THE SOCIo..

RELIGIOUS SITUATION OF THE

ITALIANS IN ARGENTINA
 CHAPTER III

THE SOCIO.RELIGIOUS SITUATION OF THE

ITALIANS IN ARGENTINA

Quantitative and qualitative significance of the phenomenon!

The figures on the number of Italian immigrants in Argentina, and the

official sources on which they are based, differ according to whether they
are cited by Italians- or Argentineans) This is so despite the enormous
efforts that have been made in Argentina to recover historical memory
concerning the lists of passengers' names who disembarked at Buenos
Aires, their nationality, and sometimes their profession, the name of the
ship and the day of disembarkation.t
Despite the oscillation in numbers, Italian immigration was in fact
always by far the most substantial of all immigration into Argentina. It is
calculated that in the period from 1870 to 1915 Italians represented on
average more than half the total number of immigrants, with peaks
exceeding 70 percent during the decade of 1881-1890. The 1895 census,
moreover, reveals that the inhabitants born in Italy, therefore excluding
the children born in Argentina, constituted 27.3 percent of the entire
population of Buenos Aires; and according to the statistics of December
1901, they were 235,000 out of a total population of 865,490 inhabitants.
Between 1869 and 1914, the Argentine Republic held three censuses, the first
in 1869, the second in 1895 and the third in 1914. A comparative analysis of
the results shows that the Italian presence in Argentina progressively increased,
climbing from 71,403 in 1869 (4.1% ofthe total population) to over 900,000 in
1914 (11.5% of the total population). Unfortunately these figures are not suffi-
ciently revealing, because the Argentine statistics only consider those born in
Italy to be Italians, whereas according to Italian law the children of Italian emi-
grants abroad were also to be considered cittadini del regno. According to this
criterion, it may probably be assumed that the Italian presence in Argentina by
1905 was already well beyond 2 million individuals, thus constituting, two fifths
of the entire population.>

61
 VALIANT STRUGGLES AND BENIGN NEGLECT

The first numerous groups of Italian immigrants arrived mostly from

northern Italy, more specifically from Liguria, from Lombardy and from
Piedmont. These were joined by emigrants from the south of Italy whose
numbers would grow, in the course of the years, until they reached almost
53 percent of the total Italian immigration to the Argentine Republic.
And in the Argentine context, as in that of the United States, there were
different perceptions and opinions that persisted about the Italian immi-
grants who came from the North and the South.s
There is no doubt, however, that in Argentina, unlike in the Unit-
ed States, the Italians immediately demonstrated considerable enterprise,
quickly inserting themselves into the productive network." However, with
the arrival of Italians en masse from other regions the community's place
within the social scale in Argentina dropped proportionately.s Still,
according to the 1914 census, Italian immigrants owned 32 percent of all
urban property in the capital, but the percentage was very low for the cen-
tral and high quarters, whereas it was rather elevated (up to 41 %) for the
poor and muddy areas.?
In contrast to Italian emigration directed towards the United States
which, at least in its early phase, had to be content with the crumbs left
over by other ethnic groups, Italian emigrants to Argentina found them-
selves presented with opportunities offered by a nation coming to terms
with the first colonization. The introduction of so many Italian emigrants
into the production and services sectors was relatively rapid.

Problems Inherent in Integration

The issues discussed in Argentina were essentially two: the pressure to

nationalize the children of immigrants, through a rigorously patriotic educa-
tive process which would put an end to all the problems generated by the
presence of too many foreigners in the country; and the nationalising of the
immigrants themselves, which was a topic of intense political debate.l?
It was not only the government that was worried about foreign influ-
ences that were too powerful. With the increase in the migrant flow, from

62
 CHAPTER III

the 1880s, notes on immigration began to appear more and more frequent-
ly in the two new Catholic bulletins: La Union and La Voz de la Iglesia. 11
Fabio Baggio has carefully examined various years of the two
Catholic publications cited above.

From an overall analysis of the material examined, there appears to be a sub-

stantially positive view of the migration phenomenon, regarded as a beneficia
della Provvidenza; its usefulness was recognised as well as the favourable results
accruing from it to the Argentine nation, which found immigration to be a con-
siderable factor in the production of prosperity and wealth. The freedom and the
spontaneity of the phenomenon were considered a problem: the State had to
instigate or control emigration/immigration according to economic necessity,
without, however, usurping the right of every man to emigrate [... J. Only in that
way could two great problems closely related with free, spontaneous immigration
be resolved: the increase in criminality in Buenos Aires and the rampant
vagrancy throughout the city and the province [... J. There was the strong con-
viction that Argentine society allowed the easy and rapid integration of the
immigrant.' 2

As far as Italian immigration was concerned, the Catholic bulletins

constantly manifested a certain diffidence and often underlined the least
positive aspects of it:

- The most commonly recurring theme was the attack against the Italian schools
that had been set up on Argentine territory (11 in the capital alone), which,
from 1882, were funded by the Italian Kingdom. The undisputed acceptance of
independent schools on Argentinean soil presented the danger of separatism. 13
At the root of this problem were the differences in the concept of nationality:
whereas for Argentina the fundamental principle was the ius soli, for the Italian
State it was the ius sanguinis, on the basis of which the children of emigrants
were citizens of the Italian Kingdom and should be educated as such. Then came
the inspections, and by 1886 the controversy had died down, thanks to the con-
ciliatory work of the President of the National Council of Education for the
Argentine Republic, Zorilla, who in his final report defended the Italian schools
for their positive effects.
- The Mazzinian demonstrations of 1879 and 1880 in Buenos Aires, the cele-
bration by Italian immigrants of the public holidays of the Kingdom of Italy in
1884, the rebellion and the declarations of autonomy in 1886 in the La Boca dis-
trict, the repeated attempts to enshrine Mazzini and Garibaldi, the idols of Lib-
eral and Masonic Italy, by erecting monuments to them in the piazzas of
Argentina and by disseminating their thought and stories of their heroic
achievements, were seen in the light of cultural colonisation.H

The same Catholic bulletins (La Union and La VOz de la Iglesia), the
only witnesses competent to give an opinion after the fire that devastat-

63
 VALIANT STRUGGLES AND BENIGN NEGLECT

ed the diocesan archives of Buenos Aires, sided in favour of Italian immi-

gration, denouncing outrages and injustices on various occasions:
- In 1883, La Vozde la Iglesia came to the defence of Italian colonists who were
victims of unscrupulous speculation by State employees in the distribution of
land.t"
- Four years later, the same journal exposed the actions of the personnel of the
hospital Martin Garcia in Buenos Aires: the doctors and nurses had declared
themselves heirs of the poor immigrants who had died of cholera, and distrib-
uted their goods among themselves.ls
- In 1889, La Voz de la Iglesia reported the mistreatment to which the Italian
colonists were subjected during the Atlantic crossing, crowded like animals in
the holds of the ships and then, when they couldn't find lodgings in Buenos
Aires, confined like animals in the cattle-trucks of Argentine trains during their
transport to agricultural zones.!7

But not everything was negative with respect to Italian immigra-

tion. The Catholic press did not spare its praise for the Italian colony in
Buenos Aires. In 1898, conjecturing on a possible conflict between Chile
and Argentina, the colony had declared itself ready to enlist in the army
of its new country.l'' As a consequence, the opinion began to prevail that,
notwithstanding the Italian schools, the Italians already felt themselves to
be Argentines.'? It is interesting to add that, after the outbreak of the First
World War, a reverse trend in Italian migration came about, with the
number of those returning to Italy greatly exceeding the departures, with
a negative balance between 1914 and 1919.20

