SCHOOL — A modern school complex, designed by C. Holzmeister (1930–40). School of the Sisters of the Holy Cross — Linz.
Those Benedictine schools received fresh and youthful impulses from the Cluniacs, the Cistercians, the Dominicans, and the Franciscans. Yet all these schools, in which classical instruction predominated, were no longer adequate to meet the new demands for an education more in keeping with the flourishing of industry and commerce and the renewed vitality of civic life. Hence, beginning in the thirteenth century, a notable development of private schools is observable—schools that had never entirely disappeared even in the period of decline, and which now became more numerous and more frequented. From these arose the municipal schools, first in small centers and later in larger cities. Indeed, private schools often struggled financially because of a scarcity of pupils; on the other hand, not everyone could attend episcopal or monastic schools, which were too distant and inconvenient. Therefore, from the early fourteenth century, many municipalities began to regard the teacher as a municipal employee and to intervene in the organization of schools, subjecting them to their oversight; at times, many private schools were municipalized and lost their didactic, disciplinary, and economic freedom. Alongside or in place of municipal schools, there also emerged corporate schools, subsidized by particular guilds.
VI. THE UNIVERSITIES — The broad dissemination of learning, especially stimulated by the Scholastic movement—from its initial formation in the ninth to eleventh centuries, through its development in the twelfth, and to its peak in the thirteenth—led to the creation of those higher institutions now called universities, but then known as *Studium* and later *Studium generale*. The universities of Paris and Bologna served as models for others. In this beneficial and flourishing movement, the Church played its proverbial role. Some interpret this new emphasis on higher studies as a move toward emancipation from religious control, a kind of replacement of lay corporations for the clerical schools of chapters, canons, and abbeys, and attribute to some founders rather skeptical and rationalist theories. The truth, however, is different: the university movement did indeed emerge from monastic and episcopal schools that were no longer sufficient, but it came under the care and jurisdiction of the universal Church, represented by the Pope. Indeed, the presence—or at least the understanding and cooperation—of a universal entity like the Church greatly facilitated the recognition of academic degrees granted to students who came from distant lands to the same university. It is noteworthy that of the 52 universities founded before 1400, at least 29 owed their establishment to the Pope; another ten were founded either solely by papal diploma or by a combination of papal and imperial (or princely) diplomas.
VII. SCHOOLS IN THE RENAISSANCE PERIOD — The Renaissance continued along the path marked by the preceding century, and schools underwent no major organizational upheavals. However, the number of schools increased significantly; greater emphasis—indeed, a predominant role—was given to classical studies, with a tendency to grant almost absolute dominance to the Trivium over the Quadrivium. A fresh spirit infused teaching through the master’s instruction and the selection of readings, far removed from the rather manualistic learning in which previous schools had often become mired. Thus arose learned masters, skilled orators, and learned ecclesiastics, guided by a spirit of serene and comprehensive humanity. Physical exercises were not neglected, as they helped form healthy, agile bodies with minds open to the new contingencies of life.
The Church, besides directly founding numerous institutions, continued to exhort and animate the study of literature and languages (for example, at the Council of Vienne in 1312, the Pope ordered the establishment of chairs of Hebrew, Chaldean, and Arabic in Rome, Bologna, Paris, Oxford, and Salamanca; in Spain, Cardinal Ximenes added to the university he founded the College of the Three Languages: Latin, Greek, and Hebrew). The Church was assisted in this endeavor by the religious orders, which largely maintained their glorious traditions. The advent of the “Reformation” did not introduce innovations in the field of schooling; it neither created schools nor gave birth to elementary education, which—as has been noted—had existed since the early centuries of the Church. Rather, it initially caused considerable harm to culture by eliminating, in the territories where it took hold, monastic, episcopal, and parochial schools without being able to replace them, prompting bitter regrets even from Luther himself, Melanchthon, and other prominent reformers. Moreover, the “Reformation” bequeathed to later centuries some pernicious principles, whereby civil authorities and princes interfered with their laws and prescriptions, no longer content—as before—to merely encourage or support initiatives originating from religious authorities or private individuals.
VIII. SCHOOLS IN THE PERIOD OF THE CATHOLIC REFORM — The damage caused by the Protestant “Reformation” spurred the Church’s zeal to hasten the “Catholic Reform,” which had already begun long before the Lutheran schism. The Council of Trent strongly urged priests to take particular care of children, rallying all persons and institutions capable of restoring new value to Christian schools. These schools were to be reestablished where they had disappeared, reinvigorated where they had languished, and entrusted to better-trained teachers; every church was to have a teacher for the free instruction of grammar for all, both poor and rich. Religious orders that intended to engage in—or were already engaged in—education were to be supported and encouraged; Catholic universities were to increase in number and remain free from contact with heretics, preserving their ancient prestige.
