Catholic University of the Sacred Heart (Milan)

CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF THE SACRED HEART (Milan). - The Athenaeum of Italian Catholics inaugurated its life in Milan on Dec. 7, 1921, in the presence of the pontifical legate, the then Cardinal Achille Ratti. After three years of operation it obtained legal recognition from the State (royal decree of Oct. 2, 1924), by which it acquired rights equal to those of the other Italian universities.

To its two initial Faculties, of philosophy and of social sciences, others were soon added, and it is now constituted by the Faculties of law, of economics and commerce, of political and social sciences, of letters and philosophy, of teaching, of agriculture (this one with its seat in Piacenza); to these are added the School of Statistics and sixteen Schools of advanced studies in various disciplines.

The true historical significance of the institution lies in having realized the ideal of freedom of the school also in the field of higher culture. An inexorable centralizing policy, begun in Piedmont with the law of Oct. 14, 1848, and which the Casati law of 1859 did not succeed in curbing, went on triumphing with the unification of Italy. With the Faculties of theology abolished, which had previously existed in various cities and were definitively suppressed by the Correnti law of May 10, 1872; with the Pontifical University closed by the Bonghi decree of March 12, 1876, which Pius IX had opened in Rome in '71, Italian Catholics found themselves deprived of that which Lacordaire regarded as the first freedom of the world, mother of all freedoms. At the first Catholic Congress (Venice in 1874), d. Antonio Agliardi, future cardinal, proposed amid the enthusiastic applause of those present a motion for the founding of a Catholic University in Italy. A vote repeated several times by the leaders of Italian Catholic Action and by the annual assemblies of the Opera dei Congressi and of the Catholic Committees in Italy; the Milan Congress of 1897 proclaimed aloud the common hope.

Fr. Agostino Gemelli had already, since 1907, at the first Catholic university congress, developed the theme: "Why Italian Catholics must have their University"; in 1909 he founded, with the help received from the b. Pius X, the Rivista di filosofia neo-scolastica in order to begin the elaboration of the programmatic idea; in 1913 he gave rise to the "Società italiana per gli studi filosofici e psicologici"; in 1914, with the first article of the new cultural review Vita e Pensiero, dedicated to medievalism, he defined the line to be followed. After the war ended, he obtained, thanks also to the support of the archbishop of Milan, Cardinal Andrea Ferrari, and with the protection of Benedict XV and of the S. Congr. of Seminaries and Universities, on Christmas Day of 1920 the pontifical decree of erection. By royal decree of June 24, 1920, it was erected as a moral body, the Institute of Higher Studies "Giuseppe Toniolo," and on the occasion of the Gentile law of 1924, which provided for the erection of free Universities, this Institute obtained on 2 Oct. of the same year the royal decree (no. 1661, Gazzetta Ufficiale del Regno of 31 Oct.) by which "the U. C. del S. C. was instituted in Milan" and its statute was approved. From then on, thanks to divine blessings and the high and effective support of the Pontiffs, the University progressed and received a new magnificent seat in Piazza S. Ambrogio in Oct. 1930, in the ancient Cistercian monastery. The Apostolic Institute of the Sacred Heart at Castelnuovo Fogliani, due to the munificence of Pius XI, made it possible to create a flourishing section for religious women teachers. Every year, on Passion Sunday, Italian Catholics celebrate University Day, established by the Holy See. And the love of an entire people found its most eloquent expression when in Aug. 1943, during the Second World War, the University was struck by high-explosive and incendiary bombs, which destroyed or seriously damaged a third of its various buildings; the generosity of Italian Catholics then made possible the immediate and complete reconstruction, so that the Ateneo del S. Cuore was the first among all universities to repair the damage it had suffered.

The program of the Catholic University is indicated by the name with which it was entitled through the merit of Armida Barelli (d. 1952), who dedicated the best of her energies to the Ateneo.

As for scientific seriousness, the Catholic University has sought to demonstrate it both through its lectures and the various activities of studies regularly carried out by its teachers, both through their publications collected in numerous series of volumes, and by means of its well-equipped seminars and its laboratories (it will suffice to recall the psychology laboratory, today of European renown).

After thirty years of life, in the academic year 1951-52 the Università Cattolica has a faculty body consisting of 156 professors with 7184 students. So far 7013 graduates have come out of it, of whom 5 have won university chairs, 85 are liberi docenti, 1000 teach in secondary schools, without counting the deputies, senators, ministers, magistrates, ministry officials, diplomats and also some bishops. Students are given aids of various kinds: scholarships, subsidies, meal vouchers, book-purchase vouchers, assistance for attending the annual closed spiritual exercises. In the academic year 1951-52 more than 29 million were spent for needy students. Students find serene hospitality in four university colleges, partly free of charge following a special competition; and they also have a building at their disposal, the "Domus nostra": this welcomes those who come from nearby cities, providing meeting places and the academic refectory. The Library of the Ateneo at the end of 1951 counted 552,787 vols. and more than 2500 journals and has an exchange service with foreign academies and universities. It has organized a microfilm service.

Pio Paschini