The Argentinean Church and Italian Immigration between 1870 and

1915 21

The Archdiocese of Buenos Aires was created on March 5, 1865 by Pius

IX and received the exequatur of the Argentine government in October
1866.22 It covered all Argentine national territory, down to Tierra del
Fuego and part of Paraguay. The endemic shortage of local clergy, deci-
mated by an epidemic of yellow fever that struck the city of Buenos Aires
in 1871, made the creation of new parish centres enormously diffkult. 23
With ecclesiastical organisation labouring under many difficulties, the
introduction of foreign religious and clergy was particularly welcome:

64
 CHAPTER III

Until 1855 the presence of religious in the Buenos Aires diocese had been lim-
ited solely to the territory of the provincial capital, in which there were three
houses for religious men (Dominicans, Franciscan Friars and Franciscans) and
two convents (Poor Clares and Dominicans).
In 1856 the Sisters of Mercy arrived, a Congregation of Irish origin, to take up
the mission of education and assistance intended above all for their compatriots.
In the same year there arrived also the Priests of the Sacred Heart: religious assis-
tance to the many Basque families in the diocese was entrusted to them. In 1859
the Congregation of the Sisters of Charity, Daughters of Blessed Maria dell'Or-
to, founded by Antonio Maria Gianelli, disembarked at the port of Buenos
Aires; they immediately assumed the direction of the city's women's hospital.
The same year saw the arrival of the hospital workers and Daughters of the
Charity of St Vincent de Paul, who assumed responsibility for the city's men's
hospital. In 1861 there was the official arrival in Buenos Aires of the Jesuits,
who, to counter the spread of Protestant schools, were charged with founding a
large Catholic college: thus the Colegio del Salvador was founded. In the fol-
lowing years this new religious presence made itself felt in a very positive way in
the Church life of Buenos Aires; such beneficial influence, however, was limit-
ed almost exclusively to the capital.P

From the brief mention made so far, it will be clear that the Church
in Argentina was grappling with the difficulties of ensuring a minimal
presence over a vast territory. The shortage of local clergy and of available
resources were the major difficulties. The local clergy did not concern
themselves with organising pastoral assistance specifically for the immi-
grants, especially for the Italians." Very often the problems of communi-
cation and of religious integration were passed back to the religious who
had come from Europe.
In any case, the migration flow from Italy constantly contributed to
an increase in the numbers of diocesan clergy, thus offering the local bish-
ops the possibility of organising their dioceses by following the stages of
colonisation.
Despite half a century of European migration, and in particular the
constant streams of migrants from Italy, the Latin American episcopal
meeting held in Rome, and attended by almost all the Argentine bishops,
paid very little attention to the topic of immigration.
In 1899 all the Latin American episcopacy was called to Rome for the celebra-
tion of a plenary council announced by Leo XIII on December 25 1898; almost
all the Argentine bishops attended the meeting, led by Archbishop Castellano.
Work continued uninterruptedly from May 1899 to the following July; the top-
ics treated touched on all the essential points in the life of the Latin American

65
 VALIANT STRUGGLES AND BENIGN NEGLECT

Church. Notwithstanding the importance of the phenomenon and the related

pastoral problems, so well delineated by Leo XIII himself in his letter to the
American bishops of 1889, immigration roused little interest among the council
fathers. In heading IX (de zelo animarum et caritate christiana), of chapter II
(De varia personarum conditione), after having spoken of the governors, the sub-
jects, the magistrates, the workers, the employers, the natives and their evange-
lisers, the council confessed its worry about the situation of foreigners, too fre-
quently deceived by "perverse speculators, who promise them immense riches
and colossal fortunes." The council fathers recommended the constitution of
Catholic societies that would concern themselves with spiritual and material
assistance for the immigrants and would protect them from evil seducers.J>

Efforts to draw the immigrants to the Church had not been lacking:
the Archbishop, Monsignor Castellano, during his pastoral visits into the
country around Buenos Aires had taken with him priests who spoke vari-
ous languages; his successor, Monsignor Mariano Antonio Espinosa,
called a general city mission in 1901 with provisions that showed special
concern for foreigners. In the parish of Merced, the Passionist Fathers
were charged with preaching in English to the Irish immigrants. In the
Mater Misericordiae chapel a mission was organised exclusively for the
Italians, and in the parish of San Juan Bautista the Fathers of the Sacred
Heart of Jesus were called to preach a mission for the immigrant Basques.
Despite these attempts, alarming voices reached Rome on the state
of religious neglect suffered by the Italians in Argentina. In November
1904, after a wearying visit to the Italians in Brazil, Monsignor Giovanni
Battista Scalabrini reached the Port of Buenos Aires with the intention of
setting up the basis of a centre for the Society of St Raphael. The attempt
failed because of the death of J. B. Scalabrini, the bishop of Piacenza,
which happened some months later.
In 1907 the new internunzio, Monsignor Achille Locatelli, arrived
in Buenos Aires with precise instructions from the Holy See concerning
spiritual assistance for the numerous Italian communities:
The Papal representative [...] must make every effort so that the Good adopt
those measures that they recognise as most suitable and efficacious in preserving
the European colonists from corruption. It will be as well, therefore, for the most
numerous communities to have their own churches or chapels and one or more
priests who are co-nationals, and as far as possible members of Religious Con-
gregations, who will provide for the spiritual care of souls and for the religious
and moral education of the young, and that the less important or scattered com-
munities be visited from time to time by good and zealous missionaries.t?

66
 CHAPTER III

Immediately after his arrival, Monsignor Locatelli received from the

Passionist Father, Tommaso di Maria Vergine, a missionary to the Argen-
tine, a detailed report on the state of religion in the Republic, in which
the missionary dwelt at length on the spiritual situation of the Italian
immigrants:
I think that it was no small error that was committed in Argentina at the start
of the immigration of foreigners of the Catholic religion, by the failure to pro-
cure the formation of national parishes served by priests of the same nation or at
least speaking their language [... J it seems that the bishops believed that the Ital-
ians, speaking a language almost identical with Spanish, would team up with the
old inhabitants and frequent the same churches. But the fact is that the existing
churches are far from being sufficient for the indigenous population, and the
majority of Italians are so little concerned about religion that any pretext is
enough for them to abandon it completely-f

In response to the continuing pressure of alarming news, the inter-

nunzio decided on August 16, 1907 to send a confidential circular letter to
all the bishops of the Argentine Republic in which he made known the Vat-
ican's concern about spiritual assistance for European colonists, supplying
precise indications for pastoral action. In reply, Monsignor Espinosa issued
a letter to all parish priests on August 19, 1907 in which he asked for a
detailed report on what was being done for the European immigrants. From
the numerous replies, a booklet was published with the title Religion e Inmi-
graci6n en la Arquedi6cesis de Buenos Aires. Datos Estadisticos.
The replies published give evidence of the existence of a web of pas-
toral activities for the communities of foreigners resident in Buenos Aires:
French, Basques, English, Irish, Germans, Russians, Poles, Syrian-
Lebanese Maronites. The pastoral care of immigrants was the most com-
mon topic in the various reports that reached the curia.
In regard to the accusation that "in America one loses one's faith",
the document affirmed that if immigrants to Buenos Aires became Social-
ists, Anarchists and anti-Catholic it was because they arrived already
filled with erroneous ideologies. Two serious deficiencies were common to
the majority of the immigrants: religious ignorance, which made them
vulnerable to attacks on their faith, and indifference in the practice of
their faith, meaning that they were Catholic only in name. Finally, it was

