Spicilegium historicum Congregationis ssmi Redemptoris indici 1953 2002

historicum

Congregationis

SSmi Redemptoris

INDICI

Annus LI 2003 Fasc. 1

Collegium S. Alfonsi de Urbe

INDEX

Introduction 2-3

Fifty five years ago, February 2, 1953, the then Superior General of the Congregation, Most Reverend Father Leonard Buys approved the birth of the periodical Spicilegium Historicum CSSR and of the Bibliotheca Historica CSSR. The two publications were intended to offer specialists a suitable place to put into print the historical sources of the Redemptorist Congregation, as well as studies that analyze them, in order to make accessible to the confreres a deeper awareness of their history. Five years earlier, on December 11, 1948, Father Buys had completed the first step in these directions by founding the Historical Institute CSSR. These two decisions put into action the vote taken at General Chapter XIV (1947) and of the recommendations of the Congress of Redemptorist Historians held in 1948.

The editing of the Spicilegium Historicum – first organized by Fathers Josef Löw (President), Gregorio Oreste and André Sampers – could rely on the assistance of a group of historians that manifested the international character of the Congregation: Peter Bernards (Germany), Giuseppe Cacciatore (Italy), Domenico Capone (Italy), Michael Curley (U.S.A.), Maurice De Meulemeester (Belgium), Oreste Gregorio (Italy), Clemens Henze (Germany), Eduard Hosp (Austria), Władysław Szołdrski (Poland), Raimundo Tellería (Spain), ecc.

In the Introduction to the first issue, the members of the editorial staff explained the scope of research of the Spicilegium Historicum:

“The history of our Congregation is treated in a wide sense in which is included its beginning and expansion through time and place, its mission and apostolate in Catholic lands and among unbelievers, its internal make-up, both canonical and ascetical, that is, the historical description of its rule, its general chapters and its constitutions, as well as an explanation of the particular character of the Institute, namely, its spirituality. Especially included in its purpose is the historical study of the life and work of our Father and Founder, St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori and of other outstanding members of the Institute that have had the greatest influence on both its internal and external development. Not to be excluded, however, is the study of other persons who do not belong to the Institute and of the circumstance of time and place that will encompass whatever influence they might have had on it.

We believe that the periodical has, during its fifty five years of life, realized this initial plan. In its nearly 24,000 pages, the history of the Congregation is illustrated in a professional manner in all its fundamental aspects. The objectives originally proposed have been reached, especially as they pertain to the history of the early Congregation (its foundation and consolidation in Italy during the Eighteenth Century) and of its expansion beyond the Alps (in Europe and on the American continent during the Nineteenth).

The index that is presented here contains 177 names of authors, including authors of manuscripts published in the periodical itself. Since we are dealing with a publication of the Congregation and for the Congregation, we note that 105 of the 139 authors of articles and book reviews were written by members of the Historical Institute. André Sampers deserves special mention: in the thirty years of his life dedicated to the periodical, he wrote a remarkable 166 articles and thirty-four reviews! Among other members of the Historical Institute, each of the following produced more than twenty contributions: Oreste Gregorio (121), Giuseppe Orlandi (68), Raimundo Tellería (66), Joseph Löw (53), Fabriciano Ferrero (38), Samuel J. Boland (36), Otto Weiss (36) e Eduard Hosp (20).

Due to the international character of the Congregation the Latin language was given special emphasis at first. In fact, in the first fifteen years (1953-1967), of the 274 articles included in the first three sections of the periodical (Studia, Documenta, and Communicationes), 141 were in that language. Of the remaining, eighty were written in Italian, thirty-one in German, twelve in French, eight in English and two in Spanish. Since 1968, the contents of these same three sections were written in these languages: 256 in Italian, 159 in Latin, eighty-five in German, eighty-three in English, forty-six in Spanish, thirty-seven in French and two in Portuguese.

This present issue is divided into four indexes, in addition to the list of periodicals involved in exchange programs with the Spicilegium Historicum and the list of volumes contained in the Bibliotheca Historica.

[This internet listing includes:]

The editorial staff of the Spicilegium Historicum heartily thanks their collaborators for their diligent work and their faithful readers for their attention that has been shown throughout all these fifty years.