4

On Assistance to National Emigration

and on the Institutions That Provide It:

A Report to the Palermo Exhibition (1891)

In the first months of 1891, Scalabrini was actively spreading his ideas and seeking support for his initiatives by giving a series of talks on migration in the main Italian cities like Rome, Milan, Florence and Turin. This conference was presented in Palermo toward the end of the year on the occasion of an Exhibition there. The Bishop already knew of the seriousness of the Sicilian emigration problem because of his contacts with the Bishop of Monreale and the reports received from Father Giacomo Gambera he had sent to New Orleans in 1889 where the largest concentration of Sicilian immigrants lived. It was in this city that in March 1891 thirteen Sicilian immigrants, who had been incarcerated under the accusation of having killed a policeman, had been brutally lynched. (Cf. A Migrant Missionary Story: The Autobiography of Giacomo Gambera. New York: Center for Migration Studies, 1995).

The Bishop of Piacenza reminds his listeners that for the cause of immigrants he had written two pamphlets in 1887 and in 1888, but he had not stopped at denouncing the evils of emigration. Rather with the approval and support of Leo XIII he had established an Institute of Missionaries and the St.

Raphael’s Protection Society that was already at work in the ports of Genoa and New York. The St. Raphael’s Society (Cf. Edward E. Stibili, “The St. Raphael’s Society for the Protection of Italian Immigrants, 1887–1923,” Ph.D. Dissertation, Notre Dame University, 1977) had active committees in several Italian cities and offered advice and information in the areas of emigration. In 1893 a similar type of protective society was formed in Palermo, under the auspices of the local Cardinal Archbishop Michelangelo Celesia. It was called the “Protection Society of St. Michael for Southern Italians Emigrating to America,” and for a while it developed collaboration links with the St. Raphael’s Society. (Cf. F. Riccobono, L’eco di Scalabrini in Sicilia e l’azione a favore degli emigranti, in G. Rosoli, ed., Scalabrini tra vecchio e nuovo mondo. Rome: CSER., 1989, pp. 319–333).

The steady increase in the painful exodus of so many of our countrymen who, after leaving Italy, unable by now to feed all of her sons, are venturing in search of a land less hostile to their toils and sweat; the echo of the endless miseries to which Italian emigration is subjected, which moves the soul of whoever might have a gentle sense of charity, country, and piety for those who suffer; the necessity of providing for all the needs of these our brothers dispersed in the vast regions of the New World, suggest to me the idea of calling the attention of my fellow countrymen on this subject, which is a part of the complex social question which so burdens the present century.

I did this with the observations contained in the pamphlet published in 1887 under the title “Italian Emigration in America.” That humble pamphlet which had a greater circulation than I had hoped, was the object of many discussions, and benevolent judgements. This made me think that someone who understands the significance of the argument and is invested with the necessary authority to put into action the vast design proposed for the protection of Italian immigrants, would have accepted the invitation and started a national movement for this purpose.

I manifested this hope in another pamphlet, edited in 1888, in which proposals and observations presented in the form of a letter to the honorable Paolo Carcano, at the time Under-Secretary of State, were gathered. Thus, wishing to support my poor word with example, I took on this task myself and attempted what I wished others had tackled with even greater success, if not with greater love. I soon came to realize that my

anticipation was solidly grounded, and not only did I meet words of praise and encouragement, but, what counts most, open hearts, generous souls, and energetic wills ready to follow me into action.

I thus founded here in my Piacenza the Institute of Missionaries, destined specifically for the religious care of our emigrants, under the glorious name of the great Italian discoverer of the new continent, Christopher Columbus.

The Supreme Pontiff Leo XIII, first of all encouraged the new enterprise, not only by approving it, but also by favoring it with a generosity worthy of his great heart. He also wanted to enrich it with special privileges. Later, through a letter dated December 10, 1888, he himself deigned to recommended it to the American Episcopate.

The Sacred Congregation of Propaganda Fide also declared itself happy to lend its valuable and authoritative support to the new institution, viewed as satisfying one of its long-unfulfilled wishes.

The Most Eminent Prefect Cardinal Simeoni, with letters dated February 27, 1889, and February 2, 1891, notified the Bishops of Italy that it was the explicit wish of the Holy Father that no obstacles be raised to those priests who, feeling the call to dedicate themselves to the many thousands of Italian emigrants in the Americas, should ask to be admitted into the Congregation founded, as I mentioned, for this scope here in Piacenza under my direction.

The Congregation is governed by a rule, some of whose provisions are worth quoting here.

