The system of Italian libraries is complex and includes a multitude of ecclesiastical libraries; therefore, it cannot be described in a few pages. It is hoped that what follows here will contribute to an understanding of the panorama of ecclesiastical libraries, the initiatives undertaken to describe their features, and some of the contacts between the ecclesiastical and the lay world, which are also implemented through protocols and agreements.
The institutional character of some of the initiatives listed in this text makes it clear that there is always a gap between the ideal world and the real one. The information given, however, may define some clearer points of reference for the scholar, the librarian, and also for those who do not deal with these realities every day.
The actions for the dissemination of knowledge and the enhancement of cultural heritage cannot be reduced to a single act. Nevertheless, the presence, in Italy, of a central catalogue that collects the work of thousands of libraries, and which is potentially capable of welcoming new members, covering the entire patrimony of Italian libraries – including the ecclesiastical ones – is a particularly important feature which allows access to a deep source of knowledge.
1 Ecclesiastical Libraries in Italy: A Definition
An Ecclesiastical Library is considered, in Italy, as a library collection owned by an ecclesial institution or body.1 This definition, even if simple, highlights three essential elements or characters identifying an ecclesiastical library: the fact that it is a book collection; the presence of a legally recognised link with an entity; the ecclesial characteristic of this organism. At the same time, a library is one of the “institutes and places of culture,” and the organic regulatory document on Italian cultural heritage (the Cultural heritage and the landscape act) defines it as “a permanent structure that collects, catalogues and preserves an organised set of books, materials and information, however edited or published in any medium, and ensures their consultation in order to promote reading and study.”2
The elements, as mentioned, are: the book heritage of ecclesiastical libraries, with their consistency and their multiform variety; the methods for their organisation and consultation for the purpose of promoting reading and studying; the link with the ecclesial institution or body, which characterises the collection; and that it must be legally founded. In other words, those collections that are owned or possessed by an ecclesial entity, or are controlled, managed, valued by it, must be considered as ecclesiastical libraries.
As for “ecclesial bodies and organisations”: the expression deserves some clarification. Ecclesiastical bodies can be very different from each other. They may count a varied number of adherents; they may be geographically limited or consist of supranational entities; they may be anchored to a restricted territory or have a global extension; they may have a thousand-year history or count only a few years or decades of life.
Here, limiting the investigation to the Roman Catholic Church, it may be sufficient to remember that an ecclesiastical body is such if it pursues an aim of religion or worship or has arisen under a canonical provision. Ecclesiastical bodies are, for instance, the institutional realities belonging to the hierarchical constitution of the Church (national or regional episcopal conferences and, in Italy, the ecclesiastical regions and provinces, dioceses, abbeys, prelatures, vicariates and other groupings of parishes, chapters, parishes, churches and chaplaincies); cultural and educational institutes (universities and faculties, seminaries, academies, colleges); religious and secular institutes, societies of apostolic life, public associations of the faithful and confederations; foundations of canon law (autonomous foundations and institutes for the support of the clergy).
This list is extensive but actually not complete; it doesn’t include the set of all the entities established or approved by the ecclesiastical authority, but not having a “legal personality”. This is the case, for instance, of many private movements and associations of the faithful. Moreover, there are plenty of institutions that are not necessarily constituted or approved by the Roman Catholic authority, but are actually an expression, in broader terms, of the Christian community in all its forms. Many of these entities should be taken into account, with their book heritages or documentation centres.
One other aspect, peculiar to Italian laws, should be remembered: Catholic bodies and ecclesiastical ownership are often recognised as a tertium genus in between the public and the private. Many entities were recognised prior to the 1929 Treaty, which saw mutual recognition between the Holy See and the Italian State: the Holy See, the sacred congregations, the college of cardinals, the ecclesiastical tribunals at the Holy See (Roman Rota, Apostolic Signatura, Apostolic Penitentiary), the chapters (cathedrals and colleges), the seminaries of all types and at all levels, and the capitular, parish, vicarial benefits otherwise named (and now suppressed).
After the Concordat of 1929 and the revision of 1984, the following are recognised or can be recognised as ecclesiastical entities: dioceses, parishes, university institutions, academies, colleges and other institutes for ecclesiastics and religious or for education in ecclesiastical disciplines, churches open to public worship, sanctuaries, cathedral fabrics, religious associations (institutes of consecrated life and societies of apostolic life), fraternities and brotherhoods, public associations of the faithful, foundations of worship, the Central Institute for the Support of the Clergy, diocesan and inter-diocesan institutes for the support of the clergy.
