Italian Studies) School of Humanities University of Western Australia 2011
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
European Languages and Studies (Italian Studies) School of Humanities University of Western Australia 2011 Catholic Women’s Movements in Liberal and Fascist Italy This thesis is presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of the University of Western Australia. Helena Aulikki Dawes BA (Hons) ANU, MA Monash, BEc UWA, GradDipA (Adv) UWA CONTENTS Abbreviations ii Note on Citations iii Preface iv Introduction 1 Chapter One The Italian State, the Catholic Church and Women 7 Chapter Two The Cultural, Political and Ideological Context of femminismo cristiano 56 Chapter Three Femminismo cristiano 88 Chapter Four Elisa Salerno’s Contribution to femminismo cristiano 174 Chapter Five The Conservative Catholic Women’s Movements 237 Conclusion 333 Bibliography 337 i ABBREVIATIONS ACV Archivi ecclesiastici della diocesi (Curia vescovile), Vicenza AEP Archivio Elena da Persico (Fondazione Elena da Persico), Affi, Verona AGOP Fondo Giustiniani Bandini (Archivum generale Ordinis praedicatorum), Rome ARM Archivio Romolo Murri (Fondazione Romolo Murri), Urbino BCB Biblioteca civica bertoliana, Vicenza FAC Fondo Adelaide Coari (Fondazione per le scienze religiose Giovanni XXIII), Bologna FES Fondo Elisa Salerno (Centro documentazione e studi “Presenza Donna”), Vicenza ii NOTE ON CITATIONS All citations are presented respecting the original spelling, accentuation, capitalization, punctuation and typefaces. Occasionally changes have been made to paragraphing. iii PREFACE The writing of this thesis has depended on access to published documents and archival material in Italy and Australia. I have been able to rely on the excellent interlibrary loans and reader services of the Reid Library of the University of Western Australia, and I am most grateful to its staff for the assistance and courtesy they have shown to me. I would also like to express my gratitude to the various libraries, archives and research centres in Italy which have permitted me to access their facilities and resources during my visits. They include: Biblioteca nazionale centrale, Florence; Fondo Adelaide Coari (Fondazione per le scienze religiose Giovanni XXIII), Bologna; Biblioteca “Giuseppe Dossetti”, Bologna; Biblioteca delle donne italiane, Bologna; Biblioteca nazionale braidense, Milan; Biblioteca ambrosiana, Milan; Biblioteca dell’Università cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan; Biblioteca dell’Università degli studi di Milano, Milan; Centro documentazione dell’Unione femminile nazionale, Milan; Fondazione Romolo Murri, Urbino; Centro studi Romolo Murri, Gualdo, Macerata; Centro documentazione e studi “Presenza Donna”, Vicenza; Archivi ecclesiastici della diocesi, Vicenza; Biblioteca civica bertoliana, Vicenza; Fondazione Elena da Persico, Affi, Verona; Biblioteca comunale, Verona; Biblioteca nazionale centrale, Rome; Istituto per la storia dell’Azione cattolica e del movimento cattolico in Italia Paolo VI, Rome; Fondo Cristina Giustiniani Bandini (Archivum generale Ordinis praedicatorum), Rome; and Istituto Luigi Sturzo, Rome. In conducting my research I have received support and useful advice from a number of scholars, academics, librarians and archivists, many of whom are associated with the above-listed institutions. To some of them I am particularly indebted. On my visits to Bologna I was fortunate to meet Professor Gabriella Zarri whom I thank for kindly drawing my attention to various publications related to my research topic. I would also like to express my gratitude to Dr. Fabio Nardelli of the Istituto delle scienze religiose for enabling me to consult the resources of the Fondo Adelaide Coari. My research was significantly facilitated by access to the early issues of L’Azione muliebre at Villa Elena at Affi, Verona, and I would like to thank Signora Mariuccia Besesti for her courteous hospitality and Professor Dora Castenetto for her generous gift of books. iv Many scholars have also given me assistance in relation to my studies on Romolo Murri. In particular I would like to thank Professor Alfonso Botti and Dr. Ilaria Biagioli for access to the manuscript holdings of the Fondazione Romolo Murri, Urbino, and Professor Anna Maria Massucci for access to the Centro studi Romolo Murri, Gualdo. I also wish to thank Professor Rocco Cerrato and Dr. Fabrizio Chiappetti for sharing with me their expert knowledge in this subject area. Discussions with Dr. Roberta Fossati in Milan have been invaluable for my attempts to grasp the complex phenomenon of femminismo cristiano, and I would like to express to her my sincere thanks for the interest she has shown in my work and for the historical material which she has kindly donated to me. I am grateful to Dr. Eleonora