“The Congregation (so states art. 1) has as its aim to provide assistance, especially spiritual care, to the emigrants, particularly in the Americas.”

Priests and laymen may belong to it (art. 2).

Priests attend to the spiritual care of the emigrants and exercise charity toward them by providing, as far as possible, also for their civil and economic welfare (art. 3).

Laymen look after the material needs of the house and help the missionaries in the exercise of their functions. Those among them who are deemed to be apt are assigned to the education and teaching of catechism (art. 4).

Among the disciplines which priests must become familiar with during the one year trial period which ordinarily they spend at the Institute Christopher Columbus, Motherhouse of the Congregation, there are the

basic elements of the language used in the area to which they are assigned, and the most basic notions of hygiene and medicine to provide first aid to the sick and injured.

In the Institute Christopher Columbus, which is supported by public charity, there are at present, among the priests, clerics and laymen, 42 persons. Among them there are some children of Italian families who emigrated to America, also preparing to become missionaries for their emigrated countrymen.

Since November 28, 1887, the date of its foundation, it has seen 48 Missionary priests leave for America, now scattered in 16 missions, of which 11 are in North America and five in South America.

Three missions have been founded in New York and one each in the following main cities of other states of the Union: New Haven, Providence, Boston, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, New Orleans and Kansas City.

In South America missions have been established at Novella Mantova, Santa Teresa, Todos Los Santos, Curitiba in Brazil, and Valvanera (Province of Entre Rios) in Argentina.

In New York the missionaries have founded parish schools, an orphanage, a hospital and the Barge Office, about which I will speak later, and the Saint Raphael Society for the assistance and protection of the emigrants; in Boston, an industrial school; everywhere, churches and chapels.

For the direction of the orphanage and of the hospital and for the foundation of schools for girls and nurseries, many groups of those very good religious who are the Salesian Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart have been sent to the New World.

Later on we will establish special missions also in the main ports of Brazil and Plata. In the meantime committees of the St. Raphael Society are being formed in all the cities of the United States where our missionaries are presently working. Some steps have been taken also to found new missions in Cleveland, St. Louis, Hartford and elsewhere.

The lay co-workers or catechist brothers who accompanied the missionary priests now amount to 38 and, thank God, have so far given good results.

The emigrants who sail from Italian ports are accompanied, when possible, by a priest, even if he does not belong to the Congregation, who assists them during the journey. The navigation Society “La Veloce” offers

him free passage on its steamships along with all that is necessary for the sacred ministry. It is my hope that similar concessions will be made in the future by all carrier companies and especially by the “Navigazione Generale.”

The missionaries, during the short time they have been exercising their work of Christian and patriotic charity, have gained everywhere the affection of their emigrated countrymen, as well as the esteem of the people in whose midst they live. One has only to read the American press, which cannot be labeled as pro-clerical, and recall the great and universal demonstration given by the Italian colony of New York last June to the lamented Fr. Dominic Mantese who, among the first to join the Institute Christopher Columbus, was the first to die, victim of his zeal and of his hard work on behalf of his countrymen in America.

Fr. Pietro Bandini, who sailed last March for New York, has received the special assignment to the mission at that port. His intelligent and tireless work has achieved in a short time very consoling results. First of all, he was able to install himself in the Barge Office or Immigration Bureau established in the same port for assistance to Italian immigrants who disembark from steamships arriving from Europe.

Aided by trustworthy people, he is ready to provide for every need of our poor countrymen upon arrival, above all to those recommended to him or who arrive accompanied by special cards provided to them by the Committees of the Italian Association of Assistance established here in Italy.

He succeeded in receiving accreditation as representative of Italian emigration in the Labor Bureau, which is a government agency in which the representatives of the various emigrant groups have means of providing jobs for their compatriots with honest and advantageous conditions, without the need of resorting to intermediaries who very often exploit them, and of protecting their rights, which depend on labor contracts stipulated by their own countrymen with labor bosses and labor contractors.

Lastly, he promoted the formation of the Society of St. Raphael for the assistance and protection of Italian emigrants, in relationship to and correspondence with the above-mentioned national Association of Assistance.

The distinguished Archbishop of New York, Msgr. Corrigan, accepted the presidency of that Committee. Last July he sent to all his pastors a very noble letter recommending this work on behalf of the Italian

emigrants. General Ferrero is the vice-president, and distinguished members of the Italian colony belong to it. Fr. Bandini himself is general secretary of the society and is in continuous contact with me and with the president of the Central Committee of Assistance.

