BARBERA, MARIO. - Jesuit and writer, b. at Mineo (Catania) on 17 April 1877, d. at Rome on 5 November 1947. Having entered the Society of Jesus in 1891 and completed his studies, he was called in 1910 to be among the editors of La Civiltà Cattolica. He also held positions at the Roman Congregations.
His first output was of a narrative character: Fiori di rovine (Rome 1912), L'isola degli emiri (ibid. 1912), Bianca Fortis (ibid. 1918), Meriggio d'Etiopia (ibid. 1927). Having abandoned the narrative genre, he devoted himself to the treatment of historical, apologetic and pedagogical subjects, in the last of which he brought such balance, competence and clarity of vision as to make him, in this last quarter of a century, one of the most esteemed and authoritative scholars in school matters. And on the problem of the public school and freedom of teaching he said a word that has not failed to have an effective influence on the clarification of ideas relating to these subjects.
Principal works of pedagogy: I convitti nazionali in Italia (Rome 1918); Libertà di insegnamento, principi e proposte (ibid. 1919); Intorno all'ordine degli studi del ginnasio e liceo dei seminari (ibid. 1921); Gesù adolescente nella educazione giovanile (ibid. 1923); Lo studio della lingua nella scuola classica (ibid. 1924); Il buono e il cattivo della riforma Gentile (ibid. 1925); Catholic Foundations in secular Universities (Woodstock 1927); Educating the Child at Home (St. Paul 1931); La « Ratio studiorum » (Padua 1942); S. Giovanni Bosco educatore (Turin 1942); Ortogenesi e Biotipologia, ibid. 1943; Educazione e salvezza sociale (Rome 1945); L'educazione nuova e il metodo Montessori (Milan 1946).
Bibliography
Nino Sammartano