Encyclicals

ENCICLICHE: V. LETTERE PONTIFICIE.

CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA. – In general, an e. may be defined as a clear and distinct presentation of everything pertaining to the fields of letters, the sciences, and the arts.

I. GENERAL NOTIONS

The term derives from the Greek ἐγκύκλιος πατδεία, “cyclical education, formation,” or rather “formation embracing the entire cycle, the complete system of instruction and culture”: “iam omnia attingenda, quae Graeci τῆς ἐγκυκλίου πατδείας vocant,” says Pliny, explaining precisely the subject treated in his Naturalis historia (I, 11; cf. also Quintilian, Inst. orat., I, 10, 1). And the complete cycle, although varying according to the culture of the times, crystallized in a

first phase, generally, around the seven liberal arts of the trivium and quadrivium. In a second phase, however, aims, criteria, methods, and form changed, eventually leading to the modern e., which offer a more convenient, clearer, and better-organized working instrument.

According to its content, the e. is universal if it embraces the whole of human knowledge, more or less broadly; special or particular if it deals either with a single subject or with a group of subjects, provided that they are related (e.g., an e. of dogmatic or moral theology, or of liturgy and the Catholic missions, or of Christian archaeology). According to its form, it is divided into systematic, when the material is treated by dividing it according to a logical and organic system (theology, philosophy, etc.); lexical or alphabetical, when instead the material is divided into alphabetically arranged articles, for easier consultation whatever the subject treated. The lexical e. must not, however, be confused with dictionaries, which deal not only with language but also with technical and scientific terms; for these are limited to giving the definitions of the various meanings of a word, whereas in an e., even a special one, the word denotes a subject to be developed at length, gathering around it all the useful and interesting information that the various fields of knowledge can offer.

The e. must also be considered—and this is very important—in terms of the spirit informing the entire composition of the work, to which the judgments concerning theories, persons, and events are adapted and upon which they depend; thus one will have a materialist, Enlightenment, rationalist, communist e., etc. In the light of these concepts, therefore, one may define as Catholic e. that which, whether universal or particular, presents all knowledge, or part of it, according to the Catholic spirit (which in no way means partial, subjective, or, as it is commonly called, confessional, still less sectarian). This Catholic spirit requires, on the one hand, that Catholic doctrine be expounded and followed and, on the other, that in judging and evaluating ideas, theories, persons, and events, an equitable, dispassionate, objective criterion be followed, in conformity with legitimate moral norms.

The subject treated here is restricted to these Catholic e., universal and particular.

II. SYSTEMATIC CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIAS

The history of these works follows, in its development, the general history of encyclopedias and may be divided into two clearly distinct major periods: the first embraces those preceding approximately the middle of the seventeenth century, the second those that came afterward. The encyclopedias of the first period are all systematic and generally universal; they might, however, more properly be called veritable libraries, intended to replace recourse to other books, which were not always easy to find in numerous copies at that time, and composed of original passages, transferred either intact or with slight modifications from the best authors versed in the individual subjects, then assembled by the compiler without excessive concern to give the whole an organic and homogeneous unity. Consequently, these Catholic encyclopedias display little or no originality or criticism of their sources; nevertheless, they deserve credit for preserving many passages by ancient authors whose works have been lost.

In their work the compilers followed the example of the Latin and Greek classics. Leaving aside Aristotle, who, with all his works, may be said to have constituted a true encyclopedia (logic, metaphysics, ethics, politics, rhetoric, biology, natural history, with observations and information drawn from immediate experience), and the work of M. Porcio Catone, which has come down to us in only a few fragments and who had compiled a series of treatises on agriculture, rhetoric, medicine, and the art of war in opposition to the invasion of Greek culture, the most celebrated encyclopedias, collected and well known to Christian scholars, were the Disciplinarum libri IX of M. Terenzio Varrone, in which each book contained a treatment of one subject; Pliny the Elder’s Naturalis historia, in 37 books divided into 2493 chapters, with a list of the authors from whom the information had been taken (146 Latin and 327 non-Latin, mostly Greek), and the assertion that the facts recorded and drawn from them amount to 20,000—or, more accurately, approximately 40,000; and the De nuptiis philologiae et Mercurii of Marziano Capella, from the early years of the fifth century, in which the subjects of the seven liberal arts are treated.