Such a varied panorama helps us to understand the richness of ecclesiastical libraries in Italy. Consequently, the operational strategies, the history, the origin of the collections, the resources available, the professional skills involved in their maintenance, the provision of services and their development can (and should) be different.
Finally, it should be remembered that a collection belonging to a single ecclesiastic is not intended as an ecclesiastical library in this context, nor – in our opinion – is the library that once belonged to an ecclesiastical body but is currently owned or integrated, due to historical vicissitudes, within a private or public library, but not legally linked, administered and supported, to an ecclesiastical library or by an ecclesiastical body. Nevertheless, the presence, in any public or private collection, of texts of exclusively or even predominantly religious or Christian interest does not constitute an essential criterion. And, it should be remembered, a theological library is not necessarily an ecclesiastical library.
Remembering this will be useful for the reconstruction of the panorama and history of ecclesiastical libraries: the link with the ecclesiastical body that produced, keeps alive, preserves and makes a book collection available, is identified as an ecclesiastical library. It can then be added that the humus of an ecclesiastical library is the spirit of the ecclesiastical body on which it depends. A library is not just a complex of books.
2 The Ecclesiastical Libraries: How Many?
On the basis of what has already emerged (the ecclesial nature of the entities on which ecclesiastical libraries depend), it appears necessary to outline the various categories. During the last fifty years there has been no shortage of initiatives with this objective, and they will be listed here with, as far as possible, their description.3
2.1 National Censuses
The first initiatives that we expose here are of a national nature; some of them arise from the need to take a picture of all ecclesiastical libraries. The lists were often not homogeneous, and not always coherent, but the data is still useful in order to outline a developmental preliminary draft representing the world of ecclesiastical (and theological) libraries in Italy. The censuses are here displayed in chronological order.
2.1.1 Yearbook of Italian Ecclesiastical Libraries: The First ABEI Census (1990)
The initiatives of ABEI, ‘Associazione Bibliotecari Ecclesiastici Italiani’ (Association of Italian Ecclesiastical Librarians), are, of course, the first ones that should be mentioned. The term ‘census’ is here preferred because the activity, while lacking of periodicity, is characterised by the intention to provide elements for a detailed picture. Other projects, which prefer the name of ‘registers’, are characterised by the willingness to accept information sent directly by the involved entities.
ABEI identified the need to bring about an evolving framework for the renewal of theological studies, for a growing lay interest in theological disciplines, for the greater interest in the ancient bibliographic heritage and for the transformations of ecclesiastical institutions, with the problems and opportunities they have generated; the problems linked to the suppression and union of dioceses and parishes, with the consequent need to preserve their cultural heritage.
The impression was that of an interest in a world that was unveiling itself, but which at the same time, had the need to solve many problems regarding the already existing offices and buildings (often ancient and needing to be restored, adapted, maintained), the need for new offices, issues related to the conservation of an ancient heritage, the need to keep collections updated with adequate additions, the maintenance of structures and services for the use of the material, personnel management, recourse to volunteering, the need for uniform regulation, coordination at diocesan, regional, national levels, and interconnection with the libraries of other public or private entities.
Printed by Bibliografica and published in 1990, the first edition of the Annuario delle Biblioteche Ecclesiastiche Italiane (Yearbook of Italian Ecclesiastical Libraries) included 405 entries: the first step to defining “an organic map of ecclesiastical libraries and the possibility of their constant updating.”4
The summary recalled, as mentioned, the existence of 405 libraries, for a total of 11,667,711 volumes, 21,372 periodicals, and 34,606 manuscripts.5 For each library, the location and, where possible, the body to which it belongs, the name of the person in charge, the specialisation, a summary information on consistency, personnel and inventories.
2.1.2 Yearbook of the Italian Capuchin Libraries (1991)
It is useful to recall here a meritorious initiative; even if partial (limited only to the libraries of the Capuchin minor friars), it is, in fact, a census that is useful for describing the image of a part of the Italian ecclesiastical library world with roots spread throughout the territory of the peninsula.
