INITIAL PHASES OF THE SCALABRINIAN CONGREGATION 1886 - 1888 by Mario Francesconi, c.s. Translated by Martin Bortolazzo, c.s. V O L U M E I 1 1983 Published by Province of St. Charles Borromeo Missionaries of St. Charles - Scalabrinians Provincial Archives Center for Migration Studies New York (CMS) Scalabrini International Migration Network (SIMN) 1 Volume I was reviewed and transcribed in digital format in May 2015 by Peter P. Polo, c. s. Please send comments and observations to NY PROVINCIAL OFFICE. Thank you. History of the SCALABRINIAN CONGREGATION – VOLUME 1 CONTENTS Page Introduction .................................................................................................... i Chapter I - Dimensions and Conditions of Italian Emigration, as viewed by Bishop Scalabrini ................................................................................. 1 Chapter II - Progressive Insight of Bishop Scalabrini into the Emigration Problem ............................................................................................... 8 Chapter III - Planning the Scalabrinian Congregation .................................. 16 Chapter IV - Founding of the Congregation ................................................... 40 Chapter V - First Structures of the Congregation ......................................... 51 Chapter VI - Preparation of First Missionary Expedition to New York ............. 63 Chapter VII - Preparation of First Missionary Expedition to Brazil ................ 77 Chapter VIII - Departure of First Missionaries .............................................. 89 Appendixes No. 1 - Italian Emigrants in America by Father Francis Zaboglio ................ 102 No. 2 - Letters of Bishop Scalabrini and Archbishop Corrigan on the views of Cahensly .......................................................................................... 109 No. 3 - Letters of Propaganda Fide to the Nuncios, Internuncios, Papal Delegates in America and to Archbishop Ireland of St. Paul, Minn. ..... 112 No. 4 - Outline of Bishop Scalabrini for the Apostolic Letter "Quam Aerumnosa" .... 114 No. 5 - Letters of Archbishop Ireland and Bishop Scalabrini on the Religious Problems of Italian Emigration .................................................................................... 119 No. 6 – Bishop Scalabrini and a Belgian Project of Assistance to Northern European Emigrants........................................................................................... 123 No. 7 - First Steps of Bishop Scalabrini towards the Spiritual Assistance of Emigrants on Shipboard ................................................................... 131 ii History of the SCALABRINIAN CONGREGATION – VOLUME 1 INTRODUCTION The General Archives of the Scalabrini Fathers in Rome are endowed with a rich, though not exhaustive, collection of documents on the first years in the history of the Congregation of the Missionaries of St. Charles for Emigrants, founded on November 28, 1887, by Bishop John Baptist Scalabrini of Piacenza, Italy. This collection was edited in part by His Excellency Marco Caliaro, Bishop of Sabina e Poggio Mirteto in a dissertation submitted to the faculty of Canon Law at the University of St. Thomas Acquinas, Rome, and published as a manuscript in 1956 under the head-title "La Pia Società dei Missionari di San Carlo (Scalabriniani)." (Pious Society of the Missionaries of St. Charles.) This publication intends only to integrate the mostly juridical study of Bishop Caliaro, thus placing a series of documents, so far known only to a few, into the hands of all scholars interested in the institutions devoted to promoting religious and social assistance for Italian emigrants. The present volume embraces only the period of time intercurring between the Summers 1886 - 1888, when plans were drawn up, the Scalabrinian Congregation was founded, mission fields were prepared, and the first missionaries departed for America. Limited to this short period of time, it does not even intend to exhaust all historical and social aspects that were at the root of this Institute: it wants, rather, to provide researchers with a chronological and clear order of the documents, only supplying as much explaining as deemed necessary for a logical sequence of exposition, or should be required by the objective evidence of the facts. This is true especially for the historical evaluation of some personalities and of certain inspirations that will help us to capture, right from the start, the physiognomy of the Congregation founded by the Apostle of Migrants. In the period under study we shall be given the opportunity to see in what way and with what rapidity a project began to take shape, bold and timely at the same time, yet still uncertain and