The first Catholic encyclopedias of the early Middle Ages followed these examples: Flavio Magno Aurelio Cassiodoro, with his two treatises De institutione divinorum litterarum (PL 90, 1106-50) and De scribus et disciplinis liberalium litterarum (ibid., 1150-1218). According to the author, both works were to take the place of a teacher: the first was to introduce the reader to the study of Sacred Scripture, and the second to the study of the seven liberal arts. Then there is St. Isidore, bishop of Seville, with his Etymologiorum seu Originum libri XX (PL 83, 893-914; 84). This work, a true encyclopedia of all the knowledge of its time, enjoyed worldwide fame; its title derives from the fact that each particular treatment begins with the etymology of the term; its contents range from the seven arts to the other secular sciences, then to the sacred sciences, and afterward to the usages and customs of peoples, tools of work, games, houses, and so forth. Ultimately, it is merely a compilation from Cassiodorus, Boethius, Varro, Pliny, Suetonius, and others, and its critical sense leaves much to be desired; nevertheless, it preserves a great many passages from lost works and enables us to understand the level reached by ancient erudition and by the desire for knowledge and learning that troubled everyone. The work of Babano Mauro (d. 856), abbot of Fulda, may be described as a summary of this work and, in certain places, a literal copy of it: De universo or De rerum naturis libri XXII (PL 111, 9-61a), presented to Ludovico il Bavaro in 847. It was followed, though of much greater value and completeness, by the Speculum mainis of Vincenzo di Beauvais (Strasbourg 1474), divided into three parts: Speculum naturale (52 books, describing the world according to the order of creation); Speculum doctrinale (17 books, treating the whole of scholastic science concerning philosophy, the seven arts, and the secular sciences); Speculum historiare (31 books, recounting the history of the world from creation to 1234, including also the end of the world in 2376, the reign of the Antichrist, the Last Judgment, and the triumphant reign of God). A fourth part, Speculum morale, was added later, but it belongs to another author and was composed after 1310. This truly grandiose work was compiled to satisfy the requests of s. Luigi IX, king of France, and required the collaboration of many copyists who were to present the excerpts indicated for each author (there are approximately 450 authors and 2000 works consulted); it bears the title Speculum because, according to the author himself, it embraces everything worthy of contemplation.

Other compilers of the high and late Middle Ages also enjoyed great popularity in this genre of work: Brunetto Latini with his Li libres don Tresor (written between 1260 and 1267, during his exile in France), in three books with 413 chapters, translated into Italian at the end of the same thirteenth century by Bono Giamboni; Onorio di Autun (d. approximately in the middle of the thirteenth century) with the Imago mundi (PL 172, 119-87); Gualtieri di Meta (d. in the second half of the thirteenth century) with the Imago du monde; Corrado di Megenberg (d. 1374) with Liber de natura rerum; Alessandro Neckam (d. 1357) with De naturis rerum; Tommaso di Cantimpréz (d. between 1263 and 1280), likewise with a De naturis rerum; Bartolomeo Anglico, incorrectly called of Glanvilla, a Franciscan (d. in the second half of the thirteenth century), with De proprietatibus rerum (translated into Mantuan by the notary Vivaldo Belcalzer at the beginning of the fourteenth century, under the title Traitolo de scienza universal); Pietro Berchoire, a Benedictine (d. 1362), with the Dictionarius (of 3500 entries) and Reductorium de proprietatibus rerum (an imitation of the work by Anglico cited above); Pietro d’Ailly (d. approximately 1420) with Imago mundi; the Carthusian Gregorio Reisch (d. 1525) with Margarita philosophica; Raffaele Maffei (d. 1522) with the Commentariorum rerum Urbanorum libri XXXVII (Rome 1506); and Giorgio Valla (d. 1499), De expetendis et Jugiendis rebus, in 38 books (Venice 1501).