In 1991 the nascent ‘Associazione delle Biblioteche Cappuccine Italiane’ (Association of Italian Capuchin Libraries) promoted the compilation of a yearbook of Capuchin libraries, which certified 168 libraries of the Order.6
The questionnaire considered some 256 libraries, but their response amounted to only 140 matches; the data of 28 other libraries was added by the editor, Eleuterio Ricci. Also, in this case, we have more than a specialised elenchus of addresses, maybe completed with a few names (this is the case, e.g., of the person in charge). The yearbook reports some significant information about the Italian book collections belonging to the Capuchins: their history, often troubled; the cultural address, mainly ecclesiastical; the quantification of the material and other numerous and useful information. In the last 30 years, the panorama of Capuchin libraries changed a lot in geographical layout and access to services.
The summary, in any case, is very respectable, and the comparison with the edition of the ABEI census of 1990, as well as with the one of 1995, lets us imagine the quality and the importance of the work carried out, and the huge consistency of book heritage then preserved: 2,540,450 volumes, 8,839 periodicals, 255 manuscripts, 1,208 exemplaria of 15th-century editions, 20,936 exemplaria of 16th century editions.
Finally, we note that, “despite the limited means and personnel, as many as 122 libraries declare that they are open to consultation (with fixed hours or on request).”
2.1.3 Yearbook of Italian Ecclesiastical Libraries: The Second ABEI Census (1995)
In 1995 after only a few years, a second census, also promoted by ABEI, was launched. The basis for this second, larger census was a database of 5,563 library addresses, which saw the response of 2,156 entities, almost 40% of the entities surveyed. Among them, the valid questionnaires allowed the compilation of 1,469 forms.7 These numbers are enough to understand the amount of work carried out by the Association; the printed census was complete, although it was certainly marked by time; the panorama of ecclesiastical libraries has now profoundly changed. Despite the amount of information reported (the number of expired libraries indicated was 514!), this is the most complete list; and the panorama of discontinued, transferred, merged or even simply readapted libraries has yet to be largely written.
Unfortunately, the promised photograph “constantly updated” did not have the desired result, and the volumes that appeared in the next years have not been published with this attention. Nevertheless, it is interesting to report some information regarding the data of those libraries whose records have been validated: over 27 million volumes and pamphlets, 14,826 exemplaria of 15th-century editions, 179,987 exemplaria of the 16th century, 112,142 manuscripts, 2,572 illuminated manuscripts, and 118,210 periodicals.
Much of this information, without counting the new acquisitions, after more than 25 years, has not been released into the online catalogues of ecclesiastical libraries, a path that, although just as important, still has a long way to go before it is complete.
2.1.4 The Institution of Diocesan Libraries and Their First Census (2004)
Following the ‘Intesa per la conservazione e la consultazione degli archivi di interesse storico e delle Biblioteche appartenenti a enti e istituzioni ecclesiastici’ (Agreement between the Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities and the President of the Italian Episcopal Conference on the conservation and consultation of the archives of historical interest and the libraries of ecclesiastical bodies and institutions) of 2000, the ‘Ufficio Nazionale per i beni culturali ecclesiastici della Conferenza Episcopale Italiana’ (National Office for Ecclesiastical Cultural Heritage of the Italian Episcopal Conference), in close collaboration with the ABEI, carried on a census of the Italian dioceses in order to identify the libraries indicated by the individual diocesan ordinaries as diocesan reference libraries.
The profiles, drawn up by the same National Office for Ecclesiastical Goods, were published in a volume; this is still the only list which was printed. It includes the data of 124 diocesan reference libraries.8 It has and will have the merits of certifying, at the date of publication, the names, consistency, services and projects offered by this type of library. On the other hand, the character of ‘reference’ for diocesan libraries has yet to be developed; in fact, the network of regional or local ecclesiastical libraries, with their strategies and professionalism, has yet to be implemented.
2.1.5 A Printed Volume on Ecclesiastical Archives, Libraries and Museums in Italy (2015)
In 2015, the National Office for Ecclesiastical Cultural Heritage mentioned above published the volume Del Culto e della cultura: Archivi, Biblioteche e Musei Ecclesiastici in Italia (On Cult and Culture: Ecclesiastical Archives, Libraries and Museums in Italy),9 with the intention of giving an image as accurate as possible of the institutes for the preservation and promotion of cultural heritage.
