HEADING III
WOMAN'S ZEAL IN SOCIETY
Some kind of order is needed so that what is to be said becomes easy for the intelligence and memory. Well: I shall set as premise some general observations so I will not repeat myself in every page; then since God alone can heal a sick society, some prayers will be included in order to ask for what is particularly necessary today: then we shall speak distinctly of the works that have clearly morally-religious, social, economic character.
ART. I - GENERAL PRINCIPLES
There are three or four events that have characterized the twentieth century from the start: and among these, an outstanding feminism movement. Just as in all great historical events, also in this there are things good and things bad: and over all two kinds of feminism came distinctly about: one is Christian and the other, revolutionary and atheist. The Christian one is nothing but the application of the great principles of the Gospel to the needs of today: women have in the society wherein they live rights and duties. Rights that demand
152
their honor, their convictions, their dignity due to her gender to be respected. Duties to defend the greatest social heritage that is religion, to defend the weak, to raise the oppressed and the poor.
And the true apostolate of women in society lies here. It is not limited to charitable works, not to raise the lot of workers: her work pushes further than that, which the moral and religious healing of society.
Msgr. Delamaire, coadjutor Archbishop of Cambrai, in a meeting of French women, said: Your social action has to cover many paths: charity is something good but it is not the essential. I recommend that you support small business, small shopkeepers: help the prosperity of associations of mutual help, the workers' funds and all those works that develop in your own grounds and which need your personal collaboration more than your money. You can say the decisive word on fashion. You ought to contribute to the moral and religious education of the people.
From here, one can see that aside from the primary and principal apostolate at home, women have another secondary one in society. It is an apostolate that today more than ever calls for much of their energy: the enemies of the name Christian have augmented their strength
153
that begins from their being organized: it is a strength that can be opposed only by another Christian organization. The enemies are recruiting for their ranks also women, aware of their worth: we must fight against through a well disciplined army of Catholic women. Man if isolated, would be weak but woman would even be much more. Let women be organized therefore, and let them be trained in social apostolate.
Here an objection, repeated and refuted already many times during the last twenty-five years, is raised. Women do not have the necessary qualities for such work, her only place is the home, let her not be involved in the passions of politics. The objection, refuted above, now presents the opportunity to specify within what limits and with what clauses can women dedicate themselves to this part of their mission.
Most of all: according to her capacity: the woman of culture shall defend religion with the pen with words: the woman of the masses with her simple participation in Catholic associations of her own surroundings: in every army leaders are wanted: but more numerous should the soldiers be.
In the second place: this action must never be at the expense of their family duties; on the other hand, they ought to complement these. How can one not see, for example, how women would not do entirely her duty as mother if she does not see to it that her son is taught
154
religion in school? How could she assure the fruit of education if she does not see to it that her daughter, leaving the village in search for work, is defended from the infamous international organizations of white slave trade? How would it be possible, or better, how would it become easy to have good families when everyday one is forced to witness evil fashion, immoral theater, movies, irreligious talks, pornographic press?1 Let women, therefore, give principal importance to their duties at home, but let them not neglect other duties; neither should they be so obstinate as not to want to see beyond the walls of the home, in order not to accept the fact that other things require their active participation.
In the third place: women must not exercise the directive or teaching part in this movements: this is reserved to Pastors and particularly to the Supreme Pastor of the Church. It is the Church that has led women in their liberation from the shameful condition of paganism: women owe more to Christianity than men: outside they would not but be the servants of the most brutal passions. Furthermore, the final end of every social work, whether it is a labor union, is the religious and moral welfare of the masses.
Now this, as such, is an area strictly reserved to the Church. To let oneself be guided by the legitimate Authority: and this, more so
155
today when everything breathes independence, wherein so many pose as teachers, wherein lay beneficence and organization is so expanded for sectarian purposes.
Fourth: let woman be satisfied with her power of shaping customs, and let her not pretend to form laws. Let her set aside politics for now. Perhaps in the future also women could cast their votes and be elected in political and administrative elections.2 The Catholic woman then shall know how to avail also with this arm for her country and for her religion. But this is not the arena for her struggles. Fr. Rösler, who has written the better ideas on such matters, says: So great is the action that women can exercise on the legislation of their country: but, look at what conclusions one must arrive at! Such an action would become meaningless by the vote asked by the suffragettes. Women's actions, in fact, lies in the formation of costumes and ways of life. Direct legislation, that places the seal of authority on already established customs, is the man's work. But the action on customs is more powerful than to use violence, with political force, on customs that have already penetrated in the people's life. With suffrage given to women, passions and struggles among parties would be doubled, while women would lose their own power.
156
In this manner the suffragettes would achieve the opposite of the end they propose to achieve.3
Lastly: the greatest act of charity is to see to it that the people stop needing acts of charity: this is the first charitable deed. False is the socialist thesis that proscribes charity as a humiliation and wants that all social ills be cured by the prescriptions of justice. Equally false is the opposite thesis, dear to the liberals, that promoters of economic harmonies, that make justice to consisting the free mutual agreement, secure to assign to charity the task of the fallen ones in the struggle for life. Between them4 lies the theory of the Christian social thought: justice shall be the supreme regulator of the economic order; charity shall fill in the inevitable voids left by justice.
It is not enough that women engage themselves in works of charity, so the Pope said. And St. Catherine of Siena: At the core of charity there is the pearl of justice. Before welcoming the baby in the orphanage, would it not be better to see to it that the father could earn and save enough to take care of him? Before opening the doors of the hospital, would it not be better to see to it that the social security and savings could assure an honorable and serene old age? Let not pious souls, dedicated to charity, be scared: in spite of the duty-bound intervention of justice, there shall remain a wide
157
area for charitable deeds. The poor shall always be with you:5 so Jesus Christ said.
Such principles established, let us go down to some organizations wherein women could dedicate themselves. I said that in order to maintain some order, we shall consider separately those works that have obvious moral-religious, social, economic nature.
And such a division does not concern the end, but the works themselves. Inasmuch as, let it be well noted in order to avoid any serious inconveniences: every Catholic action has always as its aim the moral-religious welfare.6 Jobs, homes for the masses, retirement for women workers, etc.: naturally with the immediate economic, health and material goals. Religion, however, raises such works to a most lofty dignity: with a most noble end. Is it not perhaps economic problem that often pushes women to dropping religion, to shame, to crime? Is it not the inadequacy of certain dwelling places that causes so much immorality? Is it not the lack of organization of the women workers that allow tyrannical oppression by employers, night shift, work on holidays? Oh how much moral evils with an enlightened socio-economic action of women! How easy would it be to point to heaven to him who has been given bread!
But first, some prayers that directly refer to the present topic would not be useless.
158
ART. II - PRAYERS FOR THE ORGANIZATION
I. To Jesus, Savior of the world (for men)
Jesus, Savior of the world, listen to our prayer for the Church, founded by you at the price of your blood. You know how many enemies fight against her with the foolish and impious resolve to destroy her. Raise men of living faith and solid firm virtue who will defend her and make her expand even more. Look how these enemies, conspired together and guided by Freemasonry, hate and conspire against your friends who are the priests and religious, against bishops placed by the Holy Spirit in every diocese, and more against your vicar, the Pope. Would that you raise men of living faith and firm virtue who will love them and fight for their defense and their freedom.
Look how they attempt at dominating governments in order to drag them in the struggle against civilization and Christian institutions; how they work for the corruption of women, for destroying through them the family; how under vain but deceitful pretexts draw to themselves the farmers7 and the workers; how they devastate so many innocent and unaware youths. Would that you raise men of living faith and firm virtue who will attend to the good education of the youth, who will defend the workers and women from the enemy's traps, who will work for training and sustaining Catholic government workers.
159
See how these enemies make use of all the means: calumny, heresy, the press, organization, the artifices of passions, ignorance, entertainments, discourses, of everything. Would that you raise men of living faith and firm virtue who will oppose calumny with the truth, heresy with Catholic doctrine, bad press with the good press, sectarian organization with Christian organization, passions with the spirit of sacrifice, ignorance with instruction, obscene entertainments with honest ones, bad speakers with holy speakers.
May pity come to you, O Savior and founder of the Church, for the crowds who thirst for your evangelical truths, who hunger for holiness of which you are the true teacher, who are so besieged in their faith and in their customs. Say once more: I pity this people. Would that you raise men of living faith and firm virtue who will help and defend them.
Most Holy Virgin, my Guardian Angel, come together with me in order to obtain these graces from Jesus Christ, Savior of the World. Amen.
II. To Jesus, Savior of the world (for women)
Our most loving Lord, we, kneeling before your divine Majesty and Goodness, pray to you for women, created by you, as material and moral help to man. They have a
160
great moral and religious influence in the home and in society: hence your enemies, the enemies of morality and of Christian faith seek to destroy their minds, their hearts, naturally inclined to piety. Would, O Lord, that you raise persons and especially women of living faith and firm virtue who will help and defend them.
You see how holy daughters edify the family and they are enough to turn sober the entire parish: while rotten daughters destroy the home and renders almost useless the zeal of the most fervent priest. Would that you raise persons and especially women of living faith and firm virtue who will working for the Christian formation of daughters.
You know how the wife can dominate so easily the heart of the husband so to make him similar to hers in religion and in morals. Would that you raise persons and especially women of living faith and firm virtue who may prepare and keep wives practically Christians.
You know how the mother, through instruction and education, shapes the souls of children; that mothers could make of them good Christians and honest citizens, or indifferent Christians and bad citizens. Give us, O Lord, holy mothers. Would that you raise persons and especially women of living faith and firm virtue so that they may zealously work for their formation.
Look, O Lord, how women in society could be the cause or occasion for so much evil and for so much
161
good. Good women edifiy through example, through withdrawn life, through mitigated speech. Bad women destroy by shamelessly showing themselves off,8 by daring fashion, by shameless talks. Would that you raise persons and especially women of living faith and firm virtue so that they may turn women Christians also in society.