Leaving aside other secondary names, several should be recalled in whose works the title of encyclopedia appears for the first time: J. F. Ringelberg, Lucubrationen vel potius absolutissima verborantibus (Basel 1541); Paolo Scalich, Encyclopaedia seu Orbis disciplinarum tum caerarum, tum profanarum (ibid. 1559); M. Martini, Idea methodicae et brevis encyclopaediae sive adumbratis universitatis (Herborn 1606); J. H. Alsted, Scientiarum omnium encyclopaediae tomi VII (ibid. 1630), an expanded reworking of the Cursus philosophici encyclopaedia (ibid. 1620). In all these works, however, there persists a lack of mastery of the subject matter, a lack of critical sense, and a lack of organizing pedagogical skill; they nevertheless have importance for the history of the popularization of culture, because not everything in their entirety is a simple reproduction and repetition of the earlier material; there is always, rather, a changing mass that reflects the compiler’s differing assimilation of it and the evolution that the various bodies of knowledge had meanwhile undergone.

III. ALPHABETICAL ENCYCLOPEDIAS

From this point (the second half of the seventeenth century), the second period in the history of encyclopedias begins, in which the adoption of alphabetical order was to make searching and consultation easier; not only that, but, precisely for this reason, it also brought about a transformation in the method of treating the subject matter. There were still universal encyclopedias, but little by little there was a tendency to distinguish humanistic encyclopedias from scientific ones, leading eventually to encyclopedias that were even more specialized in individual fields; there was likewise a tendency to divide and subdivide the subjects, increasing the number of entries; the editor’s work grew steadily in scope until it became almost entirely original work; national encyclopedias took hold and multiplied, especially in the nineteenth century.

The following contributed to arousing and developing these various tendencies: Francesco Bacone di Verulamio, with his two works, Novum organum (London 1620) and De dignitate et augmentati scimitarum (ibid. 1625), in which he laid the foundations for the classification of the sciences and strengthened the predominance of the idea of the learned man; Luigi Morèri, with Le grand dictionnaire historique ou le mélange curieux de l'histoire sacrée et profane (Lyons 1674, which went through 20 editions, the last being the Paris edition of 1759, enlarged to 10 volumes); Giacomo Hoffmann, with Il Lexikon universale historico-geographico-chronologico-poetico-philologicum (2 vols., Basel 1677); and Pietro Bayle, who intended to correct and enlarge Morèri’s work with the Dictionnaire historique et critique (Rotterdam 1697).

At the beginning of the eighteenth century, Vincenzo Maria Caronelli of the Friars Minor Conventual, a cartographer of the Republic of Venice, began publishing his Biblioteca universale sacro-profana, on which he had worked for thirty years and which was intended to contain 300,000 entries in 45 volumes; but it did not go beyond the first seven (Venice 1701–1706; A–Caque), with a total of 30,260 articles. The true precursors of modern alphabetical encyclopedias, however, were the various authors of the Graue Vollständiges Universat-lexikon aller Wissenschaften und Künste, better known by the name of its publisher, G. H. Zedler (64 vols., with 4 supplements, Halle–Leipzig 1752–54), and Efraim Chambers, with his Cyclopaedia or universal dictionary of arts and sciences (2 vols., London 1728; later enlarged and revised by A. Rees, 2 vols., ibid. 1778–88; Italian translation in 4 editions, Venice 1748–49 and 1769, Naples 1748, Genoa 1770–75). The failed French version gave rise, not long afterward, Encyclopédie (v.) of D’Alembert.

IV. UNIVERSAL CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIAS

This and other similar works, which arose from it in great numbers, often to the detriment of readers because of a spirit hostile to Christianity in different ways and to different degrees, stimulated Catholics to combat the evil by compiling their own encyclopedias, impartial, complete, and conscientious, which would safeguard the interests of their faith. Such universal encyclopedias are not numerous, but they bear excellent witness to the zeal and commendable effort of their compilers and publishers.

