The Teachers of the 1st and 2nd Educandato di Napoli 1862

Virtual epigraph on the 160th anniversary
Courtesy of the Fondazione Francesco II delle Due Sicilie

January 7 and 8 marked the 160th anniversary of the courageous Neapolitan school teachers of the First and Second Boarding Schools of Naples, who opposed the annexation of their country to the new Italian state. The teachers voiced their objection to the brutal occupation and abuses and publicly stated that they had to uphold their Catholic faith and original allegiance to their native country.

Prefiguring other infamous loyalty oaths to come (which included universities and professional schools), at great risk to their careers and under pressure, they refused to sign the new oath of loyalty and were promptly expelled from the schools when private and Catholic schools came under particular scrutiny by the new government. Consequently, for many years the very names of these dedicated educators were stricken from memory. In January 1862 the new Minister of Education was called upon to respond to the situation when various members of the Italian Parliament inquired into the situation. The Minister of Education stated that the teachers were repeatedly gently invited to swear allegiance and failed to do so. The Minister claimed that even some of the students’ parents beseeched them to do so, and he upheld the need to consider the removal of teachers and priests who were long-time Bourbon loyalists. In fact, as reported by Luigi Settembrini in Naples, the majority of teachers refused to take the oath, and he noted that the fact that many alumnae of the same institutions went on to become teachers perpetuated loyalist tendencies and that new outside teachers should be welcome, thus beginning the national discussion of moving teachers, police officers and soldiers around the new nation to weaken local identities.

Members of the Neobourbon Movement and the Two Sicilies community every year honor the memory of these brave women by republishing their names and placing flowers on many of their graves:

Teresa Acquaviva Maria Amidei

Aurora Caravita Atalia Baer

Maddelena Carrillo Giulia Belfiore

Maria Cenni Maria Carpentieri

Giovanni de’ Nobili Giulia de Liguoro

Barbara de Silva Maria Concetta Durelli

Maria Bianca Dusmet Luisa Frigeri

Gaetana Montemayor Vincenza Mayer

Flora Mussi Emilia Mensinger

Cristina Ruiz Michelina Mensinger

Carolina Stevenson Clotilde Paisler

Errichetta Tellini Margherita Salatino

May they rest in peace and serve as an example to all those challenging unjust oppression.

~ By Cav. Charles Sant’Elia

Essential Bibliography/Further Reading

PUBBLICAZIONI DEGLI ARCHIVI DI STATO FONTI XLIV ARCHIVIO CENTRALE DELLO STATO FONTI PER LA STORIA DELLA SCUOLA VII,  Gli istituti femminili di educazione e di istruzione (1861 - 1910) a cura di SILVIA FRANCHINI e PAOLA PUZZUOLI , MINISTERO PER I BENI E LE ATTIVITÀ CULTURALI DIPARTIMENTO PER I BENI ARCHIVISTICI E LIBRARI DIREZIONE GENERALE PER GLI ARCHIVI, Rome, 2005