The daughter, the wife, the mother, who are good at home, often find very serious dangers in society where they come to work, in dangerous entertainments, in bad press, in sectarian organizations, in the spread of irreligiosity and immorality, thousands of diabolical traps. Would, O Lord that you raise persons especially women who shall help these mothers, wives and daughters, by promoting Christian organizations, procuring honest occupations, encouraging innocent entertainments, rendering religious instructions, furnishing good press.
Remember, O Jesus, how much services have the pious women surrounded you during your earthly life: how much you have made use of them in the spread of the light of your Gospel during the first centuries. Remember how you were wont to choose weak and inept instruments to perform great things. Would that you raise women of living faith and firm virtue who, in a manner proper to their gender and to the times, will spread your truths and your virtues and who may be the sisters of priestly zeal.
162
We ask you this through the same love that you bear for the souls redeemed by your blood; we pray to you for the sacred bonds that bound you with your Immaculate Mother. And you, O Mary, full of zeal and counselor of the apostles' zeal, would that you present this our prayer to Jesus: make it pleasing to him with your strong intercession.
III. Prayer to St. Catherine9 of Siena
written by Card. Capecelatro10
for the Union among Italian Catholic women11
O Catherine of Siena, chosen Virgin of the Lord, we invoke you as our special protectress and we eagerly desire that you obtain for us the grace of knowing and imitating you. You, prudent, strong, angelically chaste, you are great principally because you have holily loved much. Your love was Jesus Christ, and in Him you have loved with a heavenly and most special love for the Church, the pope, whom you used to call, my sweet daddy and your Italy. Out of these three loves, was born in you an admirable woman's apostolate, that was the precursor to what has become so necessary in our times. Through this apostolate, you sweetly shouted through the whole of Italy: peace, peace, peace!
And now we humbly and trustfully pray you to ask for us the grace from Jesus Christ of bringing peace
163
to the world. Would that you grant us, also amidst pains and the tempests of life, each of us may be the first to be at peace with ourselves, and then that our word and our life become bearers of peace to all the others! Pray that a gentle aura of peace envelope the whole Catholic world and especially Italy, peace between the poor and the rich, between the workers and the owners, between the State and the Church and among men of good will.
O Catherine, o Catherine, you who live in the light of the Eternal Love and Eternal Beauty, grant us the Spirit of Jesus Christ, wherein you knew how to love also the sinners. We entrust ourselves to you and pray that we become good and that we live forever in God, Truth, Beauty and infinite Goodness.
(Indulgence of 300 days that can be earned once daily by
Catholic women who will recite it) - 24 September 1911.
IV. Daily prayer to St. Paul,12 protector of the good pressO most glorious Apostle, with so much zeal, you have set yourself to destroy in Ephesus those writings that, you well knew, would have perverted the mind of the faithful; would that at present you turn your kind look. You see how an unbelieving press and without
164
brakes so intent to steal from our heart the precious treasure of faith and of purity of customs.
We pray to you, O holy Apostle, enlighten the mind of so many perverse writers so that they may desist once and for all from damaging souls with their doctrines and deceitful insinuations. Move their hearts that they may detest the evil they do to the chosen flock of Jesus Christ.
For us, ask for the grace that, always docile to the voice of the Supreme Hierarch,13 we never allow ourselves to read perverse books; that, instead, we seek to read what shall be given us, of spreading those which, with their healthy shepherding, help all to promote the greater glory of God, the exaltation of His Church and the welfare of souls. Amen.
V. Prayer for the spread of the pious custom of frequent communion.
O sweetest Jesus, who came to the world in order to give to all souls the life of your grace and who, in order to keep it and nourish it in them you have willed to be the daily medicine of their daily illness and their daily nourishment; humbly we pray to you, through your Heart that is so ardent with love for us, to spread over everyone your divine Spirit, so that those who unfortunately are in mortal sin,
165
by getting converted to you may reacquire the lost life of grace, and those who, through this gift, already live this divine life, let them, when they can, come to your sacred table every day: thereby through daily communion, by receiving the serum against their daily venial sins, and by nourishing in themselves your life of grace and thus purifying ever more their souls, they may finally arrive blessed at life with you. Amen.
O Virgin Mary, Our Lady of the Most Holy Sacrament, glory of the Christian people, joy of the universal Church, health of the world, pray for us and reawaken among the faithful the entire devotion to the Most Holy Sacrament, so that they may become worthy to receive it every day.
(Indulgence of 300 days each time) - Pius X, 9 December 1906.
VI. Prayer for priestsO Jesus, eternal Shepherd of souls, would that you listen to our prayer for priests! May you hear in it your very own infinite desire! Are not priests your most tender and delicate heartbeat, the lofty love wherein are summed up all your love for souls?
We confess, indeed, that we have become unworthy of having saintly priests. But your mercy is
166
infinitely much greater than our foolishness and our malice!
O Jesus let only those called by you ascend to your priesthood: enlighten Pastors in their choice, the directors of the spirit in their counsel, the educators in the rearing of vocations.
Give us priests who are angels of purity, everyone perfect in humility, seraphs of sacred love and heroes of sacrifice, apostles of your glory and saviors and sanctifiers of souls!
May you have mercy on so many ignorant people to whom light is owed, of so many sons to whom work is owed, who invoke for him who will keep them from deceit, redeem them in your Name; of so many children and so many young men who invoke for him who will save them and lead them to you, of so many people who suffer and are in need of a heart that in your heart will console them! Look how many souls would reach perfection through the ministry of holy priests.
Would, then, O Jesus, that once more may you be moved with compassion for the crowds who are hungry and thirsty! Would that your priesthood lead all this languishing humanity so that, once more, through it the earth may be renewed, the Church may be exalted and the kingdom of your heart may be established in peace.
Immaculate Virgin, Mother of the eternal priest, and you yourself priest and altar, you had John the first son by adoption,14 the priest beloved of Jesus, who established you in
167
the cenacle15 as teacher and queen of the Apostles, deign to place on your most holy lips our humble prayer, make it yourself resound its accents to the Heart of your Divine Son, and with your suppliant omnipotence obtain for the Church of your Jesus a perennial renewed Pentecost! Amen.
(Indulgence of 7 years and 7 forty years period each time -
Plenary every month) - Pius X, 27 October 1907.
ART. III - WORKS MORAL-RELIGIOUS IN CHARACTERUnion of Catholic WomenIt has to occupy the first place and, because it was instituted by the Pope himself, and because it is destined to channel to the same purpose all the other women's works of charity, of religion, of zeal.
In Italy, it is one of the great
unions of the Catholic movement, and it intends to promote and organize a Catholic movement for women that cooperates with the other aforementioned unions, in view of common goals. To reach such a purpose, it seeks:
a) to
gather the Italian women in the resolve of reaffirming themselves in the profession of the Catholic faith and in the fulfillment of individual, family, social duties;
b) to make
more practical and responsive to the needs of the times the various Catholic women's works;
c) to facilitate for all men of different social classes a
culture suitable to their Christian mission.
168
As can be seen, politics is not only excluded, but it cannot be engaged in social action only from the economic side, this being the obligation of the Economic16 Union but it is involved in such an action inasmuch as and for as long as it is related with the moral and religious interests of the people.
Such an institution was truly providential. As regards work, the Italian women have done so much and are still doing: but it was a local work and not more, a work wanting a single and enlightened directive, a work that could bring about some good, but not general, national. Now here is a union that, although allowing the necessary autonomy to each particular organization, comes to solicit its activity, comes to expand the goal, comes to unify and makes to converge the energies to common interests.17
It is providential: inasmuch as, begun only on 21 April 1909, it has already formed a network of committees in the whole of Italy: it has promoted or benefited many professional organizations for women and also for men: it has cast a strong warning to women against lay organizations: it has worked in all manners possible for catechism in schools: it has opened in great numbers classes of catechism, of hygiene, of being good housewives, etc.: it had the praise of the bishops, held congresses, a week of social encounter for women, meetings: in many places it opened
169
a true campaign against pornography, swearing, alcoholism.
And here it would not be useless to note yet other initiatives of various committees of this union. It is true that they are not exclusive to them because they could arise through the work of whatsoever women's group, for example, of the Christian Mothers, of the League of Workers, of the Ladies of St. Vincent de Paul, of the Daughters of Mary: it is fitting to say however that the committees of the Italian Catholic Women have proven themselves particularly active. Thus it should be: to promote Eucharistic adoration through example, offerings, words: to promote pilgrimages18 of women or children to principal sanctuaries, near and far, national or foreign: rites of reparation on occasions of scandals, of public calamities. There are adequately numerous cities where they were held, through the work of the Catholic Women, commemoration of religious events, for example, that of the peace of Constantine given to the Church:19 or of eminent men for Christian and civil virtues, for example Ozanam.
A singular fact, but quite true, is the work rendered by many Catholic women in starting or in sustaining unions for men. Thus in some cities they encouraged the nocturnal adoration of men, in other cities they gave new life to dying cultural centers for workers, in other cities still they promoted classes of religion, also among students of secondary schools.
170
At the root of great things, so Lamartine20 wrote, you will always find a woman; history itself bears witness to this, and today's women's movement persuade us in this. It has delegates in every region of Italy: the members of one village or city form the local committee: it is divided into three sections: religious culture: social culture: action.
It is evident that according to the intention of the Holy Father21 it ought to enter every place: it does not divide the women's forces but coordinates them: it does not take away energies from other works, but helps them and encourages them.
Whoever reads any issue of the bulletin published by it, Azione cattolica femminile (Women's Catholic Action), will certainly be persuaded of the great work done, of the greater work that lies to be done and of the relative ease in organizing it in every place.
