COLLECTANEA SACRAE CONGREGATIONIS DE PROPAGANDA FIDE. – Collection of documents concerning the missions.
The series of these collections was inaugurated by the Constitutiones apostolicae, brevia, decreta... pro missionibus Sinarum, Tungni... ad usum RR. DD. episcoporum sacerdotumque a summis pontificibus, ab eminentissimis DD. cardinalibus S.C.d.P.F. respectice in Oriente missorum (Paris 1676), from which, through subsequent reprints, there originated the C. constitutionum, decretorum, indultorum ac instructionum Sanctae Sedis. Ad usum operariorum apo-
stolicorum Societatis missionum ad exteros. Selecta et ordine digesta cura moderatorum Seminarii Portiensis eiusdem societatis (there 1880). Of this work, a 2nd ed. with an appendix appeared in 1898, and a 3rd in 1905, all printed in Hongkong.
Finally, the same Congregation of Propaganda Fide decided to print a universal collection of the principal documents concerning the missions, which it published in a single volume: C. S. C. de P. F. seu decreta, instructiones, rescripta pro apostolicis missionariis ex tabulario eiusdem S. Congregationis deprompta (Rome 1893).
The documents reproduced had been arranged by subject. In 1907 a 2nd ed. was printed in 2 vols., and the documents were arranged chronologically. One should not think that this collection contains all the documents relating to the missions. Many, including some of considerable importance, were omitted, and more than one would require some correction. Nevertheless, it remains a collection of great value, especially on account of the numerous decisions of the Holy Office that it reproduces and that are not found elsewhere.