The volume gathers references to Archives, Museums and Libraries in a single book. The publication “reports in paper format the results of a web service active since 2009 and which goes by the name of Registry of Ecclesiastical Cultural Institutes.”10 This is, therefore, not a census, but the attestation, for cultural institutions as a whole (Museums, Archives, Libraries) of their presence in Italian regions and dioceses. It aims to make information about the heritage and guaranteed services more accessible.
The institutes mentioned are 1,483; of these, 463 are libraries. Actually, this volume is only an extract of the content of the project ‘Anagrafe’ (Registry of ecclesiastical cultural institutes), whose data is always online, and constantly updated.11 Indeed, the continuous fluctuation in the number of libraries is surprising; the datum should not be neglected, because it witnesses the difficulty of reaching libraries and communicating with them.
2.2 Other Initiatives
Furthermore, at least two initiatives deserve to be mentioned; even if it seems that they do not leave a legacy for the recent decades, they contribute to providing a picture of a certain importance.
2.2.1 The Statistical Yearbook of Lombard Libraries (1972–1973)
In 1975, the regional administration of Lombardy published the first edition of a copious statistical yearbook, entirely dedicated to Lombard libraries; this project would remain for years a reference source; and, after a few decades, it still allows us to see a picture that otherwise would not be possible to be outlined.
The regional administration made a survey of library buildings, which was not limited to the large ‘houses’ of knowledge, but involved also municipal, school, university, health facility libraries and, of course, ecclesiastical libraries. Just a few examples: while not extending the search to the libraries of primary schools (considered as less relevant), the census collects information relating to all other training institutions, from universities to high schools, to lower middle schools, including private institutions. For the latter, in Lombardy, the indication of the owner accounts for no less than 124 libraries.
We should add to these all the libraries with a clear ecclesiastical denomination association. In the third volume of the yearbook, one half of the entries correspond “to libraries of religious and ecclesiastical bodies (92) and parishes (438) the former more often of conservation or general or specialised information; the latter, with few exceptions, of a recreational type and small in size.”12
The data collected and promptly reported is significant: information on the location, name of the owner or manager, number of volumes (including non-book material), accessibility, inventories, catalogues, services, year of foundation, extension of shelving, equipment, purchases, gifts, expenses and contributions, users, loans, and proposed cultural activities. This heritage is impressive in quantity, even if its value is often not considered as it should be, for example, the relationship between a large bibliographic heritage and very limited fruition.
2.2.2 A Census of Umbrian Ecclesiastical Libraries (1981)
In 1981, Don Francesco Conti edited the Annuale delle Biblioteche ecclesiastiche umbre (Yearbook of Umbrian ecclesiastical libraries), which is the fruit of a work begun two years earlier, when the Umbrian Episcopal Conference, at their meeting of October 15, 1979, decided to set up a regional council of existing ‘Catholic’ libraries in Umbria. In a first meeting of librarians, held in Assisi in 1980, it was decided to create a coordination centre for the Umbrian ecclesiastical libraries and to take their census.
A questionnaire was sent out, and the results were edited, with consideration in respect to three criteria: that the libraries belonged to ecclesiastical institutes or bodies; that the libraries had a certain numerical consistency and a permanent organisation; that the libraries offered a service to the public, at least at request. The list, therefore, does not include most parishes, religious institutes, or Catholic associations, which do not meet these criteria.
The result is 33 libraries, with a total of 5,000 manuscripts, 450 exemplaria of 15th-century editions, 500,000 volumes, 50,000 brochures, 850 current periodicals. The reflections of Don Francesco Conti which accompany the Yearbook volume, are timely and remain, 40 years after publication, extremely lucid and relevant for today.13
3 Ecclesiastical Libraries in the Life of the Church and in Ecclesial Documents
Up to this point, we have dealt with some projects that gave evidence of the presence of many ecclesiastical libraries in Italy. It is clear that, time after time, the world of ecclesiastical libraries has changed a great deal. These changes have involved the relationships between dioceses, regional institutions and the Ministry for cultural heritage, which have been structured and defined; agreements were signed, and official documents were promulgated. An overall look is necessary, therefore, in order to better understand the Italian situation and its evolution. We present here some of these events, which are considered as particularly significant.
