Roman Archives Research Articles

Clavigero: The Fate of a Manuscript

It Has Been Commonly stated for almost two centuries now that the reason why the celebrated Mexican Jesuit, Francisco Javier Clavigero, was unable to publish the Spanish original of his Storia antica del Messico (Ancient History of Mexico) in Madrid stemmed from the savage attack made on the Italian edition by a highly nationalistic Spanish Jesuit, Ramón Diosdado Caballero, who considered it highly insulting and injurious to Spain and who urged the Spanish Government not to allow its publication until the author publicly retracted his damaging statements. That his bitter criticism prevented immediate publication there is no doubt, but on the basis of newly gathered evidence in Spanish and Roman archives, it is by no means clear that it was the ultimate cause for its not appearing.

Irish Franciscan Mission to Scotland, 1619–1646: documents from Roman Archives. Edited by Cathaldus Giblin, O.F.M. Pp. xx + 196. Dublin: Assisi Press, 1964. 30s.

Irish Franciscan Mission to Scotland, 1619–1646: documents from Roman Archives. Edited by Cathaldus Giblin, O.F.M. Pp. xx + 196. Dublin: Assisi Press, 1964. 30s.

The Roman Propaganda Fide Archives: An Overflow and Assessment

In 1908–09 Professor Carl Russell Fish of the University of Wisconsin was commisioned as a Research Associate by the Carnegie Institution of Washington, D.C., and sent abroad to visit and assess the materials for American history to be found in the various archives of Italy. Out of his labors, done with the precision of a trained historian, came a volume which has long been a standard tool for students and researchers in this field: Fish's Guide to the Materials for American History in Roman and Other Italian Archives, published in 1911 by the Carnegie Institution. Pages 119–95 are devoted to an analysis of those archives of the Catholic Church which are commonly called the Archives of the Sacred Congregation de Propaganda Fide in Rome. Fish's analysis is preceded by a brief historical account of this important arm in the ordinary government of the Catholic Church from 1622 (the date of its establishment) until 1911.

Francesco Maria Piccolo (1654-1729), Pioneer of Lower California, in the Light of Boman Archives

ON THE OCCASION of the tereentenary of Piccolo's birth, it would seemn fitting to pay him the tribute of recalling his contribution to the advanee of civilization along the northwestern rim of New Spain, as reflected in the letters and reports that reached headquarters in Rome. These doeuments have not yet been published and have been consulted only in part by historians of colonial Mexico. Brief reference will be made to the more numerous documents penned by him or about him, both printed and in manuscript form, in the original or in contemporary Italian translation, also reposing in the Roman archives but already published elsewhere.' The principal significance of this Jesuit missionary in the history of the West Coast is that his arrival in Lower California late in 1697 consolidated the beach-head established by Juan Maria Salvatierra earlier in the same year. Piccolo then helped in the founding of a chain of missions and settlements at the very time when the financial status of both Spain and Mexico was most unfavorable for any attempt by the government to explore and colonize this barren peninsula. When he arrived to assist Salvatierra, he came not as a tyro but as a veteran of more than thirteen years' experience among the Tarahumares.2

The Gallic Fire and Roman Archives

The Gallic Fire and Roman Archives

<italic>Guide to the Materials for American History in Roman and Other Italian Archives</italic>. by <sc>Carl Russell Fish</sc>, Professor of American History, University of Wisconsin. (Washington: Carnegie Institution of Washington. 1911. Pp. ix, 289.)

<italic>Guide to the Materials for American History in Roman and Other Italian Archives</italic>. by <sc>Carl Russell Fish</sc>, Professor of American History, University of Wisconsin. (Washington: Carnegie Institution of Washington. 1911. Pp. ix, 289.)