04. Phases of the Historiography of the FMA Institute %28Sr. G. Loparco%29_EN


04. Phases of the Historiography of the FMA Institute %28Sr. G. Loparco%29_EN

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EAO Regional Conference on the State of Salesian Historiography
Day 3 | Wednesday | 6 Nov 2013
PHASES OF THE HISTORIOGRAPHY OF THE FMA INSTITUTE
Piera Cavaglià
In historiography, Marrou distinguishes a past lived by the persons and a past relived by those who
study it, because history is reconstructed, necessarily interpreted in the search for the meaning of facts and of
their connections.1
Over more than one century of life, the FMA not only have found and gathered the sources, but have
narrated their own history, have tried to interpret it, organize it and hand it down.
History is the constant search for meanings and, as such, is never definitive; in fact, the persons
dedicated to it change, the cultural paradigms and the perspectives by which facts are studied change, new
sources that open new horizons of research are discovered, and therefore, certain convictions which seemed to
be consolidated, are now questioned.
In our Institute, the historiography along decades, registers an evident evolution both in the contents as
in the planning.
We can see some significant phases.
1. Oral tradition
The transmission of the historical memory and of the spirituality of the Founders has been carried out at
length mostly in the oral form. The “memory of the origins” is deeply rooted in the very existence of the
Institute. Some scholars even speak of “oral archives” to indicate the “tradition” of oral testimonials for
historical documentation.2
The lived experience – says Pietro Braido – is certainly a source, even a document of history. Better still,
a document of history. It is, however, not easy to de-codify it. We could allow ourselves to be misled by the
inevitable partiality, or stop at details and generalize them.3
Also for the transmission of the Salesian educative method the same dynamic was followed. For many
years, the Novice Mistress would transmit to the young women in formation, the educative patrimony of the
Institute, by narrating what the FMA did in the oratories, in the schools, in the missions and highlighting the
modalities they applied as they carried out their various activities.
For the history of the origins, particular prominence was given to Don Bosco, to his action, his gifts and
grandiose, providential enterprises; and with him, Don Domenico Pestarino, who someone would call the “co-
founder” of the Institute. About Sister Maria Domenica Mazzarello, - in later years – episodes were narrated,
highlighting above all some virtues: humility, obedience, faithfulness to Don Bosco, art of government, love for
the young girls, firmness and severity in calling to observance.
A minimal part of written sources were available, and besides, there was not even the awareness of
having them.4
FMA Sister Secretary General of the FMA Institute and lecturer in the Pontifical Faculty of Sciences of Education in the “Auxilium”
of Rome.
1 Cf Henri-Irénée MARROU, La conoscenza storica. Bologna, Il Mulino 1962, p. 35.
2 Cf Bruno DELMAS (a cura di), Vocabulaire des archives. Archivistique et Diplomatique contemporaines. Paris, Afnor 1986, alla voce
Archives orales. However, the author affirms that “archives orales/oral history are incorrect terms to indicate the oral tradition of
fact or events.
3 Cf Pietro BRAIDO, Tra i “documenti” della storia: l’esperienza vissuta, in RSS 1 (1982) 80.

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There is scarcity of documentation on the experience of the foundation and of the first FMA
communities, simply because by those who lived it, all was considered too normal, lacking exceptionality. A
Sister, questioned on the subject by the biographer of Saint Mary D. Mazzarello, answered frankly:
“At that time, all of them were so, so fervent, there was such a fervour that cannot be imagined; no one
could foresee what the Institute will come to be, and therefore no one thought of writing down what
now there is need to know”5.
At the beginning of the first house, the care of the Archive was generally entrusted to the Salesian
director, and, as it was desired, also the first history of the Institute.
From a letter of Don Cagliero to Don Rua, written from Nice on 11th January 1879, we come to know
that in the Institute, at that time, the documents were preserved by the Salesian Director, and therefore there
was no proper archive:
“Enclosed, I send the autograph of the Bishop of Acqui concerning the faculty he intends to grant to the
Salesians in his Diocese and in our Houses. The relative copy was posted to the Director of Mornese and
of Nizza. This must be kept in the archive. I however tell you, that no one was ever able to find anything
in this archive, which, if it exists and where it is no one knows”6.
We must recognize that the Institute of the FMA did not have much historiographic fortune, neither at
the beginnings, or when efforts were made for the writing of the “Cronistoria”7. Either the work was not done
with the rigor of documentation, or the primacy was given to the edifying aspects, perhaps leaving data and
significant historical facts in the background, in the shadow.
During the first years of the foundation, more than the commitment to hand down a history, there is the
will to hand down to the new generations “the good spirit” expressed in the simple, joyful and zealous
faithfulness of the first FMA. It was necessary to make the true spirit of the Institute resplendent in the lived
experience, more than in written documents or in theoretical elaborations.
During the first years one lived with authenticity and simplicity a stirring, enthusiastic ideal, fruit of a call
that demanded a kind of community-religious life fully dedicated to the educative mission. No one ever thought
that “something” of the origins had to be preserved and handed down in writing.
2. The first drafts of “history” (1887-1897)
In our Institute we cannot speak of “missed memory”8. In fact, it does not run the danger, as in some old
religious Orders, of having to discern between legend and reality for whatever refers to the foundation.
4 The letters of Maria Domenica were not known until after the introduction of the process of beatification (1911) cf María Esther
POSADA - Anna COSTA - Piera CAVAGLIÀ (a cura di), La sapienza della vita. Lettere di Maria Domenica Mazzarello. Torino, SEI 1994. Likewise
other sources gathered later: cf Piera CAVAGLIÀ – Anna COSTA (a cura di), Orme di vita, tracce di futuro. Fonti e testimonianze sulla prima
comunità delle Figlie di Maria Ausiliatrice (1870-1881). Roma, LAS 1996.
5 Ferdinando MACCONO, Santa Maria D. Mazzarello. Confondatrice e prima Superiora generale delle Figlie di Maria Ausiliatrice. Vol. I.
Torino, Istituto FMA 1960, p. 316.
6 ASC A4380418: lettera aut.
7 For Don Bosco it was not so. In 1858 the cleric Bonetti started to record important events in notebooks. Three years later, on the
initiative of Don Rua, a “commission” was created to gather all that Don Bosco did and said. In 1871 in Valdocco (meeting of the Council,
21 January 1871) it was officially decided to gather memories about Don Bosco and that on the third Sunday of every month they
should meet to correct possible inexactitudes. (cf Conferenze del Capitolo della Casa di Valdocco, in José Manuel PRELLEZO [a cura di],
Valdocco nell'Ottocento tra ideale e reale. Documenti e testimonianze. [= ISS – Fonti, Serie seconda, 3]. Roma, LAS 1993, pp. 167-168; cf
pure pp. 196-197 [21 febbraio 1875]).
8 Cf Graziella CURTI, Le Congregazioni religiose femminili: una testimonianza, in “Bollettino dell’Archivio per la storia del movimento.