3.1 The Congress “La Chiesa Italiana per i Beni Culturali” (The Italian Church for Cultural Heritage), 4–7 May 1987
In May 1987, a congress entitled “The Italian Church for cultural heritage: Protection and enhancement of religious cultural heritage,” promoted by the ‘Conferenza Episcopale Italiana’ (Italian Episcopal Conference) and the ‘Pontificia Commissione Centrale per l’Arte Sacra’ (Pontifical Central Commission for Sacred Art) took place in Milan. The conclusions of the congress include some reflections on the role of ecclesiastical libraries.14
The conference recalled the need to overcome, in the canonical order, the narrow perspective adopted so far. An ecclesiastical good should not be considered as such from the point of view of its mere belonging; its value is mostly ‘religious’. The conference also defined the need to include more precise rules for the protection and conservation of the historical-artistic heritage in Italy, including ecclesiastical libraries and archives. These laws “have played an important cultural and pastoral function, and remain a valid and obliged point of reference; they should be updated and completed with the indication of more precise lines, especially with regard to archival and library heritage.”15
In order to guarantee the protection and enhancement of the cultural heritage, two tools were outlined. First, it was necessary to establish in a short time “regional pastoral consultations for cultural heritage, connected with the regional episcopal conferences and chaired by a delegated bishop, with the task of study, promotion, coordination among dioceses and between dioceses and religious institutes.”16 Second, and above all, the task was defined as “inventorying all the cultural assets of which communities and entities are custodians, both for their richer enhancement and for their protection against abuse or possible forms of dispersion.”17
3.2 The Institution of the ‘Consulte Regionali per i Beni Culturali’ (Regional Councils for Cultural Heritage)
Also in 1987, the ‘Consiglio Permanente della Conferenza Episcopale Italiana’ (Permanent Council of the Italian Episcopal Conference), in its session of November 9–12, devoted special attention “to the problem, particularly alive in Italy, of ecclesiastical cultural heritage. First of all, it examined and approved the draft statute of the regional pastoral consultants for cultural heritage, recommending its prompt establishment in each of the sixteen Italian ecclesiastical regions.”18 The councils should respond to the need to “coordinate at the regional level the action of the various ecclesial subjects that deal with cultural heritage (dioceses, religious institutes, associations, voluntary groups …) to stimulate an increasing awareness alive on the part of the whole Christian community of the cultural, social and pastoral importance of safeguarding and enhancing the enormous historical-artistic, book and archival heritage that the experience of faith has generated over the centuries.” This was pursued in cooperation with “the Regional Episcopal Conferences in the search for forms of constructive collaboration with regional civil institutions.”19
3.3 The Institution of the ‘Consulta Nazionale per i Beni Culturali Ecclesiastici’ (National Council for Ecclesiastical Cultural Heritage), 1989
The National Council was established by the Permanent Episcopal Council of the Italian Episcopal Conference in the session of 16–19 June, 1989, “with the task of investigating the problems connected with their promotion, enhancement, protection and conservation, in accordance with the guidelines proposed by the Pontifical Commission for the conservation of the artistic and historical patrimony of the Church.”20 There is not much information on the role and work of the National Council, especially after 2000 and the signing of the Agreement of 2000, but there is no doubt about its importance.
3.4 “I Beni Culturali della Chiesa in Italia” (The Cultural Heritage of the Church in Italy), 1992
This document,21 put into action by the General Assembly of the Italian Episcopal Conference in 1992, after a long examination that began in 1991, is in fact the first one in which there are explicit and adequate guidelines for ecclesiastical libraries; the former one that paid explicit attention to libraries, dated 1974, still did not highlight the role played by libraries and archives.
It recalls the significant role played also by “ecclesial subjects well rooted in the Italian Church, such as brotherhoods and fraternities, pious foundations, various associations. These subjects still have a vast task both of protecting and enhancing the assets themselves and of animating Christian communities and civil society” (art. 8). Their role can then be further enhanced by cooperation with “the great cultural institutions to which the Italian Church gives life, such as the ‘Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore’ (Catholic University of the Sacred Heart), the Theological Faculties, the Institutes of Religious Studies, and the public and private cultural institutions” (art. 17).
It is also emphasised that the services offered by ecclesiastical libraries, archives and museums should be included in diocesan-based systems, coordinated at regional and national level, and should cooperate with the National System of libraries, archives and museums.
