OF MIGRATION Cover: Scalabrini at Genoa, 1901 TRAINING HANDBOOKS for the LAITY - 7

HANDBOOKS 7 BLESSED SCALABRINI AND HIS VIEW OF MIGRATION Cover: Scalabrini at Genoa, 1901 TRAINING HANDBOOKS FOR THE LAITY - 7 BLESSED SCALABRINI AND HIS VIEW OF MIGRATION Giovanni Terragni, cs Translated from Italian by Pietro P. Polo, cs SCALABRINI INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION INSTITUTE Roma, 2020 METHODOLOGY 1. Initial moment of recollection (prayer or singing) 2. Handbook 7 Objectives: • Who was Giovanni Battista Scalabrini? • How has Scalabrini become interested in migration? • What are the main points of his teaching? • What were Scalabrini’s main initiatives regarding migration? 3. Framework of The Handbook. The facilitator can encourage reflection on some ideas of Scalabrini’s social thought advising to update them and compare them to today’s migra- tory phenomenon: • Value of personal experience in understanding migrations • Collaboration with all those engaged in emigration • Importance of legislative involvement • National and international dimension of migration • Migration as a necessity - law of nature • The causes of migration then and in our day • What does global assistance to migration mean • The Church’s commitment towards migration 4. Final sharing can revolve around the following questions: • which aspects of Scalabrini’s personality and action impressed me the most? • what was Scalabrini’s originality in his involvement in migrations? • what still remains valid in Scalabrini’s teaching? 6. To learn more Tomasi S. e G. Rosoli (edited by), Scalabrini and modern migrations, Torino, SEI, 1997. Terragni G., Scalabrini e la Congragazione dei missionari per gli emigrati. Aspetti istituzionali, 1887-1905, Autorinediti, 2014. 7. Evaluation Fill in the short form that is distributed 8. Conclusion with a prayer or a song. 4 1. WHO WAS BISHOP J.B. SCALABRINI Biographical notes Giovanni Battista Scalabrini was born in Fino Mornasco (Como, Italy) in 1839. After high school at the Gallio lyceum in Como, he entered the seminary and was ordained a priest in 1863. He manifested his desire for the missions of PIME (Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions), but his Bishop charged him with teaching history and Greek in the minor seminary, of which he later became rector. From 1870 to 1875 he exer- cised pastoral ministry in the city parish of St. Bartholomew, in which, due to the crisis of the silk mills, numerous faithful were forced to em- igrate. Pius IX appointed him Bishop of Piacenza and in February 1876 he entered his diocese. During his episcopate, he made five Pastoral Vis- its to his vast diocese, he called three diocesan Synods, he organized and promoted an extensive network of catechists and also prepared the first National Catechetical Congress in Piacenza in 1889. Already over 60 years of age, he undertook two trips, one to the United States (1901) and the other to Brazil (1904), the first Italian Bishop to cross the ocean to visit the Emigrants. On May 5, 1905 he sent to the Holy See a “Memoran- dum” for the establishment of an central coordinating body for catholic emigrants of all nationalities. He died in the same year. Man of Faith Scalabrini had a religious view of human existence that starts from God and to God returns. A solid faith based on union with God and on following Christ present in the Eucharist (3rd Synod, 1899), as well as on the saving mystery of the Cross. Not an abstract spirituality, but one embodied in everyday life, ready to get involved with daily challenges. In his writings he often uses the expression “salvation of souls” which implies both evangelization and human promotion. In the succession of human events, and in particular in those related to the migration of individuals, Scalabrini sees the mysterious design of Divine Province which guides history towards the unity of the human family. “While races mingle, extend and interact, through the noise of our machines, above all this feverish work, of all these gigantic enterprises, and not without them, a much larger, much nobler, much more sublime work is maturing on the face of this earth: the union in God through Jesus Christ of all men of good will” (Address to the Catholic Club of New York, 1901). Man of Action The basic motivations urging Scalabrini to take an interest in emigrants and to establishing initiatives in their favor are closely linked to the concern for safeguarding the faith of so many compatriots who emigrated 5 in lands where Catholicism was a minority or where religious services were poor or lacking. He writes: “So many generous efforts are being made to convert the infidels and are we to let our already Catholic compatriots perish?”1 He is convinced that the future growth of Catholicism would happen within the folds of migrations and, therefore, he urges the Holy See to intervene urgently. Returning from his trip to Brazil in 1904 where he visited the