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Of the time of its origins – that for the FMA was short if confronted with the origins of the Salesian
Congregation – there is a scarce documentation, insufficient for understanding and writing the history.
How to explain the gaps, the historical blanks of the origins?
Differently from Don Bosco, who left a quantity of books and the Memoirs of the Oratory, relatively to
the origins of the FMA Institute, the documented collection for the historiography is belated. This can be
justified, taking into account the different cultural formation of the first Sisters in comparison with that of the
Salesians, and the different mentality more oriented to practice than to study.
Not to be neglected is the multiplicity of tasks that were entrusted to some FMA more competent than
others and, at the beginning of the Institute, the scantiness of personnel prepared for the management of the
works, and for teaching in the schools. Moreover, especially during the brief period of government of Maria
Domenica Mazzarello (9 years, from 1872 to 1881), there was the awareness of being a single Salesian Family,
and therefore, the need for the Institute’s own documentation was not felt.
During the First General Chapter (1884) the necessity was seen, as well as the convenience, of writing
the history of the Houses that it may serve afterwards for the editing of the history of the Institute. The text is
thus formulated:
“The convenience was seen to gather the particularities of each House, foundations, monuments, etc…
so as to insert everything in the Chronicle (Cronistoria) of the Congregation (this Chronicle will be
entrusted to some capable, skilful Salesian writer)”9.
In the Second General Chapter (1886) it was established to write a chronicle or monograph in every
House, and to entrust this task to the Superior or to another Sister.
Then, to specify the tasks of the Second General Councilor, called “Second Assistant”, we read:
“She will take care that each Provincial or Superior will have the monograph of their respective Houses
and Schools”10.
Following this deliberation, the writing of a first, though incomplete Chronicle of the origins, was started.
Sister Rosalia Pestarino, niece of the first Director of the FMA and one of the first teachers in Mornese, was
entrusted with the task to gather or transcribe the facts relative to the foundation. The manuscript is titled:
Chronicle of the new Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians – Mornese 187211. The first two pages
summarize the foundation of the Institute. Following are 20 pages (1872-1881) with various inaccuracies
regarding names of persons and of historical facts. In almost every page there are corrections and observations
handwritten by Sr. Rosalia and by Mother Clelia Genghini. On the frontispiece is written: Annulled. This copy
must have served for the editing of a more complete, better and more accurate one, in the form of a large
register12. In it, the narration of facts, especially those relative to the House of Mornese and Nizza, goes from
1872 to 1898.
sociale cattolico in Italia” 33 (1998) 151.
9 Cf 12a adunanza (cf Giselda CAPETTI [a cura di], Cronistoria. L’eredità di madre Mazzarello passa nelle mani di madre Daghero [1881-
1884]. Vol. IV. Roma, Istituto FMA 1978, p. 373). Years later – perhaps when they began to gather material for the type-written
Chronicle – Mother Clelia annotated the text “which is still to be found”.
10 Deliberazioni del Secondo Capitolo Generale delle Figlie di Maria SS. Ausiliatrice tenuto in Nizza Monferrato nell'agosto del 1886. S.
Benigno Canavese, Tip. Salesiana 1886, art. 89.
11 Consisting of 164 pp. In the frontispiece is written: “This was written 15 years after the foundation of the Institute by Sr. Rosalia
Pestarino an eye-witness of what she wrote. Deo Gratias”. From this addition we can be certain of the date of composition, 1887.
12 Don Bosco had wished that year by year the chronicle should be copied into a “big book” and sent to the Centre.(MB XII, 69).
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The first pages are a more extended re-elaboration than those written by Sr. Rosalia Pestarino. There
follow in succession different handwritings. Recognizable is the one of Mother Emilia Mosca who writes from 6-
9-1893 to 4-9-1896, then Sr. Rosalia continues to the end. Also this text is full of corrections and integrations by
hand of Sister Clelia Genghini. There are in fact many imprecisions and gaps.
This “chronicle” was not written day by day, but at a distance of time. It can be detected by the use of
verbs in the past time, by imprecisions and inexactness with which facts are reported. Perhaps this elegant copy
of the Chronicle was prepared for the 25th anniversary of foundation of the Institute (1897).
In the Third General Chapter (1892) the necessity was again seen to entrust the task to a person who
could write a true and proper history of the Institute. It was then deliberated what follows, indicating also some
criteria for editing:
“It is also established to have a historian of the Congregation who will take care to gather the correct
dates, the difficulties, the supports received, the documents relative to the civil and ecclesiastic
authorities, trying to give reason for the facts, and connect the things that refer to them. Such historian
could be the same member of the Salesian Congregation, or another one appointed for the task by the
Major Superior”13.
Unfortunately, the concrete application of the normative adopted, was never fulfilled.
3. The Cronistoria written by Mother Emilia Mosca (1897-1900)
The celebration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the foundation of the Institute awakened in the
Institute a greater awareness concerning the “memory” of the origins. Therefore, the drawing up of the first
Cronistoria was entrusted to Mother Emilia Mosca, General Councilor for school and education, by everyone
called “Mother Assistant”.
The original title of her work: Origin of the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians founded
by Don Bosco in the year 1872,14 was corrected and substituted afterward.
In fact, on the cover, another writing by another hand appears: 2nd Copy- Chronicle of the Institute
“Daughters of Mary Help of Christians” written by the Rev. Mother Assistant Sister Emilia Mosca15.
It was a second version of the one done by Sister Rosalia Pestarino, who, in pencil, wrote under the title
“This Chronicle is written after the one written by me, Sr. P. Rosalia”.
The narration begins with the year 1872 and ends in 1900 proceeding according to an annual
periodization. From some letters of Mother Emilia Mosca we come to know that it was written around the years
1897-98. To Sister Chiarina Giustiniani, Superior of the Pre-Province of the Spanish Houses, she wrote on 2nd
February 1898:
“I must do a work and I need all the monographs of the Houses of the Congregation; you would then do
me a great favour if you could send me a copy of each one of the Houses of Spain; there would be need
for them to be sent with promptness”.
13 Deliberazioni dei Capitoli Generali delle Figlie di Maria SS. Ausiliatrice tenuti in Nizza Monferrato nel 1884, 1886 e 1892. Torino, Tip.
Salesiana 1894, art. 256. At that time the historian of the Salesian Congregation was Don Lemoyne who was compiling the Memorie
Biografiche of Don Bosco.
14 Cf AGFMA 051 – Reg. 1.
15 Cf AGFMA 051 – Reg. 2.
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To Sister Orsolina Rinaldi, missionary and then Visiting Superior in Mexico, she wrote:
“I need these monographs in order to compile the Chronicle of the Congregation; it is a long work added
to the much that I already have day by day” [s.d.].
Mother Emilia Mosca, perhaps urged by Mother General or by some Salesian superior, began gathering
and writing around the first months of 1898. Her work continued until a few weeks before her death (2nd
October 1900). The text, however, edited at a distance of years, contains inaccuracies and imprecisions. Don
Maccono and Sister Maddalena Moretti who used it, tried to correct and to complete.
