Thank you for this. I wasn't aware of this at all and explained one of the
last translations that i did and the response I got for translating it, why
there was mentioned of a possible wet nurse as well as the absence of
parents' names.
Kalani
On Friday, February 15, 2013 8:58:24 AM UTC-8, John Raposo wrote:
>
> Most people of Azorean extraction researching their roots have ancestors,
> particularly from the mid-19th century back, who were abandoned at
> convents. These "expostos", commonly known as "filhos da roda" (children of
> the wheel), were left in a blind cylinder Lazy Susan in a convent. There
> was a little bell rope on the outside that was pulled by the person
> abandoning the child to alert the porter that a child had been left on the
> wheel. Sometimes these babies came with notes, or a ribbon tied to the arm,
> or a little medal, something attached by a mother who had some hope of
> reclaiming her baby in the future. The nuns had to find wet-nurses to care
> for these babies and ultimately foster mothers who could care for them long
> term. Before baby formula was invented, children without nursing mothers or
> wet-nurses, usually died. Even as foster children, the death rate for these
> children, in an age where infant mortality was already high, was alarmingly
> high. Children who were placed with families committed to raising them,
> even after the subsidy was ended at about age 5, stood a better chance of
> survival. People who visit the Convento de Esperança in Ponta Delgada can
> still see a "roda" in operation, although today it is used to receive
> anonymous offerings from immigrants. In fact, the Convento da Esperança,
> was not one of those receiving convents.
>
> This system still exists throughout the European Union. America Magazine
> ("Life
> Windows" 2/11/2013) published an article in this month's issue. In order
> to prevent babies being abandoned to dumpsters, the EU has re-established
> these "receiving centers" where children are placed in a heated cubicle
> through an outside door. Instead of a rope that rings a bell, there is a
> button that sounds a very loud alarm to alert the nuns that a baby has been
> left in the cubicle. There is a great picture in the article that show a
> nun, on the receiving end of the cubicle. Just like in the past, sometimes
> mothers leave identifying articles with their babies. The article
> narrates the story of one baby left in the modern day "roda" along with a
> note. "Casper, I'm sorry. I love you very much. Mom."
>
> In Massachusetts we have the "Safe Haven" Act. Anyone can leave a baby
> within the first 30 days of life at a hospital, police or fire station with
> no questions asked, no identification needed, only whatever information the
> adult wants to give. This is measure taken to eliminate babies being left
> in dumpsters to die.
>
> John Miranda Raposo
>
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