67
 VALIANT STRUGGLES AND BENIGN NEGLECT

affirmed that thanks to the welcoming spirit of their bishops, the resident
foreigners had not been forgotten. In the Argentine metropolis, in fact,
there existed three national Churches: one each for the Irish, the Basques
and the Italians.t?
Spiritual assistance for the foreigners was ensured by the presence in
the capital of many European priests: "All the communities find priests
here from their respective nationalities, specifically dedicated to the reli-
gious care of their compatriots.l'J? The booklet acknowledges that, con-
sidering the immigration statistics, the Italian community is the only one
"showing that it has the right to special religious attention."31
In the fifteen pastoral letters written by Monsignor Espinosa
(1898-1900) and in the twenty-seven written by his successor, Monsign-
or J. N. Terrero (1901-1914), there is no mention of the subject of immi-
gration. Monsignor Terrero's reply to the circular from Monsignor
Locatelli of August 16, 1907 is illuminating:

[... ] following in the steps of my illustrious predecessor in the government of this

Church, I have sought to have all my diocesans, without distinction of nation-
ality, assisted in their spiritual needs. The Russians, Germans with their own
churches, are cared for by the Fathers of the Divine Word and by secular and
religious priests of other Congregations that visit them on occasions. The Irish
[are cared for] by the Passionist Fathers, Pallottines and by secular priests. The
Italians, who along with us constitute almost the same nationality, are assisted
by the parish priests and by the missionaries who visit the parishes of this dio-
cese very often. Two of these parishes, Bahia Bianca and Ensefiada, are entrust-
ed to Italians, the Salesian Fathers. It is also a fact that in all the parishes there
is an Italian priest as parish priest or as chaplain. Immediately after receiving
Your Excellency's communication, I spoke with some of the most zealous priests,
recommending to them that preaching be in Italian, and they replied that the
majority of the Italians who frequent the church do not understand Italian, but
only their dialects, which I have had reason to confirm in the confessional. In
one church in this city, La Plata, preaching in Italian was commenced and it had
to be suspended because the Italians affirmed that now they were in America,
that they understood Spanish and preferred that they be preached to in this lan-
guage)2 The difficult thing is to guarantee religious assistance to foreigners who
live out in the country, but unfortunately the problem is the same for the Argen-
tineans.P

Given the enormous influx of immigrants, the risk of an Italian

Church in Argentina was always feared by the Argentine ecclesiastical
authorities who conceded at most, and then only initially and not every-

68
 CHAPTER III

where, the faculty of preaching in Italian in some churches that were

largely frequented by Italian co-nationals, such as Mater Misericordiae,
San Giovanni Evangelista, San Telmo, and El Pilar.
The Argentine Church's desire for integration transpires from the
account of the Salesians' work on behalf of the Italian immigrants given
in 1923 by the Salesian Michele Tonelli, who was for years Director of the
Segretariato del Popolo, Opera Don Bosco, at the Mater Misericordiae
Church:
There were bishops who advised against or prohibited preaching in Italian, say-
ing that it was no longer necessary, since the Italian immigrants were able to
understand Spanish and that the Argentine priests, many of whom had studied
in Rome, could easily care for them in their own language. In reality it was
feared as a danger for the Argentine parish religious centres which, like it or not,
are formed in great part of Italian elements [... J.

And along with the language, there was also a prohibition against form-
ing any ethnic group structures. Tonelli continues:
Italian activity with parallel aims (to the St Vincent Committees and to the
Workers' Circles in existence in the local parishes), although it may be desirable
as a counter to the work of so many Italian societies with masonic and anticler-
ical tendencies, in practice meets with serious obstacles and with diffidence in
Argentinean religious circles. As an example, I recall that when the setting up
of an "Italian" St Vincent Committee in the Italian Church was mentioned, the
response was that in that case all the Argentine Committees would suspend
their assistance to poor Italians and direct them to the Italian Cornmittee.w

Religious Congregations: Role and Contributions

In the difficult task of providing spiritual assistance to Italian immigrants,

the Argentine Church availed itself of the precious collaboration of Reli-
gious Congregations. Only in one case, that of the Salesians, did it take
an active part in the initiative of entrusting to Italian missionaries the
pastoral care of their co-nationals. In all other cases, as in the case of the
Scalabrinians and of the priests of Monsignor Coccolo, the Argentine
hierarchy confined itself to accepting others' initiatives. As seen above,
there had been other Religious Congregations present in Argentina for
some time: Passionists, Redemptorists, Franciscans, among others.

69
 VALIANT STRUGGLES AND BENIGN NEGLECT

The efficacy of the work of these missionary institutions represent-

ed the Argentine Church's most effective response to the phenomenon of
Italian immigration.

The Salesian Missionaries

The Salesian Missionaries were those principally involved in the work of

assisting Italian immigrants to Argentina between 1870 and 1915)5
Don Bosco had noted the flow of Piedmontese towards this South
American republic, a flow which by that time had reached considerable
proportions, and in 1875, after frequent exchanges of correspondence
with the civil and religious authorities.x he sent the first nine Salesians;
a further twenty-two missionaries followed in 1876, and in the next year
also a large group of secular clergy. His plan for their work was made clear
in his homily at the farewell mass. The Salesians were to respond to three
needs: the necessity for priests." the evangelisation of the indigenous peo-
ple, and, most urgently, assistance to the emigrant Italian families:
I recommend to you with particular insistence the grievous position of many
Italian families, who are living in great numbers in those cities and in those
countries and in the midst of the very countryside. The parents, their children
poorly versed in the language, the customs of the places, far distant from schools
and churches, either do not attend to the practice of their religion or if they do
they understand nothing of it. Therefore I am told that you will find a very great
number of children and even adults who live in the most deplorable ignorance,
unable to read and write and without any religious principles. Go, seek out these
new brethren, who were taken to foreign lands by poverty and misfortune, and
set about leading them to know how great is the mercy of that God who sends
you to them for the good of their souls.J8

The pastoral work of the Salesians, attuned as it was to national and

regional specificities and charged with enthusiasm, enjoyed the wide sup-
port of the Argentine hierarchy and was a determining factor in the
process of integrating the Italians into the Argentine Church.s? Beyond
the spiritual sphere, they concerned themselves in Buenos Aires as they
did later in Rosario, with the human and social advancement of the immi-
grants, especially of the young, who sometimes manifested a decided
rejection of everything Italian: "The children of our co-nationals are

70
 CHAPTER III

often the natural adversaries of Italians and of all that is italianiw. "40 The
refusal of the identity of ethnic origin by the second generation is a fre-
quent enough phenomenon in the emigration context; it is generated
most often in social environments, such as urban environments, where
the process of assimilation is accelerated by strong external pressures."
Through an increasing network of schools and higher institutes, the
Salesians were able to win the hearts of the young and their families, earn
themselves the praise of the Italian and Consular authorities, by effec-
tively offering a contrast to the schools run by the Masons, and to undo
the negative judgements about Italian clergy who had come to Argenti-
na. 42 The most challenging area, in this regard, was the district of La Boca,
in which iconoclastic and dissenting tendencies were finding expression
and acceptance and from which a tradition of socialist voting patterns
originated. This support is to be sought not only within the lower classes,
but - and with particular strength - in the lower middle class, that fol-
lowed free thinking ideas, beginning with Freemasonry, ideas introduced
through the Italian antimonarchist tradition which had an enormous
influence in the area.f Despite a tempestuous beginning in the La Boca
quarter.f their administration of parishes and chapels had a very benefi-
cial influence.
In 1909 the Salesians organised the first Italian pilgrimage to Lujan.
This is an important date because devotion to the Madonna of Lujan goes
back to the seventeenth century and is still regarded today as the greatest
expression of Argentine religiosity. The active involvement of the Italian
community came to be regarded as significant because of its adherence to
the rituals of the Argentine Church.

