Msgr. John F. Wippel, 2007. Catholic University, Special Collections.
John Francis Wippel (1933-2023) was a priest, philosopher, professor, and former provost (then named academic vice president) who cast a long shadow on the campus of The Catholic University of America (CUA). We in Special Collections are especially grateful to the late Monsignor, and his estate executor, for bequeathing us his personal papers, which include correspondence and photographs, covering 1958-2021, in eighteen boxes, received in 2024, as well as thirteen valuable rare book volumes, most of them related to Saint Thomas Aquinas and published before 1500, more recently transferred to our charge. Eventually, the personal papers will have an online guide (or finding aid) on our website, which may include links to any portions that are digitized, while the rare books will be cataloged and searchable via the library website.
Msgr. Wippel’s two Metaphysical Philosophy classics, both published by CUA Press, on Godfrey (1981. 1999) and Aquinas (2002), respectively. Catholic University, Special Collections.
Wippel grew up on a farm near Pomeroy, Ohio, where he developed lifelong interests in baseball, the American Civil War, and Philosophy. He was educated at Sacred Heart Parish School, St. John Vianney Minor Seminary, and Theological College at Catholic University as a ‘Theodore Basselin Scholar.’ At CUA he earned a BA and MA in Philosophy and a Licentiate in Sacred Theology. Ordained as a Roman Catholic priest for the Diocese of Steubenville in 1960, he rejoined CUA that same year as an instructor in the School of Philosophy. The year after he was granted leave to pursue a doctorate in Philosophy at the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium, completing with distinction his dissertation on Godfrey of Fontaines in April 1963. He returned to CUA’s School of Philosophy in the fall of 1963, becoming Assistant Professor in 1965, Associate Professor in 1967, and Ordinary (Full) Professor in 1972.
John Duns Scotus. Quaestiones quodlibertales Scoti, Venice, 1497, Wippel donation. Catholic University, Special Collections
In recognition of his contributions to CUA’s academic and ecclesiastical mission, he was named an honorary prelate with the title of Monsignor on May 28, 1989, followed shortly by his colleagues, Fr. Robert Sokolowski of the Archdiocese of Hartford, and Fr. Robert Trisco of the Archdiocese of Chicago. Other honors include CUA’s Alumni Association Achievement Award for Research and Scholarship in 2001 and the Provost Award for Lifetime Excellence in Scholarship, Research and Teaching in 2006. Msgr. Wippel became Theodore Basselin Professor of Philosophy in 2001 and after retiring in 2021 was named Professor Emeritus. While his field was metaphysics, he also published on many related subjects and was author or editor of over a dozen books and monographs and nearly one hundred articles and book chapters becoming a world class scholar of medieval thought, especially of St. Thomas Aquinas and Godfrey of Fontaines. It was primarily for the latter that he was awarded the Maître-Agrégé de l’Ecole Saint Thomas d’Aquin by Louvain in 1981, akin to the German Habilitation, which is rarely given. He also served as a board member or president of the Journal of the History of Philosophy, The Society for Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy, The American Catholic Philosophical Association, and The Metaphysical Society of America.
Philosopher Provost in action, 1991. Catholic University, Special Collections, Wippel Papers.
With so many scholarly endeavors and achievements he also spent many productive years in academic administration, beginning with a stint as Acting Dean of the School of Philosophy and Acting Director of the Medieval and Byzantine Studies Program (that he had co-founded) in 1975. He also served as Director of the University’s Early Christian Studies Program, 1978-1980, and in January 1989 agreed to serve as Assistant Academic Vice President for Graduate Studies. He was a dedicated, efficient, and thrifty administrator and from late 1989 until 1997 was the Academic Vice-President (AVP), which towards the end of his tenure was renamed University Provost.
It was in his role as Academic Vice President that I first encountered Msgr. Wippel as he bears some responsibility for my career at CUA by signing my initial appointment letter to the library staff in January 1990. He was always a respected, if somewhat distant elder to me, but I interacted with him many times over the years, occasionally drawing a comment or provoking a wry smile, with remarks about baseball, the Civil War, or William of Ockham while sharing the elevator in Aquinas Hall. My fondest memory of him, however, is that he and an associate randomly shared a table with my family and I at the CUA Service Award Dinner in 2011 where I was, among others, honored for twenty years of service. He seemed mildly amused when I told him, for better or worse, it was his fault that I was CUA Archivist! I must also confess I was one of many who took advantage of the arbitrary price control he maintained on a Tuna Sandwich, $3 as I recall, in the old Caldwell Dining Room during his era as AVP/Provost. For more information on Msgr. Wippel, please see the wonderful memorial site created by the CUA School of Philosophy, and for inquiries regarding his papers and rare books at CUA contact Special Collections. Special thanks to Alexis Howlett, Sally Kendrick, and Dr. John McCarthy.
Faliscan Vase by S MacDonald, 2025, Special Collections, CatholicU.
Catholic University’s Museum, an integral part of Special Collections, which also include Rare Books, is the proud home of a remarkable ancient Italian vase, a fourth century B.C. red-figure calyx krater. According to scholar Linda Safran (1), it was created by an artist referred to as the ‘Nazzano Painter,’ who was Faliscan, an Italic people closely tied to the Etruscans. It had a long journey to Catholic University, arriving as a donation in 1938, and a prize display for recent decades in the office of University Librarian in Mullen Library until recently moved to Rare Books, also in Mullen, where it is more readily accessible, with appropriate security, for viewing to interested scholars, students, and visitors.
The vase is a red-figure calyx krater measuring 15.5 x 16 inches and was donated to The Catholic University of America on October 20, 1938 by Miss Belle Moriarty of Brooklyn, New York, in memory of her brother Stephen F. Moriarty, who she said purchased it in Rome. He had been knighted by Pope Leo XIII and was friends with Cardinal Rafael Merry del Val and Cardinal Mariano Rampolla, who narrowly lost the 1903 Papal Election, as well as Cardinal Herbert Vaughan of Westminster, England, and was the founder of the Catholic Truth Society in England and the Society of St. Joseph of the Sacred Heart (Josephites) in the United States. (2) The donation was facilitated between Mother L.R. Clark of St. Regis in NYC and Rev. (later Msgr.) Paul Hanly Furfey, longtime CU Sociology professor whose papers reside in Special Collections along with the vase.
Faliscan Vase, Librarian’s Office, 1994, Special Collections, CatholicU.
