But the champions of the preventive system, and among whom Don Bosco, do not reject their contents, even though they carry them out in modified form. What allows them to be considered preventive are especially the mentality behind them, the spirit and the style, which in the Regolamento, instead, undoubtedly have a repressive tone.
The students are subjected to following rigid duties: in the classroom, they had to take assigned seats; they had to approach the Sacrament of penance every month, and the confessor had to give them a card to prove it; they had to fulfill their Easter duty and have a document to prove it; they had to attend daily Mass, go to Mass every Sunday with the student community and perform the added practices of piety in the morning, such as spiritual reading, The Little Office of the Our Lady and the Litanies, besides religious instruction; in the afternoon they had spiritual reading, singing, recitation of prayers, and catechism; there was a triduum in preparation for Christmas, and the annual retreat; books not authorised by the prefect of studies were forbidden.187 No less severe was the control exercised over the student’s life outside school.
All students are strictly forbidden to: go swimming, go to the theatre, engage in games of
tricks, wear masks, respond to dance invitations, engage in any kind of games in suburbs,
bars, cafés and other public places, go out for dinner, eat and drink in hotels or restaurants,
gather in clubs or set up a club, or have conversations in cafés, act in local theatres, without
the permission of the prefect of studies.188
The commitment taken by the ‘congregation’ (school community), which to a certain extent was a model for the Oratory, was far different from the free and joyful sharing of life in the Oratory, as much as that was inspired by serious religious ideas.189
Spiritual directors wield unlimited power, a power to intervene decisively in the very activity of the school.190
They have the right, within the congregation to punish, to dismiss all those who are
irreligious, who do not know their catechism and who are disobedient. Whoever is
expelled from the congregation is also expelled from the school, through a notice handed
out by the spiritual director to the prefect of studies. They have the right to withhold the
promotion of students from a lower to a higher grade, and to submit students to an
additional catechism exam on all Saints Day. Students will be denied promotion if they
continue to demonstrate ignorance.191
No less authoritarian were the demands in reference to teachers, obliged to always have a certificate of good moral and religious conduct issued by the Bishop. They were obliged to provide supervision at exact times,192 an assistance which had to be extremely attentive and demanding for its possible consequences.
The student who, on account of his obstinate disobedience or serious lack all respect
towards his teacher or spiritual director is to be suspended from school will be readmitted
only after three days and after first begging for forgiveness from the school. Students
lacking religious spirit, with corrupt morals, who are incorrigible, guilty of obstinate and
scandalous resistance to the orders of superiors or guilty of some crime, will be expelled
187 Cf. Regolament, art. 34-41
188 ibid, art. 42.
189 Cf. Regolamento, book 4, Ch. 1, par. 1. Della congregazione, art. 134-143. 190 ibid, book 4, Ch. 1, par. 2. Dei direttori spirituali, art. 144-167. 191 ibid, art. 146.
192 ibid, art. 48-52, 54-55.