Cirant for access to the resources of the Centro documentazione dell’Unione femminile nazionale and for providing me with precious material on the Unione femminile and on early Italian feminist movements. My research on Elisa Salerno would not have been possible without the help which I have received from the members of the Centro documentazione e studi “Presenza Donna”, through consultation of their archives, gifts of their publications, and invitations to their functions. My special thanks go to Suor Maria Grazia Piazza for her continuous support. I acknowledge with gratitude Monsignor Antonio Marangoni’s permission to access the Archivi ecclesiastici della diocesi in Vicenza. I also wish to thank Dr. Sonia Residori and Dr. Silvia Calamati for facilitating my perusal of early periodical publications in the Biblioteca civica bertoliana in Vicenza. Consultation of the Archives of the Istituto Paolo VI of Azione cattolica in Rome has been essential for my study of the Unione donne and of the Gioventù femminile. I am grateful to Professor Cecilia Dau Novelli for facilitating my access to the Archives. I would also like to thank Dr. Simona Ferrantin for permitting me to use the resources of the Istituto Paolo VI and Mr. Alessandro Romano for ensuring that all my requests were fulfilled. I wish to express my gratitude to Fr. Wilmer Rojas Crespo, O.P., for providing me with copies of letters and other documents held in the Fondo Giustiniani Bandini, and to Dr. Concetta Argiolas for allowing me to consult the Archivio Luigi Sturzo. Parts of Chapter Three of the thesis have been accepted for publication in The Catholic Historical Review. I greatly appreciate the practical advice I received from Dr. Nelson H. Minnich in preparing the manuscript for publication. v In particular I would like to thank my supervisor, Professor Lorenzo Polizzotto, for his enduring support during the writing of the thesis, first in the selection of the topic and then in the provision of meticulous feedback on the individual chapters as they evolved. While I appreciate the freedom he has given me to develop the topic according to my own perception of the subject matter, I also acknowledge his generosity in allowing me to draw, as often has been the case, on his vast knowledge of Italian history and culture. Finally, the thesis would not have been finished without the constant encouragement of my husband, Walter Dawes, whose good-humoured and intelligent criticism has at times helped me to look at my writing from a different perspective. His patience has been tested innumerable times by proof-reading the thesis in its different versions. vi INTRODUCTION In the early 1900s Italy was a battlefield of diverse intellectual, cultural and political forces with different ideologies competing for hegemony. For the first time in its history the Catholic Church appealed directly to women, asking for their help in reinforcing Catholic values in society. As a result, various Catholic women’s associations came into being with the aim of assisting the Church in its mission by disseminating religious propaganda and alleviating serious social problems. By this time Italy had already seen the emergence of the first secular feminist movements which had their origins in the Enlightenment, the French Revolution, the intellectual currents of the nineteenth century and socialist doctrine. Two important national feminist organizations, the Consiglio nazionale delle donne italiane and the Unione femminile nazionale, had come into existence in 1899, with the objective of pursuing philanthropic and women’s rights issues. Little is known outside Italy of the rise and development of Italian women’s movements, either Catholic or secular. Yet Italy was in the forefront of writing on women’s issues. In fact, John Stuart Mill’s seminal treatise, The Subjection of Women (1869), was preceded by two Italian publications on the woman question. The first, Woman and Science (1861), was written by the Neapolitan politician Salvatore Morelli (1824-1880),1 while the author of the second, Woman and Her Social Relationships (1864), was a young Lombard woman Anna Maria Mozzoni (1837-1920).2 Published in Italian, these books failed to gain attention abroad. Nevertheless, in their own country, not only Mozzoni but several other middle-class women became famous – or infamous – for their feminist demands and campaigns. This group of pioneers includes Maria Montessori (1870-1952) who is better remembered for her achievements as an educator, as well as the dazzling and flamboyant Sibilla Aleramo (1876-1960) who, for her part, embraced feminism not only in her writings but also in her personal life, being the quintessential embodiment of the adventurous and self-reliant donna nuova. Another notable figure was the colourful and fascinating Russian-born socialist