When the vase arrived at Catholic University it was accompanied by an auction catalog describing it in French. The contemporary translation includes “red painted figures on a black background, with some tones of flesh color subdued with white high lights. 1st are Hercules and Minerva receiving some offerings from three women and from a hero…bordered with Grecian palms and branches from the olive tree.” It also says “Villa Borghese Pavillon de l’Horloge – Place de Sienne – Marbres Antiques objets d’art, du Moyen Age, de la Renaissance et Armes. Rome 1893.” (3) By 1993, the vase was on display in the University Librarian’s office, Third Floor Mullen Library, where a conservator, Steven Koob, examined it, observing it was an “intact vessel except for one large section of the rim on the B side which has been broken and rejoined” with some small chips “missing along the break.” His restorative work, which included cleaning, stabilizing cracks, and sealing edges was completed in 1994.
Linda Safran’s aforementioned study (full citation below) is the definitive study to date though others have more recently examined the vase. Safran’s article is a detailed examination and study of the vase where she argues it is “a high-quality addition to the existing corpus of Faliscan vases” and “its iconography seems to be unparalleled.” (4) Referring to the auction catalog accompanying the donation plus her additional research, Safran observed the vase was apparently part of the Borghese Collection, but its verified location between 1893 and the 1938 donation to Catholic University is unknown. To inquire about the vase or any other of the university’s museum items, please contact us at lib-archives@cua.edu.
Inscription Plate for Faliscan Vase, 1994, Special Collections, CatholicU.
Francis J. Haas, Bishop of Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1943. Haas Papers, Special Collections, CatholicU.
The history of the American labor movement, with its British antecedents and its evolutionary relationship with the Roman Catholic Church, has been a major focus of Catholic U’s Special Collections, including the University Archives and American Catholic History Research Center, for more than three quarters of a century. Testament to this effort is displayed online via teaching sites, exhibits, research guides, blog posts, and scholarly articles. We are especially pleased that increasing numbers of these labor-related collections are being digitized and now available from The History Vault of ProQuest via subscription. Our earliest labor collections, the papers of John Mitchell of the United Mine Workers of America and T. V. Powderly and John W. Hayes of the Knights of Labor debuted in 2017 as part of the Labor Unions in the U.S., 1862-1974 module. Since then, we have shifted to uniquely Catholic phenomenon of the ‘labor priest,’ a cleric dedicating his spiritual, intellectual, and activist energies into Church supported labor justice. The first of these collections are Msgr. John A. Ryan, a major supporter of The New Deal, whose digitized papers went online in 2022. Recently, the Papers of his protégé, Bishop Francis J. Haas, which were moved offsite to ProQuest facilities in installments in 2023-2024, were digitized and returned to CatholicU safe and sound, with the digital collection going online late in 2024.
Rev. Francis J. Haas and the Teamsters Strike, 1934. Haas Papers, Special Collections, CatholicU.
The Haas Papers, 1904-1953, more than 100,000 pages, chronicle the life of a noted priest, later a bishop, dedicated to both church and labor. It includes family documents, his student records, and his adult educator and clerical files, but focus mostly on his role as a New Deal public servant and labor arbitrator in the 1930s and 1940s with correspondence, reports, press releases, meeting minutes, notes, lectures, sermons, speeches, publications, and photographs. Priest, educator, and labor relations advocate, the Wisconsin born Haas (1889-1953) was the child of German and Irish immigrants and ordained a Milwaukee priest. A doctoral student of Msgr. Ryan at Catholic University, Haas authored Man and Society (1931), which reflected the social teachings of Ryan and recent Popes. He also published the Vatican-approved English translations of Rerum Novarum(1891) and Quadragesimo Anno (1931), the two major papal encyclicals that guided his activism and encouraged other priests and Catholics to be active in labor and social justice issues. In the 1930s Haas directed the National Catholic School of Social Service (NCSSS) and the School of Social Science at Catholic U as well as leading the Catholic Conference on Industrial Problems (CCIP) and the Catholic Association for International Peace (CAIP). He was Bishop of Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1943-1953.
John L. Lewis, UMWA President, to Rev. Francis J. Haas, March 18, 1937. Haas Papers, Special Collection, CatholicU.
Poster, Bishop Haas and Walter Ruether of UAW Speaking Event, 1945, Haas Papers, Special Collections, CatholicU.
The History Vault provides rich resources on the labor movement and researchers may be interested in the following History Vault modules: Reverend J. H. Jackson and the National Baptist Convention, 1900-1990; American Federation of Labor Records: The Samuel Gompers Era, 1877-1937; Progressive Era: Voices of Reform; Progressive Era: Reform, Regulation, and Rights; Workers, Labor Unions, and the American Left in the 20th Century: Federal Records; Labor Unions in the U.S., 1862-1974: Knights of Labor, AFL, CIO, and AFL-CIO; and Fair Employment Practices Commission Records. In addition to the Ryan and Haas papers, we are now working to digitize the monumental papers of Msgr. George Gilmary Higgins (1916-2002), a considerable archival trove priceless to understanding church, state, and labor relations in the last half of the twentieth century, and especially in matters and events relating to the United Autor Workers, migrant farm labor, the anti-Communist Polish Solidarity movement, and Catholic-Jewish relations. Like the Ryan and Haas papers before, the Higgins Papers will be digitized by ProQuest offsite at their facilities in installments, 2024-2025. For more on CatholicU Special Collections, see our website or email us at lib-archives@cua.edu
Foreboding Shot of the Archives Stacks, Aquinas Hall, ca. 2020, Catholic University Special Collections
Proactive management of records is a responsibility shared by every department and unit at Catholic University, if not every entity across the Catholic world. Can this be true, you ask? Well, see statements of both the Vatican and the American Bishops. We understand that record keeping can appear to be an intimidating – perhaps even impossible – task, particularly when a long period has passed without any active sorting and archiving of office records. The staff of the University Special Collections, which includes University Archives, would like campus offices to know our staff is available for consultations, including on-site visits, regarding best practices for records retention and disposition. We can also remind each office what records they already have archived with us, and how to access such if needed. Despite the heat, summertime is generally the most convenient time to review and decide on records disposition or archiving.
A Warm View of the Archives Storage Space, Aquinas Hall, ca. 2020, Catholic University Special Collections
CatholicU’s archives was founded in 1949 to serve as the university’s institutional memory with authority to acquire and administer records with enduring evidential, legal, informational, and intrinsic value. Holdings date back to records to the foundihttps://www.jstor.org/stable/community.38733460 first volume of the minutes of the Board of Trustees, and extend forward to include correspondence, photographs, film, and digital records detailing growth and operations well into the twenty first century. The Archives is a resource for administrators seeking important legal documents, professor researching departmental histories, public relations looking for old photographs, alumni searching for information on former students, students who want to review university publications, and all others interested in CatholicU’s past.