The Scalabrinian Missionaries

The presence of the Missionaries of San Carlo (Scalabrinians) in Argenti-

na between 1870 and 1915 is restricted to only two priests: Luigi Wagnest
and Giacomo Annovaazi." The two priests, sent out at different times and
to different areas, attempted to set up a mission, while facing difficulties

71
 VALIANT STRUGGLES AND BENIGN NEGLECT

and misunderstandings. It was the time when members of the young mis-
sionary institution were admitted to membership of the Institute by a sim-
ple sworn statement. In both the cases, and for different reasons (unde-
servedly inappropriate in one case and in the other, suspension a divinis)
it was a failed attempt at providing specific assistance for the Italian immi-
grants in line with models already tried elsewhere (flying missions,
national parishes, teaching of the catechism, etc.).

The Missionaries of Monsignor CoccoIo

The missionaries, a group founded in 1905 by Monsignor Giacomo Coc-

colo, devoted themselves to the spiritual assistance, human advancement
and professional direction of Italian immigrants in Argentina from 1908
to 1919. It was. during his trip towards the United States that Monsignor
Coccolo recognised the spiritual neglect in which Italian emigrants were
living throughout the time of their transoceanic crossing.
With the encouragement of some Scalabrinian missionaries resi-
dent in New York, he presented a project to the Holy See for a Society of
Missionaries for Emigrants. The Society's aim was "to accompany the Ital-
ian emigrants onboard ship in their ocean crossing, as they go to Ameri-
ca or as they make their return from there."46 Any Italian priest could join
the new Institute, after a trial period, as long as he had the permission
from his superior and was prepared to commit himself for at least two years
to the service of emigrants. In 1908, the Society of the Missionaries for
Emigrants widened its specific aim to: "provide efficacious religious, moral
and, as far as possible, material assistance to the Italian emigrants in cer-
tain regions of America where they have settled in greater numbers, such
as in Argentina, in Canada, in Chile and in Paraguay."47
The missionaries were sent to the diocese of Santa Fe, which was
chosen by their Founder himself and, after a series of vicissitudes accom-
panied by a frequent turnover of personnel, they created a suitable welfare
centre in Buenos Aires. The effect at the pastoral level was limited. In
September 1912, the Vicar General of the diocese of Buenos Aires

72
 CHAPTER III

informed Monsignor Coccolo concerning his missionaries' situation: "The

prelate recognised in the lack of suitable personnel the major limit to the
missionary work: inexperience, ignorance of Spanish and, in some cases,
laziness had negatively affected the spiritual care of the immigrants."48
After many difficulties, in December 1919 the Administrative
Council of the Society ordered that the Institute be amalgamated into the
Scalabrinian Congregation.

The Franciscan Missionaries

The Franciscan Missionaries of Propaganda Fide, charged with the evan-

gelisation of the Indios in the territory of Sante Fe, found themselves from
1860 unintentionally involved in the process of colonisation which in a
few decades disturbed the human geography of that province. Challenged
by the spiritual neglect of many colonists, among whom there were many
Italians, they did not hesitate to give their assistance in true missionary
manner and spirit.
The presence of the Franciscan Missionaries of Propaganda Fide in
the province of Santa Fe goes back to January 1, 1780, the date on which
the Spaniard Fra Juan Maraud officially took possession of an ex-mission
of the Jesuits in San Miguel de Carcarana, sixty kilometres from Rosario.
The missionaries founded new indigenous mission posts, thanks particu-
larly to new arrivals from Italy: in 1854, in fact, nineteen religious had
come. Their wandering life, like that of the Indios, brought them into
contact with the numerous groups of Italian colonists who were more and
more on the move in the north of the country. An attentive scholar, E. G.
Stoffel,49 describes them in the following way:
Generally these Franciscans have nothing of the monastic about them save the
habit that they wear. Since they are obliged to follow the Indios in their forays,
they have learned to use the lazo (a stiff cord for capturing cattle) just as well as
they do and, if the opportunity presents itself, the boleadoras and the spear. Fre-
quently reduced to living by the hunt, they always carry a gun with them. They
dress like the gauchos, with felt hats or straw Panamas, using poncho and born-
bacha (special trousers) and wearing noisy spurs. The grey cowl- pulled in at the
waist - would not reveal their priestly character if it were not for the point of the
hood that shows at the back of the neck through the opening of the poncho.S'

73
 VALIANT STRUGGLES AND BENIGN NEGLECT

Pastoral activities directed towards the immigrants by the Francis-

can missionaries fall into two distinct stages. At first, the colonies are
structured as large agricultural zones and the families live scattered
throughout the territory, very distant from each other; the friars visit the
immigrants' houses occasionally. Friar Ermete Costanzi is perhaps the
most representative figure involved in this type of pastoral work; an eye-
witness of the time portrays him in one of his many visits:
Using a portable altar, he improvises a chapel on a farm, under a roof or under
the shade of a tree; he gathers the neighbours there, celebrates mass, preaches,
administers the sacraments, helps the sick and consoles and lifts the spirits of all.
His visit is always anxiously expected and received with rejoicing, because he
brings tranquillity for the present and is a messenger of hope for the furure.f

At a later stage, small urban nuclei were formed at the centre of the
communities: some houses and a central square that contains the church
and the municipality; the colonists gathered here on Sundays to join in the
religious ceremonies, to make their purchases and carry out their business.
The Franciscan missionaries followed this process, at least in the early
stages, and adapted the preceding pastoral model to more parish-oriented
requirements. Following their initiative, religious associations, confraterni-
ties and mutual help societies formed among the immigrants.v
With the beginning of the twentieth century, the missionary aposto-
late of the Franciscans of Propaganda Fide among the immigrants ended in
effect, their parishes becoming progressively transformed into parishes
assumed by the diocesan clergy. The last parish, San Javier, was handed over
in September 1912.

The Passionist Missionaries

The Passionists reached Argentina in 1881 with the precise responsibili-

ty of giving spiritual assistance to the Irish colonists. F:om the first years
of the 1900s they extended their missionary activity to the Italian immi-
grants in the provinces of Buenos Aires, Santa Fe and Cordoba. Towards
the end of 1880 Timoteo Pacitti and Clement Finnegan reached Buenos
Aires, and they were followed shortly after by other missionaries from Ire-
land and the United States.

74
 CHAPTER III

From their arrival in Argentina and then for about twenty years, the
Passionists dedicated themselves exclusively to the pastoral care of Irish
immigrants, both in the city of Buenos Aires and in the countryside
around the capital. As well as parish-type spiritual assistance carried out
in the chapels entrusted to them, they organised frequent missions to the
agricultural colonies where the Irish component was in the majority.
Their missionary work was successful: very soon the first Argentine voca-
tions were seen, with the opening of the first seminaries in 1888. In 1905
the Passionists raised their Argentine residences to the level of
autonomous Province to which they assigned new personnel.
It could be supposed, presumably, that the Passionist Missionaries
had got to know ltalian immigrants during their preaching in the coun-
tryside near the capital. Often the missions were planned for multi-ethnic
congregations: the emigrants could then choose from among the func-
tions those celebrated in their respective languages. Perhaps it was for this
reason that three Italian religious were sent to Argentina in 1888, with
the addition of two others in 1895 and in 1898.
The Passionists of Italian origin quickly began preaching missions
which brought enormous benefit to the Italian community. One of these,
Adalberro Martelloni, devoted his best energies to this end. After visiting
his co-nationals in the provinces of Santa Fe, Entre Rios and Cordoba, he
compiled a detailed pro memoria for Monsignor Locatelli, drawing atten-
tion to the spiritual neglect of the Italian colonists and the scant interest
demonstrated by the local Church in organising specific missions for the
immigrants.f In the following October, in response to a request from the
intemunzio himself, Adalberto Martelloni prepared another report giving
notice of a simoniacal attitude among the Argentine clergy, who demand-
ed payment of obligatory fees for the administration of the Sacraments, a
fact that constituted the principal cause for the Italian immigrants' aban-
doning their religious practice. After the preaching of some missions in
the country regions of Cordoba and Sante Fe, and of Buenos Aires, the
missions became rarer, as Monsignor Locatelli underlined in a report sent
to Cardinal Merry Del Val in April 1911.

