SOCIETY OF CULTIVATORS OF CHRISTIAN ARCHAEOLOGY IN ROME. — Established by Fr. Luigi Bruzza and G. B. De Rossi on 12 December 1875 to prepare, train, and encourage, through periodic meetings, friendly discussions, and observations, that group of young beginners—Italians and foreigners—who were turning to the study of Christian antiquities, especially among them the students of the «École française de Rome» and of the German Archaeological Institute. Among others, the young Mariano Armellini, Giacomo Lumbroso, Enrico Stevenson, and Orazio Marucchi took part in its foundation.
The Society’s first headquarters were in a room adjoining the church of S. Carlo a' Catinari; in 1885, in the palace of the Ecclesiastical Academy at the Minerva; thereafter it shared its headquarters with the Pontifical Roman Academy of Archaeology at the Cancelleria; from 1927 to 1935, at the Pontifical Institute of Archaeology; after an interruption of several years, it resumed meeting in February 1944 at the Cancelleria, at the said Pontifical Academy.
The minutes of the meetings from 1875 to 1887 were published in a volume with a preface by O. Marucchi, footnotes by G. B. De Rossi, and an analytical index by A. Grossi Gondi: Resoconto delle conferenze dei c. di a. c. in Roma, dal 1875 al 1887 (Rome 1888).
Fr. L. Bruzza was president of the Society until 1883; then G. B. De Rossi until his death (1894); thereafter, from December 1899, L. Duchesne until 1922; then Orazio Marucchi until 1931; G. P. Kirsch until 1935; from 1944 to 1949 Fr. A. Ferrua; from 1950 E. Josi. The first secretary, from the foundation until 1922, was Orazio Marucchi, followed by E. Josi, V. Capocci, R. Fausti, L. De Bruyne, A. P. Frutaz, and A. Amore.
Even today the Society continues, in accordance with tradition, through its meetings to present new studies and observations, chiefly to give young people the opportunity to set forth their first essays freely, to facilitate scientific relations and contacts with the various foreign institutions, and to communicate news of recent discoveries and new publications.
The minutes of the meetings were included by G. B. De Rossi in his Bulletino di archeologia, which he enriched with his annotations; they were subsequently published until 1922 in the Nuovo bulletino di archeologia cristiana, and thereafter in the Rivista di archeologia cristiana. Enrico Josi