The arrival of Maria Montessori in Barcelona

in hope of the improvements in education which the Mancomunitat wanted to promote.

At that time, Maria Montessori had left her job at the University of Rome and was dedicating all her time to her own work. She had given courses at national level in Italy and two international courses in Rome in 1913 and 1914, and after having written two books in 1909 and 19108, in 1914 she published her third book, Manual práctico del método Montessori (Practical manual of the Montessori method), and she was starting to prepare the publication of a new book about the education of older children. One of her important projects was to find a place where she would have human, social and economic support to help the practice of her method and to train teachers. She had everything prepared to go to London and run a course, but with the outbreak of the First World War in 1914 Spain, which did not take part in the war, was a better option. Montessori made a great commitment to Barcelona, sending her associate there and keeping in constant touch with her by letter. Anna Maccheroni kept Montessori informed about the warm welcome and institutional support which her project had received, and about the cooperative, innovative and lively character of the people. Undoubtedly these emotive letters made up Montessori’s mind; her father was ill and being cared by Anna Fedeli9 in Italy, and she repeatedly wrote to him from the United States insisting that he should go to Barcelona with Maccheroni, but he refused to do so.

8 Maria Montessori (1909). Il metodo della pedagogia scientifica applicato all’educazione infantile nelle case dei bambini. Rome: Città di Castello, In the following years, this book is translated into over 20 languages. The English edition is titled The Montessori Method. and the Spanish version was edited in 1910 by Araluce editions and named L’Antropologia pedagogica (Pedagogical Anthropology). 9 Friend and faithful Italian collaborator of Maria Montessori since1905, she followed her in her trips and projects until her death in 1920 15

At this time Maria Montessori had recently taken charge of her son Mario10, who was 15 years old, who she presented as her nephew, since he was the fruit of an illicit relationship with doctor Giuseppe Montessano, and this was disapproved of in society. Even though she was more or less set on going to Barcelona for the course, Maria Montessori had commitments in the United States, where she had already been in 1913. That visit to the United States was very intense, and meanwhile her father’s health declined and he died in November at the age of 83. In Barcelona they were waiting for her with enthusiasm, but because of difficulties in communication, everything seemed uncertain.

In principle she should have arrived in the summer of 1915, but then it seemed that she would not arrive at all, until finally Maria Montessori set out for Spain by ship on 19th December, with Adelia Pyle11 and her son Mario. Anna Maccheroni was given the task of going to meet them at Algeciras and to bring them to Barcelona after spending a few days in Madrid. Various letters have survived from Fedeli, who was in Rome, to Homs, enquiring after the arrival of Montessori, and from Eladi Homs to Maccheroni keeping her informed about everything and encouraging her to make the most of their stay in Madrid to establish contacts and promote Montessori with the intellectuals of the moment. Homs was keen to promote Montessori and attract the maximum number of people from the rest of Spain to the course.

They travelled from Algeciras to Madrid and spent three nights in the students’ residence before heading to Barcelona. They planned to arrive on the 22nd

10 The son of Maria Montessori (that she presented as her nephew) who, despite being called Mario Montessori, had to put his father's last name first to follow the Spanish legislation. Therefore he was called officially Mario Montessano Montessori and he wrote Mario M. Montessori 11 Adelia Pyle was a Presbyterian teacher from the United States, from a well-off family. She met Montessori in a course in Rome and followed her projects until 1925. In 1916, she changed her name to Mary Pyle in Montserrat when she was baptized as a Catholic, which resulted in her rejection by her family. She continued to live fervently religious life in Italy until her death in 1968. 16

December in the evening, but they finally arrived by train at 8.30 in the morning on 23rd. We know that Miss Terris, Mrs. Carner, Mr. Vantolrà of Rubí and Father Casulleras were all keen to go and meet her. In Barcelona the doctor met up with Anna Fedeli who had arrived from Rome on 19th December and who, despite being exhausted, had to begin preparation of the course.