Various are the sources of the narration. Besides drawing from her direct experience of the origins and
to the accounts of the first FMA, the writer often cites the Salesian Bulletin16 and the monograph of the single
Houses, above all the one of Nizza.
Mother E. Mosca reports some significant personal testimonials which afterward were merged in the
Cronistoria17.
These manuscript texts of the Cronistoria written by Sister Rosalia Pestarino and Madre E. Mosca are
late, overdue, and therefore full of gaps, incomplete. However they preserve the value of first documentation
on the origins and on the initial development of the Institute.
4. A new historical awareness (first decades of the XX Century)
The historiography, at the beginning of the XX Century, enters a new phase. Many factors and significant
events favour in the FMA an increased historical sensibility:
*
the juridical autonomy of the Institute of the FMA (1906) with the consequent erection of the
Provinces and the elaboration of the Regulations-Manual (1908). Here the gathering of the
material for the archive of the Institute is undertaken, since the separation from the Salesian
Congregation urged the FMA toward a greater organizational effort and a more qualified
formation of the personnel;
*
the processes of canonization of Don Bosco (Decree of Venerability 1907) and of Maria
Domenica Mazzarello (beginning of the Process: 23-6-1911), demanded a continuous task of
documentation and therefore of research of the sources and of the testimonials, so as to be
able to reconstruct a sure biographic procedure and the documented genesis of the foundation
of the two Congregations;
*
The election – in 1913 – of the new Secretary General of the Institute in the person of Mother
Clelia Genghini. She understood immediately the necessity to gather the “memoirs” of the
Institute and to arrange them in order in a chronological form. She carried out this project
starting from the fiftieth anniversary of the foundation of the Institute (1922)18;
*
the continuation of the publication of the Biographical Memoirs of Don Bosco that engaged Don
Lemoyne, Don Amadei and Don Ceria in the research of the documentary material also relative
to our Institute. Several volumes of the Biographical Memoirs contain, in fact, noteworthy
16 Cf ibid., pp. 74, 85, 89, 106, 129, 143.
17 Cf Giselda CAPETTI [a cura di], Cronistoria. L’Istituto a Mornese e la prima espansione 1872-1879. Vol. II. Roma, Istituto FMA 1976, p. 292
e cf p. 102.
18 It should be remembered that in Valdocco, right from 1883, Don Bosco had chosen as secretary the one who would become the
first historian of the Congregation, Don Giovanni Battista Lemoyne. He immediately began to gather the monumental collection of
the Documenti to write the history of Don Bosco and the Oratory. (cf i 45), bundles of drafts which were the precious source used
by the writers of the MB. (cf ASC A050-A094: Documenti per scrivere la storia di D. Giovanni Bosco, dell’Oratorio di S. Francesco di
Sales e della Congregazione Salesiana).
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references to our Institute. For the FMA this meant the first publication of an initial history of
the Institute as it was interlaced with the life of Don Bosco.
These events contributed to strengthen the awareness of the importance of writing the history, of
gathering the testimonials, of organizing them in a complete and faithful manner.
4.1. The elaboration of the typewritten Cronistoria (1913-1942)
The editing of what was titled “Chronological News” is the result of a complex elaboration that lasted
several decades.
In an old memoir [s.d.] preserved in the AGFMA (general FMA Archives) is remembered the wish of
Mother Caterina Daghero and of her Councillors to have, an even simple, but complete Cronistoria of the
Institute. In this text are indicated, among others, some criteria for its elaboration, and the finality of the
undertaking is specified.
“Make use of all the possible written or oral testimonials and of all the scattered, disorderly, incomplete
and at times illegible documents, which could from time to time be available, so as to derive from them
a narration as much as possible detailed, so as to give evidence to the beautiful simplicity and the robust
primitive virtue, and still more the direction, the support, the paternal and maternal vigour of the two
most splendid and brilliant figures: Don Bosco and Mother Mazzarello”19.
Mother Clelia Genghini fulfils therefore a notable and so far unsurpassed work of elaboration of facts of
the origins and of the life of the first communities. She obviously makes use of the already existing material, but
she interprets it making the history of the Institute begin from the first phases of the life of Don Bosco. She
therefore wants to highlight the remote past and, in a certain sense, offers reflections that could enter into a
“Theology of history”, as it can be gathered from the title of the first chapter: How Divine Providence prepares
the Founder of the Institute (1828-1862)20.
The editor of the Cronistoria observes how Providence would enlarge the heart of little John Bosco that
he may be oriented also to the education of the girls. The historical development of the Institute is, in fact,
considered from the point of view of the One who sows the seed or weaves a magnificent cloth, by making use
of different threads, all guided by the same wise hand. The Cronistoria is not only a detailed exposition of facts,
but also an interpretative reading of them. Through the facts, the chronicler intends to gather and highlight
what builds and edifies a spirit.
The arch of time embraced by the present Cronistoria goes from the boyhood of Don Bosco (1828) to
his death (1888).
The drawing up of the Cronistoria took place between 1922 and 1942. Mother Clelia, in fact, in
September 194221, submitted to the Salesian Archive a typewritten copy in three volumes. The narration of the
facts ended with 1879.
When Mother Clelia died (31 January 1956), the Cronistoria included 3 typewritten volumes plus a part
in fieri which narrated the facts up to 24 august 1884. The text was taken up again and continued by the
archivist Sister Giselda Capetti who completed the IV volume and compiled entirely the V volume during the
1970s.
19 The passage is reported by Sister Giselda Capetti in Cronistoria…. II, p. 6.
20 Ibid., I p. 13.
21 Cf ibid., p. 11.
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* Writers
We are before a work accomplished by many hands. For the first volume Mother Clelia had, as valid
collaborator, Sister Maddalena Moretti, teacher of pedagogy at Nizza Monferrato up to 1924. But, with all
probability there were other collaborators, as we can draw from the following source. In 1948 Sister Francesca
Gamba, who entered in Nizza on 1st September 1884, shortly before her death expressed her regret for not
having been able to review and put order in “the memoirs of the first years of the life of the Institute”22.
There must have been various persons involved, directly or indirectly, in the compiling and in the
revision of the text. The Cronistoria in its editing by Sister Giselda Capetti is the fruit of a long, patient, accurate
work, accomplished by many persons. Unfortunately, having been edited at a distance of years, it presents
omissions and gaps not easily filled in.
* Importance of the "collective memory"
The Cronistoria acquires a particular relevance for the Institute if we consider it as representative of its
own origins and of its spirituality.
The text reflects the first and official “collective memory” of the Institute. The FMA, questioned by
Mother Clelia and by Don Ferdinando Maccono who worked during the same period, narrated the facts
integrating them with their experience and with that of their own communities. Those who remembered were
single persons but, in reality, this can also speak of the “memory” of the communities who expressed their
charismatic and historical self-understanding. Different from history understood as re-construction of the past
also through sources external to the Institution, the collective memory is the product of the interaction of the
members of a group who deepen the links with their own past and express them with a strong emotive tension.