Compliance with these directives was prompt and thorough, especially through the work of new religious institutes dedicated wholeheartedly to teaching: the Barnabites, the Piarists, the Somascans, and above all the Jesuits, with their numerous colleges opened throughout Europe. The humanistic tradition was preserved, a clear and well-defined program was implemented with the best insights from experience, and thus was created the type that would more or less be adopted by modern classical schools. Meanwhile, in Pavia, two celebrated and renowned university colleges were established: the Borromeo College, founded by St. Charles Borromeo, and the Ghislieri College, founded by St. Pius V.
IX. SCHOOLS IN THE SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES — During this period, schools were enriched with new recruits, new types, and new methods more suited to the circumstances. A significant contribution came from new religious institutes, not only male but also female: the Oratorians, the Brothers of the Christian Schools, and various branches of Ursulines, the Daughters of Jesus, the Visitandines, and others. Increasingly, the trend to replace Latin with the national language was implemented, both as a medium of instruction and as a subject of study and practice in its own right; with this innovation,
School — A modern school complex, designed by C. Holzmeister (1930–40). School of the Sisters of the Holy Cross — Linz.
Under certain aspects, bold and even then contested, the way was opened to technical, commercial, and industrial education. Another novelty: the laicization of education in the sense of religious institutes (no longer staffed by priests, but solely by laypeople, e.g., the aforementioned Brothers of the Christian Schools), so that they could devote themselves entirely to education without being distracted by the cares of sacred ministry; the creation of teacher-training institutes for the preparation of future male and female teachers; the founding of professional schools to train future farmers, merchants, industrialists, and artisans; and also of evening or Sunday schools to cultivate workers and artisans, who were occupied during the week by their labors.
Particular merit in this enrichment was due to Fr. N. Barré of the Minims and St. John B. de la Salle, founder of the Brothers of the Christian Schools. A remarkable gain, moreover, was the extension of female education to all girls of the nobility and the common people, with the consequent better formation of the family.
Toward the end of the 18th century, not only did the number of schools called public or state schools increase, along with the study of the relations that education has with political and social life and even with the economic development of the nation, but Enlightenment theories—especially those of Rousseau, as applied by the French Revolution—led to a violent reaction against all private schools, particularly those run by the Church, and claimed for the State the monopoly of instruction, which, even if it did not entirely neglect religious education, subjected it to its own programs and oversight.
X. SCHOOLS IN THE 19TH AND 20TH CENTURIES
In this period, schools made undeniable progress, exploiting, perfecting, and expanding the systems and fruits obtained in the previous century and enriching them with new experiences. Public authorities took a greater interest in education and strove to spread it everywhere through government intervention and support. But there also advanced, insidious and violent, the monopolistic will of States, which left no stone unturned in their efforts to appropriate everything connected with education. The monopoly of the Napoleonic era was followed by that of States restored or newly formed amid the incessant conflicts between peoples, and then by that of governments hostile to religion or simply “lay,” “liberal,” or “progressive,” which, distorting the meaning of words and the facts of history, caused the repeated suppression of schools run by religious institutes; they proclaimed and still proclaim the unassailable supremacy of “neutral” or “lay” education, suppressing the so-called “private” schools or burdening them with restrictions and conditions so severe as to make life difficult for them, or at least undermining their effectiveness and preventing their assistance out of a sense of barely concealed and unconfessed fear.Notable are the struggles waged against the school monopoly and in favor of “private” or “denominational” schools (and won in whole or in part) in Belgium, the Netherlands, England, Spain, France, Italy, and India. This succession of events has created the problem of the freedom of teaching and of schools, sometimes resolved with partial solutions, but not always with that clarity which excludes all suspicion, all mistrust, and all ulterior motives.
The Church’s teaching on this problem has never wavered, to the comfort of Catholics and the clarification of ideas. It suffices to cite the documents of Pius IX, the letter *Quem non sine* of 14 July 1864, as well as proposition 48 of the *Syllabus*; of Leo XIII, the allocution *Summi Pontificatus* (20 Aug. 1880); the encyclicals *Nobilissima* (2 Feb. 1884), *Quod multum* (22 Aug. 1886), and *Charitatis* (19 Mar. 1894); of Pius XI, the encyclical *Divini illius magistri* (31 Dec. 1929); V. also CIC, can. 1374 and the sources cited there. — Vedi tav. X.
