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 Cover of the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 1 | |
| Publisher | Robert Appleton Company |
|---|---|
Publication date | 1907 |
| Pages | 860 |
| Followed by | New Catholic Encyclopedia |
| Text | Catholic Encyclopedia atWikisource |
The Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church,[1] also referred to as theOld Catholic Encyclopedia and theOriginal Catholic Encyclopedia,[2] is an English-languageencyclopedia about Catholicism published in the United States. It was designed "to give its readers full and authoritative information on the entire cycle of Catholic interests, action and doctrine".[3][4]
The first volume of theCatholic Encyclopedia appeared in March 1907 and the last three volumes appeared in 1912, followed by a master index volume in 1914 and later supplementary volumes. Its successor, theNew Catholic Encyclopedia, was first published by the Catholic University of America in 1967.
TheCatholic Encyclopedia was published by the Robert Appleton Company (RAC) in New York City. RAC was apublishing company incorporated in February 1905 for the express purpose of publishing the encyclopedia. The five members of the encyclopedia's editorial board also served as the RAC directors. In 1912, the company changed its name was changed to The Encyclopedia Press. Publication of the encyclopedia's volumes was the sole business conducted by Encyclopedia Press during the project's lifetime.[5]
TheCatholic Encyclopedia was designed to serve Catholics and other readers who wanted information about the church from the Catholic point of view. The encyclopedia records the accomplishments of Catholics and others in nearly all intellectual and professional pursuits, including the arts, education and science. While more limited in focus than other general encyclopedias, it was far broader in scope than previous efforts at comprehensive Catholic encyclopedias, which covered only internal Church affairs.
TheCatholic Encyclopedia offers in-depth portrayals of historical and philosophical ideas, persons and events, from a Catholic perspective, including issues that divide Catholicism fromProtestantism and other faith communities. Since the encyclopedia was first published starting in 1907 and has never been updated (versus theNew Catholic Encyclopedia), many of its entries may be out of date either with respect to the wider culture or to the Catholicecclesiastical world. In particular, it predates the creation of theVatican City State (1929) and theSecond Vatican Council (1962–1965), which introduced changes to Catholic practice.
The writing of theCatholic Encyclopedia began in 1905, under the supervision of five editors:
RAC published the first edition of theCatholic Encyclopedia. It released the volumes sequentially, the first two in 1907 and the last three in 1912:[6]
| Volume | Entries | Year first pub. | Chief editor |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aachen–Assize | 1907 | Charles George Herbermann |
| 2 | Assize–Brownr | ||
| 3 | Brow–Clancy | 1908 | |
| 4 | Cland–Diocesan | ||
| 5 | Diocese–Fathers | 1909 | |
| 6 | Fathers–Gregory | ||
| 7 | Gregory–Infallibility | 1910 | |
| 8 | Infamy–Lapparent | ||
| 9 | Laprade–Mass | ||
| 10 | Mass–Newman | 1911 | |
| 11 | New Mexico–Philip | ||
| 12 | Philip–Revalidation | ||
| 13 | Revelation–Simon Stock | 1912 | |
| 14 | Simony–Tournely | ||
| 15 | Tournon–Zwirner |
The five editors of the encyclopedia convened their first editorial meeting at the offices of theMessenger in Manhattan. In addition to frequent informal conferences and constant communication by letters, the editors held 134 formal meetings to consider the plan, scope and progress of the multi-volume reference work This review process may have been accelerated by the reuse of older authorized publications. The editors received anihil obstat, a declaration of no objection, from Remy Lafort, an official church censor, on November 1, 1908. ArchbishopJohn Farley of New York then gave the first volumes of theencyclopedia hisimprimatur.
Publication of theCatholic Encyclopedia began in 1907 with Volume 1 Aachen–Assize. It ended with Volume 15, Tournon–Zwirner, published in 1913. A first supplement was published nine years later in 1922; a second supplement in nine loose-leaf sections was published by The Gilmary Society three decades later, between 1950 and 1958.
In 1912, a special completely illustrated, commemorative volume was awarded to those patrons who contributed to the start of the enterprise in 1907 by buying multiple encyclopedia sets early on.[7]
There was controversy over the presence ofTheCatholic Encyclopedia on the shelves inpublic libraries in the United States withnativist protests that this violated the constitutionalseparation of church and state, including a successful court appeal inBelleville, New Jersey.[8]
The originalCatholic Encyclopedia was updated during the 1960s by the faculty of the Catholic University. The university published theNew Catholic Encyclopedia in 1967, followed by several supplements over the next three decades. Catholic University published a revised second edition of the New Catholic Encyclopedia in 2002, followed by more supplements.
The Catholic Encyclopedia and Its Makers states that:
The work is entirely new, and not merely a translation or a compilation from other encyclopedic sources. The editors have insisted that the articles should contain the latest and most accurate information to be obtained from the standard works on each subject.
However, "from standard works" allows that some of the articles from European contributors such asPierre Batiffol (French) andJohann Peter Kirsch (German) had previously been published in whole or in part in Europe and were translated and edited for the Encyclopedia.[9] Those who wrote new articles in English includeAnthony Maas andHerbert Thurston.
Under thecopyright law of the United States, all works published in the United States before 1928 are considered in thepublic domain. In 1993, Kevin Knight, a 26-year-old resident ofDenver, Colorado, decided, during the visit ofPope John Paul II (1920-2005, served 1978-2005), to that city forWorld Youth Day, to launch a project to republish the 1907-1913 original edition of theCatholic Encyclopedia on theInternet. Knight founded the Web siteNew Advent to host the undertaking. Volunteers from several countries, including the United States,Canada,France, andBrazil helped in the transcription of the original text material. The site first went online two years later in 1995, and transcription work ended after four years efforts in 1997.[Volumes 1]
In 2007,Catholic Answers internet website published a watermarked version derived from page scans. This version has since been replaced with a transcription of theEncyclopedia similar to that found at the New Advent web site.[Volumes 2] The Catholic Answers transcription, however, is an exact transcription of the original text, whereas the New Advent version at times modernizes certain usages (e.g., using the titles ofOld Testament books found in severalProtestant versions of theHoly Bible (used inProtestant churches / denominations), such as "1 & 2 Chronicles" and "Obadiah", in place of the titles traditionally used differently in theVulgate (Latin) /Douay–Rheims (Roman Catholic) Bible versions, (such as titles of "1 & 2 Paralipomenon" and "Abdias") and Biblical citation formatting (i.e., the Catholic Answers version retains the original's usage of Roman numerals for chapter numbers [e.g., Genesis I,1], while the New Advent version uses Arabic numerals throughout [e.g., Genesis 1:1]).
Another transcription is hosted by Catholic Online internet website. Similarly to the Catholic Answers transcription, it uses an exact rendition of the original text.[Volumes 3]
Scanned copies of the 1907-1913 Encyclopedia are available onGoogle Books, at theInternet Archive, and atWikimedia Commons.Wikisource also hosts a transcription project backed by the scans hosted at Commons.[Volumes 4]
The 1922 supplement to theCatholic Encyclopedia is also in the public domain and is available online. TheNew Catholic Encyclopedia of 1967, also is available online at some academic and public libraries.
