Apostolic schools: a history yet to be written

In the past, one of the possible paths to vocation led not only to seminaries or novitiates but also to apostolic schools run by religious orders.

The charism of education

The Society of Jesus is well known for its commitment to the education of boys, from the very origins of the Order, through the opening and running of Colleges.

Many of these are still active, and in our province alone there are as many as six: Istituto Sociale in Turin, Leone XIII in Milan, Massimiliano Massimo Institute in Rome, Gonzaga in Palermo, Atë Pjetër Meshkalla College in Shkodra, and the St. Aloysius College in Birkirkara.

In our column, we have dedicated several in-depth studies to the history of the colleges, the active ones but above all the many institutes that no longer exist today or no longer entrusted to the Society.

The Ignatian charism for education was not only realised in the boarding schools but also in the experience of the much lesser known apostolic schools.

From boarding schools to apostolic schools

Apostolic schools were very different from boarding schools, in terms of purpose and organisation.
Today they no longer exist because they are incompatible with the Italian school system; the last to close was the one in Roncovero, in 1985.

If the history of boarding schools in the Society of Jesus dates back to the years immediately following the birth of the order – St Ignatius himself authorised the opening of the first colleges – that of the apostolic schools is much more recent.

They arose between the end of the 19th century and the first decades of the 20th century, spreading throughout the five former provinces during the first half of the 20th century.

However, the history of the apostolic schools is very much linked to that of the colleges, even though they had very different purposes. When they were established, the Company, as well as other religious orders, was already beginning to glimpse and address several issues that are very evident today: the decline in vocations, the need to reorganise the colleges according to the number of religious available, the amount of work involved in maintaining so many institutes.

Arrupe, during his first years as generalate, pointed out a new way for the Jesuits: the missions, preferring to close many colleges and optimise the resources and human forces available. Many of the provinces therefore decided to close some of them, preferring to leave only one open, in those very years, to devote themselves more to the missionary front.

Often, the buildings of the closed colleges were not sold, but refitted for apostolic schools. They already had classrooms, dormitories, laboratories and teaching materials that could be made available to these new pupils. Moreover, precisely at the time of the reorganisation of the colleges, the apostolic schools had a new impetus, on them was placed the hope of new and abundant vocations. In some cases, the provinces chose to open more than one apostolic school in the territory or to allocate funds for the construction of a dedicated building.

Their organisation is very similar to that of seminaries. They are in fact also known as minor seminaries and were preparatory to entry into major seminaries or directly into the novitiates of religious orders.

What are Apostolic Schools?

Unlike the colleges intended for the education of boys from aristocratic and bourgeois families, the apostolic schools were established for other pupils.

In fact, only children and young people were enrolled here who had shown, at an early age, an interest in religious life and the will to take vows when they grew up.

They were called ‘apostles’, since they emulated the apostles’ choice to follow Jesus.

They were children between the ages of 10 and 13, the age group corresponding to today’s middle schools. It should be remembered that the middle school only entered the Italian legal system in the 1940s. Entry into the apostolic school therefore took place at the end of primary school, when school attendance was interrupted for children from less fortunate social backgrounds, and guaranteed the possibility of continuing their studies, some of which also allowed them to obtain a high school diploma.

It was from one of these schools, the one in Strada, that 14-year-old Arturo Taggi wrote to the Rector to ask to be admitted to the novitiate.

Of course, not all those who were enrolled in apostolic schools then went on to theological studies to take the religious habit. Sources show that for many families, the apostolic school was the only way for their children to receive education and food, at least lunch. It was therefore a matter of providing an alternative to hard work in the fields from an early age. Many of the children and young people who entered the apostolic schools were in fact from families of modest means. The minor seminaries often also came into being with the aim of finding vocations precisely in those social classes where the mass parties could most easily find support.

By regulation, the Jesuits were supposed to turn away children and young people who showed that they no longer had a desire for religious life or who did not have this inspiration. However, documentation tells of several cases in which pupils were allowed to finish their studies to avoid a return to a life of work and hardship and to guarantee their qualifications. Apostolic schools have contributed to the schooling of so many individuals who then decided to continue their lives by finding a job, enrolling in high school or in the seminary or novitiate. The evolution of society and the changing times quickly led to the decline and closure of the apostolic schools from the late 1960s onwards.

