The archivists of the Sicilian Province

The penultimate instalment of this cycle of in-depth studies on the Jesuits who took care of the archives of the former historical Italian provinces is dedicated to the Sicilian Province.

In the previous months we have already written about the Jesuit archivists of the Roman, Neapolitan, Veneto-Milanese and Turinese Provinces.

The first half of the 19th century

The Sicilian Province compared to the other historical Italian provinces saw many more Jesuits involved in the care of the archives. As we have already seen in previous episodes, only the Roman Province had had a long series of Jesuits in charge of the archives since the nineteenth century. In all the others the task, starting in the early decades of the twentieth century, was assigned to the Associate and became free of this figure around the middle of the twentieth century.

Let us begin with 1814 when the post of archive assistant is given to Salvatore Cinardi. The following year, however, Leonardo Coppola replaces him. Both are archive assistants but it is unclear whether there is a holder and where the archive is located. In 1815, coadjutor Michele Messina is listed as assistant to the archive of the collegio massimo. This is the scholasticate archive, in fact in the collegio massimo the Jesuits were trained during the cycle of studies in philosophy and theology, after attending the novitiate.

The task passed once again to another confrere: Fr Antonio Incinna, who became prefect of the archives while living in the maximum college in Palermo. The next archivist of the Province is Fr Antonio Maria Schiavo. The post of assistant to the archives returned to the coadjutor Salvatore Cinardi in 1820.

It is during the 1930s that we begin to find numerous archivists, even in a single year.

The position is held by Michele Messina, first assistant to the archive and then archivist, and by coadjutor Luigi Nalbone, also an archivist. Also in the same decade, the 1836 catalogue lists with the same role both Fr. Giuseppe Volpe, who resides in the maximum college in Palermo, and coadjutor Giuseppe Aloisio, who is still a novice but already holds the position of second archivist. At the end of the 1930s, there is no Jesuit archivist.

During the 1940s, we find coadjutor Luigi Nalbone mentioned again, this time as custos tabularium. The term ‘tabularium’ was used in ancient times precisely to refer to the archive, derived from the Roman world and the custom of marking information on waxed tablets, tabulae in fact.

It therefore seems that the term archivist has been set aside, at least temporarily, so much so that even Giuseppe Aloisio and Michele Messina, the same coadjutors who until a few years earlier were referred to as archivists, are now referred to as custodes tabularii: keepers of the archive.

The names are recurring, so the post remains permanently assigned to the same Jesuits; only towards the end of the decade does another coadjutor, Domenico Zumbo, hold it.

In the 1950s, the office was entrusted to coadjutor Giuseppe Aloisio. The presence of brother coadjutors as archivists and archivist’s assistants is also common with other Italian provinces.

The second half of the 19th century

In the years immediately following the Unification of Italy, the figure of the archivist is never mentioned in historical catalogues. After all, the Sicilian Province was the one that suffered most from the consequences of 1861. The Sicilian Jesuits took refuge in Malta, dependent on the Sicilian Province, where there were several residences (the College of Santa Pulcheria, the novitiate and the seminary in Gozo) and in the two Greek islands in the Egadi, Tyre and Siros, also dependent at the time on the same province.

The same Curia Province moved to San Calcedonio, Malta. The catalogue of the Sicula Province was also printed in Malta in these years until 1897 when the Palermo printers took over again.

The Provincia Sicula is still ‘dispersed’, as the catalogues define residences or provinces after political and social events that led to the exile of the Jesuits or the destruction of one or more houses, for a couple of decades. Slowly, from the 1880s until the early 20th century, the Jesuits returned to Sicily, re-establishing some residences and colleges.

The Province remained in Malta until the end of the 19th century. Catalogues from the early years of the century indicate as the seat of the province, first Acireale and then, from around 1907, Casa Professa in Palermo.

During these long decades, the role of archivist is never mentioned again in the catalogues. The absence of this datum, which unites the Sicilian Province with the Neapolitan one, is due precisely to what happened after the Unification of Italy.

The Province suffered the loss of the buildings and of the papers, they contained. In fact, even today, the fonds of the Neapolitan and Sicilian Provinces do not contain any papers produced by fathers, colleges and residences before the 1880s. Probably, when the Sicula province reorganised, there were very few papers to deal with and it was not considered necessary to appoint an archivist. It was only with the resurgence of documentary production, starting in the 20th century, that this need was felt.

The first half of the 20th century

From the 1920s also in the Sicilian Province Fr. Michele Musmeci held the role of archivist from 19 August 1921.

From 8 September 1949, Brother Fr. Francesco Salvo, who began a career as archivist that lasted half a century, although he did not hold the post continuously, replaced him. At present, the role of associate is still linked to that of Provincial, so Fr Salvo is both Associate and Provincial archivist.

The second half of the 20th century

Fr Salvo remained in office until 21 September 1953 when Fr Salvatore Bentivegna succeeded him, still in the dual role of Socius and archivist. At the end of the 1950s, there is not any mention about the archivist in the annual historical catalogues. From 6 September 1964, Fr Guglielmo Pennisi was appointed Socius for about four years, when it was the turn of Fr Antonio Damiani on 7 September 1968.

The new Socius, appointed on 9 September 1970, is again Fr. Francesco Salvo, who had already held the post some twenty years earlier, and is the last archivist of the Sicilian Province.

In fact, he held the office of Provincial’s Socius until 30 September 1976 when Fr. Ardiri Giuseppe replaced him. Only in the role of Member of the provincial Fr. Salvo, become archivist of the province and he was in charge of the library from 1976 until his death in 2000.

Fr Salvo spent most of his life studying the Jesuit documentation contained in the State Archives in Palermo and other institutions. He diligently noted down archival references, summarised notarial acts and letters, and marked dates. The diaries may be useful for those who wish to reconstruct his work; unfortunately, they do not contain any information on the Jesuit heritage of the Sicilian Province.

We will speak about his successors, and of all those who took care of the other provincial archives from 1978 onwards, in the next and last instalment of this cycle dedicated to the Province of Italy, planned for the near future.

Maria Macchi