For Christian morality
Some laudatores temporis anteacti22 do not stop repeatedly singing, in all tunes, the good times of their youth or of the Medieval Age: while painting with the haziest of colors our times. The truth, however, is this: every era brings with itself its own good and evil and it is most difficult to establish any right comparison to it. If today there are new forms of immorality it is because the spirit of evil makes use of all the portents
171
of civilization, especially of today's spirit of association, by organizing evil. Less useful are complaints: we notice that we, instead, have to use all modern progresses23 for the sake of what is good, particularly, of associations. And how many women have understood their time by founding: leagues against blasphemy, foul speech, alcoholism, gambling, duel, immorality in cinemas, theaters, fashion, beauty contests, etc. Among these, some are local, others national, others international depending on the scope and circumstances. In some places, women, organizing themselves in local groups, did not do any other than that to accept along broad lines the general statute: thus, for example, is as regards duel, so it is with the Nuova crociata (New Crusade), that fights against alcoholism and which has its Central Council in Turin (Via Maria Vittoria, 42). In others, a special statute was formed according to the particular needs. It naturally follows that in its action, the league can act against other forms of immorality related however with its goal: thus we have seen these leagues effectively act in favor of rest on holidays, to boycott socialist conferences, to promote baptisms of newly-born babies and religious funerals, to protest against L'Asino,24 (The Ass), balls, dancing, pornographic art, against textbooks in schools, offences against the pope, etc.
Alongside these organizations, others
172
came up through the work of good ladies, and also of zealous sisters, for the rehabilitation of the fallen25 and of the imprisoned. They are a kind of recovery homes where they are gathered in order to give them, aside from the necessary attention in such cases, a religious instruction that serves to spare them from other mistakes. Often, this is done by making Spiritual Exercises, at other times also by giving them work and, after having finished the period of rehabilitation, also that of procuring occupations for the future. In some cities were established, with the support of the authorities, work shops for women, instructional and educational classes in judiciary prisons: rather, some time ago the Settimana sociale26 noticed the work of some ladies who, entering the prisons, visited their infirmaries, giving away books for good and useful reading, giving classes to the detainees.
For worship and for the faith
Association in favor of poor churches. - It is a fruit of a spirit of piety and of love to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament: it is providential today amidst scarcity of material things wherein often the clergy finds itself: it uses so many good energies which, otherwise, would be spent in vanity, in petty things, in sins. It is in fact a kind of agreement or of pious union, among good persons, in view of providing mats, altar linens, vestments, chalices, etc. for poor churches. At times, collections
173
are made, with free offerings; at other times, shops are kept for free repair and cleaning; more often these means are put together. More often ladies and rich women dedicate themselves to this service: and they go ahead doing so, in their love for the Most Holy Sacrament, to even include their preparing the wine and the hosts themselves for the Holy Sacrifice.
St. Peter's Pence. - It is a provident institution for helping the pontiff's glorious poverty. - Every pious woman could easily promote it by collecting money to then send it to Rome through her parish priest or bishop: in some places, however, the women did more: organized in groups among them, they obliged themselves to make a specific yearly offering, and not only that, they also turned into promoters of this most noble work among relatives and friends.
For the poor nuns of Italy. - It is to help those angels of charity and of prayer that the world does not know or appreciate. It Italy, they are sometimes reduced to the most miserable condition: little food, lodgings that are inadequate to protect them from inclement weather. All offerings can be sent to the director's office of the Civiltà Cattolica (Roma - Via Ripetta - 246).27
Association for the Holy Infancy28 and The Association for the Propagation of the faith - Substantially these two organizations
174
have the same purpose: the spread of the faith among the infidels. The first, however, asks children for the offering of a penny a month for the pagan babies and children: the second is meant for the adults and asks them an offering of one penny every week for adult infidels.
The conditions of these are quite unhappy: religiously, morally and materially; to offer them aid is not only a Christian deed but also patriotic and humanitarian. So many nuns, and also non-nuns, have consecrated their lives for them, departing with the missionaries as qualified catechists.
But how many other women in Europe truly participate for their welfare by becoming active in such works!
Every year, large sums, although always small as to the needs, reach the missionaries: they are offerings in large part by generous women, they are the fruit of collections of others more generous yet. (For these works, offerings may always be sent to the Rev. Ordinaries).
Organization for the collection of used stamps. - They are crumbs that fall from the table of the rich and which, gathered by the merciful hands of women, come to feed unfortunate people. In fact, they are used to redeem slaves, to educate native catechists for the missions, for the foundation of Christian villages. The office of the organization's director general is in Belgium (Grande
175
Seminary: Liege): for Italy, it's enough to inquire in Rome (Belgian College, Via del Quirinale).
For the flowers, linens, cleanliness of churches. - There are small associations of pious persons who assume the obligation and take turns to always have fresh flowers in churches, to wash altar linens, to sweep floors. It follows naturally that those who commit to supply flowers are preferably wealthy persons, while for the other things women from ordinary folks will do. Different are the names with which these pious unions call themselves: in some places they were called the House maidens of the Blessed Sacrament; in others, Servants of Jesus; in others, Noble Guards of the Lord. Names are of little importance: practice has said that it is a simple organization, but has to be prudently governed to bring about consoling results.
Association for the Apostolate of Prayer
It is true that every pious woman, also individually, can dedicate herself to this most noble among apostolates: but it is also true that she can do it with greater fervor, with greater efficacy, by joining this pious union. Founded in 1846, approved and enriched with very special favors by Pius IX and Leo XIII, in 1900 it already had more than twenty million members. It multiplies prayers, sanctifies sufferings and work
176
and leaves every impetratory value in the hands of Our Lord Jesus Christ, so that he may make use of it according to the interests of his Heart. For this, this prayer added to the morning prayers: Divine Heart of Jesus, in union with the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer you my prayers, works and sacrifices of this day with the intentions with which you offer yourself on the altars. I offer them especially for the intentions recommended by the associates of the Apostleship of prayer for this month and on this day. (The association's office is in Rome - Via dei Chiavari, 6). Every month, it sends a holy card with which to remind the special intentions: everyone may have an excellent illustration of it from the golden booklet Catechismo dell'apostolato della preghiera (Catechism of the apostleship of prayer) (for sale in the same office). Membership can be done in two ways or collectively, by community or parish, or personally. Each of the enlisted member could also be its promoter.
Association of victim souls of the Heart of Jesus
Purpose. The victim souls abandon themselves without reserve to the Adorable Heart of Jesus in order that he could dispose of them as he pleases, accepting beforehand all the sufferings of the soul, of the body, of the spirit, that
177
He would want to send them, in the spirit of reparation, in order to cooperate with one's own offering to the greater expansion of the kingdom of the Heart of Jesus, in order to obtain the exaltation of the holy Church, the abundant blessings on the Catholic priesthood and for the salvation of souls.
Conditions. - In order to be admitted into such an association and enjoy the spiritual advantages, one must:
1. Be a member of the Honor Guards.
2. To make, with the consent of one's own confessor or spiritual director, the act of oblation to the Heart of Jesus Victim, and to be firmly resolved to persevere in such a spirit of immolation.
3. To be enrolled on the list of victim souls, that are found in all the chapels of the Daughters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It is put beside the tabernacle to symbolize the hidden and immolated life of such souls in union with the Heart of Jesus, perennially on the altars.
Spiritual advantages - It is enriched with many indulgences and special faculties for the priests.
The beautiful words of Pope Pius X stand for praise to it: We have willingly given our name to the pious association (of the victim souls) and we pray the prayers of all the faithful (21 January 1909).
In order to penetrate well the spirit of this pious work, these two biographies can be useful: La Madre Maria di
178
Gesù29 fondatrice delle anime vittime (Mother Mary of Jesus, foundress of the victim souls) (Libreria Sacro Cuore - Via Garibaldi, 18 - Torino). Don Andrea Beltrami, T. Barberis (Libreria Salesiana - Corso Regina Margherita 176, Torino).
Pious union for the communion of children
The aim of this union is to contribute towards the spread of the knowledge and the execution of the Decree that establishes the age with which children could be admitted to communion, which is that when they reach the age of reason, that is, at about seven years old: to see to it that the same children, after their first communion, often go to the Holy Mass, and if possible, also every day.
Hence, those who can participate in it, aside from church persons, also the lay persons, men and women, be they parents, educators, catechists, etc: on condition that they propose to zealously promote among children of their own families, or of their own institute, or school, or even among other children, more so among acquaintances, friends, relatives.
For this purpose, they shall teach them the necessary things to know, shall lead them to the altar, suggest to them short acts of preparation and thanksgiving. Furthermore, they shall see to it that the children do not stop frequenting holy communion,
179
mostly on holy days, and attending catechism classes.
Such a union falls within the desires of His Holiness Pius X, who wanted it enriched with special indulgences.
(Inquire from the Primary Church of San Claudio - Rome;
or to the Reverend Priests Adorers, Vicolo S. Maria, 3 - Turin).
Company of the Daughters of Mary and Company of Christian MothersOf these I shall speak but a few words since they are generally known and widespread almost in every place. They are two pious religious associations, the first among daughters and the other among Christian mothers, under the direction of a priest, and more, by the parish priest.
The first gathers all the young ladies who have finished the catechetical instruction, who desire to remain good by means of the holy sacraments, of the devotion to Mary Most Holy, by means of special conferences. In fact, also among more villages flourishing in religion the young woman meets dangers more frequently: she needs instructions especially when she approaches the married state: she receives from the sodality the courage that the union gives.
30The company of Christian Mothers has among these the purpose that the company among daughters has. It welcomes the married woman and helps her in fulfilling her duties as wife and mother through
180
special instructions (generally monthly), through frequent confession and communion, through example and through the protection of some holy mother: St. Elizabeth of Hungary,31 St. Anne, etc.
Having a purely religious character, they do not cause any alarm and it is generally easy to find an effective cooperation among daughters and mothers.
See Manuale delle Figlie di Maria Immacolata (Manual of the Daughters of Mary Immaculate) (Tipografia Lega eucaristica - Milan).
Spiritual friendships
The Lord, in the Sacred Scriptures, lets himself be called lover of souls: Domine, qui amas animas.32 And we know a little how great and numerous are the proofs of love he has given to souls! No one ought to doubt that He has predilection for him who is holy and how God himself exchanges love with love: I love those who love me.33 And, in imitation to our Lord, we ought to love the souls and among them, we must love more those who love the Lord better.
And this can be called spiritual friendship, which can be manifested externally also in many holy ways. It has not to be mistaken for particular friendship, condemned by masters of the spirit. Particular friendship in fact is born
181
of inclination, natural sympathy, external graciousness; while spiritual friendship is born of love for God; the first ends in being carnal and in the mud: the second leads to heaven and it has been one of the great means of good used by St. Teresa.
