Balestra, Serafino

BALESTRA, SERAFINO. - Priest, educator, b. in the Canton of Ticino, d. 26 Oct. 1886. Ordained a priest, he set aside the studies in archaeology he had undertaken and devoted himself entirely — out of a deeply felt vocation and mission — to the education of the deaf and mute. From the journeys he made abroad after 1867, and especially in Switzerland, Belgium, Holland and France, in order to acquaint himself with the methods there applied, he drew the conviction that speech could be taught — as a general rule — to all the deaf and mute. From his encouragements, reinforced by the favorable reports of others who had gone to Germany to ascertain for themselves the progress claimed for that procedure, the majority came to hold the opinion that in Italy too an attempt should be made at what was being done abroad: it was chiefly then that B. induced educators to abandon sign language and to give — in the instruction of the deaf and mute — the first place to the spoken word and to speech read from the lips.

The superiority of the method of education by "pure oral" means which he adopted, and the extraordinary results he obtained, were acknowledged at a congress — convened on his initiative in Milan — of 200 teachers from every country. By his tireless spirit of apostolate he was driven as far as distant Argentina, to found there a first institute for the deaf and mute.

Rosario Guido Tentori