ANTI-SLAVERY, ITALIAN SOCIETY FOR THE ABOLITION OF.
The foundation of anti-slavery societies in Europe is linked to the anti-slavery movement and to the role played therein by Leo XIII. In 1888, the Pope received an African pilgrimage led by Cardinal Lavigerie (q.v.), Archbishop of Carthage, and entrusted him with the task of launching a campaign against the slave trade. The cardinal immediately set to work in France, England, Belgium, Holland, Germany, and Spain, promoting the establishment of groups (designated by various names) dedicated to anti-slavery action. Such groups were a novelty, as only one existed in London (founded in 1839). Lavigerie’s campaign concluded in Italy with conferences in Palermo, Naples, Milan, and Rome in December 1888.
In January 1889, a group was formed in Rome at the initiative of Filippo Tolli (q.v.), which in April adopted the name *Società Antischiavista Italiana* (Italian Anti-Slavery Society, S.A.I.), coordinating the efforts of existing committees and founding new ones in Italy’s principal cities.
The scope of action for anti-slavery societies was defined at the *Libre Congrès Antiesclavagiste* (Free Anti-Slavery Congress) organized by Lavigerie in Paris (September 1890), attended by delegations from Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain, and the United Kingdom. The congress followed the *Conférence Antiesclavagiste* held in Brussels (also in 1890), convened at the invitation of the King of the Belgians and attended by 19 states. This conference granted religious missions, “national associations, and individual initiatives” (Art. 4), as well as “foundations for refuges” for freed women and children (Art. 88), the authority to coordinate government activities. Based on these provisions, the societies founded by Lavigerie (organized and led by Catholics but open to all) established an action plan and designated zones of oversight according to the territories and spheres of influence of the respective states. Thus, the S.A.I. was tasked with overseeing Tripolitania, Ethiopia, and certain routes in the Near East. The Society immediately established a committee in Tripoli and agencies in Bengasi, Derna, Misurata, Zitten, Tobruk, Solonico, Smyrna, Piro, and Canea. The Brussels Conference authorized the Society to have consuls of the signatory nations inspect suspect ships, remove any slaves found hidden aboard, and declare them free.
In its first 25 years, the S.A.I. succeeded in freeing over 2,000 slaves. Following Italy’s conquest of Libya, it supported both the government’s actions and those of the missionaries, particularly by promoting the apostolate of Fr. Apolloni (q.v.). In Benadir, the oversight bodies reported grave accusations of slavery against an industrial enterprise, and amid heated controversy, the S.A.I. sent one of its members, the explorer Luigi Rocchetti-Bricchetti, who exposed the truth in a documentary book (1904), prompting government intervention. The establishment of an apostolic prefecture, entrusted to the Trinitarians, was also advocated; despite insurmountable difficulties, it was erected by Fr. Leandro dell’Addolorata. In the colony of Eritrea, the S.A.I. confirmed that Arab traders were engaged in the Red Sea slave trade: in one raid, 32 children were abducted and later freed by Italian forces. With the Society’s assistance, they were taken to Massaua, where they were cared for by the Capuchins and the Daughters of St. Anne.
Through its publications, national congresses (1905, 1907, 1921, 1926), and political advocacy, the S.A.I. made its voice heard at the Algeciras Conference (1906). From 1920 onward, it also contributed extensively to the initiatives of the League of Nations and the International Labour Office in Geneva. The war of 1914 led to the violation of numerous anti-slavery provisions from the Berlin (1885) and Brussels (1890) Conferences; the Treaty of Versailles and the St. Germain Convention (1919) reinstated them, though insufficiently. The League of Nations therefore established a commission to study slavery, which prepared the *Convention relative à l’esclavage* in Geneva (1926), radically revising the issue and addressing forced labor, considered a form of de facto slavery. The S.A.I.’s 1921 and 1926 congresses examined these problems, and the solutions proposed were adopted by the Italian government.
The S.A.I., which has always had a cardinal protector appointed by the Holy See, operated in close collaboration with Catholic missions and often with the *Associazione Nazionale per Soccorrere i Missionari Italiani* (National Association for the Aid of Italian Missionaries). The contribution of missionaries was particularly valuable in the education of freed slaves and, more broadly, of indigenous peoples, to promote free labor. To this end, the Society promoted the establishment of “freedom villages” in Anglo-Egyptian Sudan (with the Sons of the Sacred Heart) and in Ethiopia (with the Consolata Missionaries). While their structures varied, these were essentially agricultural and vocational training centers that yielded excellent results. Collaboration with the Italian government—which in the Society’s early years was hindered by political mistrust—became continuous after 1900 and advanced alongside the development of Italy’s colonies.
The S.A.I. participated in colonial and geographical exhibitions and congresses and published the journal *Antischiavismo* along with various monographs. It was not uninvolved in the papal mission entrusted to one of its members, Fr. Giovanni Genocchi (q.v.), which aimed to investigate the conditions of indigenous workers in the Putumayo (1911). This mission gave rise to the encyclical *In Plurimis* (7 June 1912), in which Pius X condemned the “horrors of slavery surpassing even the most extreme examples of pagan turpitude.” In the same region, another member, explorer Giuseppe Capra, returned in 1937 and published a report. In 1935, the S.A.I. established within its ranks a Committee for Colonial and Missionary Studies. The S.A.I. is the only one of the societies founded by Lavigerie still in existence; the others disappeared with the outbreak of the 1914 war.
**