Thus, including the orphans of both sexes, at _St. Michael de Termini_ and
other asylums, pupils are in the proportion of one to ten inhabitants.
This is not inferior to Paris, and surpasses Berlin, so much spoken of as
a seat of education. This Prussian (now German capital) reckoned, in 1875,
only eighty-five thousand scholars for a population of nine hundred and
seventy-four thousand souls, or ten scholars to one hundred and fourteen
citizens. The Godless schools, established by the new rulers, have
impeded, only to a certain extent, the development given to education by
the Government of Pius IX. In the poorer quarters of the city some parties
have been either intimidated by the threats of the _Department of
Charity_, or gained by the offer of bounties to themselves and a
gratuitous breakfast to their children. But, generally, the people of Rome
still resist, and several Christian schools have considerably increased
since 1870, the number of their pupils. This is all the more remarkable,
as the ruling faction showed a strong determination to put an end entirely
to Christian education. By the end of 1873, the usurping government had
confiscated more than one hundred monasteries, convents, and other
establishments of public education. A Lyceum was set up in place of the
celebrated Roman College, from which its proprietors, the Rev. Fathers of
the Society of Jesuits, were finally expelled in 1874. The better to show
their _animus_ on the occasion, the new Rulers tore down a magnificent
piece of sculpture, in marble, which adorned the gate, and on which was
engraved the blessed name of the Saviour, replacing it by the escutcheon
in wood of Victor Emmanuel.
As if to give zest to robbery, the Godless tyrants proposed that the
professors of the Roman College should continue their lessons, as
functionaries of the Italian government, and after having qualified by
accepting diplomas from a lay university. It would, indeed, have been
comical to see such men as Secchi, Franzelin, Tarquini, and many, besides,
the first professors in the world, seated on scholars’ benches, to be
examined by the semi-barbarous officials, whether civil or military, of
the Piedmontese King. Pius IX., although pressed by many wants, provided
an asylum for science. He called together the Jesuit Fathers who had been
dispersed, in the halls of the American and German Colleges. There,
although somewhat pinched for room, they continued their international
courses, the most extensive that ever were known.
The new Rulers, however, it is only proper to observe, never dared to
drive Father Secchi from his observatory.
There ought never to have been any difficulty in Italy as regards
education. The Italians were, and are still, of one mind, and not divided,
like us, into numerous denominations, all of which have to be considered
without prejudice to their religious views. The usurping Italian
government allotted one million of francs (£40,000) per annum, for
elementary education at Rome. Not one half of the children for whom this
bounty is intended, avail themselves of it—a fact which shows that the
popular want has not been met. The outlay only burdens the ratepayers
without advancing the end for which it is designed—elementary education.
Private persons supply the need according to the popular desire, by means
of regionary schools, supported entirely at their own expense, and with a
laudable degree of self-sacrifice. The same state of things prevails,
generally, throughout Italy, as is shown by a circular of the minister of
public instruction. The new government aims at nothing less than the
subversion of religious principle. This the Italians resist, and will
continue to resist. The government schools for secular and irreligious
education, among the upper classes, are like those for elementary
teaching, very thinly attended, parents preferring to send their children
abroad, and, when this cannot be afforded, to such ecclesiastical colleges
and seminaries as are still in existence. The State schools have already a
monopoly in the conferring of degrees and the consequent civil advantages.
It is proposed to go still further, and, actually, to close by force, all
the higher schools in which religion is recognized, even as the school
established by the Pope in the city of Rome, was recently put down. It is
thus that these emancipators of mankind understand liberty!
As regards female education, especially, the people will never, willingly,
give up the schools that are conducted by “Sisters” or “Nuns.” The
education which such schools afford is universally appreciated—among
ourselves who are divided, but more particularly among the Italians, who
are all Catholics. It is in vain _to kick against the goad_, and this the
Italian government will learn, some day, when it is cast forth as a rotten
institution by the people, whose dearest wishes it ignores. It is of no
use to suppose that Italy is advanced to a state of irreligion, and so
requires a system of Godless education. The contrary is well known. State
systems, based, not on statistical facts, but, on idle suppositions, must
needs come to nought.