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Under the pontificate of Pope Pius VII, the Israelites were treated
in the States of the Church as in all other civilized countries. This
pope was full of humanity and did not change any of the ordinances that
had been made during the time of the kingdom of Italy. He applied
himself to maintain the laws, such as Napoleon had enacted them. Happy
and free, the Israelites were almost the equals of their
fellow-citizens, under the wise and paternal reign of this pope; when at
the end of ten years his death, which happened in 1825, carried
desolation among his subjects. They experienced a great change on the
accession of Leo XII.; he abolished the existing laws and replaced them
by those that had been in force in the states of the Church before the
French invasion; he re-established the Inquisition, and restored the old
bulls to their former vigour.
The Israelites particularly felt the weight of this oppression. They
were forbidden to have houses of their own, and those that owned them
were obliged to sell them to Christians. Particular streets were
assigned to them. These streets are generally crooked, dirty, and
neglected, and compose, what is called, the Ghetto. This quarter,
moreover, is encumbered by a growing population, and the Jews not being
able to extend themselves beyond these limits in any manner, are obliged
always to content themselves in this narrow space, even to the prejudice
of the public health. To deprive the ghetto of al communication with the
other streets, it has been furnished with a great many gates, which are
shut every evening after sunset. But the principal gate has a small
wicket, which is left open until eight o'clock at night. A porter,
imposed on the Israelites, and paid by the Israelites, shuts it also at
this hour, and they are abandoned to themselves in their civil prison.
If during the night an important affair calls one of them to another
quarter of the town, he cannot have the door opened but by gaining the
favour of the porter.
No Christian servant can pass the night under the roof of an
Israelite; and even on Friday evening, at the hour of closing the gates,
Christians cannot remain longer in the ghetto; any infraction of this
rule is rigorously punished, although the judges know very well that the
Israelites are forbidden to touch fire on Saturday.
The serving-man or woman who is found in the ghetto on Friday evening
or Saturday, undergoes a long and painful imprisonment, and the
Israelite at whose house the guilty one is surprised has to pay a fine
of 300 scudi, about 1600 francs, which is extorted from the poor as well
as the rich.
An Israelite cannot in accordance with these edicts, travel from one
place to the other without being furnished, not only with a lawful
passport, but with a printed card which is given him by the Inquisition,
without subjecting himself to punishment. The traveller at each place
where he stops, must have this sheet examined at once by the inquisitor
and to repair immediately to the ghetto of the place. On his return, he
must present himself in person before the inquisitor and return him his
passport. The violator of this rule is invariably condemned to a fine of
300 scudi, and if he cannot pay this, to six months' imprisonment.
An Israelite cannot work nor carry on any retail trade out of the
ghetto. An Israelite cannot be a soldier. Three days before Easter, or
rather on Holy Wednesday at ten o'clock in the morning the Inquisition
warns the Israelites to retire into their ghetto, all the gates of which
are then shut. No one can go out until the following Saturday when the
clock strikes twelve, announcing to them the conclusion of an
imprisonment of three days. Every Israelite who is surprised during this
interval outside of the ghetto is immediately arrested and dragged to
prison. The tribunal of the Inquisition alone is judge in such a case,
and it is rare that the delinquent knows the cause of his arrest, the
sentence of his condemnation only reveals to him his crime. The decree
once pronounced, no appeal is admitted, and the condemned who seeks to
defend himself only renders his case worse.
At Rome, under the same pontiff, the Inquisition restored to its
vigour the ordinance that obliged a certain number of Israelites, about
two hundred men and one hundred women, to repair on Saturday to the Bocca
della Verita, near the ghetto, to listen to a Dominican priest
specially attached to that church. This preacher reviles the religion of
the Jewish people, accuses their prophets of falsehoods, and exalts the
Christian religion as the only one that can give salvation; he
admonishes them to break through the veil of darkness; his voice, he
says, is that of God, he is sent to them from heaven to give them light,
and to save their souls, &c. Before the Israelites of both sexes
repair to the designated church, the images of the saints are covered
with crape, and when the sermon is concluded the church is filled with
incense to destroy the reputed profanation caused by their presence. For
every Israelite that is absent at the fixed hour, the community pays 30 baïoques,
or 5 francs 36 centimes, to the Inquisition.
At Rome the Israelites have to bear considerable charges; they pay,
for example, 500 scudi yearly to the senate, and 1000 to the
catechumens. all the abuses of olden times have been re-established.
Among others, the Israelites are obliged every year, the first day of
the Carnival, to send to the Holy Father a deputation to ask him
formally for permission to remain another year in the country. Thus the
decretals of Leo XII have given to the social condition of the
Israelites a retrograde movement; and we must not expect, that for some
time, they will occupy a better position in the States of the Church,
although a less bigoted spirit has been displayed under the following
pontiff.
