Renovated Jesuit archives inaugurated at Loyola Mandir

On : 2022-08-30

The renovated Karnataka Jesuit province archives were blessed and inaugurated at Loyola Mandir, Bangalore here on Monday, August 30. Provincial Fr Dionysius Vaz blessed the archives.

In his brief address, socius Fr Joseph D’Mello thanked all those who had worked tirelessly to digitise and put order in the archives. “Particularly I would like to mention the names of Fr Olvin Veigas and Fr Jaison Furtado who have contributed a lot in realising this project. I must not forget late Fr Ronald Menezes who helped Fr Olvin in digitising the archival material,” Fr D’Mello said.

Giving a brief detour to the archives, province archivist Fr Olvin Veigas said that the province archives a very interesting and resourceful depository.

“In these archives, there are handwritten manuscripts of Jesuits like Fr Angelo Maffei (1844-1899), Fr Augustus Diamanti (1848-1919), the handwritten consult meetings from 1880, the novitiate diaries, letters to Rome and Jesuit Superior Generals’ letters to the Mission Superior of Mangalore since 1879,” Fr Veigas said.

He also added that contracts with various institutions and persons, photographs like the visit of the Diwans of Mysore Kingdom to St Aloysius College, Mangalore, edifying letters and memoirs written by the early Jesuits of Mangalore Mission to the Venice-Milan province Jesuits, the books written by the Jesuits of the Karnataka province, Historia Domus of all the Jesuit communities, publications of various institutions and apostolates, correspondence with various dioceses and provinces of the Society, philately and so on were part of the archives.

He further said that the archives also contain unpublished works of many Jesuits like Fr Devadatta Kamath's II part of Burning Bush with four volumes, Fr Francis Rebello's theatrical drama, etc. “Karnataka Jesuit province which is 144 years old, preserves in its archives all material and matters connected with its works, members and communities. Hence, every individual Jesuit, community, apostolate and its ventures are recorded and preserved in the archives,” Fr Veigas said.

He hoped that such a collection of material would help in preserving the memory of the past, assist in writing the history of the province and communities and enable the researchers to carry out their academic works. 

The archives have been fitted with movable cubbords similar to wha is being found in the Society's archves in General Curia, Rome. Fr Ronald Fernandes SJ, VG of British Guyana was present.