Their “memory” is not so much the sum of what they remember, or their common denominator, but a dynamic
togetherness of significant representations for the life of the group, concerning the past experienced as though
it were still present, active and involving.
The “memory” is therefore considered as the place where the synthesis of past experience is produced.
It is a sedimentation of remembrances that ensures in retrospective the vital nuclei of an identity23.
The FMA who contributed to the editing of the Cronistoria had, perhaps, a lesser knowledge of the past
than the succeeding generations, but had a stronger sense of belonging to the Institute and of the continuity
with a past which was re-lived in them and was the foundation of their charismatic identity.
* The sources employed
In the Cronistoria, sources of origin and of diversified value converge. This documentation is often
overlapping as for historical period, so that the narration line is not always easily documented. Sources of
narrative and documentary type are clearly recognizable. To the first belong the narrations of surviving Sisters,
of lay people and priests who lived in Mornese. Among the most significant we find those of Sister Rosalia
Pestarino, Sister Enrichetta Sorbone and other FMA; Don Giuseppe Pestarino (brother of Sr. Rosalia), Don
Giuseppe Campi (Salesian from Mornese, direct testimony of the vicissitudes of the origins). Often however, the
writer incorporates the information derived from the sources in her own reflection, so that it is not always
possible to single out the original material from the literary genre used, in order to reconstruct the narration of
facts.
22 Cf Michelina SECCO, Suor Francesca Gamba, in ID., Facciamo memoria. Cenni biografici delle FMA defunte nel 1948. Roma, Istituto FMA
1997, pp. 155-169.
23 Cf Paolo JEDLOWSKI, Per una sociologia della memoria, in “Rassegna italiana di sociologia” 30 (1989) 103. The theme of the memory is
emerging today as one of the keynotes of sociological reflection.
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Mother Clelia draws also from the rich documentation gathered by Don Maccono who in those years
was elaborating the biography of Maria D. Mazzarello and was following her cause of beatification; from Don
Lemoyne, Don Amadei and Don Ceria who were compiling the volumes of the Biographical Memoirs.
The documentary sources are heterogeneous but authentic and reliable: official documents (ex.
Transcript of the Foundation), decrees of diocesan approval, data relative to the opening of Houses, letters,
texts of the first Constitutions.
The Cronistoria draws also from a bibliography, not secondary to the purpose of the research: the
biographical notes on Maria Mazzarello written by Lemoyne24, the first true and proper biographies (1906
Francesia and 1913 Maccono), the Biographical Memoirs, the Epistolary of Don Bosco, the Salesian Bulletin
(from this Bulletin there are about 80 citations).
* Value and limits
The work of the Secretary General of the Institute and of her collaborators represents a historical phase
of great importance, actually unique in its kind, for intentionality, documentary effort and vastness of
researches. We will always need to refer to this work in order to know the vicissitudes of the origins as they have
been handed down to us in that historical period and with those interpretative paradigms.
The edifying purpose, however, often prevails over the historiographic. The finality with which it was
written was to gather all the possible remembrances concerning the beginnings of the Institute highlighting the
signs that reveal the action of Providence and the intervention of Mary Help of Christians. The principal intent is
not merely to “reconstruct the past”, but to “vivify, revive a spirit”25.
To understand the Cronistoria in its literary genre there is need, therefore, to enter into the logic of the
text, placing ourselves in harmony with the mentality of the writer by using the suitable interpretative keys.
There is need to distinguish between the life and the development of the first community of the FMA and its
narration. Similar process takes place in the hagiography: it is necessary to distinguish between the Saint as such
in himself, and the idealization of the Saint26.
5. The literature of hagiographic type
Generally, the historiography of the Institute in the first half of the XX Century is characterized mainly by
the hagiographic literature and the rather anecdotic knowledge of the Founders, of the Superiors of the General
Council and of some FMA who died in concept of holiness27. In reality, during this period (first decades of the XX
Century), which coincides with the years of the Process of canonization of Maria Mazzarello and with the
beginning of the other Processes promoted by the Institute (Cf. Maddalena Morano, Laura Vicuña, Sister Teresa
Valsé...) a new type of biographies is elaborated, which is enriched by the contribution of the testimonials
presented at the Process.
24 Passages reprinted in 1996: cf Giovanni Battista LEMOYNE, Suor Maria Mazzarello, in Alois KOTHGASSER - Giovanni Battista LEMOYNE -
Alberto CAVIGLIA, Maria Domenica Mazzarello. Profezia di una vita. Roma, Istituto FMA 1996, pp. 77-110.
25 Giselda CAPETTI (a cura di), Cronistoria [dell'Istituto delle Figlie di Maria Ausiliatrice]. Vol. I. Roma, Istituto FMA 1974, p. 9. The work is
in 5 volumes published between 1974 and 1978.
26 Cf Réginald GREGOIRE, Agiografia: tra storia, filosofia, teologia, in G. D. GORDINI (a cura di), Santità e agiografia. Atti dell'VIII Congresso di
Terni. (= Ricerche, Studi e Documenti, 24). Genova, Marietti 1991, pp. 15-24.
27 In 1921-1922 the publication began of the Notiziario of the Institute to pass on news relative to all the communities. The aim of
the communications was to strengthen “the spirit” and the sense of belonging to the Institute.
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Moreover, though the editorial work of the authors of the Biographical Memoirs does not reach the
scientific historical level, notwithstanding such work includes a first attempt to organize the oral information and
the written sources of the Institute of the FMA. The one who wrote on Don Bosco could not ignore the history of
the feminine Congregation of which, in the first decade of the Century, the dependence from the same Founder
had been ascertained.
Don Lemoyne, having been the director both at Mornese and at Nizza until 1883 knew the genesis and
the development of the Institute, and this favoured the credibility of his work as “honest testimony and
convinced admirer”28.
According to the interpretation of Morand Wirth, we recognize furthermore that the first narration
“orderly and systematic” of the Salesian work is due to Don Eugenio Ceria who, between 1941 and 1951
published four volumes of the Annals of the Salesian Society29. In them also the history of the FMA Institute
converged sustained on a first hand documentation drawn from the Archives, both of the Salesian Congregation
and the one of the FMA.
Between the years 1920 and 1959 Don Ferdinando Maccono, Sister Giuseppin Mainetti, Sister Giselda
Capetti and other FMA, publish many biographies with the intention to offer models of life to the Sisters.
As we had already mentioned concerning the Cronistoria, also for these writings the purpose was mainly
to “edify” and not much to describe a history with methodological precision and rigorousness.
However, as remembered by Paul Wynants, scholar and researcher in the ambit of the history of the
educative feminine Congregations (Belgium, France, Netherlands), this “edifying production” can offer useful
aspects to the one who wants to know the reality of the Institute at least at two levels: “it may happen that it
contains the publication in extenso (extended, complete) of documents otherwise inaccessible or lost”30.