The actual pope, Gregory XVI, received the tiara the 2nd of February,
1831. The same day the installation of the new pontiff gave rise to
troubles in the states of the Church. The interference of the Austrian
troops soon put down the tumult and restored peace. The Christian
population had every where taken away the gates of the existing ghettos,
annulled the edicts and rules concerning the Israelites, and proclaimed
civil liberty; but all this was too intimately connected with an
ephemeral revolt to last a long time. The pope, supported by Austria and
afterwards by France, soon had the reins of the state strengthened in hi
hands, and he immediately restored to their vigour not only the
political statutes, but the old ordinances concerning the Israelites.
But let us acknowledge the mildness of the pope in the application of
these ordinances. In reality the gates of the ghettos have not been
re-established, and the Israelites are subjected to a more humane
administration; yet they depend very much on the local inquisitor, for
he has full power over those placed under his control, and can make them
feel more or less the weight of oppression. As to the rule which obliges
travellers to furnish themselves with a second passport, it is executed
daily with the greatest rigour. There exists also a yet more deplorable
custom, which can be traced back to olden times. If a servant or a
Christian nurse declares to have baptized with her own hand an
Israelitish child, the Inquisition tears it immediately from its
parents, and gives it to the Church, no reclamation being allowed; even
an inventory of the fortune of the parents is made to secure to the
infant its patrimony. It is easy to see to what heart-burnings and to
what cruel vexations families are exposed by such a custom; the natural
goodness, and the benevolence generally found among the inhabitants of
the Roman states, can alone dissipate the terrors that such an ordinance
would necessarily have inspired if even it had been but seldom enforced.
The sentiments of humanity that are daily becoming more and more
universal, are the only consolations of these unfortunate communities,
who have become accustomed to their fate. But they have received some
amelioration in their condition in the course of the year 1839.
We will add a few more words on the condition of the principal
communities in the States of the Church. The community of Ancona
suffered very much from the re-establishment of the ancient decretals.
Before the publication of the edict of Leo XII the rich families retired
to the territory of Austria or Tuscany. The community was thus
impoverished and its revenues fell off considerable every year, while
the taxes were continually augmented. The community actually numbers
about one thousand individuals, of which eight hundred are at their
charge, and one hundred more are obliged to have assistance to support a
miserable existence. Some good commercial houses are found there which
have an extensive correspondence with foreign countries; some other
Israelites carry on retail business, or live from brokerage without
being in every case authorized by government; others are bookbinders.
Seven deputies are at the head of the administration, three among
them are charges with the chief concerns of the community. Every three
years there is a new election. The members of the community pay a tax
according to their means, and those engaged in business according to the
importance and the revenues of their commerce. The tax in general
amounts to a considerable sum, as they are subject to numerous
exactions, frequently useless and illegal. Thus, for example, the
Israelite that is baptized receives from the government 20 scudi, which
the community is obliged to pay. Is it to be believed that there are
some miserable beings, who, to extort large sums, threaten to be
baptized? As to the administration, it is altogether without control; it
never renders any accounts, and disposes at will of the receipts. About
once every year, a person sent from Jerusalem goes begging for the poor
of the Holy Land, and according to the effect produced by his eloquence
or by his person, he receives generally 300 or 400 scudi, which are
raised among all the members of the community. They can marry without
any obstacle; even if immediately after the wedding the married pair
should be in want of assistance. the community have a Reader very badly
paid, a Grand Rabbi and two under Rabbis, who receive salaries equally
inconsiderable. There are no public schools, nor houses for education.
The young Israelites receive at most private lessons, which are
generally given by the ladies; thus the moral of youth is completely
neglected. The rich only can give their children a more liberal
education.
Some masters are found who possess higher talents; and one in
particular who is distinguished in commercial branches, who was
sometimes called on to give lessons to young Christians. But some time
ago the inquisitor was informed of it, he summoned the professor before
his tribunal, and forbade him, under a fine of 300 scudi, or an
imprisonment that should be equivalent, to give lessons to Christians in
future. From this time the master was obliged to renounce his lessons.
There are no hospitals, but only a committee who assist unfortunate
persons in their last moments. The burying-ground is in the neighbouring
town, which belongs to it, and has no wall to inclose it. To bury a dead
person, permission is obliged to be obtained from the police, who never
refuse it.
The community has three different Synagogues, called scuole, or
schools. The Synagogues of the German and Italian forms are found in the
same house as every where else in Italy; the latter occupies the lower
story. That of the Spanish Jews is outside of the ghetto, near a church.
Some years ago the clergy complained at the court of Rome of such a
neighbourhoods; but the complaint was dismissed, because the Synagogue
was of an older date than the church. The Synagogues are much
frequented, but the devotion is purely exterior. On Sabbaths and the
feast-days the stores are shut, and in general all public affairs are
interdicted. The deputies, supported by the inquisitors, exact
rigorously the observance of this law. Yet, notwithstanding, a great
many dispense with it, less from a spirit of conviction, but because
they find it inconvenient. The ghetto of Ancona is one of the worst
conducted of all the ghettos in the Roman States.
The state of the community of Sinigaglia, which is composed of about
six hundred members, and that of the communities of Pesaro and Ferrera,
is much better in every respect. |
