ALCOHOLISM. -
I. MEDICINE
A morbid condition caused by the immoderate use of alcohol or spirituous beverages in quantities sufficient to produce alcoholic intoxication. More commonly, wine is used (Italy and France), beer (Germany and England), and liquors (Scandinavia, Russia, and the U.S.A.); in these beverages, ethyl alcohol is contained in amounts ranging from 3-4% in beer to 60-70% in liquors. The central nervous system is primarily affected; initially with an excitatory action, soon followed by paralytic and narcotic effects. In acute intoxication, if death does not occur, the damage may resolve; in chronic intoxication, largely irreparable lesions are established. Psychically, chronic alcoholism produces moral and intellectual decline in the individual, with characteristic alterations of personality: weakening of memory, dulling of moral sense, apathy with a marked reduction in work capacity. Polyneuritis develops (tremors, ataxia, paralysis); chronic catarrhal conditions of the mucous membranes, especially of the stomach, with the classic "vomitus matutinus potatorum"; arteriosclerotic lesions; severe alterations in the most important organs of vegetative life: hepatic cirrhosis, renal sclerosis, myocardial degeneration, often causing premature death. Apoplexies are frequent (v.).The most severe neuro-psychic form is "delirium tremens" (motor excitement with mental confusion and distressing auditory and visual hallucinations), which may be followed by death (10% of cases) or a chronic demential state.
The high mortality and morbidity among the descendants of alcoholics is likely linked to the many neuropsychic and somatic conditions transmitted by the parents.
The most severe forms of chronic alcoholism result from the abuse of liquors. In the most affected countries (England and the U.S.A.), 40% of psychoses and 80% of crimes are caused by alcohol; the prognosis for alcoholics who abuse liquors is much worse: epilepsy and other diseases of the central nervous system are frequent.
In Italy, where alcoholism is less widespread than in other countries, it accounts for 8% of psychoses, and alcoholism appears as a personal antecedent in 36% of the insane and as a familial antecedent in 21%.
As to whether small doses of diluted alcohol used as a beverage (wine, beer) are harmful, it can be answered with certainty in the negative, provided the dose is not exceeded (about one gram of alcohol per kilogram of body weight in 24 hours).
The sense of euphoria that accompanies the ingestion of alcohol conceals the damage of intoxication and reinforces the prejudices that recommend the use and abuse of alcoholic beverages. Similarly, the depressive action on intelligence is often masked by the apparent hyper-ideation linked to the tumult of ideas and images it provokes in the brain, much like what occurs in other poisonings (belladonna, opium, hashish); hence the relationship observed between alcoholism and poetic inspiration in some individuals (Swift, Verlaine, Hoffmann).
II. SOCIAL MORALITY
1) Harms of alcoholism. Alcohol has been defined as the narcotic of consciousness because it alters or destroys the centers of inhibition and reflection. This results in the large number (up to 40-50%) of cases of insanity due to alcohol and the frequent and close connection between alcoholism and criminality, suicide, and work-related accidents. Moreover, alcoholism reduces resistance to disease, is a major factor in prostitution and poverty through the squandering of money and the abandonment of family life, especially among the working classes. The harm suffered by the individual is transmitted to the offspring: the alienist Mozel formulated a law of the descent of alcoholics over four generations, finding in them the most severe forms of insanity and degeneration. Particular importance attaches to alcoholic intoxication at the time of conception, during pregnancy, and while breastfeeding, as it gives rise to the greatest number of mental and nervous diseases (hysterics, epileptics, idiots, imbeciles). Statistical evidence: high number of military rejections due to alcoholic inheritance; high number of long-lived individuals among the temperate and abstinent. Alcoholism as a social disease is fostered by industrial organization and urbanization, especially among factory workers; it is widely prevalent among the affluent classes of the Anglo-Saxon countries.
