BETTER TO PREVENT THAN REPRESS
5. Religion as prevention
Religion is universally recognized as an irreplaceable ingredient o f personal and social prevention, a guarantee o f order and prosperity. Naturally, Morichini is convinced o f this as he underscores that only religion can establish the required link betw een scholastic instruction and an authentic education: to reach moral perfection it is essential that instruction should be joined to education.
N ow religion is the basis o f education, since it provides light fo rth e mind and trains the heart to pursue virtue: and this is the m ost important feature o f all. It stands to reason then, that the m ost im portant subject to be taught in the schools should be catechism and next to it, reading and writing. In m any schools, the four arithm etic operations should also be included; and finally, in some schools Italian, Latin, French, Church and civil history, geography and drafting should be included.54
De G erando, too, is a convinced supporter o f this idea when he states that
“religion offers the m ost sublime and valid influence which is particularly evident in
52 C. Petitti di R oreto, D ella condizione attuale d elle carceri, in O pere s c e lte ,. 1 ,5 6 2 -5 6 3 . 53 V. Troya, “ Proposta di alcuni m ezzi onde la pubblica istruzione com pia il suo u ffic io ”, in L ’E ducatore prim ario, 1 ( 1845): n. 2, Jan. 25-26.
54 C .L. M orichin i, D e g l’Istitu ti d i p u b b lic a ca rità , 34.
Christianity, which in turn is the highest expression o f religion.”55 “Bright minds have produced great havoc. T oday’s m inds seem m ore open to reflection, and religious m orality is, alm ost generally, recognised as one o f the m ost outstanding goods o f humanity.56
Petitti, in particular, is at pains to underscore the im portance o f the religious elem ent in the corrective process for prison detainees who are to be re-educated and given back the chance to have personal dignity. Petitti denounces the m any inconveniences which are a cause o f the imm orality and impiety which obstruct the success o f the religious and m oral instruction im parted to detainees, as required by law, in all the prisons. He em phasises the absolute necessity and pressing need o f a prison reform .57
He lists “the basic subjects” w hich are called on to regulate life in a truly corrective penal institution. He concludes with the No. 15: “Finally there is no doubt that the moral and religious instruction, if continuously provided, will revive the sentiments instilled in them at an early age, sentiments about any good principle, long forgotten, and at last turn those perverted souls tow ards w hat is good”.58 Then he deals, in detail, with every type o f prison.
In a ‘preventive prison’, moral instruction will either not exist or be inadequate without the contribution o f religious instruction. Religious instruction would be imperfect if it were not accom panied by a strict observance o f all the practices o f worship which every good Christian should attend to. The quantity and quality o f these worship practices are relevant. In the ‘repressive prison’, the anticipated demands are similar and even greater. Intensive and personalised care is championed for “correctional or penitentiary institutions, with the addition o f a carefully chosen, prudent, and perceptive chaplain” .59 H e had also called attention, once again, to som e ways w hich m ight make religious practices more attractive.
Religious materials should be distributed in such a way as to make them suitable to the age and condition o f detainees. So, while we want to avoid the danger of alienating the minds o f young people from religious sentiment by making religious
55 J.-M . D e G erando, D ella p u b b lic a b e n e fic e n za ..., . 5, 2 4 5 -2 4 9 P otere sp e c ia le del cristia n esim o s u l m ig lio ra m en to d e 'p o p o la r i costum i.
56 J.-M . D e G erando, D ella p u b b lic a beneficenza, 5. 2 7 3 .
57 C .l. Petitti di R oreto, D ella condizione a ttuale d elle carceri in O pere scelte, vol. 1 ,349- 351,35 8 3 5 9
-58 Ibid, voi 1 ,4 9 1 ; cf. 4 8 9 -4 9 3 . H e p oin ts to three advantages o f corrective education: “ 1.
im p ossib ility o f further corruption o f the detain ees, 2. greater p ossib ility that they w ill contract habits o f o b e d ie n c e and w ork, and b e co m in g p ea cefu l, u seful c itizen s, and 3. probability, though m inor, o f radical reform (Ibid, 49 3 ).
59 C .l. Petitti di Roreto, voi 1 ,5 1 9 -5 2 6 ,5 3 6 -5 3 7 .
services too long and therefore boring or a cause o f distraction; we should also try to make these worthy practices o f worship, something palatable for these inexperienced hearts. And, therefore, we should call upon ecclesiastics, who are intelligent, with a high prestige, and the greatest amount of gentleness, mixed with a necessary firmness.60
Don Bosco has an intensely religious section in his 1877 Preventive System ’ booklet. He first proposed some fundam ental expressions o f Catholic worship, and then rem arked: “never force the boys to frequent the Sacram ents... let the beauty, grandeur and holiness o f the Catholic religion be dwelt on.”61
Petitti, furtherm ore, related the effectiveness o f religious education to the personality o f the chaplain and dedicated a paragraph o f his w ork to the ‘qualities and duties o f the chaplain’:
The chaplain’s task is a very important one, much like the one of the Director.
As a m atter o f fact the initial thrust for any drive to keep the rules and correct oneself really starts from the chaplain...