In our Institute this can apply, for instance to the Cronistoria, or to some biographies, as the one of
Emilia Mosca written by Sister Giuseppina Mainetti31, or the one of Mother Eulalia Bosco.32 Also the first
biography of Maria D. Mazzarello by Lemoyne contains two precious testimonials (of Don Domenico Pestarino
and of the sister of Maria Domenica, Sister Felicita Mazzarello) that at present are no longer traceable in the
original writing.
Moreover, the hagiographic writings are also a source of history for “the selection of facts and of the
enterprises, for the prominence given to the various episodes”. All this reveals to us the sensibility and the
mentality of those who have compiled them; it gives us a glimpse of the models of behavior offered by them to
the readers, a style of religious and community life according to the time. Wynants concludes: “Even if they can
appear outdated and cumbersome, let us be careful not to macerate these yellowed works”33.
6. The turning point of the II Vatican Council (years '60-'70)
The II Vatican Council had noteworthy resonances also on the historiographic research of the Institute.
While the Salesians, with Don Pietro Stella in Turin and Don Francis Dasramaut in Lyon, were starting critical
studies on Don Bosco and the Salesian Congregation, the Institute of the FMA, guided by Mother Angela Vespa
28 Cf Morand WIRTH, Da don Bosco ai nostri giorni. Tra storia e nuove sfide (1815-2000). (= Studi di spiritualità, 11). Roma, LAS 2000,
p. 17.
29 Cf ibid., p. 18.
30 Paul WYNANTS, Per la storia di un'istituzione insegnante religiosa: orientamenti di ricerca, fonti e metodi (XIX-XX secolo), in RSS 15 (1996)
10.
31 Cf Giuseppina MAINETTI, Una educatrice nella luce di San Giovanni Bosco. Suor E. Mosca di San Martino. Torino, LICE - R. Berruti 1952.
32 Cf ID., Madre Eulalia Bosco, pronipote del Santo. Memorie biografiche. Colle Don Bosco (Asti), Istituto Salesiano Arti Grafiche 1952.
33 P. WYNANTS, Per la storia…, p. 10.
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and by Mother Ersilia Canta, commit themselves in a new way to the “return to the sources” and to the “spirit of
the origins” as guarantee of a valid renewal and updating. It was to the advantage of the Church that every
religious Institute would deepen its own spiritual patrimony in order to assume with new awareness its
specificity and its apostolic vitality. For this purpose, there was need to faithfully interpret and observe “the
spirit and the proper finalities of the Founders, as well as the healthy traditions” as characteristic elements of
the patrimony of each Institute34.
The “return to the sources” required therefore a more accurate revisiting of the spirituality of the
Institute and a deeper knowledge of its history. It was a commitment of the formators to place the FMA in a
more direct contact with the Salesian literature, and above all an efficacious stimulus of the Superiors who, by
their words and their circular letters, contributed to revive in the Institute the interest for the Salesian
spirituality and for its sources.
In the Institute of the FMA, the sensibility for the history and the historiographic reflection emerge, and
are affirmed within the teaching of the Salesian Spirituality, and hence in a wide interpretative frame of
reference.
Here we can see the difference in the way of proceeding of the Salesians. They initiate with scientific
contributions of those who had a recognized historical competence, besides a specific academic activity: Don
Francis Desramaut (1962) and Don Pietro Stella (1969).
Moreover, the studies of the Salesians on Don Bosco and on the history of the Congregation were
planned and programmed since 1971-72 in the General Chapter, and afterward fulfilled by cultural Institutions
characterized by an explicit historical approach and competence: The Centro Studi Don Bosco (Don Bosco
Studies Centre) founded in 1973, and the Salesian Historical Institute (1982).
The Institute of the FMA follows a different course: it helps to slowly mature a historical sensibility
aimed at the renewed interest in the charism and at the renewal at present, in the post-Council phase.
At this line, a fundamental merit must be attributed to Sister Lina Dalcerri (1902-1998), professor of
pedagogy and scholastic Councilor in the Institute of Pedagogy and Religious Sciences of Turin; she, thanks to
her competence, spiritual depth and passionate love for the Institute, through her writings and her teaching
("Salesian Traditions” and “The Preventive System”), incremented the desire for a more aware return to the
Salesian sources35.
The contributions of Sister Dalcerri have the merit of having incremented in the young FMA students of
the “Pedagogico”, the aptitude to research during a delicate phase of the journey of the Institute. What was
being started in the academic ambit had a wider repercussion afterward as the FMA in their turn would, as it
actually happened, form the new generations of candidates to the Institute.
After Sister Lina Dalcerri, the systematic teaching of the spirituality of the FMA was continued by Sister
Maria Esther Posada, professor of spiritual theology, who, since 1971, at the Faculty of Sciences of Education,
taught an academic course on “Introduction to the Sources of the Salesian Spirituality” with the aim of leading
the young FMA to the reading and deepening of the sources of the Institute36.
As an immediate result of such teaching was the elaboration of some Master theses guided by the same
Sister Posada and which were discussed during the centenary year of the Institute (1972). For these spiritual-
historical researches, the students were admitted to the consultation of the Archives of the Salesian
Congregation, of the FMA Institute, of the Dioceses of Acqui and Turin, as well as the archives of the
34 Cf Perfectae caritatis, n. 2.
35 Cf per es. Rinnovamento e ritorno alle fonti. (= Quaderni delle FMA, 16). Torino, Tip. privata FMA 1968 e Lina DALCERRI., Tradizioni
salesiane. Spirito di famiglia. Roma, Scuola tip. privata FMA 1973. Cf pure Piera CAVAGLIÀ, Lina Dalcerri: una sintesi vitale di scienza e
spiritualità, in “Rivista di Scienze dell’Educazione” 37 (1999) 229-258.
36 Mother Ersilia Canta said – as I was told by Sister Maria Esther Posada – that this was the start of what the Institute wanted, that
is the possibility of deepening the charism and spirituality of the Institute.
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Municipalities of Mornese, Nizza Monferrato and Turin. It was thus possible to come in contact with the inedited
letters of Maria D. Mazzarello and with the Cronistoria of the Institute in the typewritten text, besides other
significant documentary sources.
During the years immediately following (1974-‘76), the Superior General, Mother Ersilia Canta,
encouraged the publication of what concerned the Co-foundress and the first community of Mornese. The text
of the Cronistoria was revised and published by Sister Giselda Capetti “in answer to a common and enthused
waiting”, as Mother Canta wrote in the presentation of the first volume37.
At that same time, the three small volumes Onwards in the Course of a Century, edited by Sister Capetti,
were printed; they present in a synthetic form the phases of a history. Interesting is the perspective in which the
historical development of the Institute is narrated in such a way that always allows to “glimpse the touch of
Mary’s hand that guided the Institute since its first winding, and accompanied it from hour to hour with the
predilection of a Mother and the power of a Queen”38.
In 1975 finally came to light the edition of the Letters of S. Maria Domenica Mazzarello, by Sister María
Esther Posada39. By an ample introduction of biographical and spiritual-historical character, the curator leads the
reader to the understanding of the only autographic documents of the Saint supplied with historical notes.
