PREVENTION EXISTED BEFORE THE PREVENTIVE SYSTEM
5. Preventive repression in school education
Recalling the days when he attended school in Chieri (1831-1835), Don Bosco describes a faithful outline o f the discipline regim e used in those days. It had been im posed by the Regulations fo r the Schools outside the University, prom ulgated with the Rules with Royal Prerogatives by Which His Majesty (Charles Felix) Approves the Added Rides Both fo r Common and Public Schools - A s Well as fo r the Royal Schools. Dated Jidy 23, 1822.%
The regulations were unequivocally R estoration in style.97 H ow ever, in the memory o f the older Don Bosco, they were perfectly in tune with the basic dimensions o f his Preventive System o f education because o f the strong religious principles, and principles o f morality and discipline w hich were part o f the entire life o f the school.
It is appropriate to recall that in those days religion was a basic p a rt o f the educational system. A teacher was faced w ith im m ediate dism issal should he make any unbecom ing or irreligious statem ent. I f this w as the w ay teachers w ere treated, you can imagine how severely pupils were dealt with for any unruly conduct or scandal!
We went to holy Mass every morning; classes began with the devout praying o f the Actiones and the Ave Maria. They ended with the Agimus and Ave Maria. On feast days, all the students attended the college church. Before Mass we had spiritual reading followed by the chanting o f the Little Office of Our Lady. Then came Mass and the explanation of the Gospel.
In the evening we had further catechetical instruction, Vespers and another sermon. Everyone was expected to approach the holy sacraments; to prevent the neglect o f this important obligation, once a month the students had to present a card to prove that they had gone to confession. If one failed to do on this he
95 ibid, part 2 ,8 , nos. 1 -2 ,4 1 7 -4 1 8 . 96 (Turin: R oyal Press 1822), p.
97 “T h e R eg o la m e n to p e r le sc u o le f u o r i d e l l’u n iv e r s ità .... w ere prepared by the Jesuits from N ovara. N o w onder, then, that the R eg u la tio n s o f July 2 3 , 1822, u sed for P ied m on tese sc h o o ls until 1848, se e m e d as if th ey w ere m ad e for n o v ic e s in a co n v en t rather than students in p u b lic s c h o o ls ” (A . L izier, N e l p rim o cen ten a rio d e l R egio C onvitto N a zio n a le d i N o va ra 1808-1908. L e scu o le di N ovara e d il L iceo-C onvitto. N ovara, Stabilim ento G. Parzini 1908, p.
194; cf. C hap V i l i il «R eale C ollegio di N o v a ra » e le «R egie S cuole» d a i m o ti d el 1821 alla cacciataci d ei G esu iti (1821-1848), pp. 1 91-238.
was barred from end-of-year examinations, no matter how good he was as at studies. This strict training produced marvellous results, Many years went by without any swearing or unbecoming words being heard. The students were as docile and respectful at school as they would have been at home. And it often happened that in very large classes everyone got promoted at the end o f the year.98 ....
1 would like to note something about the college at Chieri that certainly exemplifies the spirit o f piety that flourished there. During my four years as a student in the college I do not rem ember ever hearing any talk, not even a word, that could be considered impolite or irreligious. At the end o f rhetoric course, o f the 25 students, 21 embraced the clerical state, three became doctors and one became a merchant.99
The titles o f the third and fourth chapters o f the Regulationsfor Public Schools, Royal Schools, Community Schools; Teaching and Examinations in Both Public and Royal Schools are certainly repressive, in the sense that they imply total and inflexible control.
But the champions o f the Preventive System, and am ong them Don Bosco, do not reject their contents, even though they carry them out in m odified form . W hat allows them to be considered preventive are especially the mentality behind them, the spirit and the style, which in the Regolamento, instead, undoubtedly have a repressive tone.
The students are subjected to following rigid duties: in the classroom, they had to take assigned seats; they had to approach the Sacram ent o f penance every month, and the confessor had to give them a card to prove it; they had to fulfil their Easter duty and have a docum ent to prove it; they had to attend daily Mass, go to M ass every Sunday with the student com m unity and perform the added practices o f piety in the m orning, such as spiritual reading, The Little O ffice o f O ur Lady and the Litanies, besides religious instruction; in the afternoon they had spiritual reading, singing, recitation o f prayers, and catechism; there w as a triduum in preparation for Christmas, and the annual retreat; books not authorised by the prefect o f studies were forbidden.100 N o less severe w as the control exercised over the student’s life outside school.
All students are strictly forbidden to: go swimming, go to the theatre, engage in games o f tricks, wear masks, respond to dance invitations, engage in any kind o f games in suburbs, bars, cafés and other public places, go out for dinner, eat
98 M O (1 9 9 1 )7 2 . 99 M O (1 9 8 9 ) 111-112 100 C f. R egolam ent, art. 34-41
and drink in hotels or restaurants, gather in clubs or set up a club, or have conversations in cafés, act in local theatres, without the permission ofthe prefect o f studies.101
The com m itm ent taken by the ‘congregation’ (school community), which to a certain extent was a model for the Oratory, was far different from the free and joyful sharing o f life in the Oratory, as much as that was inspired by serious religious ideas.102 Spiritual directors wielded unlimited power, a power to intervene decisively in the very activity o f the school.103
They have the right, within the congregation to punish, to dismiss all those who are irreligious, who do not know their catechism and who are disobedient.
W hoever is expelled from the congregation is also expelled from the school, through a notice handed out by the spiritual director to the prefect o f studies.
They have the right to withhold the promotion o f students from a lower to a higher grade, and to submit students to an additional catechism exam on All Saints Day. Students will be denied promotion if they continue to demonstrate ignorance.104
N o less authoritarian w ere the dem ands in reference to teachers, obliged to always have a certificate o f good moral and religious conduct issued by the bishop.
They were obliged to provide supervision at exact tim es,105 an assistance w hich had to be extremely attentive and dem anding for its possible consequences.
The student who, on account o f his obstinate disobedience or serious lack of respect towards his teacher or spiritual director is to be suspended from school will be readmitted only after three days and after first begging for forgiveness from the school. Students lacking religious spirit, with corrupt morals, who are incorrigible, guilty o f obstinate and scandalous resistance to the orders of superiors or guilty of some crime, will be expelled from the school as an example to others.106
101 Ibid., art. 4 2.
102 C f. R egolam ento, b o o k 4 , Ch. l,p a r . 1. D e lla congregazione, art. 134-143.
103 Ibid., b o o k 4 , Ch. 1, par. 2. D e i d irettori sp iritu a li, art. 144-167.
104 Ibid., art. 146.
105 Ibid., art. 4 8 -5 2 ,5 4 -5 5 .
106 Ibid., b ook 3, Ch. I, par. 2 D ei doveri deg li stu d e n ti in g enerale, a rt.4 1 and 46.