Boys' Town (Village, Republic, Community) of the

RAGAZZI, CITTÀ (VILLAGE, REPUBLIC, COMMUNITY) dei. — An educational or re-educational institution for the moral and professional formation of children—orphans or vagrants—victims of abandonment by their families, their surroundings, or depraved companions; to these were added numerous other victims, in the same circumstances, created by the Second World War.

I. HISTORY

The first C. dei r. was established in the United States, in Omaha (Nebraska), by Fr. E. G. Flanagan (v.), in 1917; he borrowed 90 dollars in order to pay the first month’s rent. It began with 5 boys, who by Christmas 1917 had grown to 25 and continued to increase as time went on. Today Boys-Town extends over 3 sq. km., numbers a thousand young citizens, and has its own post office, town hall, and regular court, which meets every Monday; schools, workshops, homes, farms, churches, and an arena with seating for 2,500 and standing room for 8,500 spectators. The work, which astonished physicians and scholars of psychology, priests, experienced police officers, economists, and statesmen, found its overwhelming strength in the love of God and of children.

At Trogen, in Switzerland, the first pavilion of the «Pestalozzi Village» was inaugurated in Sept. 1946, under the auspices of the United Nations, for the reception of war orphans from various nations. The children are divided into groups or «families» of 16–20 persons; each group occupies its own premises, under the guidance of «family heads», teachers, and educators of the same nationality and language as the children. Instruction is given in the pupils’ mother tongue.

In imitation of these cities, many other communities of children arose throughout Europe; in 1948 they came together in the Fédération internationale des Communautés d'enfants (F.I.C.E.), which includes all institutions for children pursuing the following objectives: a) to free the child from fear, the source of mistrust and spite; b) to develop his emotional life through creative activities parallel to his school duties; c) to give him a sense of security through an education close to that of the family; d) to make him understand the mechanisms of social life through active and responsible participation in the work and organizations of the community; e) to save him from group egocentrism by educating him in love of objectivity and in international understanding as well.

In Italy there are more than 20 C. dei r., almost all founded by priests with the help of Italian and foreign benefactors, especially the «American Relief for Italy» (A.R.I.).

The «Children’s Village» at S. Marinella (near Civitavecchia) came into being in 1945 through the work of Msgr. J. Patrick Carroll-Abbing and don Antonio Rivolta. Covering an area of 20 sq. km., it has a very democratic organization and system. All college or barracks terminology has been banished: the dormitory is called a «hotel»; the dining hall, a «restaurant»; and the supplies office, an «emporium». The citizens recognize no discipline other than that imposed by the assembly, by their self-government, and by their civic sense of responsibility. There are offices of mayor, police commissioner, and judge, rotated every month; and the council meets three or four times a week. Anyone may leave whenever he wishes; when he returns, he is welcomed back; the only requirement is that, for as long as he remains there, he observe the statutes as a loyal citizen. Study and work are paid for with a special currency called «merit», with which one pays for the hotel, the restaurant, clothing, etc.; during vacation it can also be converted into money, and thus becomes a means of contact with the outside world.

The «Republic of the r.» of Sassi (Turin), established in 1946 through the work of d. Arbinolo, presents instead a somewhat less democratic organization, because, according to its statutes, it is governed as a presidential republic, of which the founder is president for life; he reserves to himself the approval or disapproval of any decision by the mayor, the general assembly, etc.

The other C. dei r., established in Rome, Naples, Bari, Lanciano, Palermo, Piacenza, and Cuneo, are organized more or less according to these two models.

II. THE INFORMING PRINCIPLES

The successful outcome of the c. dei r. is due above all to the pedagogical principles that inspire it, harmoniously combining the awareness of the person’s irreducible autonomy, the respect due to the child’s freedom, and the lively sense of personal and social duty, which must be resolved into a strongly enlightened, heartfelt, and constant self-formation. This may be reduced to these three formulas: 1) every child can become a galantuomo. Anyone who understood the formula in an absolute sense and excluded every intervention of supernatural Grace would plainly be mistaken, because experience and faith teach that human nature is born bearing the stigmata of original sin and suffers its consequences in the physical and moral orders. Equally mistaken would be anyone who, conversely, considered human nature so corrupt as to be incapable of redeeming itself. The pedagogical formula, correctly interpreted, means instead that a middle way must be followed between the dreamer optimism of G. G. Rousseau and the cruel pessimism of Baio and Giansenio. It is therefore necessary, above all, to believe in and trust the child, in his moral and supernatural possibilities of redemption and rehabilitation, which animate his effort to realize them. 2) The child cannot be educated without his cooperation. An education that makes everything depend on abstract formulas and precepts, repeated to the point of boredom and perhaps imposed by force, achieves nothing; education is essentially an interior work, both on the natural plane and on the supernatural plane of Grace; and the child must give his active cooperation, while education must create the environment favorable to this cooperation, encourage it, awaken it, and sustain II. 3) Children are the best collaborators in the education of their companions. Education that truly wishes to find an echo in the souls of children and young people must perceive their problems, impressions, reactions, and difficulties with the same sensitivity with which they perceive them. This is not so simple for an adult, because he would have, so to speak, to renew himself entirely in order to bring himself down to their level. The child, on the other hand, has no such need; he already feels as his companions feel, and therefore his educational work is more natural and spontaneous. This does not mean that the action of adults, especially that of the family and parents, is superfluous. On the contrary, the presence and action of the older ones are indispensable, because the younger person, given his inexperience and weakness, has a pressing need for guidance, good example, support, and love.

III. THE CONTRIBUTION OF CHRISTIAN PEDAGOGY

In the face of this new conquering movement and these new pedagogical structures, Christian pedagogy has much to encourage, provided that the guiding principles are correctly interpreted and put into practice. The Christian, in fact, must know that the child’s life is the life of a child of God, who can bear within himself a supernatural life through Grace and, sustained and strengthened by it, can rise to the highest heights of heroism. He also knows that God is love, and that therefore the Christian educator must imitate God in this respect as well. These children who arrive at the c. dei r. dirty, vicious, undisciplined, perverted, knowing how to answer back, domineer, and rebel, are nevertheless loved, as they are, by God, who knows their capacity to respond to a disinterested call. On the other hand, the doctrine of original sin and its consequences gives the educator an incentive to cooperate with Grace so that the pupil may become aware of his condition as a sinner and a creature; absolute autonomy is therefore illusory and vain, and one must free oneself from the slavery of evil and sin in order to return as a child of God. Moreover, Christian doctrine places before us the social spirit with which every child of God must be animated: Jesus gave himself even unto death; and the pupil, too, must develop the inner conviction that he must live not only for himself but also for others, even, when necessary, to the point of total self-giving. Grace makes us all brothers of Jesus, whence there arises in us a spirit of universal brotherhood.