For many years this “precious capital” circulated in the hands of the FMA to nourish in them the
knowledge of the Institute and the faithfulness to the charism of the Founders. Those pages, “emanating the
freshness of the primitive spirit”, favoured that return to the sources, so desired by the II Vatican Council and
strongly repeated by the Superior Generals who guided the Institute in those years.
7. The present phase
In these last decades, we are living a phase of the history of the Institute in many aspects inedited. The
Course of Spirituality of the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, deliberated by the XVI GC
(1975) and instituted in 1976 at the Faculty of Sciences of Education “Auxilium” in Turin, is to be considered one
of the privileged “places” where a new way to draw near the charism of the Institute and to deepen its
historical, theological and pedagogical dimensions is matured and expressed.
The historical area, in the context of the history of the Christian spirituality and especially the one of the
IX Century, has the objective to draw closer to the sources useful for knowing the figure of the Founder, of the
Co-foundress, and the fundamental lines that guided the foundation, the expansion and the consolidation of the
Institute during more than a century.
Also in the ambit of the various teachings, of the exercises, of the seminars and of the theses presented
at the Faculty of Sciences of Education “Auxilium”, various aspects of the history of the Institute are deepened
each time; some of these contributions led to publications of articles and of volumes.
As for the historical-critical dimension, we must point out that much is still to be accomplished
concerning the research of the sources that will allow us to deepen the historical phases of the Institute, the
development of the works, the spirituality, the educative method, the missionary experience, etc., and to
interpret their evolution, the insertion in the various cultural contexts and the social resonance.
37 Cronistoria…, I, p. 5.
38 Giselda CAPETTI, Il cammino dell’Istituto nel corso di un secolo. Vol. I. Roma, Istituto FMA 1972, p. 9. This publication which integrates
the three volumes of Sister G. Capetti, was taken up again in 2007. cf Maria Pia BIANCO, Il cammino dell’Istituto delle Figlie di Maria
Ausiliatrice nei solchi della storia. Roma, Istituto FMA 2007 e 2010, 2 voll.
39 Cf Lettere di S. Maria Domenica Mazzarello. Confondatrice dell’Istituto delle Figlie di Maria Ausiliatrice. Milano, Editrice Ancora
1975.
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The present time, with its new cultural paradigms stimulates ever more the Institute to qualify the
method of work and to search accurately the sources in the various archives of the Institute and of outside ones.
In this ambit, ways of exploration and of documented and stimulating approaches are opened.
To a phase in which the theological-spiritual dimension of history was prevalent, a new phase is
taking over; in this phase the work is done with a more critical perspective, founded on reliable and
accurately tested and interpreted documents.
With the foundation of the Salesian Historical Institute (ISS 1982) and of the Association of the experts
of Salesian history (ACSA 1996), also the Institute of the FMA has a new opportunity of qualifying ever more the
historical method in view of further research and publications on the work accomplished in time by the FMA or
on its sources.
Since the foundation of the two centres of research, the collaboration between the Salesians and FMA
was never lacking. Sister Cecilia Romero in 1983 followed the critical edition of the first Constitutions of the
Institute40, besides the one of some dreams of Don Bosco.
Sister Grazia Loparco – professor of History of the Church, and of the courses: Introduction to the
sources of the Salesian Spirituality and History of the FMA Institute – as President of the Association of
experts of Salesian History, offers her competent contribution in the preparation and in the realization of
Seminars and International Conventions, also in collaboration with other religious Institutes.
Such encounters contribute – though with different methodological rigor – to activate in the FMA
students the stimulus to fulfil historical researches in their own Provinces of origin.
With her historical competence and her openness to the more recent historiographic reflections,
Sister Grazia has offered and continues to give a most valid contribution to the studies of the History of the
FMA Institute, worked out on the basis of accurate archival researches and in confrontation with history
scholars, both laymen and women.
A new awareness of the necessity for a more serious historical documentation is slowly maturing in the
FMA, both at the local and central levels. This can be deducted from the following indicators which denote an
emerging new sensibility and testify that there is a widespread formative process in action which, however,
awaits more promising developments:
*
competence and precision with which the material is gathered, classified, inventoried and
preserved in the central Archive and in the Provincial archives;
*
Commitment by which in every Province there is the effort to document the life, the
mission, the works of the Institute, thanks also to the periodical courses of formation and
updating of the Provincial secretaries;
*
sense of responsibility and regularity with which the various documents are compiled, the
chronicle, the provincial Cronistoria, the various reports, the statistics and the general
directory of the Institute;
*
faithfulness with which the biographic notes of the deceased Sisters are written and
published. We are aware that the history of the Institute is interwoven with the history of
every FMA, not only those who have carried out roles of government. These biographical
profiles – which by now have filled more than 70 volumes – are a modest source, but an
40 Cf Giovanni BOSCO, Costituzioni per l'Istituto delle Figlie di Maria Ausiliatrice (1872-1885). Testi critici a cura di suor Cecilia Romero. (= ISS
– Fonti, Serie prima, 2). Roma, LAS 1983.
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important one for the knowledge of the persons and of their activities in the various cultural
contexts;
*
increase of the publications on the Institute, its members, its works (cf The contributions of
historical, biographical, pedagogical and spiritual character in the various countries).
*
In particular, during these past years there has been the publication of some sources of the
Institute.
*
Letters of Maria D. Mazzarello in four editions (1975-1980-1994-2004);
*
Critical edition of the first Constitutions by Sister Cecilia Romero 1983); reprinted edition of
the Constitutions of 1874 (2008);
*
Sources and testimonials of the first ten years of the Institute (1870-1881: from the
foundation to the death of the Co-Foundress)41;
*
Reports of the Ministerial Inspectors on some schools of the FMA42;
*
Documentation relative to the juridical autonomy of the Institute43.
Moreover, the knowledge of the Co-Foundress, the phase of the foundation of the Institute and
its initial development, were deepened from various points of view.
*
Various contributions of historical, pedagogical and theological-spiritual of historical character
on the period of the origins of the Institute and on Maria D. Mazzarello by María Esther Posada,
Grazia Loparco, Piera Ruffinatto, Anita Deleidi, Ana María Fernandez, Piera Cavaglià, Mario
Midali, Carlo Colli.
*
Studies mostly inedited on the rapport Mazzarello-Frassinetti44, rapport Mazzarello-Bosco45, the
Founder and the Co-Foundress46, the FMA Institute during the period of the war47, the Institute
in its rapport with the Hebrews48, the presence of the FMA in Italy49, the educative works of the
FMA in Italy50.
*
Historical-pedagogical researches on the first educative institutions (the school of Mornese51
and of Nizza Monferrato)52, on the studies of the FMA in the first 50 years of the Institute and
on the presence of the FMA in Italy between 1900 and 192253.
41 Cf P. CAVAGLIÀ – A. COSTA (a cura di), Orme di vita…
42 Cf Grazia LOPARCO, L'attività educativa delle Figlie di Maria Ausiliatrice in Italia attraverso le ispezioni governative (1884-1902), in
RSS 21 (2002) 49-106.