This saint, in fact, had established spiritual friendship with four souls all desirous to help each other and make themselves fervent in the service of God; and not only that but also to teach each other and to help one another in doing good to others.
And these two are the goals to set in establishing spiritual friendship.
The first purpose is achieved through three means: prayer for each other, fraternal correction of those defects that appear externally, spiritual conversations directed to the better persuasion on the vanity of the world, and to better love pious life, to better practice Christian virtues.
Saint Teresa, speaking of zeal, observes: that inasmuch as others gather together to dispense with evil and error, so spiritual friends should put together the means for doing good and for benefiting souls. How many times single women, young persons, women would be full of holy intentions, have in mind so many projects and means, and more, how many of them would be disposed to do great sacrifices for neighbors! But, since they are shy,
182
because they are isolated, because they never express to anyone these secrets of theirs, so many talents remain inactive and noble energies uselessly turn dry. And yet it often happens that such sentiments would be common to different persons who know each other and often talk to each other of so many petty things! Only an occasion is wanting so that these sentiments, real perfumed flowers of true love for God, become manifested and turn into fruits.
Well, this occasion could be offered by spiritual friendships. - How many times does a woman venture into a good deed, for example, to do some service to a poor family, to visit the sick, to promote catechism classes, a devotion, etc.: but then, because she does not have the comfort of a friendly word, she does not have the strength that comes from union, she gets disheartened before the first difficulty! Well, this comfort, this union, could be furnished by spiritual friendship.
And the possible good things one can do is so much, also when these spiritual friends are simple women of the masses.
And how are such friendships in practice? - a) Above all, such persons must be quite free for themselves in order to better meet with the others sometimes: for example, once a week, during ordinary or feast days. b) They must be, not yet perfect, while being united precisely because they want to help one another through correction and with
183
the other means of sanctification, though they already possess tried virtues. c) Gathering together, they shall do some good reading, some spiritual conversation, etc.: they should never allow themselves to talk against others, to communicate too intimately, conversations that are not spiritual or not directed towards the welfare of others. d) They shall cultivate in a special manner humility, allow themselves to be led by their own confessors, recognize in all simplicity every defect of which they are reminded. e) Their number must not be more than five: those excluded may form another distinct group of five. Among them there ought to be one, elected by a majority of votes, who will stand as eldest sister. The meetings could be weekly. Everything that may impede the particular duties of each should be avoided, so is that of disclosing so much their intentions, of doing things that may be very singular, strange, ridiculous: this would be enough to destroy every desired fruit. I would advice the reading of the booklet by Frassinetti Le amicizie spirituali (Spiritual Friendships) (Roma, Tipografia Poliglotta Vaticana - L. 0.15).
Pious Union of the Daughters of Holy Mary Immaculate
It has many similarities with spiritual friendships: in fact it has the same purpose: to form congregations of devote single women, intending to
184
reach their own sanctification and to help their neighbors to reach salvation. However, it differs in the sense that it is much more perfect: it is something between the secular state and the religious. - It is made up of those pious persons who would want to embrace the religious life: but they cannot either because of poverty or because of invincible opposition of relatives, or for health problems, etc. Remaining in the world, however, they intend to become holy through the practice of the evangelical counsels, according to what is possible in their particular circumstances of life, through the avoidance of every noticed mortal and venial sin, through the practice of virtues and more: by committing themselves, with every effort, in the sanctification of others.
This pious union has not only its own rules, but also has a superior elected from among the members, and is directed by a priest, who could also be just the confessor of the superior without formality of choice.
The members meet at least every week to discuss matters regarding the spirit, to pray, to correct one another. In their rule they will find the ordinary and effective means of Christian perfection, so much so that they are enabled to practice, for as long as possible in the midst of the world, what the sisters do in the convent.34 This pious union, however, matters to us especially for the zeal that it requires of the members. Here are some of their rules:
185
N. 5 - The daughters of Holy Mary Immaculate must practice works of mercy by assisting, as much as their obligations allow it, especially the sick poor persons of their place.
N. 6 - They must practice zeal for the glory of God and the salvation of souls by engaging themselves particularly so that in their own families the holy fear of God reigns and that piety is practiced.
N. 7 - In a special manner, they should engage themselves in rearing young girls neglected by their parents: to see to it that they receive often the holy sacraments and go to classes of Christian doctrine: rather, according to needs, let them teach these themselves.
N. 8 - They shall further see to the rearing of the spiritual life of the bigger girls so that these may learn to love things sacred and dedicate themselves to devote life.
N. 9 - According to opportunities, they shall as well commit themselves to promote the various practices of piety that are cultivated in the town where they find themselves.
N. 10 - Those who shall live together with their relatives shall pay attention to never offering any reason for complaint regarding them: rather, they shall always show themselves obedient, patient, charitable and engaged in doing good in the house.
186
Further on, it is said that they have to mutually help each other in times of difficulties, to assist each other in misery, to serve one another in sickness.
In this manner, such a union becomes a center of goodness capable of extending its charitable influence over the whole parish, in the entire city, rather even much farther.
This pious union, possible as well in every center no matter how small, can be started off through the work of a priest, as much as by a simple single lady after a simple assent of her confessor.
It would be good, however, to read the beautiful illustration that the priest Frassinetti makes in his small book: Regola della Pia Unione delle Figlie di santa Maria Immacolata (Roma - Tipografia Poliglotta Vaticana - L. 0.15).
Unions for the school problem
The school problem currently stands in Italy as one of the major and the most vital problems. Banned from universities, which in great majority were works of the Church, are the theology teaching chairs: taken away also from the secondary school every remnant of religion: now with laws, decrees, contradictory regulations, with strange interpretations and sectarian decisions, it is wanted at all cost to drive away also catechism from the elementary schools. It is a real persecution that attempts
187
to cover itself with specious, but absurd, reasons: it is a war waged with a plan, prepared in time, not so much by men in government, as much as from Freemasonry that guides them. Italians, Catholics in absolute majority, cannot remain indifferent. They, in fact, have promoted unions and demonstrations pro schola: women have to cooperate in them with so much of their energies.
The Nicolò Tommaseo is an association of Christian male teachers. It tends to defend and promote the moral and material interests of class: it professes Catholic principles and works to keep schools in their traditional path. It has arisen to counter the Magistrale association by now manifested as completely atheist and entirely dominated by Freemasonry. The Tommaseo readily spread and not a few teachers withdrew from the Magistrale to join the former: this has already shown signs of truly flattering victory: abundant fruits have already ripened in many parts of Italy. It publishes as well different periodicals: among which the first place has to be given to Scuola italiana moderna (Modern Italian School).
Pro schola libera Union. No one could be an opposition to this if not a tyrant or a sectarian: inasmuch as it does not want to do anything else but to give to the school the right freedom, as it already has in many other states more progressive than Italy in matters of instruction. Its statute in fact states: The purpose of the union is
188
to guarantee freedom of teaching, rightfully claimed by the inviolable right of parents, the principal builder of the national culture, freedom that is sanctioned by the fundamental Statute of the kingdom. In publishes as well a bulletin: for clarifications, it has its main office in Turin.
Associazione didattica italiana (The Italian teaching association). It has the same purpose as the preceding. The only difference: the former is made up especially of parents and teachers: the teaching association, instead, gathers by preference private teachers. (Office in Rome).
Segretariato Pro schola (Pro Schola Secretariat): This was established as an initiative of the Unione popolare,35 and now works in Padova. It assumes the direction of the entire movement in favor of the free and Christian school. It avails with many means among which are conferences, the press, subscriptions.
Leagues of fathers of family. This ought: to help the parish priest in the catechetical education, to watch over the interpretation of the laws regarding religious instruction, to take initiatives for the freedom of schools.
* * *
Now, how can the woman-apostle behave in all this movement? Above all: by taking part in those associations that open
189
their doors to her: for example, a teacher can enlist with the Tommaseo: all mothers can take part in the leagues of parents.
In the second place: by letting such unions known, promoting conferences, conventions, gatherings.
In the third place: by being active in many ways to achieve their goals: through donations, with raising issues, demonstrations, with advancing motions.
In this field, the struggle shall be very long: however, after the Pope's word and the encouragements of the bishops, work has become urgent. The proposed goals are too noble: 1. To let in every township prevail what remains as regards catechism, just as it is now provided by law. - 2. To see as best as possible to the religious education in parish schools and oratories. - 3. To promote a general action for freedom of schools, with the consequent faculty to open confessional schools.
Oratory and parish schools of catechism
While a concordant and energetic action has to bring to maturity the idea of free school in the national conscience, we must not neglect in any way the teaching of religion. In Italy it was almost universal the usage of holding
190
catechism classes of children in churches on Sundays and on other occasions.
But it is precisely here that one of the most serious inconveniences in the care of souls in our country lies. In an area that is that vast there are a thousand causes for distraction: classes disturb each other: as if there were no possible means of discipline: the children lose esteem of catechism,36 seeing in its teaching such a profound inferiority face to face with the other school subjects.
To prevent such deficiency, at least partly, there is the foundation of oratories, of recreation center on holidays, of parish catechism classes.
And how many ways can women cooperate in this modern and true prudential work! The rich woman can sustain with money, always necessary for doing good: the woman of vast influence can provide her total support: the mother can take care of the participation of her children in it: others can assist in the teaching. And here are two very pertinent organizations.
School of volunteer catechists. - Since more than six years this initiative has been flourishing and having most consoling results. They are good young ladies, devote single women, who gather together and, under the direction of some priest, educated ladies, good teachers are trained to become teachers
191
of catechism. Pius X blessed the work and more than two hundred volunteer catechists obtained regular diplomas given by church authorities, the only one competent in judging adequate knowledge. The teaching of the candidates does not cover only the dogmas, morals or worship: it also covers pedagogy, sacred and church history, liturgy.
