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Italian Infant Abandonment (view source)
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From about the thirteenth century through the end of the nineteenth century, throughout the areas that in 1860 became unified Italy, a pregnant single woman, faced with the loss of her own and her family's honor, would leave her residence to give birth elsewhere and after having the baby baptized, would give (or have the midwife give) the newborn baby to a foundling home (''ospizio'') to be cared for by others. For about a year after giving birth, the unwed mother, in order to pay for her own infants' care, often served in the ''ospizio ''as a wet nurse for the children of others though almost never for her own child. (Kertzer, pp. 131-33, 162-63.) With few exceptions, she would have no contact with her child ever again. | From about the thirteenth century through the end of the nineteenth century, throughout the areas that in 1860 became unified Italy, a pregnant single woman, faced with the loss of her own and her family's honor, would leave her residence to give birth elsewhere and after having the baby baptized, would give (or have the midwife give) the newborn baby to a foundling home (''ospizio'') to be cared for by others. For about a year after giving birth, the unwed mother, in order to pay for her own infants' care, often served in the ''ospizio ''as a wet nurse for the children of others though almost never for her own child. (Kertzer, pp. 131-33, 162-63.) With few exceptions, she would have no contact with her child ever again. | ||
Other new mothers anonymously abandoned their infants at the "wheel" (''la ruota'') located in the outside wall of the ''ospizio'', sometimes leaving a sign of recognition (''segno di riconoscimento''), such as the image of a saint, a foreign coin, a torn piece of cloth, or other talisman, to preserve the mother's ability, rarely exercised, of returning to reclaim the child, sometimes a year later or even many years later. | Other new mothers anonymously abandoned their infants at the "[http://fiacot.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/1587879059_dc21888039.jpg wheel]" (''la ruota'') [http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ruota_Innocenti.jpg located in the outside wall] of the ''ospizio'', sometimes leaving a sign of recognition (''segno di riconoscimento''), such as the image of a saint, a foreign coin, a torn piece of cloth, or other talisman, to preserve the mother's ability, rarely exercised, of returning to reclaim the child, sometimes a year later or even many years later. | ||
Meanwhile, the foundling homes attempted to place the babies with lactating women in foster families, typically in the countryside, though some of the children remained in an ''ospizio ''for up to five or ten years or even longer and in some cases for their entire lives. (Kertzer, pp. 85-6, 116.) Naples was an exception; due to lack of funding to pay external wet nurses, the foundling home there attempted to care for the bulk of its abandoned babies within the foundling home itself, without placement with outside wet nurses. (Kertzer & White, 1994, p. 454.) Large percentages of the abandoned infants did not survive infancy. Those who did survive entered a new life in a new place with a new family. | Meanwhile, the foundling homes attempted to place the babies with lactating women in foster families, typically in the countryside, though some of the children remained in an ''ospizio ''for up to five or ten years or even longer and in some cases for their entire lives. (Kertzer, pp. 85-6, 116.) Naples was an exception; due to lack of funding to pay external wet nurses, the foundling home there attempted to care for the bulk of its abandoned babies within the foundling home itself, without placement with outside wet nurses. (Kertzer & White, 1994, p. 454.) Large percentages of the abandoned infants did not survive infancy. Those who did survive entered a new life in a new place with a new family. | ||
This system -- which began in the areas that later became Italy and which spread to France, Belgium, Portugal, Spain, Ireland, Poland, and most of the Austrian provinces (Kertzer, p. 10) -- was finally abandoned in Italy and elsewhere by about the beginning of the twentieth century. Some aspects of the system have re-emerged today in the "safe-haven laws" enacted recently in all 50 states and the District of Columbia within the United States (Guttmacher, p. 1) and in such other countries as Germany, Hungary, the Philippines, Slovakia, South Africa, Austria, Switzerland, Poland, Czech Republic, Latvia, India, and Pakistan, all of which strictly govern but to varying degrees permit some form of abandonment of newborns, all with the aim to help stem infanticide and make abortion rare. (Mueller & Scherr, p. 2.) | This system -- which began in the areas that later became Italy and which spread to France, Belgium, Portugal, Spain, Ireland, Poland, and most of the Austrian provinces (Kertzer, p. 10) -- was finally abandoned in Italy and elsewhere by about the beginning of the twentieth century. Some aspects of the system have re-emerged today in the "safe-haven laws" enacted recently in all 50 states and the District of Columbia within the United States (Guttmacher, p. 1) and in such other countries as Germany, Hungary, the Philippines, Slovakia, South Africa, Austria, Switzerland, Poland, Czech Republic, Latvia, India, Italy, and Pakistan, all of which strictly govern but to varying degrees [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_hatch permit some form of abandonment of newborns], all with the aim to help stem infanticide and make abortion rare. (Mueller & Scherr, p. 2.) | ||
