Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 13.djvu/448

 SALESIAN

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SALESIAN

lamo Seripandi (1554), a famous theologian and former general of the Augustinians, whose doctrines on justification, too much akin to those of Luther, were rejected at the CouncU of Trent, and who after- wards became a cardinal, and died at Trent ; Gaspare Cervante (1564), who founded the seminar}^; Marc Antonio Colonna (156S), who estabhshed a,nother college for clerics; his nephew, Marc Antonio Col- onna (1574), the author of valuable works; Mario Bolognini (1591), who distinguished himself in France in the controversies with the Huguenots; Giovanni de Torres (1658), who reformed the lives of the clergy; Gregorio Caraffa (1664), a Theatine and a reformer; Antonio Salomone, who, after the annexation of the kingdom of Naples, was imprisoned without reason (1886), and at the beginning of the war with Austria was sent into exile. Since 1818 Salerno has for suf- fragans the Sees of Capaccio e Vallo, Policastro, Marsico Nuovo, and Nusco. The See of Acerno, which appears as a diocese since 1136, is united with it in perpetual administration; among its bishops mention should be made of the Franciscan Antonio Bonito (1493). The archdiocese has: 155 parishes; 60,000 inhabitants; 600 secular priests; 2 institutes for boys and 4 for girls ; 1 1 religious houses for men and 14 for women; and 1 Catholic daily paper.

Cappelletti, Le Chiese d' Italia, XX (Venice, 1857); Schifa, Storia del principato longobardo di Salerno (Naples, 1887); de Renzi, La Scuola Salernitana (Naples, 1857); Daremberq, L'Ecole de Salerne (Paris, 1880), text and translation of the rules of hygiene.

U. Benigni.

UxiVERSiTY OF Salerno. — The physicians of Sa- lerno have been known since the ninth century. In 984, Adalbero, Bishop of Verdun, repaired to Salerno in quest of medical assistance. Fuller accounts of the medical school of Salerno, however, do not appear until the eleventh century. About 1150, the famous "Flos medicinae scholae Salerni" was written, a collec- tion of hygienic and medicinal precepts in 3500 verses adfh-es.sed to Robert of England. Opinions differ as to the origin of the school: some hold that it was founded by the Benedictines of Monte Cassino, in particular by the famous abbot, Constantine the Afri- can; others give it a secular origin. At any rate the school enjoyed autonomy; only under the Swabian kings did the State in any way interfere with it. It is uncertain whether the suppression of all the schools of higher learning, ordered by Frederick II in 1224 for the advantage of the Stwlium of Naples, affected Sa- lerno. But the same monarch, in 1231, commanded that no one should teach medicine anywhere but at Salerno, or practise medicine without liaving been ap- proved by the professors of Salerno in the presence of State officials. In 1240, again, he himself prescribed the studies. In 1252 King Conrad transferred to Sa- lerno the other faculti(!S of Naples, which, however, were restorfnl to the latter university by Manfred in 1258. A faculty of medicine was then established at Naples which competed to a considerable degree with that of Salerno, which, however, was tolerably flour- ishing under the Angevins and, later, under the Span- ish and Bourbon dynasties. In 1811, however, it was suppressed. Of its celebrated physicians, Protocel- luH, author of the "Compendium Medicina;" (1035), Garinopontus, who compiled the " Passionarius Ga- leni" in 1040, and Bishop Alphanus, author of a treat- ise on the four humours, are worthy of mention. The CasHJnfw; monk Constantine does not belong to tlie Sf;hool of Salerno, though he did much to give a n(?w direction to its medical studies by his translations from the Arabic. John Afflacius, besides writing treatises on medicine, brought the surgical art to per- fection. Niwiaus Pra;pf>Hitus was the author of an "Antidotorium", or collection of pharmaceutical rem- edies. MattlueuH Platiearius wrote a "Practica bre- vifl". Ruggiero <Lx Parma, the boldest surgeon of the

thirteenth century, taught the trepanning of the sternum, the sewing-up of intestines, etc. Women physicians, also, studied and taught at Salerno — the famous Trotula, who wrote a treatise on diseases of women, Abella and Rebecca, both of whom did much for embrj'ology, and the female surgeon Mercuriade.

De Renzi, Storia documeiitata delhi Scnula medica di Salerno (Naples, 1857); cd. Meaux St-Mare, Idem, Collectio Salerni- tana (vol. V containing the Flos medicine) (Paris, 1861); Uash- DALL, Universities of Europe in the Middle Ages, I (Oxford, 1895), 75sqq.

U. Benigni.

Salesian Society, The, founded by Venerable Don Bosco, takes its distinctive name from its patron, Saint Francis de Sales. The object for which it was founded may be best seen from the opening words of its constitution: "the Christian perfection of its associates obtained bj^ the exercise of spiritual and corporal works of charity towards the young, especially the poor, and the education of boys to the priesthood." The cradle of the institute may truthfully be said to have been the fields of Valdocco, at that time a suburb but now an integral part of the city of Turin. In the first half of the nineteenth century Italy had not recovered from the disastrous consequences of the false and atheistical philosophical teachings brought into the country at the time of the French Revolution. For this reason education, morality, and religion were then at their lowest ebb. To save the rising generation the Salesian Society was founded. In 1844 Don Bosco began to gather together poor and neglected boys. He found places for them to play in, taught them Catechism and heard their confessions in the open air, afterwards taking them to one of the churches in the city, where he used to say Mass for them and give them Holy Communion. These gatherings, called "Festive Oratories", became one of the most important and useful works of the institute in attracting boys. In 1845 the first night- school was opened at Valdocco, and became a perma- nent institution in the course of a year. It proved such a success that a second one was opened (1847) at Porto Nuovo, and a third at Vanchigha (1849). In the beginning Don Bosco, for lack of personnel, was forced to make use of the older and more advanced pupils, setting them as teachers and monitors over the others, but necessity soon forced him to form a regular and permanent trained staff. Many of his boys, too, began to develop vocations for the priesthood, and became clerics, whilst still continuing to assist in the work of education. Much opposition was made to the growing institute, but Mgr. Franzoni, then Arch- bishop of Turin, took it under his protection, and even the king, Charles Albert, who had heard of Don Bosco's work, became its patron, and it steadily grew. It was, however, found impossible, in many cases, to make a permanent impression on the char- acter of the boys (luring the short time that they were under the influence; of the teachers at the festive ora- tories and the night-schools. A very large number of the boys had not only to earn their living, but had to learn a trade beforehand to enable them to do so. Thus a new class of boys arose — the boy-artisans — which constituted the second division of good works in the rising institute.

In 1852 the Church of Saint Francis de Sales was completed and consecrated, and surrounding it large schools for the students and workshojjs for boy-arti- sans began to rise. During all this tiinc the work was developing, and a band of devoted and cflicient teach- ers slowly emerged from the diaos of ev'olution. About this time Don Bosco was urged to consolidate and perjM'tuate his work by forming a religious con- gregation, and in 1857 he drew up its first set of rules. In the following yc^ar he went to Rome to seek the ad- vice and suj)port of his benefactor, Pius IX, and in 1859 he summoned the first chapter of the congrega- tion, and began the Society of Saint Francis de Sales.