Society of the Christian Doctrine. - Pius X gave orders that in all and in every parish be canonically established the congregation of Christian doctrine. It can group together all the persons of a parish, but it is particularly addressed to parents and more especially to mothers: and it is destined to give the parish priest the moral and material assistance for the teaching of catechism. In fact, one who joins it obliges himself to contribute twenty cents a year to cover the expenses of prizes, to benefit catechism through prayers and work, by sending children and dependents there: to be available, when opportunity arises, to teaching itself.
N. B. It is not asserted here that only the catechists equipped with diplomas or the members of the Society for Christian doctrine can assist the parish priest: what is meant37 is that more easily and with greater ability can these render their service.
192
For the good press
There is no good thing which human malice cannot abuse: this can be repeated as regards the press. On this regard it is good that in different places the ladies and also simple working women get united in pro stampa committees having double goals: to spread the good press, to take away the bad.
Led by priests and by educated persons, these are succeeding to lower much the copies of bad newspapers and books: while with so much efforts they seek to raise the subscriptions to Catholic periodicals. Through offerings, with alms, through lotteries, through charitable booths they managed to give subscriptions to newspapers for L. 12.00 or also 8.00 instead of the established price of L. 16.00. More: they see to it that every family, should receive each week at least a small religious-moral bulletin: often the same ladies were bringing it from house to house. In a parish, they founded by themselves a local bulletin, directed by a good teacher. In another, a publication of fashion, embroidery, tailoring, so much used in work shops, but truly dirty in the appendix, in illustrations and even in the advertisements, at least they changed these into something good or at least harmless.
Roving library. - In Milan (Via Speronari - 3) the office of the Federazione italiana
193
delle biblioteche circolanti cattoliche (Italian federation of Catholic roving libraries) publishes a bulletin to make everyone come to know the better books that come out from day to day, to give a secure evaluation of them. In such a federation appear in great number libraries founded or at least administered and subsidized by women. Anyone who might want to read the Guida del bibliotecario (The librarian's guide), published by the same federation would be persuaded of three things: of the great ease with which one could open such an activity, in whatever place, for as long as there are no grandiose pretensions from the start; of the great good it is destined to produce; on the preponderant help that women can offer it.
ART. IV - WORKS SOCIAL IN CHARACTER
For the formation of mothers
There is no priest who is not deeply persuaded of the need to have good mothers: just as it is a truth, painfully evident, that today true mothers are wanting.
And this is a very serious evil: many young ladies arrive at marriage not at all prepared, morally and materially. Their lives are spent withdrawn, in a shop, or by the spinning wheel; they are not capable of some cooking, of keeping the house clean, of going to the market, to keep good company to a husband
194
to raise children and, at times, not even capable of guiding their own selves, and to think that life has its duties. Youth spent at home would have corrected all these inconveniences! But parents would not want to understand it and lesser even the young women: money, the desire for freedom, vanity draw outside the home so many daughters without it being truly necessary! Here one would understand what wisdom so many Catholic women have shown in Italy, in France, in Germany during these last decades: they founded schools of home economics, health, embroidery, tailoring, sewing, cooking, homemaking. From them poor young workers, farmers, emigrants, dressmakers, embroiders, etc., and also refined ladies came out, better prepared to face life; at least materially! They founded courses of special education in order to teach daughters, already approaching marriage, regarding a prudent choice and the duties that await them. They founded courses for the education of mothers in order to remind and make mothers love the duties of their state in life. - The program is quite vast, considering that it aims at teaching hygiene, home economics, home management, the most effective means of instructing and educating children, of behaving with one's husband. Rather, there are cities where women, grouped together in a Union of Christian Mothers, seek to have periodically some conferences
195
on the home, also in manners of conversation, regarding the matters that concern them most.
One could read: Educazione - Conferenze per le madri (Education - Conferences for mothers) - Bettazzi (Ufficio dell'Unione popolare).
Cultural circles
[The circle] is destined to give members: a broader range of instruction as regards religion, the family, society, and at times also art and literature; an education in conformity with the needs of today, for making learners get used to the duties proper to each member.
There are these among farmers, among teachers, among factory workers, among educated women: there are for young ladies and for mothers.
They avail with daily or periodic gatherings, of conferences conducted by speakers and, given the possibility, also by the members themselves, of friendly conversations regarding specified topics, conducted by capable persons. Attached to these ordinarily is a small library that provides newspapers and magazines.
It is from there that mothers well trained for their mission emerge, if the circle is destined for this. It is from there that workers who shall resist the spread of evil shall come.
196
Something of summary importance however is to be set and it is precisely the purpose of the circle: do not admit anyone except those who would be benefited by it. In general it can be said that these shall not be many: but with a few more abundant fruits may come about.
For the decisive period of life [orientation and protection]
The strategic point of the Christian life of a man is the period when he leaves elementary schooling, to move on to the secondary, or else in order to acquire some profession. When youth is saved at that point, the better part is done: but woe to us if we abandon them at this time. And yet until today does not this thing happen? Also in this the initiative of women has known how to find remedy or at least offer its valid support. And so we have women who dedicate themselves to teaching religion to students, boys and girls, of the senior high schools, technical schools, colleges, universities, etc.! Then there are women who open classes of catechism to the working youth which, forced to spend days on end in factories, would hardly think yet to that which matters most: that is what belongs to the soul! Then, through the initiative of women, holiday and also evening recreations are established for the daughters of the people, particularly from the working class. Finally, we see in different places retreats for young women workers are held: and the ladies
197
busy themselves seeing to it that they are comfortable, that they are provided free board and lodging, and even pay for the day's wage that they would receive from the factory. (Neither did places where these spiritual Exercises held were wanting of women, ladies and men, too, after the initiative of women.)
What is most common in our rural centers is the company of the Daughters of Mary, which also receives its strength from young girls plus that of the elderly ones and the pious single women.
Many times young persons have to stay away from home because of studies: everyone knows the importance and the difficulty of finding schools, convents, good places for board and lodging. Thus in many cities, for example in Turin, the Secretariat for families has been established and it assumes the task of finding for students board and lodging in families or in boarding schools that give serious guarantees of honesty. And we find ladies opening, perhaps with the help of sisters, students' homes.
Today more than ever, daughters leave home to look for jobs in the cities as house helpers or factory workers: today the plague of emigration38 has become so widespread. Everyone knows how many dangers these daughters meet. From thoughtless young men in search for pleasures, to merchants of human bodies, who coldly calculate their earnings; in families and in industries, at train stations, at hotels, wherever, the faith and modesty of a young woman are threatened. Now who will not
198
admire the industrious charity of so many women who have sown the seeds throughout the world of a tight network of institutions in defense of innocence? There is the Association for the protection of the young woman. It has houses in all centers of the world that have some importance.
It proposes to provide young people: a) protection during trips, b) temporary lodging, c) employment d) guardianship during service, e) practical instruction courses, f) mutual help, g) struggle against white slavery, h) rehabilitation (center of the Italian committee: Via Consolata, 1 - Torino). Related with such an institution, and often directed by it are the Assistance center at the train station, the Assistance center at the ports, that continually have pious persons in ports and in the principal stations in order to welcome and save young women from the claws of birds of prey.
(See La protezione della giovane (Protection of the young woman). Bettazzi, L. 0.50, at the Azione sociale popolare - Torino - Via Legnano, 23).
See as well Opera di collocamento (Employment centers), that seeks to find suitable and remunerative occupations for so many young women in principal centers.
[Assistance to emigrants]
Still related is the Organization for the welfare of the Italian woman abroad, it has its center at that of the protection of young women. Its goals are similar to this: rather, one could say that they are the same: taking note however
199
that it is focused especially on Italian women emigrants. And there is a need for it: Italy is the country that relatively has a greater contingent of women emigrants!
And here one could list down the particular institutions for the protection of bathers, of the employees of the health centers and hotels, of the rice cultivators, etc., etc.
Quite suitably in many cities have been opened homes, food centers, pension houses for workers. Being mostly run by sisters, or at least by honest persons, they offer these young women economic, hygienic and moral advantages. And these advantages are so evident that the directors of factories themselves invite the sisters to establish them, and not only that, they also prefer that the other workers who stay elsewhere should stay there.
On this matter, another initiative, tried and with good success in many centers, is very good: to open work centers, social or private establishments, factories to offer jobs to young people who otherwise would have emigrated. (See: Un'opera cattolica sociale femminile in Torino (A social Catholic center in Turin): Laboratorio della Consolata - L. 0.50 at the Azione sociale popolare - Via Legnano 23, Torino). Here, aside from occasions arising for bigger earnings, there also is another immeasurable advantage of keeping young people away from dangers. Furthermore, religious instruction and education could be given them:
200
living at home, it is much easier for them to prepare for being good wives. And this task of stopping emigration either from the rural centers towards cities, or as helpers or workers, either from the country to look for better paying jobs abroad, should as well be the commitment of everyone, also of the woman. Already efforts are exerted in many centers, companies of Daughters of Mary, professional schools, etc. How many unhappy girls entertain illusions! And not only the girls, excusable though they may be, but also parents who pass for being Catholics! Will one earn more in the city, abroad? The issue is problematic; rather, would one not earn more at home on condition of improving the methods and of becoming more industrious? Granted that there would be a better earning: will one not also spend more? And a daughter, without any dowry but knows how to govern the home, is she not to be preferred than another who, emigrating, has not learned such an art, granted that she should put up a thousand lire as dowry? And health, often lost, and the Christian sentiments, often forgotten, are they not worth some hundreds of lire?
Countess Keranflech-Kernezne39 had spoken in so practical a manner in a conference on this topic that we should transcribe it here completely. She advices not only lace making in all its forms and embroidery: but she also insists in detail on the rational raising of chicken, of raising vegetables, of fruits. These occupations, she says, can also be had in
201
rural centers without having to leave and crowd in the city: if assisted by the cooperation of labor unions, of professional unions, they shall be more remunerative than industry or business. In many places, a rather broad instruction on the moral and material dangers that accompany them would be enough to stop emigration. It is noticeable: so many emigrants were in happier conditions in their own country. Nonetheless, in some cases it is not just possible to stop it. Then, it would be necessary to at least prevent the disastrous effects. And also on this, Catholic women knew how to work things out. In cities and in populated centers, where this ill is more widespread, they established special schools for emigrants. There, with the country's language, to which they are leading, notions on the duties, the dangers, the trips, the work contracts, on savings, etc., are also imparted. These women assume as well the task of communicating the names of the emigrants to the Society for the protection of young women, to the Society for the welfare of women abroad, to the Bonomelli Organization, to the Scalabrinians40 etc., as the case may be. In this manner the emigrant is not only benefited but also protected from evil speculators.
