VII January 19, 1887

Excerpt of a letter of Fr. M. Agostino Morini, Vicar General of the Servants of Mary in North America, to the Most Reverend Father General of the Order.

Your answer to the Most Eminent Cardinal Simeoni our Protector and Prefect of Propaganda regarding the Italian church of Chicago is true and accurate. Passing now to the other points that you ask in the name of His Eminence, I will tell you that it is indeed not easy to find the means to provide for the spiritual welfare of the Italians in North America. Those who settle in the cities scatter throughout the city. A large number move about to sell fruit with a push cart, or in the street corners from early morning to midnight both on feast days and working days. Another considerable number have restaurants or sell beer and liquor. Several go around the city and the countryside to play and to beg. Many roam through alleys by day and by night to pick rags, papers, cigar butts, etc. Supposing that all of these could be approached since for the most part they live in the city, and could be convinced to go to church, they do not intend to contribute more than a penny to the collection. The idea of having to pay for the support of the church and the priest does not enter their mind. There is also a large number of Italians who spread out in small groups and together with Norwegians, Swedes, Germans and the Irish, work to build the railroads, to dig the canals, to dig the mines, especially coal mines. There may be a dozen in one village, and forty in another place some 100 miles away from any town. Perhaps in winter there may be thirty here and sixty there in the forests to cut trees. They come from Italy filthy, ignorant, not knowing even the principal mysteries of the faith, or Garibaldinians, who utter only obscenities and hellish stuff against the priests and the Pope and blasphemies that would darken the sun. It seems that for obscenities and blasphemies the people of Lucca hold first place. A church was built for them in St. Louis, Missouri, and was finally sold. Cardinal Gibbons convinced

Fr. de Andreis to build an Italian church in Baltimore, called St. Leo, in honor of the Pope. Well, when I was at the Council, Fr. de Andreis told me that he had finally obtained from the Archbishop a small section of an Irish parish, since he was convinced that the Italians did not pay either for the church or for a priest and the church was in danger of being sold. In San Francisco there are many Italians who own shops, hold professional positions, etc. and are rich, and there are hundreds of families not far away from the Italian church. Yet I don’t know if on Sunday there are about 200 persons at Mass and the church is of wood and not yet painted. Years ago I went to preach in Burlington in the State of Iowa, where there are a few dozen Italian families. I went to see some of them. I and other priests announced from the altar that I would hear confessions in Italian, so that all would have the opportunity to celebrate Easter. I set the time for the evening especially for them and I waited until ten. Well at the end one woman came on the last day and that was all.

            A month ago Fr. Tonissi went to Spring Valley, a new town in Illinois made up of good Irish Catholics at the request of the local priest, an excellent man. There were sixty Italians there. They were all visited by Fr. Tonissi and encouraged to go to confession. Fr. Tonissi stayed in the cold church from morning to evening, and during all this time only one person came.

            What can be done in such conditions? Even if there were enough Italian priests to run here and there, supported by the Propaganda, how would one manage? Italian emigration is the most unfortunate and dishonorable of all, and in my view for two reasons:

1.         Because in the past in Italy, at least in some parts, education has been overlooked and

2.         Because being lazy by nature they do not want to give themselves to agriculture or take up a skill. Therefore there are here colonists of all nations save the Italians.

Deplorable as the outlook is, perhaps some sort of remedy for those who are here, could be found in the future, if it were possible to form here, especially in the port cities, Catholic committees which would seriously and with perseverance provide leadership for the immigrants.

            It would be necessary that these committees have parallel Italian committees here in New York, Philadelphia, New Orleans and San Francisco, with which to organize a correspondence in order to oversee the situation of the newcomers. It would also be necessary that the committees

in Italy confer with and be under the direction of the bishops of the maritime cities like Naples, Venice, Ancona, Leghorn etc. These bishops should get in touch with the bishops of New York, Philadelphia, New Orleans and San Francisco and exhort them to create committees here. The committees here should be informed by the Italian committees of the number of migrants, the place from where they come, their attitudes, as well as the time, the ship and the port of departure. One or two members of the committee should supervise the embarkation and should give to each immigrant a paper by which he can be taken care of here at the arrival. Here, on the other hand, there should be one or two members with an Italian priest to receive the immigrants and to provide what is necessary so that they might arrive safely at their destination.

            I believe however that a central bureau would be necessary both there and here, especially here to find their destinations. If it were possible to persuade the majority to go to rural areas and form agricultural colonies, the major obstacle would be overcome. But it would be necessary that a priest come with every colony.

            In such a case Your Excellency could have the entire plan and organization from Bishop Ireland of Minnesota who is there now, or from D. O’Connell, Rector of the North American College. I don’t believe a better plan of colonization could be devised. Thus the settlers would all be Catholics, would be a people on their own, would have their own priests, and thus would have spiritual care. But if, as I suspect, colonization is not possible, the leadership of Italian immigration will be more difficult, more complicated, and will give less satisfactory results. I close by pointing out a serious obstacle to the spiritual and temporal good of Italian emigration, that neither the Irish not the Germans have. It is the ignorance of the language, as a result of which as soon as the Italians arrive here they fall into the hands of speculators and the scoundrels of the secret societies who ruin them in body and soul. If at least the priests, the friars would learn English and French! I don’t know if I have made myself clear. This is a crude plan off the top of my head. You can communicate it, if you wish, to His Eminence with the deepest sentiments of my veneration.

Friar Agostino Morini, OSM

P.S.

In my diagnosis of Italian immigration I don’t mean to say that all Italians are bad. Some of them are good. But in regard to the great majority,

the good ones – rari nautes in gurgite vasto – scattered far apart in a vast ocean. Getting back to the difficulties, I will say that the great majority of Italians here are made up of Genoese and Neapolitans. Neither the ones nor the others speak formal Italian, but rather their own dialect. The Genoese especially want their own dialect and do not understand pure Italian well. There should be, then, Genoese, Neapolitan, and Piedmontese priests for them. Another point to consider, then, is this: either emigration continues and even in large scale or it does not. If it continues and priests who speak the dialect of each province are provided, especially if it is possible to form colonies, the Italian churches will survive. But if immigration gradually decreases or ceases, and if colonies cannot be formed, the Italian churches will naturally become English for the reason that the young people who come here and the sons who are born here mix with the Americans and learn English and speak nothing but English. Fortunately, I will say, social and commercial circumstances by their nature lead to assimilation, so that the diverse nationalities gradually are absorbed and the great American nation is formed.

            However, the Irish and the Germans, while they become American and speak English, do not lose their own language. For the Irish, English is their language. The Germans are so numerous and have such great centers that they can easily preserve their language in their schools and in their churches.

            But the Italians, except an insignificant fraction of Tuscans and Romans, do not speak formal Italian. What interest could they have in studying and cultivating Italian? Ignoti nulla cupido – there is no desire for what is not known. Hence the difficulty for the schools and for the catechism. In our church the catechism is taught in Italian, but many times it is necessary to shift to English since the children understand this and not that language.

                        If then an Italian school is set up, it is indispensable to teach English because the parents want the children to learn the language of the country, which is the language that will earn their bread. Little does it matter then that they should learn a language that they don’t know how to appreciate.

            In conclusion, it seems to me clear that one of the great obstacles to the well-being of the Italians here is the language, this great element of nationality that is so intimately bound with the faith. Allow me to say that if Propaganda wishes to take ample and comprehensive measures

and use priests, brothers and sisters for the well-being of the Italians here, and if at the same time it wishes to provide, if necessary, for their support in this land of liberty, it is imperative that they know English.

Friar Agostino Morini, OSM