75
 VALIANT STRUGGLES AND BENIGN NEGLECT

In the same report, l'internunzio indicated his concern about the hostile attitude
taken by the Argentine bishops towards preaching in Italian; the general climate
was so unfavourable that the Passionists did not venture to initiate the on-going
work of assisting the Italian immigrants on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, which
was hoped for by their Superior General. [... J In a second report, written twen-
ty-four hours later, Monsignor Locatelli communicated to Cardinal Merry del
Val that Monsignor Espinosa had prohibited the Passionists from accepting the
offer from Domenico Repetto (of a property) and asked for direct intervention
by the Pope with the Argentine bishops in order to reduce the tensions. In his
reply of April 28th the Secretary of State, after praising the efforts of the inter-
nunzio, explained that the Holy See preferred not to involve itself directlv.it

In fact, the Passionists did not bring the projected new foundation
to a completion, and neither in subsequent years did they take new mis-
sions to the colonists from Italy. The Passionists concentrated their efforts
on a commitment to the Irish and ceased sending Italian religious.

The Redemptorist Missionaries

The Redemptorists reached Argentina in 1883 and dedicated themselves

principally to the preaching of missions.
After the expulsion of all religious from Germany, in the wake of
the violent anti,Catholic campaign orchestrated by Chancellor Bismarck,
the German Province moved to Holland and to Luxemburg. The Superi-
ors, looking for new missionary horizons, turned their attention to South
America and in 1883 approached the Archbishop of Buenos Aires. On
October 25 of the same year three German Redemptorists disembarked in
Buenos Aires and were immediately received by Monsignor Aneiros, who
assigned them the chapel of Nuestra Senora de las Victorias, in the vicin-
ity of Piazza Libertad, with a small house connected to the church. In
1884, a further three Redemptorists arrived, of whom one was Italian, and
in 1885 their work of evangelisation began in various provinces.
Even though the documents carry only little mention, one can probably suppose
that during their frequent missions to the agricultural colonies the Redemp-
torists had occasion to meet with the Italian immigrants. However, in order to
find a clear commitment in favour of the latter, we have to wait until the begin-
ning of the twentieth century, 55

Without underestimating the value of their encounters during the

76
 CHAPTER III

missions and of the work of Federico Grote, which was the result of his
personal initiative rather than of Redemptorist practice, 56 Redemptorist
missionary activity in favour of Italian immigrants in Argentina is not
found before 1909.
In 1907 Monsignor Locatelli wrote to Cardinal Merry Del Val ask-
ing him to insist with the Redemptorist central administration that a new
missionary foundation be established in the diocese of Santa Fe, in par-
ticular at Rosario, for the assistance of Italian immigrants.57 The shortage
of personnel and the internal practice of the missionary institute were the
obstacles that hindered the collaboration requested. During one of his vis-
its to Rome the internunzio, Monsignor Locatelli, met with one of the rep-
resentatives of the Redemptorists' central administration. On that occa-
sion it was pointed out to him that "the arrival of fathers of other than
German nationality was not looked on favourably."58
In July of the same year, Monsignor Locatelli asked Merry Del Val
to make a request to the Rector of the Redemptorists for the nationality
of missionaries being sent to Rosario to be reconsidered. The insistence
was rewarded and in the following August an Italian religious was assigned
to the Argentine Province.
In September 1909 the Redemptorist missionary Giuseppe Brescia
was entrusted with finding the most suitable place for the construction of
the new residence at Rosario. He chose territory in the Refineria quarter,
adducing the following reasons: in that zone the population was poor and
it was constantly on the increase; there was no Catholic church provided
with priests, and socialism, anarchism and anticlericalism reigned. Assis-
tance to the Italians was not among the reasons given, even though the
Italians were very numerous in that quarter. He and another religious who
had arrived from Italy, Severino Rinaldi, established themselves in a rent-
ed house, waiting for the construction of the new church and rectory.
With the arrival in 1910 of another three religious, among whom there
was an Italian priest, they increased the missions to the Italians and the
Germans: eleven in 1911, five of which were organised for the Italian
immigrants; thirteen in 1912, eight of which were for the Italian immi-
grants; eighteen in 1913, but none in Italian, and seventeen in 1914, of
which only one was preached in Italian.

77
 VALIANT STRUGGLES AND BENIGN NEGLECT

Conclusion

In relation to Italian immigration, the Argentine Church showed diffi-

dence, at least initially. Such an attitude was determined by a prejudice
and a fear. Prejudice arose from the fact that the Italian immigrants in
Argentina before 1870 had distinguished themselves by their anticlerical-
ism and exaggerated nationalism. Both generated the fear of a progressive
Italianisation of the indigenous masses, a fear fed by conjectures of colo-
nialist threats.
One can assume, in all probability, that in the same circles there was also fear of
the formation of an Italian Church in the midst of the local Church, a conjec-
ture borne out by the insistent requests, which often became demands, by the
immigrants for specific spiritual assistance, and by the growing influx into the
Argentine diocese of Italian clergy.59

It would only be with the diminishing of the anticlerical threat, and

also in the light of the positive outcomes from the process of Italian inte-
gration into the Argentine religious fabric, that the Argentine Church
would adopt a more positive attitude in relation to Italian immigration.
However, it did not concern itself with organising specific pastoral activity
in the strict sense, as traced out in its essential detail by Leo XIII in his let-
ter Quam Aerumnosa et calamitosa of 1889. Evidently the presence of numer-
ous Italian priests and of Religious Congregations which, from the very
beginning of the Italian emigration exodus had committed themselves to
the pastoral care of Italian immigrants both in the area of Buenos Aires and
on the pampas, had reassured the hierarchy and the local clergy.
As transpires from the experience of various Religious Congrega-
tions, history teaches that the pastoral care of migrants cannot be left to
individual initiative. The difficulties to be overcome are such that com-
bined efforts are needed, committed, in common accord with the various
authorities in the country of origin and in the host country, to reaching
the emigrants. The latter, in their tum, suffer the well-known trauma
caused by being transplanted into a foreign country.
Without going into the diversified package of Italian religiosity -
which is characterised by a myriad of devotions and devotional practices

78
 CHAPTER 1II

and by an intense degree of membership in religious associationsw - the

construction of so many chapels and churches destined to become in a
short space of time the centres of new Argentine parishes, is owed in great
part to the Italian immigrants. Equally the revival of a public and popular
dimension of religious practice was due to them - a revival which, even
allowing for all its limitations, proved to be essential for the safeguard of
the faith in a rather hostile environment - "imposing itself on local reli-
giosity, thanks to the support of priests who had emigrated from Italy."61
Furthermore, from Italian families that had emigrated to Argentina
there were very many vocations to the priesthood, which compensated, at
least in part, for the shortage of clergy in the Argentine dioceses at the
end of the 1800S. 62

From 1880, the flow of immigration from Italy, distinguished in the great major-
ity of cases by deep Catholic religiosity, contributed in a determining way to the
overall development of the local Church, becoming the subject of evangelising
activities. In this sense, the most significant Italian contributions consist of the
construction of churches and chapels, the spread of devotions and devotional
practices, the proliferation of confraternities and other religious associations, of
their precious collaboration in the formation of a Catholic adult laity and of the
generous offer to the Argentine Church of many priestly vocations.w'