43 Cf ID., Figlie di Maria Ausiliatrice e Santa Sede. Inediti sugli antecedenti della separazione giuridica dai Salesiani (1901-1904), in
“Rivista di Scienze dell’Educazione” 40 (2002) 243-256; ID., Verso l’autonomia giuridica delle Figlie di Maria Ausiliatrice dai
Salesiani. “Relatio et votum” di G. M. van Rossum per il S. Uffizio (1902), in RSS 28 (2009) 178-210.
44 Cf María Esther POSADA, Storia e santità. Influsso del Teologo Giuseppe Frassinetti sulla spiritualità di S. Maria Domenica Mazzarello.
Roma, LAS 19922.
45 Cf Anita DELEIDI, Il rapporto tra don Bosco e madre Mazzarello nella fondazione dell'Istituto FMA (1862-1876), in Mario MIDALI (a cura di),
Don Bosco fondatore della famiglia salesiana. Atti del Simposio. Roma-Salesianum (22-26 gennaio 1989). Roma, Editrice SDB 1989, pp.
305-321.
46 Cf María Esther POSADA, Alle origini di una scelta. Don Bosco fondatore di un Istituto religioso femminile, in Roberto GIANNATELLI (a cura
di), Pensiero e prassi di don Bosco nel 1centenario della morte (31 gennaio 1888-1988). (= Quaderni di Salesianum, 15). Roma, LAS
1988, pp. 151-169; ID., Don Bosco fondatore dell'Istituto delle Figlie di Maria Ausiliatrice, in M. MIDALI (a cura di), Don Bosco fondatore…,
pp. 281-303.
47 Cf Grazia LOPARCO, L’“ora della carità” per le Figlie di Maria Ausiliatrice a Roma, in “Ricerche per la Storia religiosa di Roma: Chiesa,
mondo cattolico e società civile durante la Resistenza” (2009) 151-197.
48 Cf ID., Gli ebrei e molti altri nascosti negli istituti religiosi a Roma, in Giorgio VECCHIO (a cura di), Le suore e la Resistenza. Milano,
Ambrosianeum-In Dialogo 2010, pp. 281-377; ID., L’assistenza prestata dalle religiose di Roma agli ebrei durante la Seconda guerra
mondiale, in Luigi MEZZADRI - Maurizio TAGLIAFERRI (a cura di), Le donne nella Chiesa e in Italia. Atti del XIV Convegno di studio
dell’Associazione Italiana dei Professori di Storia della Chiesa, Roma 12-15 settembre 2006. Cinisello Balsamo, San Paolo 2007, pp.
245-285; ID., Gli Ebrei negli istituti religiosi a Roma (1943-1944). Dall’arrivo alla partenza, in “Rivista della Storia della Chiesa in
Italia” 58 (2004) 107-210.
49 Cf Grazia LOPARCO, Le Figlie di Maria Ausiliatrice nella società italiana (1900-1922). Percorsi e problemi di ricerca. (= Il Prisma, 24). Roma,
LAS 2002.
50 Cf Grazia LOPARCO – Maria Teresa SPIGA (a cura di), Le Figlie di Maria Ausiliatrice in Italia (1872-2010). Donne nell’educazione.
Documentazione e saggi. 2 Voll. Roma, LAS 2011. The research was published on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the
Unification of Italy.
51 Cf Piera CAVAGLIÀ, La scuola di Mornese. Alle origini di una scelta per la promozione integrale della donna, in “Rivista di Scienze
dell'Educazione” 26 (1988) 151-186.
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*
Various contributions on the charism54, on the Marian identity of the Institute55; on the first
community of the FMA56; on the presence of the FMA in the various countries57.
ADDITIONAL NOTES ON THE RECENT HISTORIOGRAPHY OF THE FMA (1975-2010)
The continental Seminars of ACSSA (2011-2013) have brought to light the current situation regarding the
written history of the FMA in different countries. Some countries are richer in their studies, like Italy, while
other countries are wanting like Spain. Other European countries such as Poland, Slovakia, and Great Brittan
do have a few scholarly studies that are also known outside the Salesian Family. In America, while there is a
great living story by the FMA, it is not proportionate to what has been written. There are some publications
also written by non FMA scholars on Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, United States...
Some scholarly works on schools, especially in Brazil and Colombia, use sources and documentation on the
context.
For Africa there is a small contribution published regarding the educational presence of the FMA in Congo;
for Asia there are brief notes on China, Japan, Thailand, Philippines; we may learn of other studies, if any,
through this seminar. It should be noted that a documented text exists regarding the educational presence
of FMA among the girls in North East India.
Everywhere there are texts produced for the occasion of centenaries, the fiftieth anniversary of a house or a
province, but they vary in standard. Often authors are not precise in their documentation of sources. Usually
these books are written in an uplifting style with the purpose of spreading significant information, aimed at
friends and supporters of our Salesian works.
Several publications concern FMA biographies of significant educators, superiors and Sisters alike.
In particular, these are some factors that have contributed to a serious commitment in recent years: the
research at conferences organized by the Pontifical Faculty of Education Auxilium of Rome; master or
doctoral thesis discussed in the same or other pontifical universities, Catholic or state, the initiative of the
Secretary General of the FMA to publish documented sources; preparation for international conferences
ACSSA; openness to collaborate with lay scholars regarding publications in non-Salesian books and journals.
Compared to published texts, in general, theses remain unpublished. However, the advantage is that young
Sisters in different geographic regions have the opportunity to become more aware of the importance of
using this type of documentation and understanding its value.
A large part of the FMA publications is of an institutional nature, referring to the study of works and houses.
In the best of cases, bibliographies are employed that assist to contextualize the educational work of women
religious in that country according to the political, social, economic and cultural structures particularly related to
52 Cf ID., Educazione e cultura per la donna. La scuola "Nostra Signora delle Grazie" di Nizza Monferrato dalle origini alla Riforma Gentile
(1878-1923). Roma, LAS 1990.
53 Cf Grazia LOPARCO, Gli studi nell'Istituto delle Figlie di Maria Ausiliatrice. Contributo sul primo cinquantennio (1872-1922) in Italia, in
Francesco MOTTO (a cura di), Insediamenti e iniziative salesiane dopo don Bosco. Saggi di storiografia. (= ISS – Studi, 9). Roma, LAS 1996,
pp. 327-368; G. LOPARCO, Le Figlie di Maria Ausiliatrice nella società italiana (1900-1922)...
54 Cf AA.VV., Corso per maestre delle novizie. Roma 1settembre - 7 novembre 1993. (= Orizzonti, 2.4.7). Roma, LAS 1994-1996.
55 Cf Maria Piera MANELLO (a cura di), Madre ed educatrice. Contributi sull'identità mariana dell'Istituto delle Figlie di Maria Ausiliatrice.
Roma, LAS 1988; Maria DOSIO – Marie GANNON – Maria Piera MANELLO – Maria MARCHI (a cura di), “Io ti darò la Maestra…”. Il coraggio di
educare alla scuola di Maria. Atti del Convegno Mariano Internazionale promosso dalla Facoltà di Scienze dell’educazione “Auxilium” –
27-30 dicembre 2004. Roma, LAS 2005.