As for the role and tasks of libraries, it is confirmed that, in addition to constituting a very important part of the ecclesiastical cultural heritage in Italy, “they have an exceptional value in evangelisation, catechesis, in the promotion of the ‘culture of solidarity’ and in dialogue with the contemporary world” (art. 19). It should, therefore, be a matter of living realities, not just of conservation; in which, indeed, ancient collections and liturgical books no longer in use are preserved with particular diligence, and collections are updated.
3.5 The Institution of the ‘Ufficio Nazionale per i Beni Culturali Ecclesiastici’ (National Office for Ecclesiastical Cultural Heritage)
In the spring session, held March 27–30, 1995, the Permanent Council of the Italian Episcopal Conference approved the constitution of the National Office for Ecclesiastical Cultural Heritage, as an expression of the General Secretariat of the Italian Episcopal Conference, from which it depends.22 The Council appointed Msgr. Giancarlo Santi, of the Archdiocese of Milan, as its first Director.23
According to his own words, “It is a specific and firmly established instrument that intends to help the Church in all the fields concerning protection and enhancement, liturgical adaptation and increase of ecclesiastical cultural assets. The opportunity and urgency of such an office derive from the concrete situation in which the Italian dioceses find themselves,” from “the need to establish correct relations between ecclesiastical bodies,”24 as well as from the need to implement the agreements that have followed the revision of the Treaty between the State and the Holy See.
3.6 The ‘Intesa’ (Agreement) of 2000
Another important step, as mentioned above, was made on 18 April 2000, at the headquarters of the Ministry for Cultural Heritage, with an agreement, signed by minister Giovanna Melandri and Cardinal Camillo Ruini, President of the Italian Episcopal Conference.25 The Agreement specified the forms of collaboration between the State and the Catholic Church, touching the conservation and consultation of archives of historical interest and libraries belonging to ecclesiastical bodies and institutions.
This resulted in a negotiation developed over the course of several years, which also involved the ecclesiastical associations of archivists and librarians: the ‘Associazione Archivistica Ecclesiastica’ (Archival Ecclesiastic Association, AAE) and ABEI.
Below are the most important details of the Agreement, with particular reference to library assets (articles 5–8), which make up the second part of the document:
the book assets characterised by a historical interest (manuscripts, printed books and other media) belonging to the same bodies and institutions should remain in their respective places of conservation;
the need to ensure every possible intervention aimed at guaranteeing safety, anti-theft, fire prevention and other prevention measures against the deterioration of buildings (libraries) and assets (e.g. book collections) more than 50 years old;
homogeneous guidelines and tools for the inventory and cataloguing of book material.
In order to guarantee the uniformity of the catalogue description formats, the dissemination of bibliographic information and the provision of services, the Ministry and CEI agreed that the Italian network for information and bibliographic services of the ‘Servizio Bibliotecario Nazionale’ (National Library Service, SBN) constitutes the reference system.
In particular, then, the ecclesiastical authority assured:
the conservation and opening to consultation of libraries belonging to ecclesiastical bodies and institutions;
the inventory, cataloguing and revision of existing catalogues, in order to encourage consultation through the provision of services, such as bibliographic information, reproductions and loans, protecting – at the same time – the rare and valuable heritage;
a list, periodically updated, of the libraries of particular importance (integrated with the indication of the libraries belonging to institutes of consecrated life and to societies of apostolic life);
specific regulations for libraries, approved on the basis of a standard scheme prepared by CEI, which regulates, among other things, the opening hours to the public, qualified personnel, updated inventories and catalogues;
the promotion of a systematic and up-to-date census of the library heritage, in order to continuously verify the state of conservation of bibliographic assets and to complete the map of the libraries belonging to ecclesiastical bodies and institutions in Italy;
specific funding for libraries.
3.7 A Scheme for Ecclesiastical Library Rules
To implement what was defined by the Agreement just mentioned, and with the cooperation of ABEI, the Permanent Episcopal Council approved a model of regulation for ecclesiastical libraries during the session of 16–19 September 2002. It was decided that, at the local level, it is the duty of the diocesan bishop to identify the diocesan library of reference, among the ecclesiastical libraries open to the public and subject to his jurisdiction. This library is of particular importance for the patrimony owned and for the service offered, and should be considered as the reference point for all the ecclesiastical libraries existing in the area.