In addition to the study of more traditional subjects, the Apostles learned to say Mass, practising ritual and liturgy. There was no shortage of recreational and leisure time as well as sports and outings.

Jesuits who attended apostolic schools

The existence of the apostolic schools allowed the Society of Jesus to benefit from numerous entries into the novitiate, precisely by boys from these institutes; there are still many senior Jesuits who have studied at one of these. Today, in fact, many of the Jesuits who can boast of decades of religious life, sometimes reaching eighty years of life in the Society, were former apostolates and entered the novitiate as soon as they finished apostolic school, at the age of fifteen.

Coming from an apostolic school often allowed boys as young as fifteen or sixteen to enter the novitiate.

Often, in the personal files of Jesuits from apostolic schools, one can find report cards from the institute, lists of books or recollections of the apostolic years.

Precisely because the pupils were so young, the Italian apostolic schools were all named after St John Berchmans. Moreover, the novices also directed their devotion to a very young saint, St Louis Gonzaga. Effigies of both were present in the rooms and classrooms of both the apostolic schools and the dormitories.

We mention in the following paragraphs the apostolic schools in each province and some of the locations they had throughout their history in the 20th century. This is a subject still to be studied, and the charters of all these institutes are currently being reordered. As we shall see, the apostolic schools in many cases were located in the buildings that had housed the colleges of the Society of Jesus for decades.

Veneto-Milanese Province

n the Venetian-Milanese Province the apostolic school has had several locations: it was initially opened in 1913 in Milan in the same building that housed Leone XIII at the time, later destroyed during the Second World War. Within a few years it changed location, first in Brescia – at Arici – and then in Piacenza from 1920 until the early 1930s when it moved to Roncovero di Bettola, where the Company could benefit from donations from the Ghirardelli family for the construction of the new apostolic school.

For a short period, between 1956 and 1960, one was also opened in Conegliano.

Today the archives of these apostolic schools are kept in our institute, in the Veneto – Milanese Province fund.

Turinese Province

The Turinese Province o also had its Apostolic Schools. The oldest opened its doors in 1878 in the Principality of Monaco where it remained for many years. It was later based in Chieri, Turin, Muzzano and finally in Cuneo. Here the apostolic school benefited from the building of the St. Thomas College, closed in the 1930s.

Many of the Jesuits, former members of the Turin Province, who entered the novitiate after the apostolic school at a very young age, came from the latter location.

In 1952, the Province decided to open one also in Sardinia, in Bonorva, then in Cagliari, to encourage vocations on the island, until 1970. The charters of these schools are now being reordered.

Roman Province

The first apostolic school of the Roman Province was based in Strada from 1882, sharing space with the boarding school until 1925 when the Province closed the boarding school and transferred the apostolic school to Loreto, using the premises of the old boarding school. The Apostolic School changed location again in 1942 when it moved to Cesena where it remained until 1955.

With the closure of the Collegio dei Nobili in Mondragone at the end of the 1953 – 1954 school year, the building of the Villa did not remain unused, but was chosen as the fourth seat of the Apostolic School of the Roman Province. Villa Mondragone therefore continued to host boys in formation, no longer as boarders but as possible future religious, until 1972, when this school too was closed. With the closure of this institute, the Province chose not to find another location and to end the experience of the apostolic school. Our archives preserve the documentation produced by the school in each of its four locations.

Neapolitan Province

The Jesuits of the Neapolitan Province established the apostolic school in the Sozi-Carafa Castle in Vico Equense from 1911 to the end of the 1960s. Our archives contain both the institute’s fonds and various photographs of the school and the apostolates in the photographic series of the Neapolitan Province.

Sicilian Province

Even in the Sicilian Province, the apostolic school has had several locations: Mussomeli, the oldest since 1914, then moved to Noto, but there was also one in Palermo, at the residence of Casa Professa, and in Catania. Between the 1950s and 1960s, the one in Catania and the one in Casa Professa, where the minor seminary high school was located, remained active at the same time.

A history yet to be written

There are only a few local history publications on some of these apostolic schools, often based on the testimonies of former pupils. It would be very interesting to compare the methodologies and histories of schools in different provinces to observe similarities and differences.

The history of each of these institutions for the formation of boys and future clergy has yet to be reconstructed. Although the charters produced up to the end of Pius XII’s pontificate, i.e. October 1958, are currently open for consultation, for many of these institutes the birth and development can be investigated since, as we have seen, they were established at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.

Maria Macchi