'For an extensive treatment of many aspects ofltalian immigration to Argentina, the reader is referred
to the following two publications: Fernando J. Devoto and GianFausto Rosoli, L:1talia nella societil
argentina (Rome: CSER, 1988); and GianFausto Rosoli, 1dentitil degli 1taliani in Argentina. Reti sociali,
Famiglia e Lavoro (Rome: Studium, 1993). See also Mabel Olivieri, "Un siglo de legislaci6n en mate-
ria de inmigraci6n, Italia-Argentina, 1860-1960", in Estudios migratorios Latinoamericanos, 2, 6-7
(1987),225-48.
2"Italian statistical sources tell us that 44.4 percent of expatriates to American countries went to
Argentina in this period (the Argentinean sources have the Italian contribution to overseas immi-
gration in this era as 70.4%). Again, the Italian sources tell us that the percentage of women among
the expatriates rose from 17 percent in the period 1876-1880 to 20 percent in the last years of the
century with peaks of 38 percent in 1888, and that agricultural workers represented 37 percent of the
expatriates between 1876 and 1880 and rose to a little less than half of the entire flow in the five year
period of 1886-1890. However, we do not have separate data for these characteristics with reference
to the flow into the Argentine" (Rosoli, 1dentitil degli 1taliani in Argentina, p. 11). See also L. Favero,
and G. Tassello, "Cent'anni di emigrazione italiana (1876-1976)" in GianFausto Rosoli (ed.), Un sec-
aladi emigrazione italiana (1876-1976) (Rome: CSER, 1978), pp. 9-64 at 25. See also Maria Cristina
Cacopardo and Jose Luis Moreno, "La migraci6n italiana a Argentina: consideraci6nes metodologicas
acerca de las fuentes estadisticas", in Estudios Migratorios Latinoamericanos, 3, 10 (1988), 523-40;
Antonio Golini, "L'Italia nel sistema delle migrazioni internazionali. Evoluzione dei flussi, politiche,
esigenze di conoscenza e di ricerca", in Studi Emigrazione, XXV; 91-92 (1988), 544--65.

79
 VALIANT STRUGGLES AND BENIGN NEGLECT

3"[... ] in the Italian sources, there are the statistics on emigration prepared by the Direzione generale
di Statistica within the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce for the period 1876-1917. Also, with
the formation of the Commissariato generale dell'Emigrazione (1901), there began in Italy in 1902 a
different kind of statistical output for emigration, published periodically in the Bollettino dell' Erm-
grazione. Thirdly, in Argentina, the Direcci6n general de Inmigraci6n prepared its own statistics,
which were published in the Resumenestadistico delmovimiento migratorio en la Repubblica Argentina.
Arias 1875-1924" (Fabio Baggio, La Chiesa Argentina di fronte all'immigrazione itaUana trail1870 ed il
1915 [thesis] [Rome: Istituto Storico Scalabriniano, 2000), p. 80).
4For a general bibliography, see Robert P. Swierenga, "List upon list: The ship Passenger Records and
Immigration Research", in the Journal of American Ethnic History, 10, 1 (Spring 1991),42-53; Char-
lotte Erickson, "The Uses of Passenger Lists for the Study of British and Irish Emigration", in Ira A.
Glazier, and Luigi De Rosa (eds.), Migration Across Time and Nations: Population MobiUty in Historical
Contexts (New York: Holmes and Meier, 1986), pp. 318-35.
SBaggio, La Chiesa Argentina di fronte all'immigrazione, p. 81.
6"Concerning the accusation that Italian emigration is bad, there must be distinguished two special
classes: in the first, and best, we find northern Italians, especially Lombards and Piedmontese, who
have given life and energy to our colonies; in the second class one finds Southerners, particularly the
Neapolitans, who are said to be the worst, but who cannot be called bad emigrants; instead, on the
contrary, they are of great help to the Platense region, because they adapt to that lowly work to which
no Englishman or German would submit. The negro domestics have disappeared from our regions and
the Neapolitans have come to take their place; the Neapolitan is characterized by an industrious spir-
it; he is the morning shoe-polisher and in the evening is with the accordion" (G. Tesi, "La provincia
federale di Buenos Aires e l'emigrazione italiana", Bollettino Consolare, 2 [1874], p. 84). See also M. C.
Cacopardo and J. L. Moreno, "Caracteristicas dernograficas y ocupacionales de los migrantos italianos
hacia Argentina (1880-1930)", Studi Emigrazione, XXI, 75 (1984),277-93 at 286-87. See the analy-
sis of the settlement strategies and return rates of three different regional groupings: Sicilian, Cal-
abrian and Piedmontese in M. C. Cacopardo and J. L. Moreno, "La emigraci6n italiana meridional a
la Argentina: calabreses y sicilianos (1880-1930)" in Studi Emigrazione, XXVII, 98 (1990), 231-53.
"The Italian presence was already predominant in the commerce of Buenos Aires in 1883: more than
55 percent of the traders and licensed professionals were Italian. See A. Franceschini, I: emigrazione
italiana nell'America delSud (Rome: Forzani and Co., 1908), p. 306.
E. Daireux wrote in the following terms, in 1888, full of admiration for the Italian initiative: "What
the Italians have created everywhere are retail houses, which are spread through the city quarters and
in all the country regions. It can be said that they colonize in the widest sense of the word, filling the
country with their creations: hard-working and sober colonists here, prudent traders there. [...] They
come without pretensions, as workers: as a first step they look for land or for a very lowly job, for their
early survival, and the first sum of money is saved [... ) They choose localities that are not striking:
when they can, they approach the city and then the capital and become traders who buy and sell
wholesale, utilizing the relationships that they have left behind them in the regions while making
their careers" (Emile Daireux, La vie et les moeurs it la Plata, I [Paris: Hachette, 1888], pp. 272-73).
8Baggio, La Chiesa Argentina di fronte all'immigrazione, p. 106.
9Ibid., p. 108.
1O"ln relation to the second theme, two legislative proposals were presented; in the first, there was the
obligation for immigrants who worked in the public service to assume Argentine nationality; in the
second, the concession of special terms was sanctioned to facilitate the nationalizing of foreigners
from the upper middle class. Actually, neither of the two proposals received government approval and
the matter was left open" (ibid., p. 101).
In regard to the relationship between the nations ofItaly and Argentina, see the very interesting essay
"Speciale Argentina" in Affari Sociali Internazionali, XV, 2 (1987), 1-256.
llln his pastoral letter of 6 November 1886, Mgr Aneiros repeatedly stated that, prior to their publi-

