Jesuit archivists of the Turinese Province

We are now at the fourth episode dedicated to the archivists of the five historical Italian provinces. After discovering the archivists of the Roman, Neapolitan and Veneto-Milanese Provinces, today we will talk about the Jesuits in charge of the the papers of the Turinese Province.

No names in the 19th century

Leafing through the historical catalogues, we notice that there is no Jesuit in charge of the archives throughout the 19th century. We find, on the other hand, numerous librarians: one for each college, as in the case of Vittorio Fabriani, prefect of the library of the College of Turin in 1835. In the same year, in that of Aosta, Fr Giovanni Granjux and another father held the post, Brugnato, was librarian in that of Cagliari. Two other Jesuits had the same role in the colleges of Melan and Chambery, also in 1835.

Keep in mind that the historical provinces roughly corresponded with the geographical boundaries of the Ancient Italian States, so the Province of Turin included, in the 19th century, some French towns in the Savoy area. In addition, the house and apostolic school of the Principality of Monaco were also part of the Province until its closure.

In 1843, there were 16 librarians in the Province. They decreased in the 1850s and 1860s, during the process of national unification, but by 1867 there were 6, and then increased again in the following decades. There were 13 in 1888 and 19 ten years later.

We are not too surprised by the absence of archivists during the 19th century; we have in fact seen that, with the exception of the Provincia Romana, the others do not provide for the figure of an archivist or at least do not mention one in their catalogue throughout the 19th century. This could be due to the absence of the material produced during the Old Company and forfeited in 1773 and to the dispersion of the funds established from 1814 precisely during certain phases of the unification process such as the Carbonari uprisings, 1848 and the wars of independence.

The 20th Century

We do not find an archivist for the first twenty years of the 20th century either. In fact, we have to wait until 1925 before we come across a custodian of the archives.

This was Fr Luigi Gurgo Salice, in charge of the provincial funds while he lived in the residence in Turin where the Provincial Curia was also located. The post passed to Fr Giovanni Menzio in 1927. There is then no one in charge of the archives for a few years, until 1935 when Fr. Giovanni Foscallo holds the role.

The position then passed to Fr. Socio, Andrea Barberis, from 1936, who had been appointed custos archivii since 23 October 1935. Fr. Carlo Beltrami assists him in his assignment.

Fr Angelo Bodrito succeeded him on 8 January 1944 as both associate and provincial archivist.

Over the years, as we see, the role of archivist remained assigned to the Socius.

The other Italian provinces, on the other hand, had separated the office of Associate from that of Archivist, which had already been assigned to another Jesuit for several years.

On 17 February 1946, Fr Bodrito’s successor, Fr Settimo Rolando, who still held both offices, took office. On 7 October 1951, Fr Renato Guidotti was appointed Member and Archivist. He also devoted himself to the organisation of the magazine ‘To Our Friends’ and ‘News’.

Archivists who were not Sociuses

Finally, it was also time for the Province of Turin to appoint an archivist to take care of the papers independently of Soius’s role. We are in the second half of the 1950s when the post of archivist passes to Fr Goffredo Mameli, also portrayed in the photograph, while that of Fr Socio remains entrusted to Fr Guidotti, who had already held it since 1951.

In the 1960s, Fathers Pietro Fortina, also involved in the editing of the magazine ‘Agli Amici’, and Fr. Guidotti again took over. Since the early Seventies, he has been archivist of the province as well as deputy postulator of the Cause of the Servant of God, Fr Picco.

Fr Luigi Camolese succeeded him in 1977, who in addition to looking after the archives was also librarian.

He will be, formally, the last archivist of the Turin Province. In 1978, in fact, the five historic Italian provinces were unified and the Province of Italy was born.

We will dedicate the last instalment of this cycle to this province. The penultimate one, to be published in December, will be devoted instead to the archivists of the Provincia Sicula.