Your Friendly Neighborhood Archivist, 2021, Catholic University Special Collections
Proper disposition of university records is paramount. Those of permanent historical value are to be transferred to the Archives while, after consultation with Archives and General Counsel staff, others can be shredded. Records deposited in the Archives are only accessible to the people in your office unless they are more than fifty (50) years old and not legal or personnel files. Anyone else seeking access would require official permission from the head of your office directly communicated to your friendly neighborhood University Archivist. Donating office of creation retains rights of controlling access and borrowing back for office use, but such university offices may NOT destroy any records once in the custody of the Archives.
Archival Record Center Box, 2024, Catholic University Special Collections
Your office is responsible for the moving and transfer of records to the Archives. Please use 12 x 15 inch record center boxes. If you do not have boxes of this size, we can provide them to you. Types of records for consideration include annual reports, meeting minutes, correspondence, student records, non-academic staff records, academic/faculty records, faculty activity reports, faculty tenure and promotion files, search committee files, requisitions/purchase orders, budget files, newspaper clippings, office publications, university publications, audio/visual records, research grants project files, and digital/electronic records. Please note that there is no currently stated official university policy for digital records, including born digital records, but we will provide the what advice we can based on best practices. For more information, please email lib-archives@cua.edu at any time.
Special Collections, which includes Rare Books, had a bumper crop this past reporting year of carefully considered rare book acquisitions via purchase, fourteen items from nine both nationally and internationally respected vendors. The latter include new dealer contacts in England, France, Holland, and Italy. Several examples are reviewed in some detail while others due to space constrains are briefly noted in the footnotes. For additional information, see our previous related blog posts and, as always, thank you to both Special Collection and University Libraries staff who help make these vital additions possible. We also appreciate the university faculty members who advise us on potential books to appropriate.
Mexican Catholic publications, 1658, 1812, 1927. Special Collections, Catholic University
We were fortunate to obtain three works via McBride Rare Books of New York, related to the history of Mexico. The first item is Oracion panegyrica en gloria de la sagrada virgen Clara, hija emuladora con iguales volantes plumas en santidad, a la del seraphin padre fuyo Francisco…by Francisco de Torres, published Puebla: Por la Viuda de Juan de Borja, y Gandia, 1658. With 11 leaves and binding remnants along the spine, this is a rare Mexican sermon written in honor of Saint Clare of Assisi (1194-1253), one of the first followers of Francis of Assisi. There are known copies at the Bancroft and Lilly libraries and some Mexican institutions. The second item is the Apologia de Santa Teresa de Jesus, que dirige a las RR. MM. Carmelitas Descalzas de la ciudad de Mexico by Jose Maria de San Pedro, published Mexico City: En la Oficina de Ontiveros, 1812, and considered scarce. There are 44 pages with an engraved plate of this first and only edition of a biography of St. Teresa de Jésus (or Teresa of Avila), a sixteenth century Carmelite nun, who later was made the first female Doctor of the Church by Pope Paul VI. Her reformation of the Carmelite Orders of both men and women prompted the foundation of the Discalced Carmelites. The illustration depicting the Saint praying in her garden was engraved by Manuel de Araoz, one of the first students of the Mexican Academy of Painting. The third item is the Galeria de martires mexicanos 1926-1927, published 1927 in San Antonio by Imprenta Universal. Printed in blue ink with and 124 pages, this is a biographical work with portraits documenting those killed defending the Catholic Church during the Cristero War following the Mexican Revolution of 1917. There are only a few copies known to exist.
Pedro Manso de Tapia. De virtutibus infidelium ad mentem P. Augustini. Reflexio vindex pro eminentiss. cardinali Henrico de Noris Salmanticae, 1721, Special Collections, Catholic University.
A notable piece related to the history of Jansenism, this is a first edition of a good copy in contemporary limp vellum of De virtutibus infidelium ad mentem P. Augustini. Reflexio vindex pro eminentiss. cardinali Henrico de Noris Salmanticae [Salamanca], ex officina Francisci Garcia Onorato & San Miguel, Anno 1721. The author, Pedro Manso de Tapia (1669-1736), was an Augustinian theologian defending Cardinal Enrique Noris from Jesuit Jansenist accusation due to the Cardinal’s works Vindiciae augustinianae and Historia pelagiana. These accusations of heresy became known to the Roman and the Spanish Inquisition in about 1695. A couple of years before, Pedro Manso had met the cardinal in Rome and, having become a professor in Salamanca, he decided to organise the defense of his superior in Spain. He defended the theology of Saint Augustine with “Sanctus Augustinus gratiae sufficientis assertor et vindex” (Salamanca, 1719) and “Sanctus Augustinus sanctae vocationis exaltator” (Salamanca, 1721), and proceeded to defend Noris in the present work, which ended up soon in the Index of Prohibited Books, already in 1723. Obtained with generous terms from Orsi Libri of Milan, Italy, there are no known copies in the United States nor anywhere else outside of Spain.
Giovanni Giustino Ciampini. De sanctae Romanae ecclesiae vicecancellario illiusque munere Auctoritate, et Potestate…1697. Special Collections, Catholic University.
An edition of an early monograph, 240 paged bound in contemporary vellum with two engraved plates and a repaired spine, De sanctae Romanae ecclesiae vicecancellario illiusque munere Auctoritate, et potestate… Rome: Bernabò, 1697, by Giovanni Giustino Ciampini (1633-1698), describes the offices and duties of the Papal Vice-chancellor, historical title for the head of the Cancellaria Apostolica after A.D. 1220. This coveted ecclesiastical position produced official copies of Papal documents and raised funds for the Papal Army. The present work was composed during the vacancy of the office in the 1680s under the reforms of Pope Innocent XI and the author dedicated it to Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni, newly promoted to the position in 1689, which he held until 1740. Usually the signatory on Papal Bulls and other official documents, the Vice-chancellor also had other duties listed on pages 97-137. Ciampini’s also traces the historical development of the title from the Middle Ages, and the engraved plate provides a view of official Vatican proceedings behind closed doors. There are a few monastic ex-libris stamps of German Franciscan institutions as well as the personal stamp and signature of later owners, this copy was acquired from Editio Altera of Bronxville, New York. At present only one known copy in auction records, sans plates, and only other copy in an American library, at Emory University.
Various Titles via Asher Books of the Netherlands. Special Collections, Catholic University.