See: 1. Italiani in esilio (Italians in exile) - Mondini.
2. Emigrazione in genere (Emigration in general) - Pasteris.
3. Emigrazione operaia italiana (Emigration of Italian workers ) - Pasteris.
Each costs L. 0.50 and is sold at: Azione sociale popolare - Torino - Via Legnano 23.
202
4. Guida dell'emigrante italiano (The Italian emigrant's guide) (L. 0.25 - Tipografia del Resegone - Lecco).
5. Chiave della fortuna (Key of fortune) (L. 0.70 - Libreria Salesiana - Corso Regina Margherita - Torino).
ART. V - WORKS ECONOMIC IN CHARACTER
Professional unions41
A huge task belongs to these unions in the solution of the social problems regarding women. They are not tools for fighting, as some might imagine, inasmuch as they are dominated by the Christian spirit. What Catholics will not do shall be done by the subversives: and what will be done without us will be done against us. Possible are so many organizations as many as there are professions for women:42 telegraphs, post office workers, rice planters, embroiders, tailors, needle workers, weavers, nurses, helpers, train employees, hotel workers, storekeepers, etc., etc. Such unions aim at defending the interests of the classes face to face with eventual abuses: to assure the free Christian profession: to lead the members to a moral upliftment. Fortunately, also here much work has already been done: we have the Labor Union for Italian weavers, the Labor union for needle workers, the Labor Union of nurses, the League of tailors, etc. They can be known by referring to the central office of the Popular Union (Padova).
203
Local sections of such organizations could be organized anywhere when the need arises. To them could be united a professional school, when it is judged useful: what will particularly be beneficial is a school of home economics, tailoring, sewing. The young women can be better trained for life, when, God willing, they shall move on to marriage.
The advantages that such an organization should always propose are: the abolition of work at night; weekly holiday rest; hygiene in the establishments and in the factories; evening instruction courses; savings accounts and mutual assistance.
See. L'organizzazione professionale della piccola borghesia nel Belgio (The professional organization of the middle class in Belgium) (De Clerc, at the l'Azione sociale popolare - Torino - Via Legnano, 23).
Social assistance
The group of organizations that come under this title aim at educating women as regards saving and cooperation, so that they may become aware and assume the dignity of enlightened and sober workers. Here are the principal works.
National social security fund for pensions of invalidity and old age. - Six lire are paid each year and the pension varies from a maximum of about L. 237 to a minimum of L. 74. It is within the monopoly of the State.
Dowry funds. - The form introduced by the abbot of Sécheroux di Pithiviers43 is widespread.
204
Young girls are admitted in it from age twelve by committing themselves to deposit from five to sixty lire. The amount of dowry shall be proportionate not only to the deposited amount, but still with the offerings made by patronesses, largely young persons themselves, too; often it also reaches the amount of one thousand lire. - And more commonly it is a local institution.
Maternity funds. - It has to subsidize workers when they become mothers. Obliged to enlist are all the workers who work in establishments and in shops and belong to the age bracket between 1544 and 50 years of age. The yearly contribution (L. 1 for workers from 15 to 20 years, L. 2 for those from 20 to 50 years of age) is, by law, paid half by the employer and half by the worker. On the occasion of childbirth, taking place at least six months after enlisting, shall have the right to receive L. 40.00 if she abstains from work for at least four weeks.
Scholastic mutual funds. - It is constituted among school children. It has two ends: mutual help and savings. A part of the contribution, in fact, is turned to a common fund, from where every sick child could have an indemnity in case of sickness; the other instead is placed in the personal saving booklet of the student.
National society of patronage and of mutual help for young working women. - The purpose, aside from support and moral assistance, is a
205
subsidy in case of acute sicknesses and the employment of unemployed members. It has two funds: a patronage fund, fed by the offering of patrons: mutual help fund fed by the contributions of the members. The central office as well have its own reserve funds for the general expenses of the society.
One can say, however, that the difficult problem has been set up but not yet resolved, the problem of the Italian moral and economic union together with the local mutual assistance. The ethnic diversity perhaps makes it almost unsolvable: however, it would succeed anywhere if it closed into regional circles. Rather, best would be a workers' fund that is local.
Lastly: a reference to some initiatives here and there tried and successful also by women but surely less proper to woman's actions. The popular housing meant to provide convenient dwelling for workers, often forced to live in places that struggle for hygiene and morals. The gardens and vegetable plots: in them the worker finds honest, healthy relief, and also a great financial advantage.
Consumers' Leagues. Founded for the first time by a woman, they have as a principle: to buy is not only a matter of economics, but is also is a social act. In fact, aside from the economic advantage members get, fair market practice and avoidance of cheating
206
often hidden in many parts by modern advertising.45 - Added here also is the league of workers, cooperatives of production, socialized factories, etc.
Works of charity
I mean here Christian charity. This is quite different from lay charity. The first sees in the poor man a brother, Jesus Christ, more: it aims at heaven, to the soul. The second, instead, is a pretension of charity for sectarian goals: it is the angel of darkness that puts on the clothes of the angel of light; it gives a piece of bread in order to buy conscience. Or else today it is the direction of the sworn enemy of the Church, Freemasonry: to do some work of charity and give an advantage to the entire monopoly.
Very well: here are the results, expressed not in pompous words but with the eloquence of numbers: they are a small episode of a great series of events of daily life. Recently, two statistical data on charitable deeds were published in France. The first, which was Freemason, reported as something extraordinary that the Freemason Orphanage in Paris, meant to house all the orphans of the country, in 50 years had housed 319 children.
The second was Catholic: from it one could recognize the religious congregations,
207
driven away later from the republic by the government, had in 1900 supported:
1. - 60,000 orphans;
2. - 210,000 sick and elderly;
3. - 12,000 wayward persons;
4. - 60,000 blind or abandoned;
5. - 250,000 the poor in general.
Would it be that Freemasonry ruling over France drove away the religious congregations due to professional envy?
The area of charitable activities is very broad, as broad as the world. We are witnesses of misery in every place: and furthermore we know that the greater part of it is unknown to us.
From here comes the first practical rule: let us know how to prefer the poor who are ashamed: those whose misery is the most ignored, and often they are in situations much more pitiful than others, who are at least begging on the streets. Here, aside from the assistance, is required the delicate touch of guessing the needs and to cover the alms from the other persons' eyes. The charity of many persons went much further as to send alms in incognito; more, at times even to the point of offering some convenient work, compensating it much beyond one deserves.
There is, if it is allowed us, a second norm: as much as possible, attempts must be made to consolidate the family. It is the foundation of society: to allow it to disintegrate is always a social ill: this has to be avoided as much as possible.
208
If helping the mother is enough, let us not take away from her the child to give to a surrogate:46 if a man is still capable of making a living, let him be given a job and help him as much, instead of confining him immediately in a hospital.
It is better to teach one to make a living than to continually dole out: better to teach how to save than to build new hospitals each day. We have seen it above.
And here are some charitable activities:
Day-care and after-school centers. Education at home should be preferred; however, in fact, parents often neglect the moral, religious and civil training of their children: many due to indifference, others because they are busy. On this matter, it is quite well that their work is completed by day-care centers, wherein children are welcomed and kept almost the whole day; and more by the after-school centers wherein children, aside from being watched over, are helped in their school assignments and trained through example and advice for a good life.
Hospices, Orphanages. - These take the place of parents entirely in their duties of nourishing, instructing, educating abandoned children. And how many are there of these unhappy ones during our days!
Homes for the aged and the disabled. - The less religious a people is, the greater is the need for these institutions. With the multiplication of vices, evils multiply: with the loss of
209
religious sentiments, families break down: with the family's breakdown, aged persons and the disabled will find themselves in direr situations.
Hospitals, clinics, sanatoria. - They are the refuge of a good number of human miseries. Often it is God who tries, at other times it is the divine justice that gives the blow: always in view of repentance and sanctification.
Well, how is women's zeal exercised in these works? Undoubtedly, part of them is founded or at least subsidized by women, of great charity: women, more than men, are more sensitive than men when it comes to human miseries. Let women, therefore, give.
What if a woman does not possess anything worth a fortune? She, however, possesses a good heart and she could easily find some free time: well, let her visit those places, bring there some smile, some ray of faith and hope, some service.
We seek the welfare of the body to arrive at the soul. - What good is there that women cannot do in orphanages, especially those for girls! Those who attend to these, let them think that they are called to participate in the most noble mission of a mother and of a priest: let him or her who enters, at least sometimes, consider himself a brother or a sister of the wards. These need a heart that take the place of the mother, taken away from them by force of circumstances. Let them be loved, advised, taught. Should it be
210
the case of old folks or those in hospitals, it is good to be guided by these Christian thoughts. Whoever comes in it, let him either go out of it recovered in soul and in body, or else die there reconciled with God; the hospital is a purgatory; the hospital is the temple of God's mercy.
Whether it concerns desperate cases or not, let him who serves, directs, visits hospitals always have this aim: to reconcile people with God, to inspire the most complete abandonment to God's will.
For as long as we speak the language of charity; for as long as charity is not only in words; for as long as there is material assistance, the way to the spirit has been found. The logic of the heart is more effective than the logic of reason.
Day and night attendance to the sick
It is an association that has as aim the attendance to the sick, especially the poor and the abandoned. It has a very easy organization, not requiring other than a friendly agreement among the members, to get to know the needy sick persons and to establish the time when each one can, by turn, render her service. Should the work assume a rather large proportion, then, some regulation may be formulated, a president may be elected
211
(or a president in the person of the parish priest or any other priest), to hold formal meetings. Widows, women who have no other obligations, elderly single ladies: never young persons.
