Charity

CARITÀ – Charity. Detail of the predella of Raphael’s Deposition – Vatican Pinacoteca. (Alinari photograph)

Miramion, the Figlie della Provvidenza di Dio, etc. But he was directly the great initiator of the Compagnies des dames de la Charité, through which the lay apostolate of women of the world in the service of charity was restored to life. In France, before St Vincent, there existed in the cities and countryside the so-called Charités, or charitable institutions administered by local authorities, and the Confréries de charité, true mutual-aid societies for those who belonged to them. Nevertheless, quite a few had disappeared during the Wars of Religion, and it was St Vincent who rebuilt them and restored them to honour.

Many ladies of the aristocracy joined them, and they soon spread to all the provincial cities of France (cf. P. Coste, S. Vincent de Paul et les dames de la Charité, Paris 1917). Thanks to this man’s tireless and ingenious activity, the measures of public assistance for the suppression of begging achieved better results than elsewhere. In 1653 he founded in Paris the Hospice du St Nom de Jésus (today Hospice des Incurables) for the elderly; three years later came the Hôpital Général, to receive the beggars of Paris and put them to work. For this purpose Louis XIV assigned an immense complex of buildings, the largest then known, which housed up to 10,000 poor and foundlings. The example of the capital was imitated in the provincial cities, where, by order of the king, general hospitals were to be established. For these foundations Louis XIV appealed for the cooperation of the clergy, which was not lacking, especially among the Jesuits. Fr Chaurand founded no fewer than 123 hospitals during thirty years

of apostolate; Fr Guevarre, who replaced him after his death, worked successfully in Gascony, Languedoc and Piedmont until his death, which occurred in Turin in 1724 (cf. Ch. Joret, Le p. Guevarre et la fondation des bureaux de charité du XVIIe siècle, Toulouse 1899).

The general hospitals intended to suppress begging initially aroused enthusiasm; gradually, however, they merely displaced begging without actually destroying II. In time they returned to their natural function as simple shelters for the genuine poor, the sick, orphans and women. Shelters conceived in this way during the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries multiplied everywhere. In France, too, the form of assistance practised in the Hôtel-Dieu spread; there a type of assistance was provided that was more generous than prudent, open to every kind of misfortune and every category of person afflicted by misfortune (the poor, the sick, orphans, etc.). In the Paris institution alone, as many as 25,000 people passed through in a year. The same principle prevailed, for example, in the Hospital of St James in Augusta at Rome, or at St Eligius in Naples. In others, however, the exclusion of certain categories of needy people was common, and special houses were assigned to them. Thus, to cite an example of what occurred in Italy, foreigners in Rome were housed in national hospitals. Piazza (Opere pie di Roma, Rome 1679) counted twenty-two of them, seven of which dated from after the fifteenth century. For pilgrims, St Philip Neri founded the Hospital of the Trinity in Rome and a confraternity to care for them; a similar institution existed in Naples, where the statutes recommended that the members show the greatest humanity in welcoming female travellers.

The Somaschi worked for orphans from the very time of their foundation, and institutions intended for the moral preservation of children were numerous in Rome (17), Naples (22), Pavia, Milan, Bologna, Florence, etc. No less importance was attached to the rehabilitation of prostitutes, who were gathered in re-education shelters in Florence, Naples, Palermo, Rome, etc. The discussion could be extended to other classes of disadvantaged persons, such as the insane, the mentally deranged, epileptics, the deaf-mute, the blind, prisoners, etc. For some categories of persons afflicted by misfortune, the charitable effort also aimed at adapting systems of care, the fruit of the most advanced techniques and experience.

Overall, it may be said that all these works flourished until the French Revolution; many even managed to survive the severe trial of the end of the eighteenth century. They had been consolidated through numerous bequests, legacies, donations, etc. (in addition to the sporadic subsidies of daily contributions), which resulted in the growth of mortmain, against which there was a protest in many European states of the eighteenth century. Hence the tendency to unlock the immovable property of charitable foundations, especially hospitals, by converting it into State-guaranteed income securities.