As conducted in Italy for about seven centuries, with varying degrees of success, the infant abandonment system was prompted by "great concern for the lives of women who found themselves in the desperate position of being pregnant and unmarried, with no one to care for their child." (Kertzer, p. 37.) | As conducted in Italy for about seven centuries, with varying degrees of success, the infant abandonment system was prompted by "great concern for the lives of women who found themselves in the desperate position of being pregnant and unmarried, with no one to care for their child." (Kertzer, p. 37.) | ||
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But upon arrival at the ''ospizio ''shortly after baptism the new surname was assigned. And once the infant or child was placed with a wet nurse in the countryside, it would be assigned a surname used locally for foundlings (such as Della Casa or Casagrande or Esposito, as shown by a few examples in the table below). For the most part the new surname was used by the child throughout the remainder of its life, though often at the time of marriage or with the births of children to that marriage, the once-abandoned child, even a male child, might assume the surname of a spouse, passing that surname on to the children of the couple. | But upon arrival at the ''ospizio ''shortly after baptism the new surname was assigned. And once the infant or child was placed with a wet nurse in the countryside, it would be assigned a surname used locally for foundlings (such as Della Casa or Casagrande or Esposito, as shown by a few examples in the table below). For the most part the new surname was used by the child throughout the remainder of its life, though often at the time of marriage or with the births of children to that marriage, the once-abandoned child, even a male child, might assume the surname of a spouse, passing that surname on to the children of the couple. | ||
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==== Samples of an Abandonment Certificate and its Related Record of Birth ==== | ==== Samples of an Abandonment Certificate and its Related Record of Birth ==== | ||
[[Image:Certificate+of+Abandonment+of+Merico+Scherzi.jpg|left|400px|Caption]] | [[Image:Certificate+of+Abandonment+of+Merico+Scherzi.jpg|left|400px|Caption]] <br>Certificate recording the abandonment of male child born of "genitori ignoti". <br> | ||
<br>Certificate recording the abandonment of male child born of "genitori ignoti". | |||
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[[ | [[Image:Record+of+Birth+of+Merico+Scherzi.jpg|500px|Caption]]<br> | ||
Record of Birth of Merico Scherzi born on 23 Apr 1902 in Orero, District of Chiavari, Province of Genoa. | Record of Birth of Merico Scherzi born on 23 Apr 1902 in Orero, District of Chiavari, Province of Genoa. <br> | ||
<br>On occasion, a person who was abandoned as a child might learn who one or both of his or her birth parents were, for example, when registering for the military or when marrying. Sometimes the records of the ''ospizio ''were coordinated with the birth or baptism record. The above two images show the birth and abandonment records of a baby boy named by the midwife and the priest as "Merico Scherzi"; the certificate of abandonment is interleaved in the volume of records of births facing the page on which the birth is recorded. In this case, in 1902, at a time when the system was virtually ended, the surname was given to the child at the time of baptism, without the mother or father being identified, with the birth occurring on 23 Apr 1902, the baptism occurring on 24 Apr 1902, and the abandonment occurring on 25 Apr 1902, in Chiavari, 12.6 km (13.4 miles) away from Orero.<br> | <br>On occasion, a person who was abandoned as a child might learn who one or both of his or her birth parents were, for example, when registering for the military or when marrying. Sometimes the records of the ''ospizio ''were coordinated with the birth or baptism record. The above two images show the birth and abandonment records of a baby boy named by the midwife and the priest as "Merico Scherzi"; the certificate of abandonment is interleaved in the volume of records of births facing the page on which the birth is recorded. In this case, in 1902, at a time when the system was virtually ended, the surname was given to the child at the time of baptism, without the mother or father being identified, with the birth occurring on 23 Apr 1902, the baptism occurring on 24 Apr 1902, and the abandonment occurring on 25 Apr 1902, in Chiavari, 12.6 km (13.4 miles) away from Orero.<br> | ||
== Tracing An Abandoned Infant's Ancestry == | == Tracing An Abandoned Infant's Ancestry == | ||
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[[Category:Italy|N]] [[Category:Names_Personal]] | [[Category:Italy|N]] [[Category:Names_Personal]] | ||