3.8 A New Agreement between the Italian Episcopal Conference and the Ministry of Culture (2005)
On 26 January 2005, a new Agreement was signed by minister Giuliano Urbani and Cardinal Camillo Ruini, President of the Italian Episcopal Conference.26 It integrates and replaces the Agreement of 1996 and implements, together with the Agreement of 2000, article 12 of the Revision Agreement of the Lateran Treaty of February 18, 1984, with regard to ecclesiastical archives and libraries. Following article 12, the Holy See and the Italian Republic agreed on provisions for the safeguarding and fruition of cultural assets of religious interest belonging to ecclesiastical bodies and institutions.
The Agreement also included changes to the legislation of the Italian State, introduced by Law Decree 22 January 2004, no. 42, containing the ‘Codice dei beni culturali e del paesaggio’ (Code of Cultural Heritage and Landscape). It underlines the importance of initiatives and situations of particular importance, such as the inventory and cataloguing of the cultural assets, their preservation, the loan of works of art for shows and exhibitions, and the liturgical adaptation of churches.
3.9 The Agreement on Bibliographic Description (2006)
On 5 December 2006, the National Office for Ecclesiastical Cultural Heritage of the Italian Episcopal Conference, the ‘Dipartimento per i Beni Archivistici e Librari del Ministero per I Beni e le Attività Culturali’ (Department for Archival and Book Heritage, Ministry for Cultural Heritage) and the ‘Istituto Centrale per il Catalogo Unico e le Informazioni Bibliografiche’ (Central Institute for the union catalogue of Italian libraries and for bibliographic information, ICCU) signed an Agreement on the bibliographic description and treatment of collections belonging to ecclesiastical libraries, which follows up on the Agreement of 18 April 2000 concerning the conservation and consultation of the archives and libraries belonging to ecclesiastical bodies and institutions.27
This document made possible, in particular, the inclusion of the data of many ecclesiastical libraries into the ‘Servizio Bibliotecario Nazionale’ (National Library Service, SBN).28 The Italian Episcopal Conference enabled ecclesiastical libraries to share useful tools and projects (Cei-Bib, BeWeb),29 guaranteeing the maintenance of their typological and managerial identity and, at the same time, making the communication of knowledge easier for librarians, scholars and institutions.
With this agreement, the National Office has undertaken to set up a new hub within SBN, called ‘Polo delle Biblioteche Ecclesiastiche’ (Ecclesiastical Libraries Hub, PBE) as the concrete integration of Ecclesiastical Library collections into the system of the unique and integrated main Italian catalogue, both in the field of modern books and that of ancient books, music, graphics and of cartography.
4 A Brief Conclusion
The conservation of the book heritage passes through these institutional elements. At the same time, it is the service offered by individuals (cultural operators, librarians, institutions) that makes it possible, even today, to create new knowledge in libraries. The situation is constantly evolving and is not always positive: many libraries are no longer open to the public and their heritage is sometimes dispersed. But the legacy is large. “Therefore, every [librarian] who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like the head of a household, who brings out of his treasured things, new and old” (Mt 13:52).
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Ruggeri, Fausto. “Biblioteche ecclesiastiche.” In Biblioteconomia: Guida classificata, edited by Mauro Guerrini, I manuali della biblioteca 5, 779–782. Milan: Editrice Bibliografica, 2007.
Ufficio Nazionale per i beni culturali ecclesiastici della CEI, ed. Del culto e della cultura: Archivi, biblioteche e musei ecclesiastici in Italia. Rome: Gangemi editore, 2015.
Cfr. the contribution of Giancarlo Santi in Le carte della chiesa: Archivi e biblioteche nella normativa pattizia, ed. Antonio G. Chizzonti, Le carte della Chiesa 26 (Bologna: Il Mulino, 2003), 179–182.
“Una struttura permanente che raccoglie e conserva un insieme organizzato di libri, materiali e informazioni, comunque editi o pubblicati su qualunque supporto, e ne assicura la consultazione al fine di promuovere la lettura e lo studio,” Codice dei beni culturali e del paesaggio, Law decree n. 42, January 22, 2004, art. 101 (our translation); cfr. https://web.camera.it/parlam/leggi/deleghe/04042dl.htm.
Cfr. Fausto Ruggeri, “Biblioteche ecclesiastiche,” in Biblioteconomia: Guida classificata, ed. Mauro Guerrini, I manuali della biblioteca 5 (Milan: Editrice Bibliografica, 2007), 779–782.