The arrival of the doctor coincided with Christmas and this resulted in feelings of optimism and excitement, both for the doctor and for everyone who was waiting for her in Barcelona. Homs explains that throughout Barcelona she encountered recognition, respect and warm greetings and also explains the well-known anecdote about Maria Montessori’s tears. That Christmas Eve, she attended Midnight Mass at the church of Our Lady of Pompeia, and she received Communion in the company of her intimate friends, going afterwards to the Palau de la Música, (concert hall) where the Orfeo Català performed the traditional Christmas concert. She sat in the middle of the private box of the provincial council, and was the centre of attention of all those present. The clear voices and the music moved her deeply. Maria Montessori was especially moved by the music of the Cant dels Ocells. The sweet, melancholic solo voice of the singer Andrea Fornells made her release her pent-up emotions and dissolve into tears which at first she could not contain, and she had to withdraw from the front of the box. She wept along with others in the Palau, and this was an indication of the connection which had been created among them. Masccheroni wanted to excuse her emotional weakness, which had attracted much attention, by explaining that her state of mind was affected by the recent death of her father, and that without her father she was greatly comforted by knowing that she was loved by a community which was sensitive to spiritual values and which understood the human importance of her work. They loved her and she loved them in return.

Homs affirms12 that Maria Montessori and the Catalans who took her in were

united by a Christian, scientific and artistic philosophy and for this reason they were able to connect. From the first moment, the connection between the doctor and Catalan culture was very intense and emotive.

Among the first things she did in Barcelona were to visit various schools, different personalities and Maccheroni’s school. She was so impressed with the school that she sent a couple of telegrams to the United States, asking her friend Margaret Wilson, daughter of President Wilson, to visit her13 .

Montessori’s international course in Barcelona, 1916.

In Barcelona in 1915, various Montessori training activities had already been held. Homs had organized the second Summer School for teachers, where Anna Maccheroni had given eight classes and that July a travelling Montessori course took place. At that time there was a lot of interest in and demand for courses, and in November, as a run-up to the doctor’s course, a short Montessori course was held. However, the main focus of attention was the international course which the doctor herself was to give. Its organization began in October, but due to difficulties in intercontinental communication it could not be completely organized until the doctor had arrived. Once Maria Montessori had arrived in Barcelona in December, they had to move quickly to complete the organization of the course, which, originally planned for January, had to be postponed until February. The course

12 Homs, Eladi (1952). Maria Montessori “Barcelonina” .Destino Journal nº 771. Barcelona 13 There is a handwritten note from Maria Montessori to Margaret Wilson (daughter of President Wilson in Whitehouse, Washington) in January 1916. The literal text for the telegram was: ‘Would you please and your coming Barcelona to observe wonderful elementary school experiment.’(sic) 18

secretary and principal director was Eladi Homs and he had already been searching everywhere for participants in the Montessori method to guarantee the maximum attendance at the course. They had to rapidly decide the structure and details of the course, print all the advertisements and spread the word immediately. The publicity was ready just in time for the month of January in Catalan and Spanish, and the course was described with the title ‘Doctor Maria Montessori, doctor of medicine and education, The basis of scientific educationalism, infant teaching in Case dei Bambini, primary teaching to ten years, and teaching in the Catholic religion’.

The course was intended for anyone who had a connection with education, parents were also invited, and they encouraged town and provincial Councils, and the Ministry to allow their teachers to attend and to pay their fees. Infant and primary schools managed by councils in Catalonia had no problem in obtaining permission, but the Madrid government looked unfavourably on the proposal of the Mancomunitat of Catalonia for educational renewal and believed that the intention was to spread Catalan propaganda. The Minister passed a decree forbidding teachers of state schools to absent themselves from their work to attend this course. This also affected sixteen teachers in Catalonia who had already received grants to attend the course, and Maria Montessori herself, Eladi Homs, the Rector of the University of Barcelona and the Mayor of Barcelona protested to different people in the Spanish government. Finally, after a strongly-worded letter of protest from fifteen Members of Parliament and Senators to the Minister, permission was granted, but only to the sixteen Catalan state-employed teachers. This meant that the course was attended by students from all over the world and from Catalonia, but none from the rest of Spain. In consequence, the use of the Spanish language was in the minority, and this roused much criticism in Madrid, seeing that the image of Spain was diminished in the eyes of the foreigners attending the course.

Another objective of the course was to achieve the participation of all the private schools, mostly Catholic, and to bring about an educational revolution throughout the Catalan schools. Many approaches were made to the Bishop, to the order of Escoles Pies, (religious schools), the Capuchins, and influential people in the religious world, to underline the similarity between the Montessori method and Catholicism and its good deeds.