80
 CHAPTER III

cation, he had approved the opinions carried in La Union and La Voz de 1a Iglesia and that thus they
represented the thought of the Church in Buenos Aires. (Cf. F. Aneiros, "Carta pastoral del 6 de
noviembre 1886" in La voz de 1a Iglesia, IV, 1249 [1886], 1.)
12Baggio, La Chiesa Argentina eli fronte all'immigrazione italiana, pp. 132-33.
13L. V. Favero, "Le scuole delle societa italiane di mutuo soccorso in Argentina (1866-1914)", Studi
Emigrazione, XXI, 75 (1984),343-80 at 353. See also "Escuelas Italianas'', La Union, 1, 18 (1882),1.
14"We live more an Italian life than an Argentinean one; our entertainments are more Italian than
Argentinean. All our senses are imbued with and accustomed to Italian performances. And in the
measure in which we become Italian in all things, we lose our Argentinean identity" ("Fiestas Ital-
ianas", La Voz de 1a Iglesia, 11,618 [1884], 1). In 1889, counting the children of Italian immigrants,
the same paper commented: "More men, bur not more Argentines" ("lnmigraci6n", La Voz de 1a Igle-
sia, V11, 186 [1889], 1).
15"Contra los Inmigrantes", La Voz de 1a Iglesia, 1,148 (1883),1.
16"Herederos de Inmigrantes", La Voz de 1a Iglesia, V, 1350 (1887), 1.
17"Los Inmigrantes", La Voz de 1a Iglesia, Vlll, 2148 (1889),1.
18"Los Italianos", La Voz de la Iglesia, XVI, 4615 (1898), 1.
19"ltalianos en Argentina", La VOz de 1a Iglesia, XVlll, 5023 (1899), 1.
20Resumen estadistico del movimiento migratorio en la Republica Argentina. Aiios 1857-1924 (Buenos
Aires: Direcci6n general de Inmigraci6n, 1925), p. 7.
21Although, as will be seen, the diocese of Buenos Aires embraced all the territory of the Argentine
Republic in the early stages, later, particularly following the flow of migration from Europe, other dio-
ceses were created. Until the First World War at least, Buenos Aires was the destination preferred by
emigrants and was the predominant diocese in the religious life of the young nation. It is for this rea-
son that the discussion that follows mentions Buenos Aires primarily.
22For a discussion of the relationship between Church and State in Latin America and the impact of
immigration, see L. Favero, "Gli Scalabriniani e gli emigrati Italiani nel Sud America", in Rosoli (ed.),
Scalabrini travecchio e nuovomondo, pp. 389-411.
2l"As far as the pastoral work of the Church of Buenos Aires is concerned, the methodology was dis-
tinctly different from territory to territory. The provincial capital offered quite regular parish services,
guaranteed by a diminished number of diocesan priests. In the country districts, there were parishes
in the most populous centers; from these the priest tried to ensure the provision of spiritual assistance
to the smaller villages that, with considerable effort, managed to construct small chapels. Unfortu-
nately, the enormous distances did not permit the parish priest to give regular pastoral attention to all
the faithful. Because of the lack of clergy, often the death of a parish priest was followed by long peri-
ods without a replacement. To make up a little for such lacunae, special missions were organized every
so often in the most isolated districts, and entrusted by the bishop to the Jesuits of Montevideo. Mgr
Escalada (the first Archbishop of Buenos Aires) was able to accompany some of these missions in per-
son, gaining unexpected pastoral benefits" (Baggio, La Chiesa Argentina eli fronte all'immigrazione ital-
iana, p. 127).
24N. L. Siegrist De Gentile, "Sacerdotes extranjeros y argentinos en el censo de la ciudad de Buenos
Aires de 1885", in N.T. Auza and L. V. Favero (eds.), Iglesia e Inmigraci6n en 1a Argentina (Buenos
Aires: CEMLA, 1991), pp. 162-63.
25"As far as religious assistance to the Italians is concerned, it is interesting to note that, according to
the report by Archbishop Mgr Antonio Mariano Espinosa (who had been coadjutor of the first bish-
op Mgr Aneiros, who had called in the Salesians), in practice only the Italians were considered for-
eigners in the diocese of Buenos Aires which counted, in 1906, 23 parishes and 83 churches. It was
affirmed that, if the Spanish were to be discounted, for reasons of racial and languistic identity, since
in religious matters he equated them to the Argentines, the colony that had the right to special reli-
gious attention was the Italian colony. The others didn't present great difficulties because of their rel-
atively small number. In fact, the diocese counted at that time 265,000 Italians against 122,000 Span-

81
 VALIANT STRUGGLES AND BENIGN NEGLECI'

ish, about 30,000 French and a few thousand for the other communities. Mgr Antonio Mariano
Espinosa showed that in the cosmopolitan city there existed suitable occasions for the immigrants to
practice their faith, also because of the availability of foreign clergy and the linguistic expertise of
Argentine priests. For that matter - it was affirmed with some exaggeration - the immigrants quick-
ly learned to understand the local language; in any case, for the Italians, divided by their dialects, the
local language was easier to understand than the official language of their own nation" (G. E Rosoli,
"Le organizzazioni cattoliche italiane in Argentina e l'assistenza agli emigrati italiani [1875-1915)",
in 1nsieme oltre le frontiere, p. 208).
26Baggio, La Chiesa Argentina di fronte all'immigrazione itaUana, p. 146.
27R. Merry Del Val, 1struzioni a Monsignor Achille Locatelli, 1nternunzio Apostolico della Confederazione
Argentina del7/1/1907, Archivio segreto vaticano, Archivio Nunziatura Argentina, Cassa 61, f. 252.
28Tommasodi Maria Vergine, Appunti sopra 10 statodella ReUgione nella Repubblica Argentina, Archivio
segreto vaticano, Archivio Nunziatura Argentina, Cassa 61, FE 120-21.
29See also various articles contained in the Revista Ecclesidstica del Arzobispado de Buenos Aires, VII
(1970),745-50.
30Religion e 1nmigraci6n en la Arquedi6cesis de Buenos Aires. Datos estadisticos (Buenos Aires: Talleres
Tipograficos "La Euskaria", 1907), p. 4. Of the twenty pages in the booklet, thirteen are dedicated to
the pastoral care of the Italian community.
311bid., p. 8.
32Mario C. G. Nascimbene, "Analfabetismo e inmigraci6n en la Argentina: el caso italiano", in Studi
Emigrazione, XXI, 75 (1984), 294-304.
33J. N. Terrero, Carta a Mons. A. Locatelli deI5/9/I907, Archivio segreto Vaticano, Archivio Nun-
ziatura Argentina, cassa 45, ff. 46-47.
34Cited in Favero, "Gli Scalabriniani e gli emigrati italiani nel Sud America", in Scalabrini tra vecchio
e nuovo mondo, p. 404.
35G. E Rosoli, "Impegno missionario e assistenza religiosa agli emigrati nella visione e nell'opera di
Don Bosco", in 1nsieme oltre le frontiere, pp. 383-433. See also R. A. Entraigas, Los Salesianos en el
Argentina, I (Buenos Aires: Plus Ultra, 1969), pp. 31-39.
36Baggio, La Chiesa Argentina di fronte all'immigrazione, pp. 214-16.
37"The most recent data of interest on the subject of the relationship between clergy and immigration
in the period analyzed is furnished by the results of the 1914 census. According to this data, the total-
ity of the clergy in the city and province of Buenos Aires was composed of 420 priests, of whom only
103 enjoyed Argentinean citizenship; therefore, 317 were foreigners" (Ibid., p. 179). "In 1914 the
national clergy reached 21 percent of the total; in the diocese of Santa Fe alone there were 196 for-
eign priests. These figures, however, must be read in the light of the actual provenance of the so-called
national clergy. A recent study on the priestly vocations in the diocese of Santa Fe between 1860 and
1930 reveals that, of the 172 ordained priests, 17 were born in Italy, 19 in Spain, 28 in other coun-
tries and 108 in Argentina; of these latter, 62 were sons of Italians, 26 of Spaniards, 2 of Irish parents
and two were sons of German-Swiss" (ibid., p. 211).
38G. Bosco, "Omelia dell' 11/11/1875", in Memorie biografiche di S. Giovanni Bosco, p. 385.
39See Rosoli, "Le organizzazioni cattoliche italiane in Argentina e l'assistenza agli emigrati italiani
(1875-1915)", in 1nsieme oltre le frontiere, pp. 207-10.
4OR. Venerosi, "La coscienza nazionale fra gli emigrati italiani", 1talicagens II, 8-9 (1911), 297.
41"Whereas for the family that has immigrated the ethnic-cultural change is produced through a
dynamic, 'suffered' process of assimilation into the host society and has reference to the community
of origin, for the children's generation the ethnic-cultural heritage is an uncomfortable and static
model that doesn't adapt itself to their own national society and does not have, in the subject's expe-
rience, any reference to the original. From this comes the 'rebellion' and the non-transmission to their
own children of the heritage in question" (c. Cecchi, "L'identificazione etnica nella seconda e terza
generazione degli irnmigrati", Studi Emigrazione, IV, 9 (1967), 209-52 at 233-34).