The States, by then strengthened by their absolute power proclaimed by Enlightenment theories, believed themselves authorized to dispose of such property in order to divert it to other purposes or suppress it entirely. In France this operation was carried out on a large scale by the Revolution of 1789, but the consequences were disastrous: with the decline of all the great charitable works, the poor were once again cast into the streets. The revolutionary government, which had even outlawed private charity itself, judged humiliating to humanity, had to reverse course and appeal to the gentle and active charity of the nuns, until Napoleon, by restoring the teaching congregations to life, implicitly repudiated the destructive work of ten years and turned to the Church to prevent the poor from dying. Nevertheless, the blow suffered by charitable works was extremely serious, all the more so because the laws for the secularization of public assistance spread throughout the European states. And since, in their practical application, the secular laws proved inadequate to the need, a new vast field was reopened to Catholic charity in the nineteenth century. Many religious congregations were restored, and lay associations multiplied, some of which still flourish today. Among the many, mention should be made of the one founded in Paris in 1801 through the efforts of several students of medicine and law under the direction of the former Jesuit Delpuits, the Congregation of Our Lady under the title Auxilium Christianorum, to which the paternity of the modern achievements of French charity is today attributed (cf. G. de Grandmaison, La Congrégation, Paris 1902). After this congregation disappeared in the Revolution of 1830, Providence brought forth a second, whose development no one at the time could have foreseen: the Conférence de charité, destined to become the worldwide organization of the Conferenze di s. Vincenzo de' Paoli, especially through the work of Frédéric Ozanam. Founded in 1833 in the offices of the Tribune Catholique in Paris, it now numbers more than 15,000 conferences scattered across 80 nations, with more than 210,000 active members devoted to relieving every form of social misery without distinction of religious affiliation and without humiliating inquiries into those receiving assistance (cf. the commemorative volume: Ozanam, Le Livre du Centenaire, Paris 1913). In Italy, soon afterward and with the same purpose, the Società femminile di s. Vincenzo de' Paoli arose, founded in 1856 by Celestina Scarabelli in Bologna.

The initiatives of the Catholic laity gradually multiplied and were perfected in the following decades, and thus, in an endless series, works of assistance arose for infants, mothers of families, orphans, abandoned children, homeless women, and the various categories of employees, such as domestic servants, railway workers, etc.; statistics and information concerning them may be found in the Annuaire de l'Office central des oeuvres charitables, founded in Paris in 1890 by Leone Lefebvre, and especially in the Manuel des Oeuvres, Institutions religieuses et charitables de Paris et des départements (Paris 1912). Alongside lay initiatives, properly religious ones also developed, likewise numerous. Here it is enough to mention the principal examples: the Suore di s. Giuseppe di Cluny (1807), founded by Anna Maria Javouhey, for the care of children and the sick; the Suore del Buon Pastore, of s. Eufasia Pelletier (1835), for the rehabilitation of fallen women, girls at risk, and female prisoners. Unique of their kind were the Piccole Suore dei Poveri, founded in 1840 by Giovanna Jugan at St-Servan in Brittany, for the assistance of abandoned elderly persons of both sexes. Their daily heroism was immortalized in Maxime du Camp’s book La charité privée à Paris, just as L. Arnould, in Ames en prison, extolled the work of the Suore della Sapienza for the deaf and mute. The Suore di Maria Ausiliatrice (1854) devoted themselves to those suffering from tuberculosis, the Dame del Calvario to the incurable, and the Suore cieche di s. Paolo (1852) to the blind, etc. At the end of the last century in France, including the colonies, there were 214,037 members of religious communities, of whom 183,001 were women: two thirds, that is, approximately 120,000, were devoted to charitable activity. Italy did not lag behind in this revival of c., thanks above all to the tireless work of two saints, whose influence was felt throughout the world: Cottolengo and don Bosco. The former, in 1828, began that admirable institution, the Piccola casa della Divina Provvidenza in Turin, which today shelters approximately 8,000 persons with every kind of disability, and founded fourteen religious associations for charitable purposes (cf. p. P. Gastaldi, I prodigi della carità cristiana... Turin 1910); and d. Bosco ensured the perpetuity of his many institutions and provisions for poor youth through the foundation of the Pia Società Salesiana (1859) and the Figlie di Maria Ausiliatrice (1874). C. had also inspired the b. Maddalena di Canossa, who in 1808 founded in Verona the Figlie della C., commonly called canossiane, and the b. Bartolomea Capitanio, who in 1813 founded the Suore di C. At the same time, other works of the same kind arose: in Domodossola, in 1828, the Istituto della C. of Antonio Rosmini; in Chiavari, in 1829, the Figlie di Maria of Bishop Gianelli of Bobbio; in Verona, in 1830, the Società di Maria of d. Antonio Provolo; and in Brescia, in 1840, the Ancelle della C. of Paolina di Rosa. Particular mention should be made of the marchesa Giulia Falletti di Barolo, mother of the poor, the sick, and abandoned children, for whose education she founded the Figlie di s. Anna della Provvidenza in Turin in 1834, and of the Associazione delle Figlie di s. Anna, founded in Piacenza in 1866 by Rosa Gattorno. Still widely remembered are the names of p. Ludovico da Casoria, the friend of the lazzaroni of Naples and founder of the Frati Bigi and the Elisabettine; of the bishop of Piacenza Giovanni B. Scalabrini, a benefactor of Italian emigrants; and, among more recent figures, of d. Luigi Guanella, the lawyer Bartolo Longo, and d. Luigi Orione.

