„Figli Legitimi” w Rzymie i w państwie kościelnym w XVIII w.

Abstrakt

The fate of unwanted children, the so-called "foundlings", was from the most ancient times an ever current and difficult to solve social problem. The pope Innocent III founded in medieval Rome the Holy Ghost hospital, which was an attempt to solve this problem; the hospital was administered by the order of the Holy Ghost Fathers. In the 17th century, as a rule, over 1000 children were abandoned at the hospital annually, and in the 18th c. from 500 to 900. Rome was the main source of hospital foundlings, and the towns and villages situated within 100 kilometers from the capital of the Church State, especially northward.

According to the primary idea of Innocent III the Holy Ghost hospital was for illegitimate children, who came from illegal non-marital relation. Instructions were often issued which recommended admitting to hospital "figli illegitimi" exclusively, and at the same time strictly forbade abandoning "figli legitimi", that is children from legal and full marriages. These guidelines not always brought about the expected effect, since in practice many children from full families were abandoned at the hospital. The decisive majority consisted of children from poor families or they were disabled and ill. A lot of parents abandoned their children at the hospital for some commercial and financial reasons. Then by way of deception they took from the hospital the children they had earlier abandoned. They posed as custodians who would like to bring up hospital foundlings for a permanent payment from the hospital. The hospital staff sought to do away with this practice. They recommended that all foundlings from legal marriages, after proving this fact, should immediately be sent back to their lawful parents. In the period of 1737-1749, during a visitation 21 foundlings were sent back to their parents.