82
 CHAPTER III

42"An Italian priest attached to the diocese of Santa Fe, admirer of Mgr Boneo, admitted in 1903 to
the intemunzio Sabatucci that 'a good number of the Italian priests, in particular from the Neapolitan
provinces, because of their scandalous conduct have been obliged to abandon their provvedimenti (sic:
perhaps 'appointments') and the diocese itself. Even the Vicar-General of Buenos Aires wrote to Don
Bosco on December 18 1875: 'We have an Italian population of thirty thousand souls, and the major-
ity of the Italian priests, commonly called Neapolitans, think of making money and nothing else.' The
bishop of the capital, Aneiros, had made the same lament to Don Bosco, almost with the same words,
and in those same days" (Giacomo Martina, "Prefazione", in Baggio, La Chiesa Argemina di fronte
all'immigrazione italiana, pp.viii-ix).
43Inrelation to this, see the essay by Dora Barrancos, "Vita materiale e battaglia ideologica a La Boca",
in Rosoli (ed.), Identitil degli italiani in Argentina, pp. 167-205.
H"The Salesian presence in the La Boca quarter was planned from the time of arrival of the first Sale-
sian missionaries in Buenos Aires; its fame as an Italian quarter (more precisely, Genovese) and as a
place of perdition had immediately aroused the interest of Giovanni Cagliero, who in August 1876
confessed to Don Bosco: 'I'm concerned with Patagonia and La Boca ... of the devil'. In the Spring
of the same year, the courageous Salesian decided to visit, alone and dressed as a priest, the danger-
ous quarter, but he was forced to flee from four youths who wanted to throw him into the Riachuelo
river ... a few days later the missionary returned to La Boca, and managed to win the liking of a group
of children who accompanied him on his second visit" (Baggio, La Chiesa Argentina di frome all'immi-
grazione italiana, p. 222). See also Fernando J. Devoto, "Catolicismo y anticlericalismo en un barrio
italiano de Buenos Aires (La Boca) en la segunda mitad del siglo XIX", in Estudios Migratorios Lati-
noarnericanos, V, 14 (1990), 182-210.
45See the historical reconstruction, based on archival sources, carried out by Baggio (La Chiesa
Argentina di frome all'immigrazione italiana, pp. 241-56). See also Favero, "Gli Scalabriniani e gli emi-
grati italiani nel Sud America", p. 400, and by the same author "Los Scalabrinianos y los emigrantes
italianos en Sud America", in Estudios Migratorios Latinoarnericanos, IV, 12 (1989),231-56.
46Statuto della Societil dei Missionari di Emigrazione (San Vito al Tagliamento, 1908), p. 3.
47Ibid., p. 3.
48Baggio, La Chiesa Argentina di frome all'immigrazione, p. 265.
49Among his numerous works, the following are mentioned: E. G. Stoffel, "La inmigraci6n y su
impacto en sobre la estructura eclesiastica", in Primeras jomadas de historia del Departamento de San
Jeronimo y su region, Fundaci6n "Eduardo de Bonis" (Santa Fe: Galvez, 1994), pp. 119-23; and "La
evangelizaci6n de la 'pampa gringa' santafesina: pautas papa un trabajo de investigaci6n", in Auza and
Favero (eds.), Iglesia e Inmigraci6n en la Argentina, pp. 213-31.
50L. Beck Bernard, El RioParana. Cinco alios en la Confederaci6n Argemina: 1857-1862 (Buenos Aires:
Emece Editores, 1991), p. 93.
5IT. Luque, "EI apostolado de Fray Hermete Costanzi", El Litoral of December 6, 1880, p. 5.
52E. G. Stoffel, "Los Franciscanos de 'Propaganda Fide'. La atencion de los inmigrantes en el Chaco
Santafesino", Nuevo Mundo, 50 (1995), 63.
51Adalberto del Nome di Maria, Lettera a Mons. Locatelli del 26/LO/l907 and promemoria, Archivio
Segreto Vaticano, Archivio Nunziatura Argentina, Cassa 43, ff. 207-208.
54A. Locatelli, Lertere a Mons R. Merry Del VaI dell/4/l911 and del 28/4/l911 , ibid., ff. 236-37 and
239.
55Baggio, La Chiesa Argentina di fronte all'immigrazione, p. 292.
56Federico Grote, German Redemptorist, founded the Circulo de Obreros, "in order to defend and pro-
mote the material and spiritual well-being of the working class, in marked opposition to the disastrous
propaganda of socialism and irreligiousness". Notwithstanding the diffidence of Catholic circles, his
Opera developed extensively and at the end of 1886 counted more than 2,000 workers grouped into
17 branches. In 1898 the First Workers' Conference was held in Buenos Aires, which ended with a
triumphal pilgrimage to the sanctuary of Lujan. In 1902 Grote contributed to the foundation of the

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 VALIANT STRUGGLES AND BENIGN NEGLECT

Liga Democratica Cristiana, an association of Catholic intellectuals with the aim of studying, defend-
ing and propagating the social doctrine of the Church in Argentine territory. In 1912, following the
advice ofMgr Espinosa, the missionary left the Direction of his Operawhich numbered 77 groups with
more than 22,000 associates and dedicated himself to an exclusively spiritual aposrolate. (See Baggio,
La Chiesa Argentina di frome all'immigrazione italiana, pp. 292-93.)
57A. Locatelli, Lettera a Mons. R. Merry Del Val del 22/7/1907, Archivio segreto vaticano, Archivio
Nunziatura Argentina, Cassa 35, f. 408.
58A. Locatelli, Lettera a Mons. Merry DelVal del 10/7/1909, ibid., f. 398 r.
59Baggio, La Chiesa Argentina di frome all'immigrazione italiana, p. 351.
60See Baggio's interesting chapter, "Gli Immigrati Italiani nella vita della Chiesa Argentina" (ibid., pp.
299-347), where the author dwells at length on the devotions and devotional practices of the Italian
immigrants, underlining the contribution of the religious associations, highlighting in particular the
Mater Misericordiae Confraternity, the Archconfraternity of Nostra Signora della Rocca and the
Confraternities of Sant'Anna. See also the substantial list presented by Rosoli, "La asistencia y las
organizaci6nes de los emigrantes italianos", in Albonico and Rosoli (eds.), ltalia Y America, pp.
308-309.
61Baggio, La Chiesa Argentina di fronte all'immigrazione italiana, p. 348.
62Theflourishing of vocations in the Argentine Republic is in stark contrast to the "delayed effect" of
increased Italian vocations, which has certainly distinguished the Church in the United States of
America, and to the very weak response in vocations from the Italian community in Australia.
6JBaggio, La Chiesa Argentina di fronte all'immigrazione italiana, p. 355. See also G. F. Rosoli, "Le orga-
nizzazioni cattoliche italiane in Argentina e l'assistenza agli emigrati italiani (1875-1915)", in Studi
Emigrazione, XXI, 75 (1984),381-408, now in Insieme oltre Ie frontiere, pp. 201-43.

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