In the United States of America, the charitable activity of Catholics has developed considerably during the last fifty years; but its promising beginnings go back a century, especially in the cities of Philadelphia, Baltimore, Boston, and later Chicago, New York, St. Louis, Detroit, etc., when various local religious congregations for charitable purposes were also arising. Today c. there has reached an excellent degree of organization, thanks to the National Conference of Catholic Charities, which since 1910 has become a permanent institution headquartered in Washington. In 1922, moreover, the Directory of catholic charities in the United States was published for the first time. But it was in Germany that, thanks to this technical organization, works of c. achieved an unsuspected development, before the advent of Nazism suppressed them.

Founded in 1897 chiefly through the efforts of the prelate Lorenzo Wertmann, who directed it until his death (1921), the Deutsche Caritasverband, recognized by the German episcopate as the organ of the charitable activity of Catholics, had as its purpose the study of all currents concerned with the care of the public good, in order to foster, through the most varied forms of activity, Catholics’ love for the good of their neighbors. Until 1931 it counted more than 600,000 members and had a central office in Freiburg, with a rich specialized library containing 40,000 volumes and numerous journals. Its tasks included the study of all movements directed toward the good of one’s neighbor, the publication of books and periodicals, and the preparation of programs for common work; questions concerning c. and public assistance in Germany were discussed, resources were collected to help those in need, and the active forces serving c. were trained. In 1921 these numbered more than 60,000 people working in over 2,000 institutions.

The list of the other forces and means at work throughout the world, wherever the Church can labor unhindered by hostile laws, would be very long. Suffice it to say that in 1930 worldwide Catholic c. could provide the following figures: for private assistance, 29,100 care facilities with 1,420,000 beds and 260,000 assisting and administrative personnel; for semipublic assistance, 96,300 various organizations with 2,400,000 daily visits; and for public assistance, 140,000 institutions. In all, 150,000 sisters, 32,000 religious brothers, 120,000 directors, and 6,650,000 persons engaged in voluntary service to those in need were devoted to the service of c. (v. BENEDETTO XV e PONTIFICIA COMMISSIONE DI ASSISTENZA).