A banner year of acquisitions was capped by four notable works generously provided by Asher Books of the Netherlands. The first is the Theologiae mysticae, cum speculative, 1556, the last uncensored folio edition of the principal collection of great Flemish mystic Franciscan Hendrik Herp, or Harphius, (ca. 1410-1478) a popular and important work of mystical religion first printed in 1538. This 1556 edition was the last before the censored Rome edition of 1586 that later versions followed. The second is the Tractatus de auctoritate, ac necessitate episcoporum, four treatises on the authority and importance of bishops, published together in 1669 by Joachim van Metelen, a Catholic publisher in Amsterdam, plus three additional works including the third edition of Tractatus de missionibus (originally 1626), in which Philippus Rovenius (1573-1651), an apostolic vicar of the Dutch Mission instructs missionaries how to preach to unbelievers and heretics. The third is the Counter-Reformation work, In omnes psalmos dilucida explanation of Jesuit Cardinal Robert Bellarmino, published in 1611, a rare first edition with no other copies in the United States. Lastly, is a work in Dutch by Charles Nerinckx, Nagelaten brief van der weleerw, in leven missionaris in Kentucky, aan zijne bloedverwanten en vrienden in Nederland, 1825. This is a rare first and only edition of a posthumous publication of letters from an influential Belgian Catholic missionary in Kentucky reporting home on the state of the Catholic Faith in Kentucky and Missouri. Nerinckx (1761-1824) was instrumental in the development of early nineteenth century Catholic Faith in the United States. Known as “the priest in the saddle,” he founded ten churches and spent his last years ministering to Native Americans.
Thank you for reading and we look forward to another stellar year of collecting Rare Books.
(2) Affaire de Religion, obtained from Librairie Hogier of Paris, is a bound volume of 60 pamphlets, 1680-1733, related to Quietism and Jansenism.
(3) An American anti-Catholic Harvard lecture, The Authority of Tradition Considered…,by Edward Wigglesworth, printed by Thomas & John Fleet, Boston, 1778, and acquired from Capitol Hill Books of Washington, D.C.
(4) A Life of Saint Anthony, the fourteenth century Portuguese Franciscan friar, titled Vita Miracolie e Privilegi di s. Antonio de Padova Espresi in XL rami, by Gio. Antonio Conzatti, Padova, 1786, from Second Story Books of Maryland.
(6) Special thanks to our staff, especially Alex Audziayuk and Hannah Kaufman. Thanks also to those who make the acquisition process possible, Steve Connaghan, Kate Benedict, and Emir Isakovic.
Young Catholic Messenger, v. XI, n. 2, January 15, 1895. Ratisbon Cathedral. Special Collections, Catholic University
Catholic University of America’s Special Collections is home to wide and diverse cultural and historical materials, including devotional museum objects, meeting minutes of the American bishops, correspondence between notables such as George Higgins and Richard Neuhaus, rare renaissance books, and, among all of this, the Young Catholic Messenger, the premier publication, 1885-1970, of Catholic publisher, George Pflaum, of Dayton, Ohio. The Young Catholic Messenger, or YCM as we call it, is a staff favorite and subject of previous blog posts in 2017 and 2020. We return to it again as we recently obtained a missing volume, number 11, 1895, via a kind donation from the University of Dayton.
Young Catholic Messenger, v. XI, n. 4, February 15, 1895, honoring George Washington’s birthday. Special Collections, Catholic University.
The Young Catholic Messenger Collection at Catholic U. is complete from volumes 40 through 85 with an online finding aid. It has also been digitized and can be accessed via individual volume listing in the finding aid or by going directly to the online digital collection. Unfortunately, even with the acquisition of volume 11, we are still missing 34 of the first 39, 1885-1923. Therefore, we are making a renewed effort and reaching out to all sources in the hope that someone is willing to sell, donate, or loan missing copies to us. In particular, if academic institutions holding copies we are missing here at Catholic can work with us we hope to find a way to digitize their copies while sharing access, and are willing to consider reasonable compensation.
Returning to 1895, which in America witnessed the first professional football game and granted the first patent for an automobile (1), we include three pictures in this post from twenty four (2) YCM issues published during the calendar year. As in other years, the themes of this volume include a blend of saintly tales, historical places, and animal related stories to thrill and instruct young Catholic readers. Each issue is relatively short in length, about 8-10 pages and well-illustrated with black and white prints. A major focus, given the strong presence of German immigrants in Ohio and the Midwest, is on German Catholicism and the main event of this publishing year was an English translation by the mysterious ‘Uncle John’ in fourteen parts of a novel, titled in English ‘Nightingale,’ by a German priest, Franz von Seeburg, about village life and piety in Bavaria. Apparently, this work has never been published in English anywhere other than The Young Catholic Messenger.
Young Catholic Messenger, v. XI, n. 9, May 1, 1895. The first part of ‘Nightingale,’ by Franz von Seeburg. Special Collections, Catholic University
This volume was recently digitized and joined its mates online. We sincerely hope to add other years soon. If you have any of the missing volumes (3), or have other questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at lib-archives@cua.edu. Now, we bid you Auf Wiedersehen with a quote from page one of volume 1 of the 1895 YCM:
Young Catholic Messenger, v. XI, n. 24/25, Christmas 1895. Special Collections, Catholic University
“We hear and heed him, as firm and true, we start on the upward path anew.”
(1) This same year also saw the first visit to his mother’s homeland by a young British army officer, Winston Churchill, enroute to Cuba to observe Spanish military operations.
(2) Issue 24 was listed as 24/25.
(3) We can provide a detailed list of needed volumes upon request.
(4) Special Thanks to Shane MacDonald, Hannah Kaufman, and Shanyun Zhang.
CatholicU’s Special Collections includes rare books, museum, university archives, and manuscripts. University archives and manuscripts, the latter donations of non-university institutional records and personal papers, document the American Catholic experience from education and labor to politics and social justice, including secular and canon (church) law, which often overlap. University archives include three sets of record groups relating to secular or canon law. These by nature are sensitive with restrictions, generally fifty years, and permanent for case files or personnel records, although access can be requested via the university administration. The first is the Office of the General Counsel, documenting university legal history, including property transactions. The second is the law school founded at CatholicU (1897) and the separate Columbus University Law School (1922), with the two later merging on campus. The third is the School of Canon Law, whose centenary we covered in a recent blog post.
CatholicU First Law Dean, William C. Robinson, 1896. Special Collections, Catholic University.
Other institutional Records or Manuscripts Collections
There are three non-institutional legal history donors, The Sisters of Life, the Thomas More Society of America, and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USSC).
