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 ITALY

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ITALY

polj'technic schools of Milan, Turin, and Naples, by the Finishing Institute of Social Science at Florence and by the Scientific and Literary Academy at Milan. In the scholastic year of 1S93-1S94, these univer- sities and higher educational establishments were at- tended by 22,289 students, an average of 71-9 per 100,000 inhabitants; and in the scholastic year of 1905-1906 the number of students was 27,009, an average of 81 per 100,000 of the population. The professors are divided into ordinary (who are irre- movable), extraordinary, special lecturers, and privat- dozents. The university is governed by a rector, appointed by the king on the recommendation of the body of ordinary professors, by an academic council, consisting of the rector and of the presidents of the dif- ferent faculties, and by the general assembly of profess- ors. There are other institutions connected with public instruction, as the libraries, some of which enjoy the prerogative of incorporation, while others are merely the property of the State, of the commune, or of the province. The public has not the same free use of all these libraries, there being a distinction between tho.se that are independent and those that are annexed to other institutions, or to offices, as those of the min- istries, of the Senate, of the Chamber of Deputies, etc. ; the first are public in the full sense of the word, while the second are so only upon certain conditions. Only persons over the age of sixteen years may receive books for reading in the libraries. Books are per- mitted to be taken out of the library only in special cases. There are approximately 1S30 libraries open to the public, 32 of them belonging to the Govern- ment.

Other educational institutions are: the national boarding schools for boys, and those for girls, under the direct supervision of the Ministry of Public In- struction; institutions belonging to the provinces or to the communes; endowed institutions; the seminaries; and private boarding schools. Those of the (icivorn- ment are 43 in number for boys, and S Idr ij;irls. and according to the last statistics the formrr had 41(i.), and the latter 593 pupils. The others together num- ber 880, with 60,000 boarders. There are no precise statistics as to the teachers in boarding schools for boys; it is known, however, that in 1906, 360 of the directors, approximately, were laymen, while the re- mainder were of the regular or of the secular clergy. In 320 boarding schools, all the teachers were laymen; in 215 all were ecclesiastics, and in the remainder of these schools the teachers were, some ecclesiastics, and some laymen. The number of persons who are connected with the administration and with the teach- ing of the boarding schools for girls is nearly 8686, of whom only 3587 are lay, the remainder belonging to the secular clergy or to religious congregations. New publications, including new editions of works already published, amounted to 9975 in the year 1900, at which time statistics on this subject were discontinued ; this was exclusive of monthly publications, which, in 1898, amounted to 971. There were 151 new daily papers, and the total number of periodicals in 1905 was 3120, published in 363 cities, 815 of these publica- tions dealing with politics, and 147 daily. Lombardy has the greatest proportion of periodicals (544), and the Basilicata the smallest (11).

Charities. — Charity, which was unknown to pagan- ism, is a Christian gi-owth that found a fertile soil in Italy, the home of the head of the Christian Church; and under his influence that country developed a wealth of beneficent institutions for the relief of every form of want; while the Council of Trent formulated laws to prevent the waste of the funds of the poor (Sess. VII, "De reform.", c. xv; Sess. XXV, " De re- form.", c. viii). And the stream of charity flows on, notwithstanding the exclusion of the Church from all intervention in charitable works, for, between 1881 and 1905, there were founded 1626 new charitable in-

stitutions, with a combined capital of nearly S27, 000,- 000, while the donations and legacies of that same period to already existing establishments amounted to 31,328, with an aggregate value of 856,000,000. There are 27,078 charities in Italy, with an aggregate cap- ital of $400,000,000, an average of .$12 |mt inlial.i'ant; their combined income is nearly S:; l.iiiiniiiiii, and their charitable disbursements amount \<t s_'_',(li)l),00. The English system of official charities (ta.xation on liehalf of the poor) is unknown in Italy, where charity is left to the voluntary action of individuals, and as we shall see is made compulsory only in fixed cases. The law of 17 July, 1890, limits the action of the State to protecting and favouring the free exercise of public charities, to watching over the operc pie, which are the chief benefactors of the poor, and to reforming them l_)y the union of several, by statutory revision, and by the changing of their purpose. In Italy the forms in which charity is generally practised are: aid to infants (foiuidling asylums, orphanages, asylums for education, ho.spices, etc.); aid to those who are in want and unable to work (retreat for mendicants, dormitories, etc.) ; eleemosynary aid (economical res- taurants. ])atrcinairrv. liDine assislancc. etc.); hospital aid (licis])ital-;. iii>:nh' a-;ylunis, etc.), and iiioiili di pictii. The law riMiuirrs the rxistpnce of a charity association in each commune for the care of the interests of the poor ; its members are taken from the communal council and consist of a president and of from 4 to 12 council- lors, according to the population. The charitable asso- ciation and the opere pie are required by law to give aid in urgent cases, to support the needy who are unable to work, where there is no local home for the poor, and to care provisionally for orphans and for deserted minors, for the blind, and for the deaf mutes who are poor.

Besides the work of institutions that are created for the purpose, the State, the province, and the commune are obliged to provide otherwise for certain public charities; thus the conmiune is compelled to provide sanitary service, doctors, midwives, surgeons, and medicines for the poor, when they are not provided for by any institution. The province is bound to care for the insane poor, and the law divides between the province and the commune the expense of the support of foundlings. Lastly, the support of those who are not able to work falls upon the State, when the prov- ince and the commune are unable to provide for them. According to the last statistics, in 1899, the communes spent S9, 1100, 000 in public charity; the provinces spent $4,600,000; and the State, in 1905-1906, spent $1,500,000. There were assisted by orphan asylums or placed out with nurses directly by the communes, in the five years from 1902 to 1906, 127,586 children, of whom 8456 were born in lawful wedlock. .According to the last statistics of the monli di pie.Ui, on 31 December, 1903, there were 527 of these establish- ments that loaned money on 4,790,539 pledges to the amount of $14,000,000, of which 1,405,206 were re- newed for an amount; of $4,899,205; there were 4,425,422 redemptions for an amount of $13,348,493 and 412,336 sales of a total amount of $769,-345.

All institutions of public beneficence are under the watchful care of the Government with the assistance of a superior council for public aid and charity, which has an advisory function. In all that concerns eco- nomical ends, local vigilance is exercised by provin- cial commission; and the administration of any opera pia may be dissolved for grave reasons, but must be reconstructed.

Hygiene and Health. — Sanitation, which is an important juridical and social function of the modern State, has made no little progress in Italy, where it is regulated, in general, for all the kingdom by the law of 7 August, 1907, by other sanitary laws, and by cor- responding rules and regulations, while it is regulated for local purposes by various provincialand communal