fasc. V. Lipsia 1943, coll. 689-98. Per il periodo medievale bisogna riferirsi sempre, per quanto riguarda la legislazione ecclesiastica in materia di c., alla Histoire de Concilie de l'Edelle Leclercq, Parigi 1907 sgg. Sull'attività dei monasteri e ordini cavaliereschi: M. Heimbucher, Die Orden und Kongregationen der katholische Kirche, 2 voll., 3e ed., Paderborn 1933; A. Wernher, Armen- und Krankenpflege der geistlichen Ritterorden, Berlino 1874; V. ANTILLE, Histoire de l'ordre hospitalier de St-Antoine du Viennois, Parigi 1883; P. Brune, Histoire de l'Ordre hospitalier du St-Esprit, ivi 1892. Intorno a certi aspetti particolari dell'attività caritativa nei lazzaretti, ospedali, case di educazione ecc., cf. L.-A. Labourt, Recherches sur l'origine des ladreries, malodreries et léproseries, Parigi 1854; H. Haeser, Geschichte der christlichen Krankenpflege und Pilgerschaften, Berlino 1857; E. Vignat, Les lépreux et les chevaliers de St-Lazare de Jérusalem, Orléans 1884; L. Lallemand, Histoire des enfants abandonnés et délaissés, Parigi 1885; L. Le Grand, Les Maisons-Dieu. Leurs statuts au XIIIe siècle. Leur régime intérieur, in Revue des questions historiques, 60 (1896), 63 (1898); L. Toller, Les édifices hospitaliers, Parigi 1892; E. von Moller, Die Elendsbruderschaften, Lipsia 1906; G. Kurt, La lèpre en Occident avant les Croisades (in Science et Religion, n. 457), Parigi 1908; A. Simon, L'Ordre des Pénitentes de Ste-Marie-Madeleine en Allemagne au XIIIe siècle, Friburgo 1918; G. Schreiber, Mutter und Kind in der Kultur der Kirche, ivi 1918; J. Maffert, Caritas und Volkspidemien, ivi 1925; id., Caritas und Krankenwesen, ivi 1927; G. Monti, Le confraternite medievali dell'alta e media Italia, 2 voll., Venezia 1927; V. Fainelli, L'assistenza nell'Alto medioevo, Gli Xenodochi di origine romana, in Atti Istit. Veneto Scienze e Lettere, 92, 2e parte (1932-33), pp. 916-93; E. Nabilli Rocca, Gli Ospedali italiani di S. Lazzaro o dei lebboni, in Zeitschrift der Savigny-Stiftung für Rechtsgeschichte, Kan. Abt., 27 (1938), pp. 262-98; G. C. Bascapé, Le vie dei pellegrinaggi medievali attraverso le Alpi centrali e la pianura lombarda, in Arch. stor. della Svizzera ital., 11 (1936), III e IV. - Per quanto poi concerne le correnti speculative della scolastica in materia cf. J. Walter, Das Eigentum nach dem Lehre des hl. Thomas von Aquin, Friburgo in Br. 1895; V. Brants, L'Economie politique au Moyen Age, Lovanio 1895; Fr. Schaub, Der Kampf gegen den Zinssacher... im Mittelalter, Friburgo in Br. 1905; E. Schreiber, Die volkswirtschaftlichen Anschauungen der Scholastik, Jena 1913. Per il periodo moderno, notizie e referenze abbondanti sono disperse nella Storia dei Papi del Pastor. Tra i numerosi contributi che potrebbero essere citati come approfondimento della materia qui trattata riportiamo: E. Ehrle, Beiträge zur Geschichte und Reform der Armenpflege, Friburgo in Br. 1881; H. Holzapfel, Anfänge der Montes Pietatis, Monaco 1903; Schlager, Die soziale Wirksamkeit der Franziskaner, Ratisbona 1907; A. Bianconi, L'opera delle Compagnie del Divino Amore nella Riforma Cattolica, Città di Castello 1914. Le opere d'insieme per quanto riguarda l'attività caritativa in Italia nel periodo moderno mancano; numerose al contrario sono le monografie particolari riferentesi alla storia delle città come quelle di G. Capsoni, Ricerche sugli antichi spedali di Bergamo, Bologna 1840; T. Ravaschieri Fieschi, Storia della c. napoletana, 3 voll., Napoli 1875-76; C. L. Morichini, Degli istituti di c. in Roma, Roma 1870; L. Vitali, La beneficenza in Milano, Milano 1880; L. Bargiacchi, Storia degli Istituti di beneficenza in Pistoia, 4 voll., Firenze 1883. Per la Francia cf., oltre il Lallemand citato, l'art. di L. Prunel, Pauvres, in DFC, III, coll. 1665-1735, con bibl. in fine. In particolare cf. per l'epoca di S. Vincenzo de' Paoli, P. Coste, Monsieur Vincent, 3 voll., Parigi 1934 (trad. II. T. Casini, Firenze 1934); E. Keller, Les Congrégations religieuses en France, Parigi 1880; L. Cahen, Les idées charitables à Paris au XVIIe siècle, in Revue d'histoire moderne et contemporaine, 1900 (maggio-giugno); e specialmente, per il periodo recente, L. Baunard, Un siècle de l'église de la France, Parigi 1901; id., Oeuvres saintes, ivi 1919. Sulla Germania, oltre il Liese citato, cf. l'articolo ben documentato di F. Keller, Caritas, in Stottslexikon, I, coll. 1171-92; id., in LThK, II, coll. 751-61. Per i paesi di lingua inglese tuttora utili: Brother Philemon, Charity e W. Hötter, Poor, in Cath. Enc., III, pp. 593-604; XII, pp. 236-48; XVII (Supplement), pp. 177-83. In particolare cf. E. Chevallier, La foi des pauvres et la société anglaise, Parigi 1892; A. G. Warner, American Charities, Nuova York 1894; Ch. R. Henderson, Modern methods of charity, ivi 1904; K. Waininger, Der soziale Katholizismus in England, München-Gladbach 1913; Statistica degli Ordini e Congregazioni di Diritto Pontificio, edita a cura della S. Congregazione dei Religiosi, Roma 1941. Mario Scaduto

III. ICONOGRAFIA DELLA C.

Prudenzio nella Psycomachia la immaginò in atto di combattere contro l'Avarizia. I minatori del sec. x la rappresentarono come guerriero, con elmo e corazza, e così pittori e scultori di oltralpe fra l'xt e il xxii sec. (facciate di chiese di Amiens, Parigi, Aulnay, Reims). In