Archivio Generale dell'Ordine Carmelitano

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Ahead of the launch, we interviewed the author: We know that you specialise in Christian archaeology, and in this book you have sought to reconstruct the history of the church and convent of San Nicola dei Cesarini in Rome through the archaeological stratigraphy of the area. What difficulties, if any, did you encounter whilst researching this topic? We would ask you to primarily explain how you reconstructed the lost heritage of San Nicola.

«I can say that Christian archaeology certainly established itself as an important foundation from which to start, but it was not the only one in this research, as the modern church of San Nicola dei Cesarini is based on the medieval phase and on the even earlier, Roman, phase of the actual temples. However, sometimes it happens that the more recent periods are, paradoxically, the most complex to reconstruct. It so happened that the church and convent of San Nicola, at the time of their demolition between 1926 and 1927, considered to be in poor condition of preservation, were deemed of little importance for the preservation of their memory. While we possess two photographs and some watercolours of the church's exterior, we have nothing that visually documents the interior. The photographs solely relate to the demolition, so we have remains of walls, of the cladding of the convent's walls, and nothing more. We are, however, passed down a written description of the church's appearance and a list of artworks. Although fragmented among various Roman archives, I have managed to reassemble the complex puzzle of the church's history and its artefacts, some of which still exist and are preserved both in Rome and elsewhere in Italy, while others have disappeared or been stolen. It was difficult, for example, to understand the “composition” of the floor, which must have been rather “crowded” with tombs. The tombstones and ossuaries, which today appear covered in mould and lichen, are located at the Verano Cemetery and, thanks to my research, have finally been identified, but previously their memory had been almost entirely lost. Various site inspections and careful consultation of archival documents were necessary to identify them.

As well as the difficulties, there were also certainties, such as the paintings of St Nicholas and the Prophet Elijah which were transported to the church of the Blessed Virgin of Mount Carmel attached to the International College of St Albert, where they are still preserved.

Research into the church of San Nicola dei Cesarini can be defined as a true historical-artistic, archival, and architectural investigation framed within an entirely archaeological context. Obviously, it was absolutely necessary to supplement the analysis of documents with on-site verification, and this allowed me to gain an overall perspective. It is difficult to explain in words, but in an archaeologist's mind, by drawing on what has been learned from sources and comparing material remains, even demolished structures regain their shape. Now, I simply have to observe the Sacred Area of Largo Argentina, recently opened to the public, and the church of San Nicola dei Cesarini is still there, with its convent, the dwelling of the Carmelites, the faithful entering the place of worship to say a prayer and light a candle.»

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Dust removal activities for the General Archive of the Carmelites

In July of this year, a professional dust removal, handling, and sanitisation intervention was carried out on the archive shelving and the documentation stored there. In this regard, we would like to show you a video recording of the aforementioned activities, carried out by the restorer Alessandro De Cupis, assisted by his collaborator Ester Maria Corallo.

We also wish to inform you that the General Archive and Library will be closed to the public from 31 July At 3 September 2023 and we take this opportunity to wish you a good summer.

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A Carmelite incunabulum from 1499

At the General Library of the Carmelites, there is held a precious incunabulum which contains the Constitutions of the Friars of the Carmelite Order, curated by the Carmelite Giovanni Maria Polucci and printed in Venice on 29 April 1499, by the well-known printer Lucantonio Giunta.

The volume still displays the graphic-library characteristics typical of contemporary manuscripts: on the opening page, one can indeed note the’incipit the text in red ink, a calligraphic rubricated initial, a similarly rubricated paragraph mark, and the use of Gothic script-derived typefaces. The text is also accompanied by a woodcut illustrative vignette depicting the Annunciation.photo 1].

The image preceding the flyleaf is also, in all probability, attributable to the same refined wood engraver, where is depicted the The Banner of Carmel, supported by two angels, with inside, in frontal position, the effigy of the Virgin of Mount Carmel, of exquisite workmanshipphoto 2].

The volume concludes with a rich and detailed colophon in which information is provided about the content, the printer, the place, and the date of printingphoto 3].

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Library News

The new online catalogue

We are pleased to announce that the Carmelite General Library has recently begun cataloguing its library collection, uploading the information to BeWeb, the national bibliographic portal for ecclesiastical cultural institutions, where the first catalogued volumes can already be found.

From the homepage, it is possible to perform specific searches by clicking on the “Library Assets” category and entering information in the designated fields, or by selecting the “Cultural Institutions” category using the name of the conserving body. On this new page, by clicking the icon for the General Carmelite Library, you directly access the internal catalogue, where the latest acquisitions are listed and from which you can narrow your search by author and title. [Photo 1]

The same procedure can be carried out starting from the National Library Service (SBN) catalogue, by clicking on “Libraries”, at the top right of the homepage. [photo 2]

Indeed, joining the Ecclesiastical Libraries Pole (PBE) has also allowed the Carmelite General Library to incorporate its collections into SBN, through the sharing of bibliographic records and a single research access point.

If you wish to start your research or simply browse, you can connect to the following link: https://beweb.chiesacattolica.it/benilibrari/.

To view the catalogue of the Carmelite Library directly, please click here: https://www.beweb.chiesacattolica.it/istituticulturali/istituto/4255/Biblioteca+Generale+Carmelitana#action=ricerca%2Frisultati&view=griglia&locale=it&ordine=&liberadescr=biblioteca+generale+carmelitana&liberaluogo=&dominio=345&ambito=ISTITUTI&highlight=BIBLIOTECA&highlight=GENERALE&highlight=CARMELITANA

Finally, if you wish to access the wider SBN catalogue, please follow this link: https://opac.sbn.it/biblioteche.