For Greek education: G. de Sanctis, L'educazione greca, Palermo 1910; K. J. Freeman, School of Hellas from 600 to 300 b. C., 2nd ed., London 1912; A. Calderini, S. e scolari di venti secoli fa, in Saggi e studi di antichità classica, Milan 1924, pp. 1-26; M. Lechner, Erziehung und Bildung in der griechisch-römischen Antike, Munich 1933; H. J. Marrou, op. cit., pp. 9-40. For the early Christian and medieval period: G. von Detten, Über die Dom-und Klosterschulen des Mittelalters, Paderborn 1893; C. Montalembert, I monaci d'Occidente, trans. it., 2nd ed., 5 vols., Siena 1894; F. Ozanam, Le s. d'istruzione in Italia nel medioevo, trans. II. Florence 1895; N. Giesebrecht, L'istruzione in Italia nei primi secoli del medioevo, trans. II. ibid. 1895; G. Salvio, L'istruzione in Italia prima del Mille, Florence 1912; G. Manacorda, Storia della s. in Italia: I. Il medioevo, 2 vols., Palermo 1913; L. Maitre, Les écoles épiscopales et monastiques en Occident avant les Universités (768-1180), Paris 1924; E. Lesne, Hist. de la propriété ecclés. en France. V. Les écoles de la fin du VIIIe siècle à la fin du XIIe, Lille 1940; U. Gualazzini, Ricerche sulle s. preuniversitarie del medioevo, Milan 1943; H. J. Marrou, op. cit., pp. 431-60. For the Carolingian Renaissance: W. Müllinger, The schools of Charles the Great, London 1877; A. Fleming West, Alcuin and the rise of christian school, London 1892; L. Roger, L'enseignement des lettres classiques d'Ausone à Alcuin, Paris 1905; F. Falk, Schule, Unterricht und Wissenschaft im Mittelalter, Ratisbon 1907; A. Solmi, Sul Capitolare di Lotario dell'anno 825, in Contributi alla storia del diritto comune, Rome 1937, V. indice; id., Le s. del medioevo dalle origini alle università, in Riv. stor. del diritto int. 14 (1941), pp. 3 ff. For the Renaissance period: A. Benoist, Vittorino da Feltre ou de l'education en Italie à l'époque de la Renaissance, Paris 1885; R. Sabbatini, La s. e gli studi di Guarino Veronese, Catania 1896; W. H. Woodward, La pedagogia del Rinascimento (1490-1600), trans. it., Florence 1923; G. Vidari, L'educazione in Italia dall'umanesimo al Risorgimento, Rome 1930; G. Gentile, Studi sul Rinascimento, Florence 1933, pp. 30-55. For the 16th-18th centuries: in addition to the histories of individual teaching religious Orders and their methods, indicated under the relevant entries, see: A. Ranzoni, Le s. antiche e moderne di Lodi, Lodi 1883; G. Mascheroni, L. Mascheroni e il piano generale di pubblica istruzione per la Repubblica Cisalpina, Milan 1911; A. Zaro, L'istruzione pubblica e privata nel Napoletano, Città di Castello 1927; C. M. Gamba, Storia della s. ital. nel Seicento e nel Settecento (Biblioteca dell'educatore, dir. da L. Volpicelli, 86), Milan 1952; G. Francescaglia-Valentini, Gli ordinamenti religiosi e l'insegnamento (ibid., 83), ibid. 1952. For modern education: E. Formiggini Santamaria, L'istruzione popolare nello Stato pontificio, Modena 1909; G. Gentile, Gino Capponi e la cultura toscana nel sec. XIX, Florence 1922; G. Vidari, S. mutue e asili d'infanzia agli albori del Risorgimento, Rome 1927; G. Monti, La libertà della s. Principi, storia, legislazione comparata, Milan 1928; V. BENEDETTINI, Albori di un'educazione nazionale nelle repubbliche napoleoniche (1796-99), ibid. 1932; G. Calò, Dottrine ed opere nella storia dell'educazione, Lanciano 1932; F. Bettini, I programmi di studio per le s. elementari dal 1880 al 1945, Brescia 1950; M. Casotti, Lambruschini e la pedagogia ital. nell'Ottocento, ibid. 1951; A. A. Montesperelli, Storia della s. ital. dell'Ottocento (Bibl. dell'Educatore, dir. da L. Volpicelli, 87), Milan 1952. See also the various pedagogical encyclopedias of different nations, s. v.: and various authors, Instruction de la jeunesse, in DFC, II (1924), cols. 917-1055; id., Schools, in Cath. Enc., XIII, cols. 554-88 (with extensive bibliography). Cf. also: Centro didattico nazionale di Firenze, Guida D. annuario della s. e della cultura, Florence-Rome 1951, special sections, pp. 337-444 (documents) and pp. 445-461 (list of Italian and international journals of a pedagogical, didactic and educational information character).