According to local circumstances, the quality and the number of members, they may commit themselves or not to assist also with money the poorer sick persons, they also could offer assistance, they could assume the obligation of informing the parish priest in time for religious assistance.
This work is most useful in those populated centers where often there are poor and abandoned sick persons, where there is no hospital or charitable institution, where indifference, malice or ignorance, where some sick persons would reach the end without being able to receive the holy sacraments.
It is most pleasing to the Lord considering that these words belong to him: whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.47 So the saints even went to the point of kissing the wounds of the sick, thinking that they were kissing in them the sacred body of Jesus Christ. Finally: it is a work that generally enjoys the esteem and affection of the people: families benefited by it will keep a grateful memory and most lively recognition.
212
Conference of St. Vincent de' Paul
Begun by Ozanam with his companions, it is most similar to the other works of charity mentioned earlier. It differs from others in this: it includes also young persons, especially students, and has as a purpose not only the help and assistance of the sick, but also visiting and helping the poor and the sick. With this charitable institution present in principal inhabited centers, they render three benefits: one material and moral in favor of the persons visited, who not only receive the alms of bread, but they are also comforted by the affection of an esteemed person, and often prepared to face in a Christian manner the final steps. An advantage to the one visiting himself: that, coming in contact with the miseries and the realities of life, he would not have regarding it illusions so fatal and so common among the youth. A third advantage, and this one we can call social, is the binding of the different classes, of the rich with the poor, of the learned with the ignorant, of the noble and the populace.
Should anyone consider superficially this work, he would say it is most difficult if not impossible to do. Well, facts tell differently. In spite that the members completely raise the common funds, in spite of the spirit of sacrifice that it demands, in spite of the often lamented weakening of the faith, the conferences of St. Vincent de Paul
213
are most numerous. The statistics of 1911 in fact shows that in Italy alone there are 420 Conferences and 16 million lire have been utilized.
It is quite true, though that we cannot take everything into consideration: a part of the good done is accomplished in secret.
214
1 “The almost universal pollution of today's journalism, particularly in Italy, is the indication of a great and widespread corruption of our people, and what a doubt! It is enough to reflect to be persuaded about it: the publications that are most stupidly lurid are also the most sought after and the most read by the masses and the non-masses...” Cf. La Civiltà Cattolica 4 [1910] 641ff.
2 The “suffragist” movement, started in Great Britain in 1904, and active till 1914 under the leadership of E. Pankhurst (1858-1928), raised the issue of equality of women in the political and electoral arena. In Italy, the right to vote was extended to women in 1945 (Legal decree no. 23 of 2 February). It began to be practiced in 1946 with the Constituent elections and was codified in the Italian Constitutions promulgated on 1 January 1948.
3 Evidently this position of P. Rösler (of whom we know nothing more), polemically against the exaggerations of the suffragettes, is no longer sustainable due to a series of obvious reasons that history as seen to confirm or deny.
4 Italian original: Tra essi = between them, that is between the socialist and liberal ranks.
5 Cf. Mt 26:11; Mk 14:7; Jn 12:8.
6 Also in Italy, less than in the rest of Europe, the problem of work for men and women was felt and in the Church there was an ongoing discussion beginning above all from Rerum novarum (15 May 1891) of Leo XIII. “It is not true that the whole throng of capitalists deserve the nametag as cheats and unjust towards the workers,” an attentive Jesuit writes in “La protezione degli operai” (The protection of workers), La Civiltà Cattolica 2 [1910] 270-285.
7 Alberione, also he of rural origins, often refers to the world of farmers and of rural centers - cf. DA 95, 195; 196; 198; 201; 202; 250; 251; 275; 285; 308; 313; 320. The tilling of the soil in Italy then took place above all in three ways: direct cultivation (with or without employing outsiders), sharecropping (partial sharing, sharecropping), rental. The patriarchal contract of sharecropping dominated about 50% of the cultivated farms.
8 Italian DA has imprudente = imprudent, instead of impudente = impudent, shameless.
9 DA here and further on Catterina.
10 Alfonso Capecelatro, cardinal and writer of historical apologetics, was born in Marseilles on February 1824. His father, Francesco, duke of Castelpagano (Benevento), having joined Murat's party took refuge in France to avoid the reprisals of Ferdinand I (of Bourbon). At 16 years old, Alfonso entered the Congregation of the Oratorians of Naples and there he was ordained priest in 1840. Soon the Oratorians or Philippian fathers elected him provost. Leo XIII in 1880 elected him archbishop of Capua; in 1886 he was made cardinal and in 1893, titular librarian and prefect of the Vatican. As a prelate, Capecelatro remained what he had been as priest: simple, solid in his dual dedication to the Church and Motherland. Worried about the cultural growth of Catholics, he wrote among other things, Le vie nuove del clero negli studi e nel culto divino (1905), that some considered as an intervention in favor of the modernists.
11 See below, Art. III, DA 168-171.
12 Cf. Acts 19:19. It seems that this prayer was composed for the League against bad press, promoted by Cardinal Luigi di Canossa (1891) (MM).
13 The pope.
14 Cf. Jn 19:26.
15 Cf. Acts 1:14.
16 The Social Economic Union mentioned here is a true and proper institution, coordinator of the many economic and social works among Italian Catholics, started with the encyclical Il fermo proposito (11 June 1905) - cf. DA 292 - inheriting the tasks of the Second group for the popular Catholic “Opera dei Congressi.” On the matter, see also Art. V, DA 203ff.
17 La Civiltà Cattolica (4 [1909] 32-43, especially p. 42f) wrote: “Where there is a truly Christian woman, there is a latent force; it is suitable to discover it, win it over to the union. Then in the whole of Italy, particularly in the more populated centers, there is an infinite number of organizations for women to be active in, very well founded, excellently managed, but which are limited to narrow spheres; they are like so many electrical circuits which, in order to become much more powerful only need a hand to put them together... Theoretically it does not seem difficult to raise as if in a wonder an entire union of forces among those already active. But how many obstacles are met in the execution of such a plan. Small competitions take place also in the most holy activities, unfounded fears, prejudices even against the novelties that are not understood well yet. It shall be the task of propagators and to speakers to dissipate these little clouds with the warm word of persuasion, of sweetness, of charity, above all of patience, secure of obtaining tomorrow that which today, a perhaps overly ardent zeal could compromise for ever.” It was the expressed hope by a congress of Italian women against the religious teaching in schools (a problem pointed also in DA 32; 136; 154; 188-190; 197), that determined the separation of Catholic women from such Italian association which, apparently neutral, was in reality influenced by Freemasonry. It became necessary then to establish an organization that, although aimed at elevating the masses of women, were inspired by the Church. Pius X, to whom Lady Princess Cristina Giustiniani Bandini, since 4 July 1980, submitted the idea of the formation of the Union among Catholic women of Italy, blessed the new association, signed with his own hand its statutes and supported it always by encouraging the Italian woman not to remain enclosed at home, but to get out of it, if necessary, to defend the home, by working in the open for the reconstruction of Christian society after the example of St. Joan of Arc. The Association of women followed the developments, the forms, the programs of Catholic Action, through its president's office opened in Rome and through local committees distributed in urban centers in the Italian regions.
18 To win over the traditional love for quiet proper to people in the rural areas, the local committees of the Opera dei Congressi, also in the Piedmont area, took up a particularly effective means: the pilgrimages, which` aside from being a public show of force to the eyes of the liberals and the socialists, served to close the ranks of Catholics, by exalting their faith, winning human respect and galvanizing them, during those activities, around the needs the moment demanded. Because of this, frequent trips within each diocese and province were being organized; more important were those organized by the Union of Catholic Courage founded in Turin towards the year 1880 for the whole of Piedmont: to the Madonna of Cussanio near Fossano, to the sanctuary of Vicoforte near Mondovì, to the Madonna dei Fiori in Bra, to the Madonna degli Angeli near Cuneo, to Rome for the Jubilee of Leo XIII in 1902.
19 Alberione himself, as teacher of History in the seminary, promoted the centenary celebration of the Constantinian Peace (313 A.D.). Cf. Abundantes divitiae gratiae suae, n. 102.
20 Romantic poet-writer and French politician Alphonse-Marie-Louis de Lamartine was born in Mâcon on 10 October 1790 and died in Paris on 28 February 1869. At the root of his education, there was his mother, an intelligent and learned woman, religious and charitable.
21 Pius X.
22 Heralders of times past. See DA 23, note 3.
23 A diatribe broke out between Catholic conservatives and progressives on the national level in the Congress held in Bologna on November 1903. Having seen the attempts to bring about agreement between the two contenders fail, Pius X dissolved the Opera dei Congressi on 30 July 1904. Giovanni Spadolini would write on this regard: “The Catholic movements had never passed so sad a time.” A parish priest of Cuneo affirmed: “The dissolution of the Opera dei Congressi killed the Catholic Action inasmuch as with it the diocesan and parish committees also broke down.” Although much later the Unione Popolare was formed, it had but a limited number of adherents, so much so that in 1910 the members for the entire Piedmont area counted but 19,394 and in 1911 only 18,671 (cf. La leva, piccola rivista trimestrale di cultura popolare, a. II, n. 1 [Firenze, 15 March 1912]). The economic-social structures, however, continued also after the suppression of the Opera dei Congressi; on the other hand, they grew in number from 229 institutes in 1905 to 467 in 1909 (cf. Chiesa e Società nella II metà del XIX secolo in Piemonte, a cura di FILIPPO NATALE APPENDINO, Istituto regionale piemontese di pastorale, Edizioni Pietro Marietti 1982, p. 388).
24 An anti-clerical and satirical periodical edited by Guido Podrecca. Rocca D'Adria (penname of Cesare Algranati) to counter the L'Asino on equal terms, founded Il Mulo (The Mule) in 1907.
25 Prostitutes.
26 Weekly publication of the Unione Popolare which began publication in Florence on 19 January 1908.
27 It was widespread among Italian Catholics the custom of offering “alms for the poor nuns of Italy.” Now there is the annual collection “Pro Orantibus”.
