Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1913.djvu/1106

 984 ITALY

near Rome. Of these prelacies, 74 are immediately subject to the Apostolic See, 13 being archbishoprics. Every archbishop or bishop is appointed by the Pope, on the advice of a committee of Cardinals ; but the royal exequatur is necessary for his installation. In 1901, the number of parishes was 20,707; the secular clergy numbered 68,844: the regulars (monks, lay- brothers, nuns, &c.), 48,043 ; sacristans, &c., 12,129 ; persons employed at the Pontifical and Episcopal Courts, &c. , 418. There were in 1901, 458 Evangelical pastors and ministers, and 69 Jewish Rabbis.

The suppression of the religious corporations began in 1855, and was completed by the law of June 19, 1873, which extended the measure to the city and province of Rome. The method followed was simply the abolition of the legal status of religious corporations, so that they oould not hold proj)erty. Thus mortmain land was set free for agriculture and for buying and selling, while the State profited by relief from burdens and by direct taxation of the land thus freed from mortmain. Dispossessed monks and nuns received life pensions ; houses which had been used for schools or for hospitals, &c., were, with restrictions, made over to the communes; in Rome, the hospitals, &c., were assigned to the various charitable institutions ; everywhere the churches of the corporations necessary for public worship were preserved, as were monumental, artistic, and other corporation buildings. Of the monastic edifices some were occupied by the State, others assigned to communes or provinces. The corporations of Lombardy were privileged by the treaty of Ziirich, and their lands and houses were left to the disposal of their individual memlaers. All other immovable corporation property was sold, but the equivalent revenue (after certain deductions, including a 30 per cent, tax) was inscribed in the public debt book. The administration of the revenue from the proceeds of land destined for charity or instruction now belongs to the communes ; that from monastic parish church property in Rome, to the parish churches ; that from property of foreign religious orders in Rome (400,000 lire) to the Holy See; while the remainder is administered by two institutes which pay the pensions and other dues, and provide (1) for beneficent work and for worship in Rome ; and (2) for worship in the rest of Italv.

Instruction.

The State regulates public instruction, and maintains, either entirely or in conjunction with the communes and provinces, public schools of every grade. Every teacher must have the qualifications required by law.

Schools in Italy may be classified under four heads, according as they provide : (1) elementary instruction ; (2) secondary instruction — classical ; (3) secondary instruction — technical ; (4) higher education.

(1) Schools providing elementary instruction are of two grades. Religious instruction is given to those whose parents request it. Only the lower-gcdi^e instruction is compulsory. Every commune must have at least one lower- grade school for boys and one for girls ; and no school with only one master should have more than seventy pupils. Higher-grade elementary schools are required in communes having normal and secondary schools, and in those with over 4, 000 inhabitants. In both grades the instruction is free. The age- limit of 6 to 9 exists for communes where there is no higher elementary school, but where there is such higher school, children are required to attend till they have completed the course of instruction, the compulsory age being thus raised to 12 years. This law provides that illiterate persons shall be under various disabilities.