2) The Church and the struggle against alcoholism. The Church cannot remain indifferent in the face of the physical and spiritual harm caused by alcoholism. Christianity affirms the duty of temperance for all the faithful, regardless of the renunciations of ascetics. St. Paul extols the intoxication that comes from the Spirit of God over that which comes from wine, and grants Timothy the use of a moderate amount of wine as medicine. Among pagans, there were no lack of condemnations of drunkenness and praises of abstinence. The laws of Lycurgus and the ideal laws of Plato and Aristotle prohibited wine for the young. Athletes were prescribed to abstain from both wine and sexual indulgence. Yet paganism could not fully grasp the problem, for many of its deities were devoted to wine, and the rites of Dionysus and Bacchus were celebrated with sacred intoxication.
The Church, therefore, ever a teacher of temperance, accustomed to considering wine within the chaste holiness of the rite, has found itself at the forefront of the struggle against alcoholism. The first manifestations of private and state action occurred in non-Catholic countries because the social phenomenon of alcoholism manifested there before it did in Catholic countries, with the exception of Ireland. To the peaceful Irishman Fr. Theobald Mathew (1790–1850) (v.) is owed the foundation of the Pioneer Total Abstinence Association, a Catholic temperance society and the fruit and instrument of a remarkable apostolate begun in Ireland (1837) and extended to North America. He received five million promises of sobriety and organized ninety thousand abstainers. Corresponding to this propaganda was a 50% decrease in criminal convictions and an 80% reduction in death sentences. From its inception to the present day, the work of Fr. Mathew, also spread to the United States and England, drew the cooperation of Daniel O’Connell, Cardinals Manning, McCabe, Newman, Logue, Gibbons, and Vaughan.
The importance of the Church’s anti-alcoholism efforts in the United States was confirmed by the deliberations of the Councils of Baltimore (1840 and 1884) and the Synod of Cincinnati. Catholic Germany had valiant apostles of anti-alcoholism from 1843 onward, including Fr. Seling, Monsignor Egger, and the leader of the Centre Party, Windthorst. The Pioneer Total Abstinence Association (for adults) and the Guardian Angel League (for children) flourished. Notable initiatives also arose in Poland, Lithuania, Switzerland, and Belgium.
In France—as in Italy and Spain—the high consumption of wine is tied to the interests of national production; hence the difficulty of propagating temperance. The French National League Against Alcoholism federates several associations, including two Catholic ones: the White Cross and the Golden Cross. Protestants have formed powerful anti-alcoholism associations. In North America, the Order of Good Templars (1852), with branches in Europe; in Europe, the Blue Cross, widespread in Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, and France; and the Salvation Army have all participated in the anti-alcoholism movement. Workers’ parties have often adhered to this cause. The common foundation of all these efforts is educational action (family, school, church, workplace), grounded in example—“absolute abstinence from alcoholic beverages is the most effective means of struggle,” as stated in one of the resolutions of the French and Italian anti-alcoholism federations—and supported by vigorous legislative action.
To the moral, hygienic, and social reasons, Catholics add the defense of the faith, for alcoholism is closely linked to blasphemy, profanity, and vice.
3) Alcoholism in Italy and anti-alcoholism action. Italy is among the countries where the consumption of the most harmful alcoholic beverages is lowest, while wine—the least harmful of alcoholic drinks—is consumed in the greatest quantity. Awareness of the social dangers of alcoholism emerged in Italy in the early 20th century. Ephemeral, though significant, were the attempts at anti-alcoholism organization by Dr. Clerici in Turin (1861) and the Temperance Patronage in Milan (1882). An effective movement began in Florence with the periodical *Bene sociale* (1898) and the founding of the Italian Anti-Alcoholism Federation at the national congress held in Venice in 1904. This initiative, of a neutral character, attracted notable support from the clergy and laity.