In London, Mr. Bang, the organizing secretary of the Montessori course which was to have taken place in London but was suspended due to the war, helped Homs to register students for Barcelona. Bang only received the publicity in Catalan and Spanish, and was doubtful about how the course would be translated, and also about the teaching of the Catholic religion, something not shared by many English people. Homs answered that there would be full translation to English and that they were very tolerant with all religions. Finally Bang was able to organize the inscription of five English students in the course. Other contacts were made throughout Spain and in councils and other institutions to attract students to the course. As a result of

these actions, the course had the participation of 187 students and more than 50 observers. Of these 187, 50 were students funded by Catalan institutions, 20 by the Mancomunitat, 25 by the Barcelona council and other towns and cities, one funded by the Council of Pamplona, a teacher from Santander paid for by the publishers ‘Araluce’, and five students from the Faculty of Science, funded by Adèlia Pyle14 .

The inaugural talk took place at the premises of the ‘Centre excursionista’ (Excursionist Centre), Carrer Paradis 10, Barcelona, on 16th February at 6 p.m. Every week, four sessions of theory were held from 6 to 7 in the evening on

14 Ms. Pyle pays the tuition fees for five students of the University of Barcelona: Enriqueta Ortega, Antonio Batlle and Mestre, Julio Monraset, José Mª Mestre-Rander (faculty of sciences) Juan Crexells i Vallhonrat (faculty philosophy and letters). From Eladi Homs’ personal archive.

Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays in the same assembly hall in Carrer Paradís. A total of 38 classes were held, finishing on 10th May. Every weekend the students were given a translation of doctor Montessori’s lessons, and finally a book was published which contained them all. The Council for Education also published an edited version of each lesson. Based on these publications, we can discover the content of these 38 lessons, which were divided into five lessons about the basics of science applied to human development and of scientific teaching methods which form the foundation of the educational proposal; two lessons about educating the senses and sensorial material; three lessons on the role of the teacher; four lessons about learning to read and write; three about the materials for grammatical study with new materials for older children dealing with morphology and syntax; one about music, one about movement and physical education; three lessons about mathematical materials which include materials for the older children for powers and other operations; two about geometry including areas, fractions, volumes and angles; two discussed the study of science tied in to the development of the imagination; seven treated the psychological and practical aspects of the free development of will, intelligence and concentration which lead to self-development; two about how to carry out anthropological and physical studies of the children’s progress and charts of the children’s work, and two about how to objectively assess the development of the children’s intelligence. One of the last talks was given by Father Antoni Casunellas, explaining how religious education was taught in the Mancomunitat’s school, and praising the method. There were also explanatory classes about the use of materials, practical use of materials, and observation in schools with children.

In the closing speech on 10th May a brief resumé of the method was presented, it was compared with Catholicism and it was stated that the best road to peace is

through education. At the end of the course, written and oral examinations were held. A total of 130 people took the exams, but the diplomas were awarded after 8th

June, because they still had not been printed. The weekend of 19th/20th May, the students organized a banquet at the Hotel Tibidabo in honour of doctor Montessori. The students gave her thank-you gifts, one of them a Catalan-style chair, which she was already familiar with. The other was a large, artistic bust of the doctor, commissioned in April by students of the course. However, the bust would not be finished until the end of August 1916, and since Maria Montessori did not return to Barcelona until some months later, it is not known when the bust was given to her.

Eladi Homs judged the course to be a great success despite the rush to organize it and the state of war in Europe. The Catalan institutions had participated greatly – the whole city had committed itself to the change in education. Eladi Homs was also grateful for the support of the regional political party and forecast a great future for Montessori education. At that time the rest of Spain showed no interest in the method. At the end of the course, the ‘Friends of Maria Montessori’15 group was formed, as well as an Overseeing Committee to watch over the good running of the Montessori schools.

During the course, Montessori had received offers to give talks and visit different Catalan towns, but when it ended, she was overcome by the exhaustion resulting from those two intense years which had begun in California, and she needed to step back and call a halt to this frenzied activity. She cancelled all the plans she had in Catalonia and a more relaxed stay as a tourist was organized for her in Majorca. On 6th June, with Mary Pyle, she boarded the ship Jaume I and set out for Majorca, where her son Mario had already arrived. Anna Maccheroni for her part was in