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Biblioteca
In early
1968 the old Bibliotheca Montereyensis-Angelorum Dioeceseos
was removed from storage and transferred to Queen of Angels
Seminary, where it was catalogued and categorized. The historic
library was eventually placed on permanent display in a newly
restored room of the adjacent Mission San Fernando. The provenance
of the Bibliotheca is fascinating. Though most of the books
had long been in California, it was only in the years after
1842 that they found their way into the theological library
formed by Bishop Francisco Garcia Diego y Moreno for the area’s
initial seminary.
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The
Archival Center for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles houses documents
and related items pertaining to the history of the Church in California
from the Mission Period (1840) to modern times. |
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Although
its ministerial purpose is that of housing the records of the Archdiocese
of Los Angeles and its various entities, as well as to serve the needs
of the curial offices, the Archival Center also makes its resources
available to researchers of all backgrounds, historical perspectives
and scholarly interests. This is done within the parameters of Canon
Law, as well as the confidentiality laws of both the State and Federal
government. |
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Scholarly
investigation is encouraged in keeping with the National Council of
Catholic Bishop's Statement on Ecclesiastical Archives (1974), as
well as the "Standards for Access to Diocesan Archives"
of the Association of Catholic Diocesan Archivists. Access to the
Archives of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles is available, at no charge
to all qualified scholars, subject only to procedural restrictions
imposed by the Archbishop of Los Angeles, the Archivist and the donors
of documents housed in the Archival Center. |
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In
early 1968 the old Bibliotheca Montereyensis-Angelorum Dioeceseos
was removed from storage and transferred to Queen of Angels Seminary,
where it was catalogued and categorized. The historic library was
eventually placed on permanent display in a newly restored room of
the adjacent Mission San Fernando. The provenance of the Bibliotheca
is fascinating. Though most of the books had long been in California,
it was only in the years after 1842 that they found their way into
the theological library formed by Bishop Francisco Garcia Diego y
Moreno for the area’s initial seminary. |
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What
books had been gathered from the missions and private donors were
moved from Santa Barbara, in 1844, to quarters provided at nearby
Santa Ines for the newly autonomous Seminary of Our Lady of Refuge.
During its four decades at Santa Ines, the collection occupied a large
room in the central part of the old mission building, not far from
the two-story adobe housing the Seminary proper. |
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When
the seminary’s prospectus was broadened to include non-clerical
aspirants, the college, later placed under the patronage of Our Lady
of Guadalupe, was moved to another site about a mile and a half from
the mission, on the vast 36,000 acre ranch. While students continued
to have access to the Bibliotheca, the seminary library was never
transferred to the new location. |
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No
specific check-list of titles for any given Period has been discovered,
though an inventory drawn up in 1853, mentions volumes as belonging
to the library. In 1874, Hubert Howe Bancroft visited Santa Ines and
recorded seeing about 600 tomes in the Bibliotheca. Sometime between
November, 1882 and the spring of 1884, Bishop Francis Mora had the
library moved to his residence in Los Angeles, adjacent to Saint Vibiana's
Cathedral. When a new three-story edifice was erected, in 1888-1889,
the books were placed in specially designed quarters off a tunnel-way
connecting the rectory with the tower of the church. |
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The
Bibliotheca Montereyensis-Angelorum Dioeceseos remained at the cathedral,
until 1933, when an earthquake so damaged the building that it had
to be completely replaced. At that time, the collection was taken
to the diocesan preparatory seminary, located in Hancock Park. Accommodations
were made for storing the library in the basement area immediately
beneath the central foyer. From that time onwards, the Bibliotheca
ceased to be utilized as a learning tool. |
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Shortly
after the opening, at Saint John's Seminary, of the Edward Laurence
Doheny Memorial Library, on September 22, 1940, the Bibliotheca Montereyensis-Angelorum
Dioeceseos was again crated and transported the sixty-five miles to
Camarillo. There, it was placed in two caged rooms on the bottom level
of the reference stacks. Sporadic attempts were made to acquisition
the collection and a number of obviously valuable tomes were indeed
assimilated into the active seminary library. Several of the more
attractively bound book sets were used to fill out the shelves left
vacant in the seminary’s parlor by the removal of a large collection
of rock specimens. |
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On
February 7, 1968, authorization was obtained from chancery officials
of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles to reactivate the Bibliotheca Montereyensis-Angelorum
Dioeceseos as an historical collection. The books were carefully cleaned,
repaired and arranged into the ten-category system used at the Apostolic
College of San Fernando in Mexico City. Post-mission accession marks
were removed and mutilated or faded bookplates replaced. In the later
months of 1968, the Bibliotheca Montereyensis-Angelorum Dioeceseos,
once the largest and most complete of the mission libraries, emerged
from the shadows of another era. |
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Further
information on this library can be found in a book issued in 1969
under the title A Bibliophilic Odyssey. |
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