Sisters of Life:
Pro-Life materials donated by The Sisters of Life of New York were formerly part of their archives now concentrated at Harvard’s Schlesinger Women’s History Library. The Sisters of Life (Sorores Vitae), a uniquely American, Roman Catholic religious institute, include sisters in Canada, Australia, Ireland, and the Philippines. The collections at CatholicU include the Abortion Parental Consent Legal Research Case Files from the University of St. Thomas Law School, Center for the Rights of the Terminally Ill Collection, The Long Island Grass Roots Pro-Life Collection, March for Life Memorabilia, National Right to Life News Complete Collection, Natural Family Planning Archival Collection, and Pro-Life Movement Newsletters and Periodicals.
CatholicU President William Byron, SJ, presents Gibbons Medal to Nancy Reagan, 1986. Special Collections, Catholic University
Thomas More Society of America (TMSA)
TMSA is a non-denominational organization promoting interest in Sir Thomas More (1478-1535) relevant to contemporary moral issues. They confer with lawyers, judges, and other public figures and scholarly papers are disseminated through the newsletter and The Thomas More Gazette. London native More was an internationally recognized intellectual and government figure immortalized in literature and stage as “A Man for All Seasons”. Unfortunately, he famously lost his head by defying Henry VIII, over papal rights. The Society’s annual dinner has a notable list of speakers, including Antonin Scalia (1995), Michael Novak (1993), and CatholicU president William Byron, S.J. (1983). TMSA records at CatholicU, include board of directors minutes, correspondence, financial reports, photographs, and publications.
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) Legal Department/General Counsel and Office of Government Relations
The USCCB was founded in 1919 as the National Catholic Welfare Council. An original department was Laws and Legislation, becoming the Legal Department (1926) and split (1966) into the Office of the General Counsel and Office of Government Relations. It represented the Bishops in litigation and promoted public speaking on policy issues affecting the Catholic Church, notably the 1920s Oregon School Case. Additionally, it recorded federal legislation provided extensive legal research and advice. Records include correspondence, publications, and subject files including education, social security, and taxation. The separate and independent Office of Government Relations records document legislative activities such as migration, religious liberty, and social justice.
William Montavon lobbies Massachusetts Senator David I. Walsh, n.d. Special Collections, Catholic University.
Personal Papers
The collections of personal papers include William Bentley Ball, Mary Ann Glendon, Msgr. Thomas Green, Msgr. Frederick R. McManus, William F. Montavon, Msgr. Hugh L. Motry, Rev. James H. Provost, and Judge William C. Robinson.
William Callyhan Robinson
Connecticut native Robinson (1834-1911) was a law professor, legal scholar, and judge who was also the first dean of CatholicU’s Law School. A graduate of Dartmouth College, he was a Protestant convert to Roman Catholicism who practiced law in New Haven, Connecticut, and was Dean of the Yale University Law School. He also was a prolific writer with his Notes on Elementary Law (1875), a textbook popularly used in American law schools. Bishop John Keane, rector at CatholicU, contacted Robinson in 1891 requesting he organize a school of social sciences, which would contain a department of jurisprudence that was later expanded into a law school. The Robinson Papers include his genealogy and CatholicU has a lecture series in his name.
William F. Montavon
Montavon (1874-1959), Ohio native and Notre Dame graduate, also studied at CatholicU. He was superintendent of Philippines schools, a U.S. Commercial attaché and oil executive in South America, and thereafter (1925-1951) director of the NCWC Legal Department (now Office of the General Counsel). He accompanied Fr. John J. Burke, NCWC general secretary, and Ruiz y Flores, Archbishop of Morella, on negotiations with Mexican revolutionary leader Calles that eased religious restrictions in 1929. He was also an expert on church-state relations in Spain, traveling there as correspondent of the NCWC News Service. He was honored by the Pope as Knight Commander of the Order of St. Gregory the Great (1929) and was a member of the Knights of Columbus and the Catholic Association for International Peace. The Montavon Papers are mainly correspondence and addresses concerning the Church in Mexico and Spain.
Hugh Lewis Motry
Motry (1884-1952), a priest of Columbus, Ohio, was a CatholicU, alum, professor, and dean of Canon Law. He founded the Canon Law Society of America (CLSA) and the canonical review, The Jurist. Motry was also a Chaplain to the Army Corp of Engineers at Fort Belvoir and with the Richmond Diocese as Judge, Advocate, and Procurator. He was honored as Domestic Prelate the Pope Pius on the fortieth anniversary of his ordination. The Motry Papers includes correspondence, financial information, photographs, lecture notes, publications, and a number of Catholic University diplomas. There are also many transcripts, in both Latin and English, of Canon Law cases and doctrine.
William B. Ball in his office, c. 1970. Special Collections, Catholic University.
William Bentley Ball
Ball (1916-1999) attended Western Reserve University (now Case Western Reserve University), where he was President of the Young Americanist League, opposing extremist groups. He served in the U.S. Navy in World War II. Thereafter, he taught at Villanova, and was general counsel for the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference. In 1967, he worked on his first Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) case, Loving v. Virginia, representing the Bishops against anti-miscegenation laws. The Pope made him Knight of the Order of St. Gregory the Great (1974) and Ball was considered for the SCOTUS associate justice seat that went to Antonin Scalia (1986). The Ball Papers, contain case files, correspondence, and photographs. Additionally, there are research materials of Bruce Dierenfield and David Gerber for their 2020 book Disability Rights and Religious Liberty in Education.
Frederick Richard McManus
McManus (1923-2005) was a respected scholar, noted canonist, and tireless liturgical reformer. The Massachusetts native served in the Archdiocese of Boston before earning degrees at CatholicU. At the latter, he was professor of canon law, Editor of The Jurist, dean of the school of canon law, and Academic Vice President. Besides these duties, he served on the Bishop’s Committee on the Liturgy and was involved with the Canon Law Society of America (CLSA) and the Second Vatican Council. In addition, he published continuously, contributing to American Ecclesiastical Review, Commonweal, The Jurist, The Living Light, and Worship. The McManus Papers include correspondence, subject files, meeting minutes, printed material, photographs, and memorabilia.
Frederick R. McManus, 1960s, Special Collections, Catholic University.
James Harrison Provost
Provost (1939-2000), priest of the Diocese of Helena and educated in Louvain and Rome, headed the Canon Law Society of America, was Canon Law Chair at CatholicU, and managing editor of the The Jurist. Provost addressed difficult questions, such as abortion, and his writings were challenged in the 1980s during his ultimately successful tenure battle at CatholicU when the Vatican criticized his assertion the Church “discriminates” against women by denying them entry to the priesthood. The Provost Papers, contain materials related to tenure review, synod, and publications.
