Constantine's Università di Roma medical diploma — 110/110, July 9, 1941

Perfect score, fascist Rome, on the eve of the war. A page from Constantine’s Università di Roma Medical Diploma certification dossier, dated Roma, 9 luglio 1941 — A.XIX — E.F. (July 9, 1941, Year XIX of the Fascist Era). The opening line on the page carries the academic distinction:

CENTODIECI su CENTODIECI — 110 out of 110. A perfect score on his concluding examinations.

Italian translation of the substantive paragraphs

2) The relative Diploma — which, according to the current provisions on Higher Education, has exclusively the value of an academic qualification — was issued on July 9, 1941, Year XIX of the Fascist Era.

3) The school year has a duration of about thirty-two weeks (from the first decade of November to the end of May).

4) Each week, lessons and practical exercises take place for a total duration of not less than thirty-five hours.

5) All students, from third to sixth year, must perform hospital practice. The schedule of such daily exercises is set from eight to ten hours.

6) Mr. JEANNOPOULOS Costantine Lazare has passed all the prescribed exams to be admitted to the State exams for the qualification to practice as Medical Surgeon.

7) It is further certified that the following exams were validated to Mr. JEANNOPOULOS Costantine Lazare: Chemistry = Physics = General Biology = Experimental Psychology.

Roma, 9 luglio 1941 A.XIX — E.F.

What the document establishes

1. Constantine earned his M.D. from the Università di Roma with a perfect score (110/110) — the maximum mark in the Italian university system. Not just credentials, but the top of his class.
2. The four pre-validated subjects (Chemistry, Physics, General Biology, Experimental Psychology) were transferred in — almost certainly from his Cornell undergraduate work (B.A. Phi Beta Kappa, 1937). The University of Rome accepted Cornell coursework as fulfilling Italian medical school prerequisites.
3. The full Italian medical curriculum he completed: ~32-week school years, 35-hour weeks, hospital practice from third year through sixth year for all students. Constantine’s third year was May 1938; his sixth year ended with this 1941 diploma.
4. July 9, 1941 issuance date — eight weeks before he sailed from Lisbon on the SS Excalibur arriving New York August 25, 1941. The diploma was authenticated by the US Embassy in Rome on July 18, 1941 — preparing the credential for US recognition.

About “Anno XIX — E.F.”

The Mussolini regime dated documents both by the Christian-era calendar and by the Era Fascista — the Fascist Era — counting from the October 28, 1922 March on Rome. Year XIX of the Fascist Era began October 28, 1940 and ran through October 28, 1941. The diploma’s dating shows the regime’s date-system in operation. Two years later, Mussolini would be deposed (July 25, 1943) and the Era Fascista counting would end with him.

Sequencing into the 1941 emigration

The diploma and the emigration are one motion — Rome to New York with a perfect-score Italian MD in hand, just weeks before the US would enter the war.