Province holdings

Veneto-Milanese Province

The holding includes documentation on residences, colleges and exercise houses in north-eastern Italy, from Lombardy to Friuli Venezia-Giulia. It also contains the historiae domus and correspondence relating to Albania and dependent missions of the Province: Bahia in Brazil, China, India.

The fond measures approximately 100 linear metres; currently 243 folders and 700 registers and house diaries have been reordered.

Inventories are available for the series of residence registers, photographs and Jesuit personal files. For the part of the fund that has not yet been reordered, it is still possible to access the documentation through a preliminary search carried out by the archivist.

Turinese Province

The fond measures about 100 linear metres and preserves the documentation produced by residences and colleges, the historiae domus and the Provincial’s correspondence relating to them, for the following territories: Aosta Valley, Liguria, Piedmont, Sardinia and Corsica, Principality of Monaco. There are also documents from the dependent missions of this Province: Alaska, California, Rocky Mountains.

Currently 81 folders and 350 registers have been reordered. There are inventories of the series of house registers and diaries, the photographs and the personal files.

The holding also contains some registers of San Tomaso College in Cuneo, and the papers of the Venerable Fr. Picco.

The holding contains a collection on manuscripts – habits, spiritual notes, drafts, biographies, catalogs – divided by provenance: manuscripts from the Veneto-Milanese Province and manuscripts from the Turinese Province.

Roman Province

This is the main documentary nucleus of our Archive, and is the only fond kept in the same building where it originated. It also contains the series of the Province Treasury.

The holding is entirely reordered with an inventory, and contains the papers of numerous residences in the territories of the former Papal States and neighbouring areas: part of Emilia Romagna, Tuscany, Umbria, Marche, Lazio. It also contains the correspondence of Jesuit missionaries and reports from the following mission territories: Brazil, China, India.

It measures approximately 300 linear metres, and also includes the fonds of some colleges and residences:

• the Collegio dei Nobili at Villa Mondragone,
• the Collegio di Strada,
• the Collegio dei Nobili in Rome,
• the Collegio dei Nobili of Tivoli,
• the Exercise House of St. Eusebius in Rome, which contains the records of the Exercisers.

The personal papers of 96 Jesuits are kept in 105 folders. These also include the personal diary of Fr. Lorenzo Rocci . Also worth mentioning is the fond of Fr. Fernando Bortone consisting of his letters and documents sent from China to his Jesuit brother in Italy, and collected and bound by the latter.

Neapolitan Province

The fond measures approximately 120 linear metres and includes documentation from residences and works in Campania, Calabria, Apulia, Molise, Basilicata and Abruzzo.

Despite its considerable size, the fond is particularly lacking for the period 1814-1880. Much of the documentation produced up to 1860 was lost following the occupation of the S. Sebastiano complex, the seat of the Province, by Garibaldi’s troops. In the years 1870-1880, the Province began a process of reorganisation, some communities and the Novitiate reopened, and thus also the production of documents resumed.

Most of the preserved papers concern:

• historiae domus and reports,
• the Sozi-Carafa College and Apostolic School,
• the Collegio dei Nobili della Conocchia,
• the Gesù residence in Naples,
• the Novitiate,
• letters from the dependent missions of the Province: Colorado, New Mexico, Ceylon, Bahia.

The Neapolitan Province fond is currently being reorganised, and the following documents have been reordered: Jesuit personal files, contained in 34 folders, the photographic series, historiae domus, registries of the Province Curia.

The Neapolitan holding also contains the ‘Guida Fund’, consisting of the scores and some personal documents of the priest and musician Luigi Guida.

Sicilian Province

The holding of the Sicilian Province contains the following series: personal files of Jesuits, photographs, Province Curia, Jesuits personal papers, music sheets.

Nel fondo si conserva anche parte dell’archivio del collegio Pennisi.

Personal files and the photographic series have been reordered and are available for consultation. The rest of the documents are being reorganized.

Province of Italy

The holding measures approximately 80 linear metres and contains the personal files, which have been reordered and given an inventory, and the documentation produced by the government.

Unlike other holdings of Provinces, it does not include the fonds of individual residences and colleges, which have been kept separate and not incorporated in accordance with archival rules.

Most of the documentation of the Province of Italy is not available for consultation as it was produced after 1958.