Catholic initiatives followed: the struggle against alcoholism was one of the cornerstones of the movement for public morality promoted in Turin (1899) by Prof. R. Bettazzi, who later founded (1912) the *Nuova Crociata*—the Italian Catholic Association Against Alcoholism—which achieved rapid success and effective manifestations: popular publications (by G. Masi, A. Portaluppi, A. Giacomelli), a pastoral letter by Monsignor Marenco, Bishop of Massa Carrara (1915), the formation of abstinence groups among young people and priests, inspired by German Catholic youth and the Union of Abstaining Priests in Belgium under the patronage of Cardinal Mercier. A decree by Pius X (21 May 1914) granted indulgences to members of temperance societies dedicated to abstinence from alcoholic beverages.
As for the guiding principles of the anti-alcoholism campaign, they are summarized in the following declaration adopted by the national federations of France and Italy:
a) Wine and beer are neither necessary nor beneficial for healthy individuals. Distilled beverages are always harmful.
b) For a normal adult male, the maximum daily intake of wine—exclusively with meals—should not exceed half a liter.
c) Wine and alcoholic beverages are to be prohibited for children, adolescents, pregnant women, nursing mothers, and neurotics.
d) Absolute abstinence from alcoholic beverages is the most effective means of combating alcoholism.
3) Legislative measures against alcoholism. It is universally recognized that the struggle against alcoholism is strengthened first and foremost by spiritual and social means—education and the improvement of workers’ living conditions in home and workshop—but these must be supplemented by legal action. A century and a half of experience (the first legislative measures against alcoholism in the United States date to 1888) has tested various measures, including:
a) Punishments for drunkards;
b) Commitment of alcoholics to institutions;
c) Prohibition of selling alcoholic beverages to minors and drunkards;
d) Restrictions on the sale of alcohol (in terms of the number of outlets, hours of sale, etc.);
e) Recognition of the right to sell alcohol only to temperance societies;
f) Authorization for municipalities and autonomous entities to issue regulations against alcoholism;
g) Heavy taxation on the production, manufacture, and sale of alcohol;
h) State monopoly on the manufacture and sale of alcohol;
i) Prohibition of the production and sale of absinthe and alcoholic beverages;
l) Anti-alcoholism instruction in schools and measures against intemperate employees and workers.
Italian legislation—which first systematically addressed the issue with the law of 19 June 1913—coordinated various provisions governing the sale of alcoholic beverages in the Consolidated Text of Public Safety Laws (18 June 1913). The Penal Code of 1930 contains relevant provisions in articles 686–91 (contraventions concerning the prevention of alcoholism and crimes committed in a state of intoxication).
Particular significance attaches to the norms against alcoholism contained in the Law for the Protection and Assistance of Maternity and Infancy.
6) Alcoholism in the colonies and in Africa. Alcoholism in colonial territories, and especially in Africa, gives rise to a serious social problem—analogous to that of narcotics—which concerns Christian missions. The devastation wrought by alcoholism among the peoples of colour provoked international measures agreed upon at the General Act of Berlin (29 Feb. 1885) and at the General Act and Declaration of Brussels (2 July 1890). Against the infamous traffic of those speculators, import duties were imposed and restrictions or limitations placed on alcoholic beverages. These measures were reinforced by the International Conventions of Saint-Germain (10 Sept. 1909), to which Italy also adhered. They are moreover connected with the international campaign against slavery.
For action against alcoholism: I. Doogan, *Manual of Temperance* (Roman Cath. Temperance Society), Calcutta 1897; A. Bertillon, *L’alcoolisme et les moyens de le combattre*, Paris 1904; A. Giacomelli, *Il gran nemico*, Treviso 1908; J. Witte, *Die Alkoholfrage in religiöser Beleuchtung*, Bonn 1910; A. Portaluppi, *In faccia alla rovina*, Legnano 1912; A. Cobelli, *I pubblici esercizi nei provvedimenti per combattere l’alcolismo*, Milano 1914; G. Masi, *Fa bene l’alcol?* Torino 1914; A. Junod, *L’alcoolisme chez les noirs africains*, Geneva 1930; A. Jamalio, s. V. in *Nuovo Dig. Ital.*, Torino 1937, pp. 302-306.