Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1800 - 2019 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
...
Name of creator
Repository
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Scope and content
For England and Wales.
Scotland comes under the Irish Province of St. Patrick
These archives relate to the Passionist Province of St Joseph, currently covering England. Wales and Sweden. The Passionists were established in England with the arrival of Blessed Dominica Barberi in England in 1841, although at this date the Province of St Joseph had not yet been created. In 1851, however, the Province of St
Joseph was established and was known also as the Anglo-Belgian Province. In 1854, this Province was divided into an English Province of St Joseph and a Belgian-French Dutch Province of St Michael. St Joseph’s Province went on to make foundations in Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
In 1927, there was a further development with the creation of St Patrick’s Province which covered Ireland and Scotland. St Joseph’s Province continued to cover England and Wales and, from the 1950s, the Swedish mission.
St Joseph’s Province also briefly had a mission in New Zealand and was involved in setting up the Passionist community in Australia which later became the Province of the Holy Spirit. These developments are reflected in the archives.
In Europe, St Michael’s Province divided in 1910 into St Michael’s Province in France and St Gabriel’s Province in Belgium and the Netherlands. In 1924, St Gabriel’s subdivided into St Gabriel’s Province which covered Belgium and The Mother of Holy Hope Province which covered the Netherlands. There is material relating to these developments in the archive.
Although the collection related principally to England and Wales, it also contains material relating to the Passionist Congregation internationally. Archival material relating to the international Passionist Congregation can be subdivided along the following lines:
General Council: correspondence with the Congregation’s central government in Rome; visitation reports; General Chapters; General Synods; and other meetings at a general level.
North European Conference of Passionists: Informal meetings held in the 1970s and 1980s led in 1990 to the creation of the North European Conference of Passionists (NECP). Officially this Conference still exists, but in 2008 it was temporarily suppressed and St Joseph’s Province became part of the North European Sector of Passionist (NESP). There is material relating to the NECP in the archives, and eventually material relating to the NESP will also be deposited.
Interprovincial Relations: there is material in the archive relating to informal interprovincial meetings in northern Europe, notably between St Joseph’s Province (England and Wales) and St Patrick’s Province (Ireland and Scotland).