Thomas Green
Green (1938-2018), a priest of Bridgeport specialized in penal law and published commentaries on the New Code of Canon Law (1983). Educated in Rome, he served as Bridgeport vice chancellor, then taught canon law at St. Louis University before going to CatholicU where he was Canon Law department chair as well as a consultant on the NCCB Canonical Affairs Committee and to the Board of Governors of the Canon Law Society of America. He became a Chaplain of His Holiness, with the title of Monsignor, by the Pope (1996) and also served as editor of The Jurist. The Green Papers include correspondence, reports, and publications on penal law, the revised code, and the role of women in the church.
Mary Ann Glendon with Pope Francis, 2013. Special Collections, Catholic University.
Mary Ann Glendon
Massachusetts native Glendon practiced law in Chicago and served pro bono as a volunteer defense attorney for civil rights workers in Mississippi during the Freedom Summer (1964). She was the first woman faculty of Boston College Law School and later went to Harvard, developing a public profile through her writings, including Abortion and Divorce in Western Law (1987). In 1994, the Pope appointed her to the newly formed Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences (PASS), where she served as president, 2004-2014, only the second woman to preside over a pontifical academy. Under Bush (43), she served on the U.S. President’s Council on Bioethics and was U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See. The Glendon Papers include correspondence, speeches, and photographs.
Conclusion
This diverse assemblage of collections with both institutional records and personal papers is an important resource for the canon law and secular legal history of the American Catholic Church. For more information, please contact Special Collections at CatholicU at lib-archives@cua.edu. This post is a condensed version of the recent article:
December 14, 2023 is the sixtieth anniversary of the death of Dr. Rudolph Allers, Austrian born psychiatrist, surgeon, author, and professor of Georgetown and Catholic universities. A refugee from Nazi occupied Austria, and, initially a Freudian, he became increasingly opposed to Psychoanalysis, notably publishing several critical articles and books based upon a Catholic philosophical perspective.
Rudolph Allers, Studio Portrait, 1942, Special Collections, Catholic University.
Allers was born in Vienna on 13 January 1883, the son of Mark Allers, a doctor of Jewish extraction, and Augusta Grailick. He was a graduate of the Vienna Gymnasium and university medical school, earning his M.D. in 1906. In 1908, Allers married Carola Meitner, a sister of famed nuclear physicist Lise Meitner, who, like Allers, later taught at Catholic University. He served as an assistant in the clinic for mental and nervous diseases at Prague and in Munich, 1908-1918, and head of the department of medical psychology at the Institute of Physiology in Vienna, 1919-1938. During the First World War, as a surgeon, he served in a military field hospital on the Eastern Front, and was honored with the Golden Cross of Merit with the Crown and the Medal of the German Red Cross.
Modern reprint of an Allers book critical of Freud, n.d. Special Collections, Catholic University.
After the war, Allers’ students included both Viktor Frankl and Hans Urs von Balthasar. Balthasar and Allers’ friend, the future saint, Edith Stein, both lived at his home in Vienna in 1931. A devotee of the method of St. John Bosco, Allers studied the philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan, Italy, taking a Ph.D. in 1934. Allers was the only Catholic member of the Freud’s first Psychoanalysis group. Later, he and Alfred Adler moved away from Freud, with Allers eventually separating himself from Adler as well. Essentially, whereas Freud simplifies all neuroses into a physical common denominators, Allers argued mental disorders are radically metaphysical. Though not as prominently featured, Allers was also critical of Carl Jung view that God was not a transcendent reality of future life but an archetype of a subjective human need. Though born and educated as a Catholic, Allers stated he “had not developed a real faith” until later as his career progressed and study deepened. Eventually, he moved towards Catholic intellectual circles, becoming a dedicated follower of Scholasticism.
Rudolph Allers, Class Reading List, 1959, Special Collections, Catholic University
After the annexation Anschluss (annexation) of Austria by Nazi Germany in 1938, Allers emigrated to the United States, where settled in the area of Washington, D.C., teaching first at Catholic University, 1938-1948, and then at Georgetown University, 1948-1963. Among the courses he taught at CatholicU were Psychology and Philosophy of Mind and the Seminar in Psychology. One wonders if a troubling incident involving Allers in the summer of 1948 had any bearing on his decision to leave CatholicU for Georgetown that same year. According to the 6-26-1948 issue of The Washington Post, Allers called the Police stating he had been called by a Major Francis Riley of Columbia road threatening to “kill some people and myself.” After being promptly arrested, Riley admitted he had called Allers and threated to kill “some people,” but never claimed he would kill himself!
Allers became a Guggenheim Fellow in 1958 and was a member or high ranking officer of the Washington Philosophical Club, Metaphysical Society of America, New York Academy of Science, American Philosophical Association, and the Medieval Academy of America. He was fluent in German, English, French, Italian, and Latin, writing more than a hundred articles in German and dozens more in English. He also wrote several books, including two highly critical of Freud and his methods: The Successful Error: A Critique of Freudian Psychoanalysis. Sheed and Ward Inc, 1940, and What’s Wrong With Freud? A Critical Study of Freudian Psychoanalysis. Roman Catholic Books, USA, 1941. Catholic University Press recently republished another work, The Psychology of Character, 1928, 2022.
Allers died at Carroll Manor, the Archdiocese of D.C. Home for the Aged and Infirm in Hyattsville, MD. Services were held for him at Holy Trinity Church in Georgetown and burial in St. Mary’s Cemetery. Special thanks to Claudia Allers for her recent donation of Allers materials, and to Hannah Kaufman for everything else. For more information, please contact Special Collections at Catholic University.
A previous blog post recounted CatholicU’s Gilded Age and Progressive Era Labor Collections, part of Special Collections that includes materials from the New Deal and Postwar Era. These include the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), 1935-1955; three high ranking CIO officials, Phillip Murray, John Brophy, and Harry C. Read; and Joseph Daniel Keenan of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. Finally, there are collections connecting the Catholic Church and labor via ‘labor priests’ Msgr. John Augustine Ryan, Bishop Francis Joseph Haas, and Msgr. George Gilmary Higgins. CatholicU has online guides (or finding aids) to the collections, with select scanned content online, while others are being systematically digitized in partnership with ProQuest’s History Vault, as previously done with the Gilded Age and Progressive Era Collections.