undefined, as it was facing a series of new problems within the framework of an unpredictable social and psychological context. The first responses to the arduous question were prompted by an urgent need for quick action. iii History of the SCALABRINIAN CONGREGATION – VOLUME 1 It was Bishop Scalabrini's foremost merit to have responded with promptness and generosity to this calling. No less praiseworthy was his effort to envision the problem in all its implications, and to draw up immediate plans for an organic program that would not allow his action to remain a palliative, but that would rather bring about a radical solution, though on so small a scale as consented by the poverty of means. "On my part" - he wrote to the Cardinal Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith on January 11, 1887 - "I would be ready to get down to business, and give it an immediate start, on a small scale, to be sure; yet, right away, indeed." We underline the phrase "to give it a start." In fact, by July 12, 1888, when the first missionaries were departing for America, one could say that the project of Bishop Scalabrini had become a reality, but it did not possess a clear form. Much probing, attempts, and experimentations, will lead in time to a better structural organization and consolidation of some initial ideas while laying others aside. Besides, we have to remember that up to the end of his life Bishop Scalabrini did not deem it opportune to solicit the final approval of the Rules of the Institute, as he wanted further light from experience. It is not necessary, therefore, to insist on the fact that, while they help us to discover its original inspiration, the documents here published do not offer us a complete vision of the Scalabrinian Congregation. We present this work in a provisional form inviting our readers to express their suggestions, to submit any inedited documents they may be able to supply us with, and to give an answer to a question that seems obvious; whether and how should a complete history of the Scalabrinian Congregation be written? iv History of the SCALABRINIAN CONGREGATION – VOLUME 1 CHAPTER 1 CHAPTER ONE DIMENSIONS AND CONDITIONS OF ITALIAN MIGRATION AS SEEN BY BISHOP SCALABRINI The years 1880 - 1891, responding approximately to the time when the Scalabrinian Society was founded and consolidated, certainly marked the hardest period for Italian Emigration, practically uncontrolled and deprived of all protection.1 The dramatic situation of the "wandering misery of their fatherland" was brought to the attention of the government and the public opinion by the research and study of scholars beginning in 1853, and more so since 1870, as well as by the denunciations of many representatives and senators from 1868 on. Some viewed the phenomenon as a threat to the interests of the established social order; others upheld the free right to migrate as the only "safety valve" against overpopulation; still others intended to exploit the social reaction against the "rich" of Italy, as clearly evidenced already in the uncontrollable exodus of "Italian blood" to foreign lands. The agricultural crisis, brought to the fore by the famous Lacini's report in 1884, revealed the true cause of the migratory phenomenon; it was the main determinant of the sudden flood of expatriations. Bishops Scalabrini and Bonomelli were disturbed by the impressive increase shown in 1885: "Statistics just published on Italian emigration in 1885 report 83,786 Italian emigrants: that is 23,297 more than in 1881. Not to mention the preceding years. Italian emigration that had reached 28,717 units in 1881, already then considered an enormity, kept going up to 58,290 in 1882, 62,794 in 1883. We notice a slight decrease in 1884 with 60,489, but in 1885 the increasing trend resumes to reach 83,786 expatriates!"2 A new sad component in the pattern had Bishop Scalabrini concerned: "Were, at least, those unfortunate ones all adults! Alas, what saddens our spirit most is to know that no less than 15,642 children of either sex are included in that number 83,786. We are concerned here with the supplanting of homes, and the separations of families that will help to strew white the lands of America with their bones."3 Bishop Scalabrini was referring only to the permanent migration to America, exclusively taking stock of departures from Italian ports, as he did not have at hand the statistics of emigrants sailing from Marseille, Tolone, Le Havre, or 1 Renzo De Felice, "L'emigrazione e gli emigranti nell'ultimo secolo", Terzo Programma, 3 (1964), p. 184. 2 John Baptist Scalabrini, "Progetto di una Associazione allo scopo di provvedere ai bisogni spirituali degli Italiani emigrati nelle Americhe", document enclosed in the letter of the same to Cardinal