In the letter addressed to the Hon. Carcano I wrote that it is my intention that the religious Institute of Assistance should meet the following three great needs:

1.         Keep alive in the hearts of our emigrated countrymen the faith of their fathers and, by rekindling the immortal hopes of the after-life, persuade them to retain high the sense of morality, since the only moral code of our people is still fortunately the Decalogue.

2.         Teach in the school the mother tongue and some national history, so as to keep alive in their hearts the flame of love for their country and the desire to return to it.

3.         Offer them in case of need basic medical aid, by educating the missionaries in the use of the most effective and common medicines and by establishing small pharmacies in every mission. It is little, but it is something when one thinks of the frequent impossibility of having doctors and medicines there in the immense plains of America where our emigrants are scattered.

It is my pleasure to announce that already we have met, surely not in conformity with the need, but at least in part, for the above-mentioned needs through the work of our missionaries, whose religious zeal and patriotic love I am pleased to acknowledge publicly here.

However, the foundation of a religious institution alone would have been insufficient to provide all the necessary provisions for the total care of our emigration.

The Honorable De Zerbi, reporter to Parliament on the law on emigration, declared that the law itself protects the emigrants, and wished the formation of associations of citizens which “inspired by philanthropic and patriotic sentiment, might compete with agencies instituted only for financial gain. They, continues De Zerbi, “if they will bring flowers in the land where the orange tree blossoms, will be worth more than any law.”

At the reading of such beautiful and wise words, which national honor counseled to translate into facts, I had the thought, which seems likely to succeed, of uniting all people of good will, without distinction of political affiliation, in a concerted action of assistance, easily offered by citizens willing to decrease the evils of this great social phenomenon of emigration which worries every generous man.

It was my intention to form an association similar to the one founded in Germany in 1868, presided by Prince Isemburg-Birnstein, and known as “Raphaels Verein.” The scope of that society is to defend through a well-ordered system of protection the emigrants from the many dangers which surround them as soon as they leave their homeland.

My initiative found comfort and help in the effective action of a considerable group of people who are very close to me; so in the past year I established here in Piacenza the Central Committee of the “Association of Assistance for Italian Emigration.” The presidency was assumed by the Marquis Attorney John Baptist Volpe Landi, who dedicates to the project all the energy and zeal of which he is capable.

Members of this Committee are citizens at large, not all with the same opinions, but all surrounded by esteem and universal regard and known for their warm sentiment of true love of country and enlightened charity.

With the contribution also of distinguished citizens residing in other cities of Italy, a provisional Statute was drafted in which the nature and scope of the association were set out. The latter consists of giving opportune direction and help to those who have decided to migrate by providing information about the countries most suitable to emigration due to soil fertility, availability of employment, provision for religious and civil assistance; by offering free services to emigrants at the ports of embarkation; by recommending them to the national Committees established overseas and especially to the delegate or correspondent who welcomes them at the port of arrival and who continues with them in the strange land the same work of charity rendered, more than useful, necessary by the new dangers to which they are exposed.

The Genoa Committee, which boasts as its head the distinguished Marquis Vittorio Del Carretto di Balestrino, will begin before the end of the current year to offer its beneficial assistance to the emigrants who sail from that most important of Italian ports. To this end it has approved the opening of a special office of assistance and information directed by one of its delegates.

It has also provided so that, beginning with next January 1892, a special religious service be celebrated at the Church of San Giovanni di Pre’, very close to the port, for every steamship that leaves for America.

It is my hope and wish that shortly also in the beautiful city of Naples, so fascinating for us Northerners and where Christian and patriotic charity

is practiced in such varied and multiple ways, as well as in the generous city of Palermo – in these two ports from which every month steamships sail full of unfortunate people forced by hunger to seek less beautiful but more prosperous skies – I hope, I say, and I wish that through the initiative of generous people, other committees may emerge, like that in Genoa, which will provide initial assistance to those poor refugees from our homeland.

As I mentioned earlier, the Society of St. Raphael was founded in the United States of America two months ago. The first article of its Statute indicates its aims and states:

a)     To assist the Italian immigrants on their first arrival in America and prevent them from falling into the hands of dishonest people.

b)    To provide them, as far as possible, with employment and work.

c)     To see to it that they do not lack religious assistance after disembarking and in the places of settlement.

d)    To provide as soon as possible a home where poor immigrants, boys and girls can be lodged until they can be settled or entrusted to their parents.

The 6th and final article states that the “Italian Society of Saint Raphael” shall keep close ties with the similar Society established in Italy under the title “Italian Society of Assistance for Italian Emigrants.”

