Catholic Encyclopedia
From Freepedia
The Catholic Encyclopedia is an English-language encyclopedia published in 1913 by the Roman Catholic Church, designed to give "authoritative information on the entire cycle of Catholic interests, action and doctrine".
Contents |
History
The writing of the encyclopedia began on January 11, 1905 under the supervision of five editors:
- Charles G. Herbermann, Professor of Latin and Librarian of the College of the City of New York
- Edward A. Pace, then Professor of Philosophy at the Catholic University
- Condé B. Pallen, Editor
- Rt. Rev. Thomas J. Shahan, then Professor of Church History at the Catholic University
- John J. Wynne, S.J., Editor of The Messenger
The editors had their first editorial meeting at the office of The Messenger, in West Sixteenth Street, New York City. The authors received a Nihil Obstat ("nothing hinders") from an official censor Remy Lafort on November 1, 1908 and an Imprimatur ("let it be printed") from John Cardinal Farley, who was Archbishop of New York at the time. This review process was likely sped up by reusing older authorized publications. In addition to having frequent informal conferences and constant intercommunication by letters, the editors subsequently held 134 formal meetings to consider the plan, scope and progress of the work, until publication on April 19, 1913. A supplement was published in 1922.
The encyclopedia was later updated under the auspices of the Catholic University of America and republished as the New Catholic Encyclopedia, first in 1967, and then in 2002.
In 1993, Kevin Knight, a 26-year-old resident of Denver, Colorado, inspired during the visit of Pope John Paul II to that city for World Youth Day, initiated the project to put the 1913 edition of the encyclopedia into cyberspace. Knight founded the website New Advent to house the undertaking. Volunteers from the United States, Canada, France, and Brazil helped in the transcription of the original material. The site went on-line in 1995 and was completed in 1997. The supplement is also in the public domain, but as of 2005 has not been placed on-line.
Intent
The encyclopedia was designed to serve the Catholic Church, omitting facts and information which have no relation to the Church and explaining matters from the point of view of the official Catholic doctrine. It records the accomplishments of Catholics in nearly all intellectual and professional pursuits including artists, educators, poets, scientists. While limited in scope from other general encyclopedias, it was quite different from previous efforts for a comprehensive Catholic encyclopedia which studied only internal Church affairs.
On issues that divide the Catholic from other churches, the text consistently presents matters from the Catholic point of view. But since the encyclopedia was undertaken in 1913, some of its entries are not up to date, either with the secular or Catholic ecclesiastical world. In particular, it predates the Second Vatican Council, which introduced significant changes in Catholic practice.
Derived works
Due to its public domain status, content from the 1913 edition can be incorporated into any work. While it does present information from a Catholic perspective, it often offers in-depth and accurate portrayals of historical and philosophical ideas, persons and events. The online site is copyrighted, but this doesn't apply to the 1913 text. Text from the Catholic Encyclopedia appears, sometimes in an edited form, in online reference works such as Wikipedia.
See also
- Catholic Encyclopedia topics (part of missing encyclopedic articles project)
- Information on using Catholic Encyclopedia text on Wikipedia
External links
- Sites hosting Catholic Encyclopedia material:
- Information about Catholic publications