emigrants, Scalabrini informed Pius X about the need to set up a central body in the government of the Holy See to coordinate religious assistance to Catholic emigrants of all nationalities. He writes: “Most Holy Father, now when the Church with the admira- ble Institution of Propagation of the Faith spends a lot of money and in- vests many priests to spread the faith among the infidels, will she not do anything to favor the preservation of the faith among the emigrants of all nations and catholic regions: Italians, Germans, Spanish, Portuguese, Canadians, etc.?”2. Due to his intense activity, Scalabrini can be counted among the bishops and “social saints” of the second half of the 19th century. He does not close himself in his diocese but actively participates in the serious issues that attack the civil and religious society of his time: the Roman question and the difficult relationship between State and Church in Ita- ly after national unity; the labor issue and the industrialization process between the liberal and the socialist movements; finally, the migration issue which he includes within the framework of the previous ones. And he tried to find a solution for them with a series of practical initiatives. He held that “speculative and intellectual Catholicism and a religious neutrality, are absurd, and almost equivalent to a betrayal, while in society the most vital issues are being talked about and debated. It’s an easy transition from concealing one’s faith and losing it.”3 He invites all, clergy and laity, to actively live the “life of the people, drawing closer to it with the press, with associations and committees, with mutual societies, public conferences, with congresses, with workers groups, with shelters for children, with every work of private and public charity.”4 He urges his priests to keep in touch with the workers, he says: “... Nowadays it is almost impossible to bring the working class back to the Church unless we maintain an ongoing relationship with it outside the Church. We must leave the temple, venerable Brothers, if we are to do a saving work in the temple. Go out but to sanctify. We must also be men of our time... My dear ones, the world is moving ahead and 1 Scalabrini G.B., Letter to Card. Simeoni, Piacenza, 11.01.1887, AGS / BA 01, 02, 01. 2 Scalabrini G.B., Letter and Memorandum to Pius X, São Paulo (Brazil), 2.07.1904, AGS / AB 01, 04, 41b. 3 Scalabrini G.B., Pastoral Letter,Union, Action and Prayer, in “ Scalabrini Pastoral Letters” edited by O. Sartori, SEI, Turin 1890, 469. 4 Scalabrini G.B., Pastoral Letter Centenario di S. Luigi, 1891, Piacenza, AGS/AP 02-04-02. 6 we must not remain behind because of formalities or dictates of misun- derstood prudence...”5 Man of Will To his missionaries he indicates the icon of St. Charles Borromeo as a model to be followed: “Man of action, who is not divided and never pulls back, a man of energetic will and fearless constancy.”6 He anticipates of the work that awaits them: “Vast and borderless is the field opened up to your zeal. There are temples to be built, schools to be opened, hospitals to be erected hospices to be founded; there is the worship of the Lord to be organized, there are children, widows, orphans, poor sick people, failing old men and, in short, all the miseries of life that need the healing benefit of Christian charity.”7. Father to the Migrants For his life and spirituality, for his works in favor of the poor and the marginalized, for the social and religious commitment for the migrants, on November 9, 1997 Pope John Paul II proclaimed him “Blessed” and pointed to him as an authentic Father to the Migrants. “Bishop Scalabri- ni - the Pope stated- sought to heal the material and spiritual wounds of so many brothers and sisters forced to live far from their homeland. He supported them in defending the fundamental rights of the human person and wanted to help them to be faithful to the duties of their Christian faith. As an authentic Father to the Migrants, he endeavored to sensitize communities to a respectful, open and supportive welcome. In fact, he was convinced that, by their presence, migrants are a sign of the catholicity of God’s family and can contribute to the indispensable premises for that authentic encounter between the peoples, which is the fruit of the Spirit of Pentecost.”8 2. HOW DID SCALABRINI BECOME INTERESTED IN MIGRATIONS? Scalabrini, together with Geremia Bonomelli, the Bishop of Cremona, was among the first European bishops to show concern in an organic and structural approach for the migration phenomenon. In assisting migrants, he acted on two fronts: the religious and the social. He believed, in fact, that emigration was presenting an opportunity for Italian Catho- lics to break the political silence which had been imposed on them by the “non expedit”, (the 1868 prohibition to take part in the political elections 5 Ibidem, 10.

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