Thus the work initiated in Italy is completed in the new continent and follows the migrant to the United States, the only place, among the many regions of the Americas hosting national emigration, where up to now we have been able to organize assistance and protection practically and efficiently.

If, with the help of generous people, I will be able, as I hope, to obtain for the Institute “Christopher Columbus” the needed support, I will in the future gradually provide also for emigration in Brazil and in the Republic of Plata, by sending missionaries who, besides the specific religious assistance, will promote the establishment, particularly in the ports of arrival, of Committees of Assistance.

But here in Italy, besides the Central Committee and those established or to be established in the ports of embarkation, it was necessary to set up others in the most important centers, especially in the regions that supply a larger contingent to emigration, which might gather sponsors and helpers so that assistance could be truly given to those who need it most.

This is the particular concern of the Central Committee, which I initiated and which I plan to support by giving special conferences to make known the nature and scope of this work.

During the past winter I spoke to kind and receptive audiences in Genoa, Rome, Florence, Turin, and Milan; Committees have been formed in the latter four cities, among the largest in Italy, while in Genoa the Committee has been in existence since the past year, 1890. The Rome Committee, besides the task common to all committees of gathering the indispensable financial means, also has the responsibility of being the means of communication for all that which might interest the Association itself, both with respect to the supreme Civil Authority as well as with the Congregation of Propaganda. It is not complete yet, but a nucleus of intelligent and active young people, headed by Prince D. Luigi Boncompagni Ludovisi, has willingly assumed representation. I dare believe that soon, with the participation of people in authority who are not indifferent spectators to the painful spectacle of emigration and who recognize its needs, the Rome Committee will be completed in order that it may provide the services which the Association expects from it.

The Archbishops of Milan and Florence have agreed to honor the committees of those cities with their name and authority, conferred on them by the high office they hold in the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy. The venerable prelate Msgr. Di Calabiana, and the distinguished Cardinal Bausa who makes illustrious the sacred purple with his doctrine and virtue. The latter has deigned to take upon himself the effective presidency of the Florence Committee, while the actual president of the Milan Committee is a representative of the old Piedmontese aristocracy which has rendered so many services to the country in war and civil matters, General Thaon de Revel. The Committee of Turin is also presided by a nobleman who bears with dignity a dear and honorable name, the Baron Antonio Manno.

Other Committees are still in the embryonic stage, or are about to be established in Treviso, Brescia, Cremona, Bergamo, Lucca and elsewhere.

The roles of the local committees will be better outlined in the final Statute submitted for deliberation to a Congress of the representatives of the Committees already established, or about to be established, held here in Piacenza in the month of September of this year and whose decisions are at present being coordinated by the Central Committee, according to the charge given to it.

Knowing the intentions of the Central Committee, I can state that it is its thinking that the Committees in the various Provinces be like intermediaries and means of speedier and easier communication between it, in which one concentrates on the central service of information, and the emigrants, and this through delegates and sub-delegates scattered in the areas that furnish any amount of emigration.

It is essential that emigrants know the countries of immigration in their true image; but it is also necessary that each of them receives advice according to his personal condition and that of his family. Now, by multiplying the Committees, and, by means of the Committees, the delegates and sub-delegates (a task which in the countryside can be assumed by pastors, teachers, or municipal secretaries, etc.), every emigrant will find next to him a trustworthy person who will provide substantiated advice. The delegates and sub-delegates on their part, through the Committees, and these through the central Committee, receive and seek information, news, clarifications drawn from the most reliable sources, especially from the missionaries in America who can vouch for their authenticity. Beyond this, the Committees try to provide the Institution with the necessary means, helped in this by associations made up by the most distinguished ladies, as is the case in Turin, Milan, etc.

In order to achieve the positive results we expect, the Association needs the cooperation of all those who have a high and serene love of country and a deep sympathy for the human miseries and needs of our brothers who have left our country. It is advisable that such persons become members and sponsors, either with a humble financial contribution or by personal participation in the work of the Institution; it is necessary that they offer it moral or material support and that they make it known.

Such a vast, difficult and complex project requires not only perseverance and total dedication on the part of its leaders, it must also count on sufficient resources.

I am confident that this appeal will not go unheeded.

Italy abounds in noble and generous people who will not deny their support to an institution of unquestionably absolute necessity; to a work of love and protection of the weak in which, I already said it and repeat it, are intertwined, and complement the highest sentiments of religion and country, two supreme aspirations of every kind and gentle heart, of every truly Italian heart.