The Jesuit archivists of the Province of Italy

Today we look at all the Jesuits who worked in the historical archives of the Society in Italy between 1978 and 2017, the year of the birth of the Euro-Mediterranean Province. This episode closes the cycle dedicated to the archivists of the historical Italian provinces. In fact, we have already mentioned, in previous episodes, the Jesuit archivists of the Veneto-Milanese Province, the Turinese Province, the Roman Province, the Neapolitan Province and the Sicilian Province.

The Province of Italy

The History of the Province of Italy began in 1978, with the unification of the five historic provinces.

This unification, however, did not affect the archival fonds, which, despite being the heritage of the Province of Italy, remained in their original locations for a long time.

The unification of the fonds has only taken place since the 2000s, in several stages, and in a more systematic way since 2019. For this reason, it was necessary, for several years after 1978, to appoint a Jesuit archivist for each former province, in addition to those in charge of the fonds of the Province of Italy, which were still current at that time. Each province therefore needed a Jesuit in charge of the historical archives and for requests from researchers, although not as numerous as today. In fact, most of them were unordered fonds, which, even in the following decades, never had an inventory for consultation. Only now that the fonds are all located in one place have they been reordered, an inventory has been written for many series, and many fonds have been reconditioned and reordered.

In the episode, you will find photographs of some of these Jesuits.

Veneto-Milanese Province

The first to take charge of the fonds, after unification, was Fr Franco Confalonieri, secretary to the vice provincial and custodian of the archives until 1989, the year in which Fr Carlo Scalabrin took over. In 1991, instead, Fr Giuseppe Miglio was appointed, also resident in Gallarate like the brothers who had preceded him. He will take care of it for the next ten years. In 2002 Fr Diego Brunello was appointed archivist.

Turinese Province

Fr Luigi Camolese was the last archivist of the Province of Turin and the first custodian of the archives and librarian for the first years of the Province of Italy. In the mid-1980s, the post passed to his brother Giuseppe Rusnighi, who lived at the Social Institute in Turin. Although fewer in number than in the past, the Jesuit brothers are still present in the archives as managers of the papers. In 1989, Fr. Michele Casassa was appointed in his place, who held the position until 2005.

From this time onwards the fonds of the Veneto – Milanese and Turin Provinces shared the same history. The one from Turin was transferred to Gallarate, where the one from Veneto – Milanese had been since the 1980s. A single Jesuit archivist took care of it for many years, Fr Diego Brunello, who had already been appointed archivist for the Veneto – Milanese fund in 2002, until 2019. Before their coexistence in the same place, the two fonds were kept in the original premises of the respective provinces. However, the Veneto – Milanese Province had changed its location several times: Lonigo, Milan, Venice. From the Gallarate seat, the fonds were then concentrated in the seat of the historical archive of the Euro-Mediterranean Province, in Rome. Both are in the process of being reordered, some series have already been reordered: that of the house diaries and registers of the province, the photographic series and the personal files of the deceased and discharged.

Neapolitan Province

As we have already mentioned in the previous instalment on the Neapolitan Province, Fr Meduri was in charge of the fund until his death in 1983. He was replaced by Fr Filippo Iappelli, who also held the position until the end of his life in 2012. Today, this fund is also kept in our archives and is being reordered for the residences series. An inventory has already been prepared for the photographic series and for that of the personal files of the deceased and dismissed.

Sicilian Province

Also in the Sicilian Province, as in the Neapolitan, a single Jesuit held the position of archivist for decades. This was Fr Salvo, who was appointed provincial archivist in 1949 and held the post until his death in 2000. This makes him one of the longest serving Jesuits as archivist. He was joined in the early 1980s by Fr Calogero Gliozzo as custodian of the archives. In 2002, Fr. Pasquale Calà was appointed to replace Fr. Salvo, who looked after the fund until a few years ago. The archives of the Sicilian Province will be reorganised in the coming months, but the inventory of the series of personal files of the deceased and dismissed, the photographic series, and that of the residences series is already being prepared.

Roman Province

The fund of the Roman Province is the only one remaining in its original location, where it was formed over the centuries, the same building where the seat of the Province of Italy was established in 1978 and later that of the Euro-Mediterranean Province. It was also the only one that was rearranged and provided with a partial inventory during the 1970s and 1980s.

After Fr Bizzochi’s death in 1975, several fathers took turns working in the historical archive together with the brothers. The first was Fr Luigi Rubbi, in 1976, then joined by Brother Fr Lorenzo Saggin the following year and in 1978 by Fr Mario Aldrovandi. The post remained vacant from 1979 until 1983 when it was entrusted to Fr Vicenzo Pellicciotta, who held it until his death on 6 September 1994. The following year, Fr. Lorenzo Saggin was again appointed as custodian of the archives, as well as secretary to the Provincial and in charge of preparing the catalogue of the Province of Italy. Fr. Saggin was transferred to the community of Bergamo in 2001, and the post of provincial archivist remained vacant for a few more years, until 2006 when it was entrusted to Fr. Salvatore Pandolfo, who remained in office until 2016. Fr Paldolfo was the last Jesuit archivist to take care of the fonds of the Roman Province and that of the Province of Italy.

Today the inventory has been supplemented with that of the series of personal files of the deceased and dismissed.

Province of Italy and Euro-Mediterranean Province

The fund of the Province of Italy was a current archive, today it is in the deposit phase and only a small part is in the historical phase. Archival fonds in fact have three phases of life: current, deposit and historical. When they are in the phase of formation and use for daily practices, they are current archives, such as that of the Euro-Mediterranean Province, which began only in 2017 with the unification of Italy, Malta, Albania and Romania.

When an archive is in the phase of deposit, the papers are no longer in frequent use and most of the files are closed but occasionally they are still needed for the handling of some business. The fonds of the Province of Italy are still, for the most part, in this phase.

Finally, the historical phase begins forty years after the production of the papers, when the documentation is now destined for historical memory and consultation.

Since it is a fund that originated after 1958, that of the Province of Italy, it is not available for consultation. Initially it was taken care of by the Jesuit archivists working in Rome. In fact, the archive of the Province of Italy was being formed in the provincial offices located in the Gesù residence in Rome where the fund of the Roman Province was kept and where our historical archive is today. After Fr. Pandolfo the post was vacant for a few months.

It then passed to the undesigned, at the same time the last archivist and first lay archivist of the Province of Italy and the first of the Euro-Mediterranean Province.

Maria Macchi