The ecclesiastical superior should be wise enough to be cautious in proposing (as a chaplain) only a person endowed with intelligent zeal, with evangelical charity, with a firm and yet free and easy character, w ith m uch ability to w ork, w ith deep know ledge, o f m ature age, w ith a dignified look and capable o f w inning over the confidence and respect o f others.
The chaplain, however, should have nothing at all to do with the carrying out of disciplinary rules. Therefore, he should keep out o f any act o f repression and reward. His jo b is to provide advice and comfort ... His main concern should be that o f awakening faith, hope and charity within the detainees. Faith is needed to convince them about religious truths; hope is needed to trust that a better destiny can be merited; charity is needed to lead them to decide to be no longer harmful to society. The whole o f religious activity is bound up with these elements. Religious activity, however, is only effective when there is the intervention o f grace, sincerely asked for. This grace alone can turn the minds o f the detainees towards a sincere or radical emendation. In conclusion we would like to stress again that the chaplain must be the confidante, the counsellor and consoler o f the detainees, but in an intelligent sense, in a fatherly and shrewd way.62
60 Ibid 2,485.
61 II sistem a p re ve n tivo (1 877), 54, O E X X V III432.
62 C.I. Petitti di R oreto, D ella condizione delle carceri, in O pere scelte, 5 5 3 -5 5 5 .
Petitti di Roretto’s statements are in tune with those attributed to Don Bosco by w hoever reported on the conversation he had w ith Urban Rattazzi in 1854. Those statem ents m ade precise reference to the possibility o f introducing the ‘Preventive System’ within the penal institutions, and being actually incarnated in the person, words, captivating attitude o f G od’s minister.63
The actions o f the Popes and the Church after the ‘Revolution’ aimed at following the same direction: to create an energetic restoration o f unity and authority within the Church and regenerate consciences and society by m eans o f a general religious reawakening.
It was m eant to be an activity o f recovery, defence and prevention; negatively, it w as directed at fighting indifference and w idespread libertarian spirit. Positively such activity had to rely on the missionary movement which was developing extensively, new forms o f apostolate and education and re-education o f the young.64 And “really a lot o f people feel the troublesom e necessity to take the new times into account, the changed m entality o f the young, not to be too heavy, by going back to the past, and opening up to new possibilities”.65
The actions o f all the Popes o f the 18th century followed this perspective:
Pius V II’s encyclical DiuSatis, May 15,1800;
Leo X II’s encyclical UbiPrimum M ay 3,1823;
Pius V III’s encyclical TraditiHumilitatiNostrae M ay 24,1829;
Gregory X V I’s encyclical Mirari Vos A ugust 15,1832;
Pius IX ’s encyclical Nostis etNobiscum December 8,1849, for the bishops o f Italy and then his letter to the bishops o f the K ingdom o f the Two Sicilies, January 20, 1858, and, finally the encyclical Quanta Cura, D ecem ber 8,1865.
In the encyclical Diu Satis, Pius VII recom m ended that the bishops should tend the Christian sheepfold but also devote vigilance, solicitude, inventiveness, and preferential love tow ard children and adolescents, for it is these who, like soft wax, can be moulded for good or evil more than the adults.66 The Pope quoted the scripture passage, repeated over the centuries by Christians: “adulescens juxta viam suam
63 Cf. A Ferreira da S ilva, C onversazione con U rbano R attazzi ( \ 854), in P. Braido, ed. Don Bosco E ducatore, (R om e, L A S 1997), 85-87.
64 Cf. S. Fontana, L a controriuzione ca tto lica in Italia (1 8 2 0 -1 8 3 0 ) (B rescia, M orcelliana 1968), 65-124.
65 M . P etrocchi, L a R estaurazione, il c a rd in a l C on sa lvi e la rifo rm a del 1816 (F lorence, Le M onnier 1 9 4 1 ),4 .
66 Enc. D iu Satis 15 M ay 1800, B ill. R om . Cont. 11 23.
etiam cum senuerit, non recedetab ea” (an adolescent even when he becom es old, will never deviate from his original way o f living).67
Pius IX exhorted the bishops to take stock o f the m any “crim inal w ays”
evidenced by the sad times they lived in, and being used by the enemies o f God and o f humanity to try to pervert and corrupt innocent youths in particular. “The bishops”, the Pope adds, “ should direct all o f their efforts tow ards the proper education o f youth, for it is m ostly on youth that the prosperity o f Christian and civil society depends.”
Only a Christian education, as a m atter o f fact, w as capable o f offering words and means o f grace, suitable for the Christian restoration o f individuals and o f society.68
Many welfare and educational experiences o f the 19th century, including Don B osco’s, would be inspired by these very definitely Catholic roots, and w ould draw impulses and means from them directed more broadly toward the improvement o f all hum an beings and society according to the needs o f the tim es.69
67 Prov. 2 2:6
68 A p o sto lic L etter Cum N a p er to bishops in the K ingdom o f the Two S icilies, Jan. 2 0 ,1 8 5 8 , A c ta P ii IX, III, p. 12.
69 N aturally w e can on ly indicate so m e o f th ese, k eep in g in m in d geographic and ideal proximity.