Popular instruction, which until recently was chiefly in the hands of monks and nnns, is, according to official accounts, in a very low condition. In 1862, of the entire male popidation, (j..ly 2,020,269 were able to read; of the female, only 1,25'8,186; 17,000,000 persons were un- able to read and write. Of every 1000 persons, there were, unable to read — in Lombardy, 599 ; in Piedmont, 003 ; in Tuscany, 773 ; in INIodena, 799 ; in the Romagna, 802; in Parma, 818; in the Marca, 851 ; in Umbria, 858 ; in Naples, 880; in Sicily, 902; in Sardinia, 911. Since tlio cstalilishment of the kingdom of Italy public in- struction lias made great progress. From 1800 to 1863 the number of male teachers increased from 12,475 to 17,604; that of female teachers from 6631 to 13,817. The number of educational institutions amounted in 1864 to 31,075, which were attended by 1,681,296 chil- dren. In the same year Italy had 452 gymnasia, with 22,759 pupils; 123 lycea, with" 864 pupils;" and 344 sem- inaries, with 12,923 pupils. There were 20 universities, 15 of which were state and 5 free. Six have been de- clared by the government to be first-class universities : Turin, Pavia, Bologna, Florence, Naples, and Palermo. The number of students had in 1806 decreased to 8148, from 15,668 in 1862.
The Church of the Waldenses is the only fully organ- ized Protestant Church in Italy. It consists of 16 com- munities, with a membership of 22,000. Its governing body is called the Table. The Theological School in Florence had in 1869 3 professors (Revel, Geymonat, and De Sanctis) and 14 students, 4 of whom were formerly Catholic priests. According to the report made to the Waldensian Synod in 1866, evangelistic work Avas car- ried on by this Church at 23 principal stations, wliich wore thus distributed: 7 in Piedmont, 3 in Lombardy, 1 ni Emilia, 3 in Liguria, 4 in Tuscany, 1 in the dis- trict of Naples, 1 in Sicily, 1 in the Isle of Elba, and 2 in France for Italians. To work these stations it employ- ed 19 pastors, 11 evangelists, and 29 teachers— in all, 69 agents. The number of attendants upon public wor- ship was reckoned at from 2000 to 2500 ; that of com- municants at 1095. At the Synod of 1869 the number of stations was announced as amounting to 30, with 21
pastors, 16 evangelists, and 58 teachers— in all, 95 agents. During these three years the number of con- verts had increased 900 ; favorable reports were, in par- ticular, made of the congregations in Pignciol, Tu- rin, Venice (in which city the congregation numbered 239 members), Livorno, where the school was attended by 300 children, and from Messina, where the rapidly increasing number of attendants at divine worship made it necessary for the congregation to rent three times in the course of a single week larger halls. The Nice For- eigners' Evangelization Committee emploj'ed in 1867 15 agents, who were stationed at Barletta, Como, Milan, Fara, Florence, Piverone, Sardinia, and Sondrio. The salaries of six of the evangelists are paid by the Evan- gelical Continental Society of London. The total re- ceipts of the committee, including the money received from the Evangelical Continental Societj-, were £1323 ; the expenditures £1180. The American and Foreign Christian Union supports more than 40 agents in Italy. A Theological Training School has been established by the societ}' at Milan, where in 1866 the Rev. ]Mr. Clark, assisted by 4 Italian professors, instructed 19 theological students, superintended churches in 8 different places, and sustained from 10 to 20 colporteurs in North Italy. In 1870 the training school was transferred to the care of a Committee of Evangelization appointed by the Free Christian Church of Italy. This body was for- mally organized at Milan in June, 1870, and consists of a considerable number of evangelical churches, two thirds of which (more than 20) represent the results of the previous expenditure and labor of this society. These churches and their pastors are still sustained by the board. Another missionary of the society superin- tended at Sarzana evangelistic operations in some 10 different places. The Wesleyan Missionary Society had in 1867 several agents in Italy under the superintend- ence of the Rev. H. J. Piggott at Padua. A Ragged School, supported bj' the society in this city, was regu- larly attended by 40 lads. Florence also had prosperous schools ; there were increasing congregations at Cremo- na, Parma, Mezzano Inferiore (15 miles from Parma), and at Naples ; and efforts, with some success, had been made in other places. The missionaries and other agents were sustained at a cost of about $20,000. The Scotch Free Church had several ministers settled in va- rious parts of Italy, who were engaged, in addition to their regular labors among their countrymen, in super- intending the work of Bible distribution. In addition to these Protestant agencies, free evangelical Italian churches were to be found in several parts, as in Genoa, Florence, etc., all of them being more or less allied with tlie Plymouth Brethren.
School-work is carried on in connection with most of the churches and stations. In Naples there were in 1868 4 schools, with 14 teachers and 373 children, under the direction of a special committee. There were 3 Wal- densian schools in Florence and 2 in Leghorn. The Waldensian schools in the vallej-s numbered 80, with 3750 children in regular attendance. The "Italian Evangelical Publication Society" selects and translates religious books and tracts suitable for Italy, and prints them at the lowest possible rate. It prints the Eco della Verita (weekly) and the Amico di Casa (annual). It has published 232 new works, or new editions of works, amounting to 520,000 copies, and has sold since 1862 as many as 390,000 copies. See Herzog, Reul-Encyldop. viii, 99 ; Wetzer u. Welte, Kirchen-Lexikon, v, 582 sq. ; Wiggers, Kbchl. StatisfU; ii, 3 sq. ; Neher, Kirclil. Gc- ogr. u, Statistik, i, 4 sq. ; Nippold, Ihmdbvch der neues- ten Kirchenrjesch. (2d ed. Elbcrf. 1868) ; Christian Year- book (London, 1867 and 1808); Ughelli, Italia Sacra (Rome, 1044, 6 vols.) ; JM'Crie, f/isf. n/i/ie Progress and Suppression of the Reformation in Italy (Edinb. 1827); Erdmann, Lie liiformation v. ihre Mcirtzrer in Itulien (Berl. 1855) ; Leopold, Ueberdie Ursachen der Reforma- tion und deren Verf'all in Itulien (in Zeitschrift fiir hist. Thiol 1843) ; Matthes, Klrchl. Chronik, (A. J. S.)