Due to force majeure: from boarding school to military hospital

On several occasions some residences of the Society of Jesus underwent transformations, often as a result of expropriation and forfeiture by the Old Italian States after 1773 or by the Kingdom of Italy after 1861.

Many Jesuit residences or colleges, once forfeited, were destined to house the first schools of the Kingdom of Italy, as happened with the Liceo Visconti, formerly the Collegio Romano, or the Collegio S. Pietro in Piacenza, later transformed into the Liceo Melchiorre Gioia.

Not all, however, retained their original purpose or were used for educational purposes.

The residence and college in Loreto, for example, was abandoned by the Jesuits with the arrival of the Piedmontese troops in 1860 and turned into a military hospital in the following months.

We focus today on the temporary transformation the colleges underwent between 1915 and 1918 to become military hospitals themselves.

In fact, during the First World War, there were many colleges of the Society of Jesus that voluntarily or involuntarily had to accommodate wounded soldiers arriving from the front and surrender their premises to the troops.

This was the fate of colleges close to the front such as the Arici in Brescia or the seminary in Cividale, but also of institutes far from the trenches where the fighting took place, such as the Massimiliano Massimo Institute in Rome.

From the preserved documentation, we learn that the premises were either handed over after specific requests by the military authorities or directly requisitioned, with all the objects inside.

There are many files entitled ‘War Damage’, dating back to the First World War, which allow us to investigate this often little-known aspect of the First World War.

The military occupation and the reception of the wounded in fact entailed the inevitable use of provisions, linen and furniture, the dispersal or damage of paintings, furnishings, liturgical objects; for this reason, at the end of the war, it was possible to report the extent of the damage suffered to the State and request reimbursement.

The community, with the occupation of the building, was often forced to move elsewhere, temporarily relocating its premises, sending the pupils back to their families.

In the case of Rome, however, the boarders remained in the institute and the older ones were employed as volunteer nurses to assist the less serious patients and bring them comfort.

The premises were requested directly by the management of the local military hospital or the Red Cross.

In addition to the rooms, the Jesuits were also asked for sanitary material, as can be read from the list found in one of the folders of the Fondo Collegio Massimiliano Massimo, visible in the photo together with the letter from the Red Cross:

• 1 table with glass tops and rubber wheels
• 1 small table with railing and 2 glass tops
• 6 glass cupboards
• 10 rectangular basins
• 10 kidney-shaped basins
• 3 sprinkler holders
• 6 sprinklers complete with glass
• 12 assorted scalpels
• 12 assorted scissors
• 3 Wolkmann spoons
• 6 anatomical forceps
• 12 haemostatic forceps
• 3 Esmarch bands
• 1 gastric pump
• 2 operating beds
• 2 Kettles (nickel-plated metal sterilisers)

From the type of instruments listed, it is evident that within the school, soldiers were not only received, but also medicated and operated on.

The Jesuits from the community and neighbouring communities also took care of the spiritual care of the soldiers during their time there.

The Rector of the College, Fr. Miccinelli, had a photo album made showing the rooms of the college, Palazzo Massimo alle Terme, which still exists today, which he sent as a gift to the Queen Mother, Margherita of Savoy.

The latter in turn visited the wounded hospitalised in the hospital, as Lorenzo Rocci also recalls in his diary.

The dramatic conditions of the soldiers, the information that the less seriously wounded were able to tell about the war, were often the only ones that came quickly about that war fought in the trenches, before the letters from the front.

Maria Macchi