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Codocology Bites: An Illuminated Manuscript from the Archive

Aiguani

Today we want to talk to you about the prized ornamental apparatus visible in a vellum manuscript preserved at the General Archive of the Carmelite Order, with the shelfmark II Pers. 27 (2). The codex, written at the beginning of the fifteenth century, constitutes the first of two volumes containing the Sacred Dictionary Letters A e B in the first volume, letter C in the second), composed of Master and the Carmelite theologian Michele Aiguani, otherwise known as Michele da Bologna (c. 1320-1400).

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The page of’incipit The text displays a precious figurative initial in pink, on a white-lined blue background, with the hieratic portrait of the author, in Carmelite habit, seated frontally on a bench. [photo 2]

From the initial there branches out an illuminated frieze, characterised by elegant polychrome acanthus tendrils, bordered by golden beads, which occupies all four margins of the page. Below, beneath the first column of writing, there is the signum of the author with the initials of the nameMBin gold on a blue field; next to it, the silhouette of another coat of arms can be glimpsed, later transformed into the banner of the Carmelite Order, but which originally must have housed the coat of arms of the noble Genoese family of the Cattaneo, consisting of a red diagonal band and two blue fleurs-de-lis on a white field, as can indeed be observed in the second volume of the dictionary.  [photos 3 and 4]

Within the manuscript, every lemma relating to the letter A (e.g. Abstain The a la carte 17r) is highlighted by elegant filigreed initials, alternating in blue and red ink, and the textual divisions are marked by thin paragraph signs, which alternate in the same colours as the initials. [photo 5]

To complete the decorative apparatus, it is visible on folio 241r, at the beginning of the new dictionary entry (letter Ban initial in pink on a blue background with white tracery, filled with polychrome interlacing vegetal motifs. [photo 6]

The codex, in line with other manuscripts that transmit works by Aiguani, was commissioned by the Cattaneo family, who were linked to the Carmelite community from its origins, and then, from the 16th century onwards, it belonged to the library of Santa Maria in Traspontina, as can be seen from the ownership note present in the upper margin of the incipit leaf.

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Archive Curiosities

On 22 June 2023, Sister Lúcia dos Santos was declared venerable. In 1917, still a child, she witnessed the apparitions of Our Lady of Fátima, in Portugal, together with her cousins, the blessed Francisco and Jacinta Marto. She subsequently spent her entire life as a religious, first among the Daughters of Saint Dorothy and then among the Discalced Carmelites of the Carmelo de Coimbra, where she died in 2005, at the age of 98.

Today we want to present a short letter kept at the General Archive of the Carmelites (O.Carm.), which Sister Lucia wrote in her own hand in response to the Master of the Ancient Observance, Father Kilian Lynch, on 27 August 1946. Preparations were underway for the International Congress of the Carmelite Third Order, which was to be held in Fatima in 1950, on the occasion of the seventh centenary of the Scapular. In the letter, the venerable sister confirmed that Our Lady sometimes appeared to her wearing the Carmelite habit.

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At the General Library of the Carmelites, a valuable 16th-century book is preserved which contains the Egogle of the noted Carmelite poet Battista Spagnoli, known as Mantovano (1448-1516), also known as the “Christian Virgil”photo 1].

The volume was printed in Brescia by the printer and bookseller Bernardino Misinta in 1502, at the dawn of the 16th century, in an era when printed books (also called “cinquecentine” from the century they belong to) were gradually freeing themselves from the initial influences of manuscripts and circulating with increasingly unique and distinctive characteristics.

In the example we are showing you today, the text is preceded by the so-called “occhiello” – which will later be replaced by the actual title page – where information concerning the author and the title of the work is reported.photo 2].

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The typefaces used are still the so-called “Roman” ones, which reproduce the appearance of the humanist script used in fifteenth-century manuscripts, particularly those from the Roman area. It's curious that, alongside the published text, there are – probably due to a printing error – blank pages subsequently filled in with the missing text by a contemporary reader, who wrote in an elegant and calligraphic early sixteenth-century “italic” cursive.photo 3].

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Una curiosità dell’Archivio

In occasione del Congresso Internazionale del Terz’Ordine Carmelitano, che si svolse a Fatima nel 1950 per celebrare il settimo centenario dello Scapolare, il famoso ciclista italiano Gino Bartali, vincitore di tre Giri d’Italia (1936, 1937, 1946) e di due Tour de France (1938, 1948), inviò ai partecipanti una propria fotografia con firma autografa, ancora oggi conservata presso l’Archivio Generale dei Carmelitani, sulla quale si legge: “Al Congresso Internazionale Carmelitano con sinceri auguri. Gino Bartali, 12.2.50”.

Anche Gino Bartali indossava lo scapolare del Carmine, essendo un terziario scalzo, e frequentava il Movimento “La Famiglia” della Castellina (Firenze).

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From participation in Archivissima2023 and the Round Table discussion on “Travel Accounts in Carmelite Diaries in the 17th Century,” the idea was born to create and share a video to illustrate the Travel Diary of the Prior General Giovanni Antonio Filippini, 1651-1653. This diary, held at the General Archive of the Carmelite Order, is a small pocket-sized manuscript, capable of offering a vivid religious and social snapshot of Europe at the time, from the Italian Peninsula to Germany, via France and Flanders.

Enjoy the show!