a study week was held in Ravenna, Italy. At this meeting, Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, an active member of the Italian Federation FUCI, raised the awareness of the movement to unemployment and labor issues.

Fribourg was the site of the Second Congress, in August of 1922 where the delegates (which included one from Japan) showed the same desire for solidarity and deepened the vision for this new global movement. They decided to start a work of student hostels and the publication of a bulletin.

In 1925, Pax Romana was defined as "a Catholic Confederation of students from all over the world" with the "aims to include and represent all legitimate forms of Catholic organizations in the university world and to serve as an instrument of co-ordination for all their varied activities, while leaving to each organization complete freedom to develop its own mystique and methods consisting with it's own ends."

During the first twenty years, Abbé Joseph Gremaud of Switzerland, would play an important role in supporting the work of the movement as the second president of Pax Romana (1923-1924),the second Secretary General (1925-1946) and later the first International Chaplain of IMCS (1947-1953).