Central Salesian Archive

Links

A selection of online references useful for historical and Salesian research: archives of religious institutes, libraries, study centres, museums and institutional links.

Archives of religious institutes

Online references of some archives of male and female institutes.

Institutes of consecrated life are associations made up of those members of the faithful who, in response to a particular vocation, dedicate themselves to God and to the service of their neighbour through the profession of the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity and obedience, undertaken by vow or other sacred bond. These Institutes, considered in themselves, can be divided into religious Institutes, which are the majority, and secular Institutes. A further category, not yet fully defined in many of its aspects, includes the so-called mixed Institutes and the new forms of consecrated life.

To these Institutes accedunt, as can. 731 § 1 states, the Societies of apostolic life, inasmuch as their common and apostolic way of life and, for some of them, the profession of the evangelical counsels (can. 731 § 2) make them very similar to religious Institutes. Like Institutes of consecrated life, Societies of apostolic life too are divided into clerical and lay (can. 732).

Libraries

The ASC is connected to the Portal of the Libraries of Roman Pontifical Universities and Institutions (PARSIFAL), which cooperate thanks to the network of the Roman Union of Ecclesiastical Libraries (URBE). The project includes, among others:

  • Pontifical University Antonianum
  • Pontifical University of the Holy Cross
  • Pontifical Gregorian University
  • Pontifical Lateran University
  • Salesian Pontifical University
  • Pontifical University of St Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum)
  • Pontifical Urban University
  • Pontifical Athenaeum of St Anselm
  • Pontificium Institutum Patristicum Augustinianum
  • Pontifical Biblical Institute
  • Pontifical Theological Institute John Paul II
  • Pontifical Oriental Institute
  • Pontifical Faculty of Educational Sciences Auxilium
  • Pontifical Theological Faculty Marianum
  • Alphonsian Academy
  • Centro Pro Unione

See also the Register of Italian Libraries.

Salesian study centres

Italian institutional resources for Salesian studies and research on Don Bosco:

And international resources, including:

Since 2013 the site donboscosanto.eu (Salesians of the North-East Italy province) has published Don Bosco’s writings and other Salesian writings online. From the collaboration between the Don Bosco Study Centre (UPS) and the Study Centre on the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians (Auxilium) came Salesian OnLine Resource.

Salesian museums

Salesian houses hold permanent and temporary exhibitions of documents and objects linked to Don Bosco, the saints and the Salesian tradition. Some notable museums:

In 2024 the Missions Sector produced a portfolio of the Salesian museums: Salesian Museums (PDF).