56 Cf Maria KO - Piera CAVAGLIÀ - Josep COLOMER, Da Gerusalemme a Mornese e a tutto il mondo. Meditazioni sulla prima comunità cristiana
e sulla prima comunità delle Figlie di Maria Ausiliatrice. Roma, LAS 1996.
57 Cf the numerous publications produced by the ACSSA.
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women.
Since the Italian historiography is more prolific for historical reasons, it signals a first examination.
THE HISTORIOGRAPHY OF THE FMA IN ITALY 1975-2012
Part I
TYPES OF TEXTS AND STATISTICS: WHAT HAS BEEN WRITTEN
1.1. Texts
The historical texts on FMA in Italy (1975-2012) are 14, of which 12 are considered more accurate; 8 were written for
explicit purposes.
Table summarizing the texts
N. of
Quality of
Location
Texts
Study
Center of Study
The Occasion
Italy
2 Scientific
FMA in Italy 1900-1922;
Study
FMA in Italy 1872-2010 (various contributions)
Region
1 Scientific
Sicily
Study
City
4 Well documented - Cornedo Vicentino
- Formigine
- Vigonovo
- Cannara
2 Celebratory well - Tirano
documented
- Samarate
Centennial
Centennial
Specific works
of a house
2 Scientific
- Scuola N. S. Grazie di Nizza (1878-1923)
- Nido di Pavia (1914-1936)
Study
Persons
Scientific
- Madre Morano (various contributions)
Study
FMA Magazines
Scientific
- Magazine Primavera
- Magazine Da Mihi animas
Study
1.2. Articles in miscellaneous texts (45)
1.3. Articles in magazines (20)
1.4. Theses (38)
1.5. Dictionaries
1. IN WHICH PERIODS DID THE PRINTING TAKE PLACE
(Especially after 1995)
2. PERCENTAGE OF AUTHORS
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(For individual types of publications they are nearly all FMA)
3. MEANS OF PUBLICATION MOST USED
Series (The Prism, Horizons); Journal of the Faculty of Educational Sciences Auxilium of Rome; Acts of international
conferences ACSSA; Salesian Historical Research; Other non-Salesian scientific journals.
The works motivated by celebratory events are mainly unpublished.
4. GEOGRAPHY (NORTH, CENTER, SOUTH) AND DIFFERENT ERAS STUDIED
Part II
THEMATIC HISTORIOGRAPHY
1. ITALY AS A WHOLE
2. A REGION
Sicily, Sardinia
3. HOUSES
(With various works in a city)
4. A SPECIFIC LOCAL WORK
(Especially schools, hostels for workers)
5. Studies on JOURNALS
6. PAST PUPILS ASSOCIATIONS
7. PERSONS
Biographical notes, biographies, obituaries
8. VARIOUS OTHER THEMES, with greater emphasis on Italy in the period studied
History of Spirituality
History of Education and Pedagogy
ASSESSMENT: HOW IT WAS WRITTEN
Grazia Loparco
Conclusive notes that are open to debate and to confrontation
* We are ever more aware that the editing of the History of the Institute, as much as history of an
educative Institution that works in the five continents with a specific spirituality and methodology,
awaits the interdisciplinary contribution of FMA, Salesians and lay people belonging to the various
contexts and with different competences.
* It is an urgent and overriding need not only to recount a history and pass on a tradition, but above all to
identify historiographic criteria that can help us to question the past and may offer us the
methodologically correct approach to the events, to the persons and the institutions.
* Identify the pertinent documentation for the researches and use it in a critical way. Today, in a
fragmented cultural climate, there is ever more the urgency to respect the criterion of integration of the
sources. There is need, in fact, to adopt a global approach to the questions valuing the interconnection
of the documentation and the link that ties intrinsically different types of sources (i.e. the historical
source is understood in the light of other sources of spiritual, social, economic, pedagogical type…).
* Adopt formative strategies in order to sharpen and qualify the historical sense in all the FMA in view of
an adequate “production” and conservation of a documentation that be “significant” for the future
research.
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* prevent historical gaps, the reduction of history to the telling of anecdotes and to the plain and simple
erudition.
* In a time of rapid changes and of ever more accelerated rhythms of life, perhaps we neglect the duty to
adequately document, in a way proportionate to the cultural level that which has generally been
conquered. We don’t find the time to write what is significant, but perhaps we to not always catch its
function and the social importance.
* Not secondary is the support - the paper on which we write the documentation. Are we sure of its
duration? Of its “diplomatic” authenticity? Centuries ago the famous archivist of the duke of Modena,
Ludovico Antonio Muratori (1672-1750), wrote with acute historiographic sensibility and great realism:
“In the past, people would write on parchment and on papyrus, today, instead, our notary publics use
for their work a paper little different from the spider web. It will be not long before those written
characters will be lost; in fact the very paper will be destroyed. As the archive is destined to perpetuate,
as much as possible, the public memories, it requires therefore strong paper and good ink.”58
What would that famous archivist say of the “information technology pieces” or of the audio-visual
documentation59? Scripta faciunt archiva! [The writings constitute the archives!]. The technology of
which we dispose is today an opportunity and at the same time an uncertainty for the historiography
and the preservation of the documents. The written sources, even if on yellowed papers, are the
essential elements to construct that “certainty” on which to build the “true”, they are the necessary
means to establish communion of the present with the past.
* Another not easy problem to solve in a time of rapid changes is the order, arrangement of the archives,
which are the privileged source of historiography, a reality not at all technical, but rather of historical
competence.
For this there is need of an adequate formation in the archivist field in order not to “sin” toward history
and toward posterity. It is not simply a question of good will, but of competence and of professional
deontology.
The arrangement and building of the inventory of an Archive are one of the most qualifying and specific
aspects of the work of the one who wants to preserve the memory of an Institution. The arrangement
tends to establish the internal connections of the Archive which give the reading and interpretative keys
of the documents.
In an orderly Archive is reflected the history of the Institution that has built it, not only for the
information that it transmit, but because it makes it possible to understand the essential elements of
that historical reality (ex. Its finalities, the rapports established, the conditionings, the way of working…).
The arrangement is the premise for the critical analysis of the sources. Obviously, for the knowledge of
the history of the Institute there will be need to consult also other Archives, of the State or other civil
and ecclesiastical bodies, or agencies, which have functions or competences relevant to that Institution.
The history of the Institute, in fact, is interwoven with the history of the place, of the culture, of the
Church, of the society in which it works.
58 Ludovico Antonio MURATORI, Della pubblica felicità, oggetto de’ buoni princípi. Venezia, Albrizzi 1749, p. 403.
59 For this type of documentation the criteria of authenticity have not yet been worked out. An able technician can falsify the text,
the voice, the recording on the magnetic base. If a text written on paper is falsified it is possible to trace the falsification, but not
so with electronic alterations of falsifications.
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