Congress of Industrial Organizations (1935-1955)
In 1935, critical of the American Federation of Labor (AFL) refusal to organize industrial workers, disgruntled AFL leaders, including John L. Lewis of the United Mine Workers (UMA), formed the Committee for Industrial Organizations (CIO). Encouraged by worker activism and federal recognition, the CIO evolved into an independent federation confirmed by their 1938 name change to the Congress of Industrial Organizations. The CIO promoted collective bargaining in mass industries such as steel and auto and their commitment to organizing unskilled, semi-skilled, and skilled workers, including African-Americans, demonstrated egalitarian goals. The CIO merged with the AFL in 1955 and CIO records were transferred to CatholicU in several installments between 1962 and 1976.
CIO leaders, with Lewis in the middle, Brophy far right, Murray second from left, 1937. Special Collections, Catholic University.
Philip Murray (1886-1952)
In 1904, Philip Murray, a young Scottish immigrant coal miner in western Pennsylvania, terminated from his job and evicted from his home, thereafter devoted his life to unionism. He became one of the most important labor leaders in twentieth century America as Vice President of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA), 1920-1942; second President of the aforementioned CIO, 1940-1952; and first President of the United Steel Workers of America (USWA), 1942-1952. He supported civil rights, fought Communism, and smoothed relations with the rival AFL leading to the merger of 1955. His vision of social justice derived from family union tradition and Catholic faith inspired by papal encyclicals. A member of the NAACP, Murray was also a naturalized American citizen who spoke with a Scottish accent. His papers at CatholicU are described in an earlier blog post.
John Brophy (1883-1963)
The Lancashire born John Brophy began working in the coal mines of Pennsylvania in 1894. As a union activist, Brophy was elected president in 1916 of UMWA District 2, representing Central Pennsylvania and advocating for health care until 1926 when he unsuccessfully challenged John L. Lewis for the UMWA presidency. Brophy later worked for the fledgling CIO, often traveling abroad to meet with international labor organizations. His autobiography, edited and rewritten with the help of John Hall, was published in 1964 as A Miner’s Life. Like Murray, Brophy’s vehement advocacy for workers’ rights was influenced by his deep Roman Catholic faith. There is a previous blog post about his papers at CatholicU.
“Msgr. Higgins and George Meany, president of AFL-CIO. Picture taken at AFL-CIO convention in Atlantic City, 1958, before Mass for Catholic Participants.” Special Collections, Catholic University
Harry Cyril Read (1892-1957)
Read, a Chicago-born Catholic newspaper editor and author, was also a World War I soldier, noted labor leader, and oddly a friend of notorious gangster Al Capone. Read worked at several Chicago newspapers and after a CIO sponsored strike in 1938 instead began writing for several labor-affiliated newspapers. He was a member of the CIO delegation to the 1945 San Francisco United Nations Conference, and relocated that same year to Washington, DC. In 1948, he represented the CIO at the World Federation of Trade Unions in Rome, being received by Pope Pius XII in private audience. Read also served as a member of the Catholic Interracial Council of Washington, DC. There is a related blog post about his papers at CatholicU.
Joseph Daniel Keenan (1896-1984)
Keenan, referred to by a biographer as ‘Labor’s Ambassador,’ was an important labor-government liaison during the Second World War and a key advisor to George Meany, long-time leader of the AFL-CIO. An electrician by trade, Keenan was a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers’ (IBEW). In 1940, he moved to Washington, DC, to work with the National Defense Advisory Commission and later the War Production Board. Keenan served in postwar Germany as both an advisor to the American commander and as President Truman’s special coordinator between labor and industry. He later served as labor liaison with Democrat presidential campaigns, 1960-1972. He also was IBEW International Secretary, 1954-1976 and Vice President of the merged AFL-CIO after 1955. An active Catholic layman, he was honored with the papal medal, Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice in 1973, and an honorary doctorate from CatholicU in 1974. He supported civil rights and helped found Jobs Corps, which trained millions of the disadvantaged for employment. The Keenan Papers are subject of an older blog post.
Labor Priests and Social Action
The notable pro labor activities of the aforementioned Catholic union men were tied to their Catholic faith and various Papal Encyclicals, including Rerum Novarum and Quadragesimo Anno, but also via the phenomenon of ‘the labor priest,’ working to mediate between owners and workers. Three of the most notable were Msgr. John A. Ryan, Msgr. Francis J. Haas, and Msgr. George G. Higgins. Additionally, we have the records of the Social Action Department (SAD) of the National Catholic Welfare Conference (NCWC), later the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), which Ryan and Higgins both headed.
Msgr. John A. Ryan, ‘Right Reverend New Dealer,’ ca. 1940s. Special Collections, Catholic University
Msgr. John Augustine Ryan (1869-1945)
Ryan was the leading expert on social and economic questions as well as one of the strongest advocates for workers in the American Catholic Church of the first half of the twentieth century. An alumnus of CatholicU, he also taught there and was the first head, 1920-1945, of the NCWC’s Social Action Department. He wrote sixteen books, including Living Wage (1906) and Distributive Justice (1916), and spoke frequently in public and on the radio. In 1936, he defended President Roosevelt against the rabble rousing priest Charles Coughlin. In 1919, Ryan wrote the draft of the Bishops’ Program for Social Reconstruction, which advocated national health and old age insurance, minimum wage, factory safety legislation, and labor’s right to organize. The Ryan Papers at CatholicU have recently been digitized by ProQuest.
Bishop Francis Joseph Haas (1889-1953)
Priest, educator, and labor relations advocate, the Wisconsin born Haas a Milwaukee priest and doctoral student of Msgr. Ryan at CatholicU. Haas authored Man and Society (1931), which reflected the social teachings of Ryan and recent Popes. In the 1930s Haas directed the National Catholic School of Social Service (NCSSS) and the School of Social Science at Catholic U, and was Bishop of Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1943-1953. He strongly supported the New Deal and served in several programs, including the National Recovery Act’s Labor Advisory Board, where he wrote codes for equal racial employment and child labor; Senator Robert Wagner’s National Labor Board where he mediated several labor disputes; and at the helm of the President’s Fair Employment Committee where he actively fought racial hiring discrimination. After becoming Bishop, he also served on President Harry Truman’s Committee on Civil Rights. The Haas Papers include both personal and professional correspondence, notebooks, publications, and photographs.
Msgr. later Bishop Francis J. Haas. 1936. Special Collections, Catholic University.