Ferdinando Maggioni, “Premessa,” in Associazione Bibliotecari Ecclesiastici Italiani, Annuario delle biblioteche ecclesiastiche italiane: 1990, ed. Antonio Ornella, Sergio Bigatton, and Piergiorgio Figini (Milan: Editrice Bibliografica, 1990), III.
Associazione Bibliotecari Ecclesiastici Italiani, Annuario delle biblioteche ecclesiastiche italiane: 1990, ed. Ornella, Bigatton, Figini, 3.
Eleuterio Ricci, ed., Annuario delle biblioteche cappuccine italiane (Rome: Associazione Bibliotecari Cappuccini Italiani, 1991), 4.
Associazione Bibliotecari Ecclesiastici Italiani, Annuario delle biblioteche ecclesiastiche italiane: 1995, ed. Luciano Tempestini (Milan: Editrice Bibliografica, 1995), III.
Associazione Bibliotecari Ecclesiastici Italiani, La biblioteca centrale diocesana: Obiettivi, organizzazione, servizi alla luce dell’Intesa del 18 aprile 2000, ed. Fausto Ruggeri (Milan: Lampi di Stampa, 2004).
Ufficio Nazionale per i beni culturali ecclesiastici della CEI, ed., Del culto e della cultura: Archivi, biblioteche e musei ecclesiastici in Italia (Rome: Gangemi editore, 2015).
Del culto e della cultura: Archivi, biblioteche e musei ecclesiastici in Italia (Romae Gangemi editore, 2015), 10.
Annuario statistico delle biblioteche lombarde 1972–73 (Milan: Regione Lombardia – Giunta regionale cultura, informazione e partecipazione, 1976), vol. III: Biblioteche di enti vari, 7.
Francesco Conti, ed., Annuario delle biblioteche ecclesiastiche umbre, Sussidi culturali 1 (Assisi: Centro regionale umbro di pastorale, 1981).
“La Chiesa italiana per i beni culturali: Conclusioni del convegno promosso dalla CEI e dalla Pontificia Commissione per l’arte sacra in Italia,” in Enchiridion della Conferenza Episcopale Italiana: Decreti, dichiarazioni, documenti pastorali per la Chiesa italiana, vol. 4: 1986–1990 (Bologna: EDB, 1991), 394–398 (nn. 744–760); Notiziario CEI, 5/1987, 147–150. Notiziario CEI, the collection is available online at https://www.chiesacattolica.it/cci_tax_settore_documentale/notiziario-cei/.
“La Chiesa italiana per i beni culturali,” 395 (n. 747).
Notiziario CEI, 5/1987, 148.
“La Chiesa italiana per i beni culturali,” 395 (n. 751).
“Comunicato del Consiglio permanente,” in Enchiridion della Conferenza Episcopale Italiana, vol. 4: 1986–1990, 470 (n. 916); Notiziario CEI, 9/1987, 244.
“Comunicato del Consiglio permanente,” 470.
Notiziario CEI, 1992, 310; cfr. 1989, 16–19; 1990, 227; 1994, 51.
Notiziario CEI, 9/1992, 309–336.
Notiziario CEI, 3/1995, 98–99, 102.
Cfr. Notiziario CEI, 7/1995, 292.
Notiziario CEI, 3/1995, 98–99.
‘Intesa per la conservazione e la consultazione degli archivi di interesse storico e delle Biblioteche appartenenti a enti e istituzioni ecclesiastici’ (Agreement between the Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities and the President of the Italian Episcopal Conference on the conservation and consultation of the archives of historical interest and the libraries of ecclesiastical bodies and institutions). See Notiziario CEI, 6/2000, 168–180.
Notiziario CEI, 5/2005, 166–182.
Notiziario CEI, 11–12/2006, 457–463.
The ‘Servizio Bibliotecario Nazionale’ (SBN) is the network of Italian libraries promoted by the Ministry of Cultural Heritage, with the cooperation of regional administrations and universities. The libraries taking part in SBN are grouped together into local hubs including a variable number of libraries which manage all their services through automated procedures. The hubs are linked to the SBN Index system, core of the network; this system, managed by ICCU, manages the collective catalogue of the publications acquired by the SBN libraries.