28 Cf. DA 39-40; 79; 108; 115; 327. Its founder was Msgr. Ch. De Forbin-Janson (1785-1844), bishop of Nancy, in France. On his return from a trip to the United States and Canada (1842) he thought of fighting against infanticide among infidel countries. In 1842, in Lyon, he had a conversation with Pauline Jaricot (cf. DA 47) and it seems it was then that the idea matured, to let children in Europe be aware of the lot of Chinese children, while inviting them to contribute a penny a month.
29 Mother Mary of Jesus (Marseilles 1841-1884), was the foundress of the Institute of the Daughters of the Heart of Jesus (1873) (MM).
30 Fr. Alberione sees the advantages of the union. He insists on association; he speaks of unions, parishes, communities, companies, unions, savings banks, groups, leagues, organization, collaboration or cooperation.
31 Elizabeth (1207-1231), King Andrew II's daughter, Louis IV, count of Tubingen, fallen during the fifth crusade. Widowed at nineteen with three children, she dedicated herself to ascetical life and to charitable activities as if she herself took part in the crusades. Friar Conrad of Marburg, her spiritual director, defined her as “the consoler of the poor” and the “feeder of the hungry” with reference to the Gospel beatitudes. (MM).
32 DA adds between parenthesis Sap. II-V-17 (Wis II-V-17). Cf. Wis 11:26 (11:27 according tot he Vulgate): “O Lord and lover of souls.”
33 Cf. Sir 4:14.
34 This is an affirmation of great relevance. Along this line, Fr. Alberione would eventually found, during the sixties, his “Secular Institutes,” now called “Aggregated Institutes,” precisely because their members - in particular those of the Institutes of Our Lady of the Annunciation and St. Gabriel Archangel - can “practice... amidst the world, what the sisters do in the convent.” - Fr. Alberione would extend consecration in the world. Also to married couples. For this, he would found the Institute of the Holy Family. It is, in fact, worthy of note that already during the thirties, in Donec formetur Christus in vobis (n. 236), he wrote: “The vocation of the religious is special by nature...; special conditions are even possible for those married and for those in the world...” That this was not a mere abstract affirmation is documented by the fact that already earlier, only a few years after the publication of DA, Fr. Alberione “made the mother of Maggiorino Vigolungo profess the vows as mother.” (S. Lamera, Istituto Gesù Sacerdote e Santa Famiglia, in: I Laici nella e con la Famiglia Paolina, Casa Generalizia della Società San Paolo, Roma 1989, p. 85).
35 Cf. DA 189; 196; 203; 231; 291-292; 328. It is an association that arose from among Italian Catholics after the dissolution of the Opera dei Congressi, in order to gather, according to the directives of the encyclical letter Il fermo proposito (Pus X, 11 June 1906), all Catholics around a single center of doctrine, of political propaganda and of social organization, after the example of the Volksverein in Germany (MM).
36 What made catechism distasteful to children was not perhaps only the noisy place wherein it was taught. There were also two objections raised by the catechism text itself: “1. the abstract, schoolroom form incomprehensible to children or to the rough ones, wherein the doctrines are expressed; 2. the loaded and exclusive importance the Church gives on these enigmatic formulae, at the expense of biblical events, of the gospel narration, of examples, of the sermons and parables of Jesus Christ” (La Civiltà Cattolica 1 [1910] 403ff). On this regard, it is useful to remember two articles published then by Count T. Gallarati-Scotti in Rassegna nazionale (of 16 November 1908 and 1 October 1909). “The theological language of catechisms,” he wrote, “renders obscure those evangelical truths that were pronounced by Jesus in forms that are more accessible also to simple souls” (p. 137).
37 DA has si suol = usually had instead of si vuol = is wanted.
38 Italian emigrants were many. For Piedmont, in 1895, there were around 30,000 persons who emigrated; in 1896, 24,836. In the province of Cuneo alone, during the five-year period 1891-1895 the yearly average reached 15,000 persons. In 1905, Msgr. Fiore published a pastoral letter on emigration wherein, calling the phenomenon “a painful wound of the province,” pointed to the generosity of the more prosperous persons of the Society of St. Raphael, founded in Piacenza in 1891 by Msgr. Scalabrini, and the Salesian congregation, both appreciated by the Cuneo emigrants in America, and the Center of assistance to workers and emigrants in Europe and in the East, promoted by Msgr. Bonomelli, bishop of Cremona (cf. RISTORTO M., “L'azione sociale dei cattolici Cuneesi nell'ultimo trentennio del secolo XIX” (The social action of the Cuneo Catholics during the last thirty years of the XIX century) in Bollettino dell'Archivio per la storia del movimento sociale cattolico in Italia, Milano, a. III [1968], pp. 155-157).
39 DA has Keranflech-Kernenze. About the year 1886 was born in France the Catholic Association of the Youth. In its first bulletin it appeared that its intention was that of grouping together all the French youth of good will in view of cooperating for the reestablishment of the Christian social order in France. Its method was synthesized with but three words: “piety, study, action.” The Association embraced the directives of Pope Leo XIII (Carpineto Romano 1810 - Roma 1903), and, above all under the presidency of Henri Barire and then of Jean Lerolle, it was strongly committed to social action. This orientation, popular and democratic, was expressed in numerous congresses that, until the publication of DA, discussed important social issues. For example, the congress of 1891 had as theme the awareness and the deepening of the conditions of the working youth in France; in the congress of 1908, celebrated in Angers, the agrarian question was discussed; in the congress of Lyon, in 1912, the professional organization of young men and women was discussed. In this context would be placed the commitment of a quality speaker who reached also Turin. Born Simone de Boiboissel, the noble countess Keranflech-Kernezne had recently published a book that she used normally as the foundation of her conferences. The title was: Causeries et conseils aux mères de famille [Conversations and advice to mothers of families], R. Prud'homme, Saint-Brieuc 1911, that Fr. Alberione might have had in hand. The same topic of the countess' conferences and of the book would she discuss in 1925, in another short published collection Trois semaines rurales féminines. Causeries sur l'éducation [Three weeks with rural women. Conversations on their education] published by the same French publisher. The themes that the countess discussed concerned: “l'enseignement ménager, la pédagogie familiale, l'assistance hygiénique sociale, comme bases de l'instruction de jeunes filles”, as it appears in one of her conferences in 16 pages printed in 1927. The countess, of noble lineage, was engaged in the social training of the disadvantaged, young and rural women.
40 Giovanni Battista Scalabrini was born in Fino Mornasco (Como) on 8 July 1839 and died in Piacenza on 1 June 1905. Belonging to a middle-class family, after his senior high school, he entered the seminary where, he had as colleague, Luigi Guanella. He was ordained priest in Como on 30 May 1863 and stayed in the seminary at first as professor and then as rector until 1870. Having had the chance to invite as preacher of Spiritual Exercises, the then provost of Lovere, Geremia Bonomelli, Scalabrini later ventured into an intense pastoral collaboration with Bonomelli.
41 Professional unions: cf. DA 40; with a certain disdain, Alberione would also make reference to a “workers' union” (cf. DA 155) underlining nonetheless the importance of “cooperation,” of “unions” in general and of the “professional unions” - cf. DA 202-203. The complex world of the organization of Italian labor unions, prevalently socialist in character (chamber of labor, federations, Federterra) reached one moment of national unification in 1906 with the creation of the Confederazione Generale del Lavoro (General Workers' Confederation) (cf. The negative view of Fr. Alberione in DA 33) that, as a statutory objective set “the general and absolute direction of the proletarian, industrial and rural movement, beyond any whatever political distinction”. In reality, the CGL remained in the hands of the socialists of the reformist current (whose secretary general from 1907 until 1918 was R. Rigola).
42 Cf. BOLO, La donna e il clero, op. cit., pp. 224ff.
43 DA has Lècheroux di Pithìviers. Abbé Léon Sécheroux had published a booklet, in 8-page signatures, of 31 pages, entitled Une casse dotale, Imprimérie moderne, Pithiviers 1904. It was publicized in Quinzaine of 16 July 1904. Some years later (in 1906), this priest, probably born in Pithiviers (a city south of Paris, famous for having been the birthplace of painter Baugin Lubin, 1612/13-1663, and the mathematician Siméon Denis Poisson, 1781-1840), published again the booklet, perhaps printed this time in sixteen-page signatures, in Rheims (rue de Venise, 48). A brief bibliographical profile was published in a quarterly of social issues, L'Action populaire, issue number 104. It is difficult to establish from which edition Fr. Alberione drew inspiration while writing this paragraph on the dowry funds. It is nonetheless admirable that his documentation was attentive regarding what was going on during his time in the Church, in behalf of women, also beyond the confines of Piedmont and of Italy.
44 DA has 5.
45 For example between 1800 and 1900, there were advertisements of the PINK PILL. Under the title “Arise!” the advertisement appealed, rather vaguely, to “Weakened, exhausted males, whose spirit lie prostrate due to the waiting and whose body has become anemic for excesses.” But the masterpiece of this PINK PILL was that it was useful not only to men, exhausted by sexual excesses, but were most useful for “the dawn of womanhood.” “Is the most attractive girl necessarily the most beautiful? No! The most attractive girls are those resplendent in health and vitality.” Obviously, they must have taken PINK PILL “the most potent blood regenerator, tonic for the nerves”. The printed announcement was surrounded with a number of girls in bloom, with or without hat; an elderly gentleman on the right, perhaps a doctor, perhaps a client with virile qualities that looks at the pill and appreciates it. There were, however, other pills, for example, the PILLULES ORIENTALES (“L. 9 per bottle free delivery. Address card money order to Lega italiana, via Fra Domenico 9, Firenze”), that assured a “Diva's Breast”; there also was the CREMA CIRCASSA: “Rebuilds and beautifies the breast in TWO days.”
46 Role, compensation and duration of service that the surrogate mother (nourisher, a woman who breastfeeds someone else's baby for pay, a governess) and is ruled by laws and by a contract.
47 Cf. Mt 25:40,45.