Msgr. George Gilmary Higgins (1916-2002)
Higgins, a priest of Chicago and alumnus of CatholicU, worked for the Bishops’ Conference, including the Social Action Department, as a specialist in Catholic social teachings and labor relations. He was a champion of farm labor where he was the moving force in the Church’s support for the union movement and human rights for Latino workers as well as supporting Lech Walesa and the Solidarity movement in Poland. He served on several committees, including the Bishops’ Committee for Catholic-Jewish Relations, the Bishops’ Committee on Farm Labor, and the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights. He was especially noted for his published book reviews as well as his highly regarded syndicated column, ‘The Yardstick.’ The Higgins Papers comprise correspondence, sermons, reference files, publications, awards, and audiovisual materials.
Conclusion
As mentioned above, in addition to the earlier project with ProQuest to digitize the Powderly, Mitchell, and Hayes papers, similar work has been completed for Ryan and is currently in process for Haas. ProQuest, which includes Ex Libris, is well known for curating digital collections strong in coverage of social movements, especially racial justice, women’s rights, and organized labor. The Ryan Papers and others will join the Powderly, Hayes, and Mitchell papers as part of a module Labor Unions in the US, 1862–1974: Knights of Labor, AFL, CIO, and AFL-CIO. Original papers remain available for research at CatholicU’s Special Collections in Washington, D.C.(1)
(1)This blog post is a condensed version of the article, William John Shepherd. ‘New Deal and Postwar Era Labor Collections at The Catholic University of America,’ Pennsylvania History, 2023, Vol. 90 (3), p. 488-502. See also CatholicU University Libraries Labor Materials Guide.
Several previous blog posts have highlighted select rare book acquisitions via purchase on an annual basis since the department joined Special Collections in 2019. The most recent reporting year, which ended April 30, 2023, saw three very significant additions. This was assisted in part by the welcome promotion of Alex Audziayuk from Rare Books Technician, where he had partnered with Special Collections Archivist, Shane MacDonald, to Rare Books Librarian. Both continue to work as key members of our Rare Books team, assisted by other Special Collections staff, and supported by the library administration.
Manuale parochialium sacerdotum, Title Page, ca. 1492. Special Collections, Catholic University.
The gem accession of this cycle, if not the last half decade, is the incunable Manuale parochialium sacerdotum, Reutlingen, Johann Otmar, ca. 1492, 12 leaves and six by eight inches, obtained from David Rueger of Antiquariat Inlibris Gilhofer Nfg., Vienna, Austria, in May 2022. This early edition of a manual for the Holy Mass, first published about 1483, was once part of a made-up volume and still contains early handwritten pagination. The title-page is browned and a little stained with an old library shelf mark in brown ink. The text has been preserved variously, in a 13th century vellum manuscript in the British Library and a 14th century manuscript in the Bürgerbibliothek in Berne. It was probably first printed in English in London in 1636 as part of an anonymous collection Fasciculus Florum. This Middle Latin poem also known as “Versa de monachis et clerico”, an example of the literary cliche of the wayward nun, has nine distichs forming a dialogue (“monialis dicit”/”juvenis respondet”) between a nun and a pious young man. She offers to throw off her habit and enter his bed, but he refuses, reminding her she is a Bride of Christ, and she demurs. While clearly out of place in a liturgical manual, this ironically placed depiction of a sensual woman of this era should be of interest to medieval and women studies scholars.(1)
Versa de monachis et cleric, Manuscript of the Poem of the priest and the wayward nun, ca. 1492, Special Collections, Catholic University.
The second arrival, purchased from the Roger Friedman Rare Book Studio of Tuxedo, New York, in October 2022, is the popular De Imitatione Christi (The Imitation of Christ) by a German-Dutch canon know as Thomas à Kempis, first composed circa 1410-1425, which was chronicled in a 2022 blog post as we already house several versions. This newcomer was published in Venice, 1573, by Luigi di Granata da Thomaso Porcacchi da Castiglione Arretino, with nine full-page woodcut illustrations. It has an extra gathering bound in after the text with manuscript material in two distinct hands. The author of the earlier pages wrote in a readable, italic hand discoursing on twelve virtues, probably aimed at prelates, including chastity, patience, mercy, simplicity, avoidance of sin, and correcting dangerous behavior. A second text in the same hand, dated 27 April 1577, is a translation of a papal decree that permits certain ritual acts, like the Rosary, to function as indulgences. A third text, still in the same neat hand, is a list of protections, such as forgiveness of sins, grace to resist temptation, and protection for pregnant women. It is followed by several benedictions, and more pages in a messier hand giving account of moments from the life of Christ, with the last leaf missing. This devotional book probably belonged to a prelate in the first decades after it was printed, with a second owner a close contemporary, who used the remaining blank pages to fulfill a perceived obligation to enumerate Christ’s life. The book is a living artifact of people committed to post Tridentine Catholicism in the era of Pope Gregory XIII. (2)
De Imitatione Christi (The Imitation of Christ), Collage of select pages, 1573, Special Collections, Catholic University.
The third purchased acquisition, from The Kelmscott Bookshop of Savage, Maryland, in February 2023, was, and this is a mouthful, Les Oeuvres du Bien-Heureux François de Sales, Evesque et Prince de Geneve, Instituteur des Religieuses de la Visitation de Saincte Marie. Revenuë; & Tres-exactement Corrigées sur les Premiers & Plus Fideles Exemplaires. Enrichies Nouvellement de Plusieurs Emblémes & Figures Symboliques; des Citations de l’Escritures Saincte, & d’Annotations en Marge; Avec un Abbrege de la Vie, & une Table tres-ample des Matieres, & des Choses plus Remarquables, qui Manquit -Cy-devant à cet ouvrage, an uncommon edition of work by St. Francis de Sales published in Paris by Sebastien Hure, 1652, with over 1,000 pages and measuring 10 by 15 by 3.5 inches. Francis de Sales (1567-1622) was Bishop of Geneva, revered as a saint for his deep faith and his gentle approach to religious divisions of the Protestant Reformation. He is also known for his writings on spiritual direction and formation, and the Hure edition is important as a comprehensive compilation of these writings, published after various complaints from religious communities about the multiple errors present in previous similar publications. Bound in contemporary full brown leather, there is a penned ownership name from 1751, and there is also a small stamp of the Library of the Sulpician Seminary of Washington. (3)
Les Oeuvres.. Francis de Sales, Collage, including title page, 1652, Special Collections, Catholic University.
As we begin yet another academic year in Rare Books, we are already in the process of adding new and exciting titles that will be shortly cataloged and described in our 2024 acquisitions blog. In the meantime, please direct any question about accessing these or other rare books to lib-rarebooks@cua.edu or check our webpage. Please note we also work with teachers and professors who wish to bring their classes in for tours or academic exercises.