The principal ones are: Allgemeine Realencyclopädie oder Konversations-Lexikon für das katholische Deutschland (13 vols., Rathbona 1846–50; 4th ed., there 1880–90); Herders Konversations-lexikon (5 vols., Friburgo in Br. 1853–57; 3rd ed. in 8 vols., there 1901–1908; 4th ed. under the title Der Graue Herder, 12 vols., plus 1 supplementary volume, there 1931–35); Enciclopedia universal illustrada europeo-americana, also known by the name of its publishers, the Hijos de J. Espasa (70 vols., Barcellona 1907–30; plus 10 supplementary vols., there 1930–33; and also: supplement 1935, there 1936; supplement 1936–39, 2 vols., there 1944; supplement 1940–41, there 1948); De katholische Encyclopaedia (24 vols., Amsterdam 1933–38); the 2nd ed. is now in progress (so far 3 vols., there 1949); Katerikhu Dajitsa (4 vols., so far I and II, Tokyo 1948–50 in its 2nd ed.).
V. E. C. PARTICOLARI. — More than in the compilation of universal Catholic encyclopedias, Catholics of the various nations devoted their efforts to producing particular encyclopedias, which embrace all or part of religious and ecclesiastical subject matter, with or without reference to other subjects that may be related to II.
1. The following treat the whole of religious subject matter. In addition to the Dictionnaire historique of F. X. Feller (v.), N.-S. Bergier, Dictionnaire théologique (3 vols., Paris 1788), aimed more at combating the Enlightenment thinkers and encyclopedists than at positively developing the foundations of the Faith; it also contains omissions, inaccuracies, and concessions to Gallicanism; V. D’Avino, E. dell’ecclesiastico (4 vols., Naples 1843-48; 2nd ed., modeled on the Kirchenlexikon, Turin 1863-70; 3rd ed., there 1878-79), a concise and still useful work; J. P. Migne, Encyclopédie théologique (52 vols., Paris 1944-59); Nouvelle encyclopédie théologique (53 vols., there 1851-59); Troisième et dernière encyclopédie théologique (66 vols., there 1855-66); altogether 90 dictionaries, in 171 volumes, each of which treats alphabetically a branch of theology: dogma, liturgy, heresy, archaeology, missions, conversions, councils, cardinals, religious and chivalric orders, objections against religion, etc.; a collection of much material, not always adequately assessed and assimilated; G. Moroni, Dizionario di erudizione storico-ecclesiastica da s. Pietro ai nostri giorni (103 vols., Venice 1840-61, plus 6 vols. of indexes, there 1878-79); insufficient and inadequately assessed in many respects, the work nevertheless retains a particular interest for ecclesiastical institutions, events, figures, and publications of the first half of the 19th century; H. Wetzer-B. Welte, Kirchenlexikon (13 vols., Freiburg im Breisgau 1847-60; 2nd ed., revised and updated by Card. J. Hergenröther and F. Kaulen, 12 vols., there 1880-91, plus 1 vol. of index, there 1903); M. Buchberger, Kirchliches Handlexikon (2 vols., Munich 1907-12) and Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche (10 vols., Freiburg im Breisgau 1930-38); Lessico ecclesiastico illustrato (4 vols., Milan 1901-1906); the work is now appearing in a new edition, which should rather be called a complete reworking and considerable expansion, in A. Bernareggi, Enciclopedia ecclesiastica (publication in progress; so far 3 vols., Milan-Turin 1942-49); The catholic encyclopaedia (15 vols., New York 1907-12, plus 1 vol. of index, there 1914, and 1 vol. of supplement, there 1922); J. Bricout, Dictionnaire pratique des connaissances religieuses (6 vols., Paris 1925-28, plus 1 vol. of supplement 1929-33, there 1933); G. Jacquemet, Catholicisme, hier, aujourd'hui, demain (in progress; so far 2 vols., Paris 1948-50); Enciclopedia de la Religion Católica, Barcelona 1949 (vol. 1 in progress).
THE PRESENT CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA — For Italy, however, there was still no Catholic encyclopedia capable of standing on an equal footing with those mentioned for the various nations. Father Giuseppe Ricciotti, O.S.B., of the Lateran Canons Regular, and Monsignor Pietro Barbieri of the Sacred Congregation of the Sacraments wished to remedy this deficiency. They set about implementing their plan in 1939, in the midst of the war, assembling the editors and collaborators, preparing the card index, and assigning and evaluating the entries for the initial letters. The circumstances of the time and the magnitude of the work, however, led them to consider measures that were more systematic and truly adequate to the purpose. The idea was taken up again at the end of the war, and, so that unity of effort and direction and the means necessary for the undertaking would not be lacking, a Committee of persons with particular expertise was established. After appointing the director, the vice-directors, and the members of the editorial staff, it established the criteria and laid down the rules for carrying out the work. Begun in 1947, the work proceeded and continues to proceed rapidly and under supervision, and so far has produced the first five volumes (Vatican City 1948–50).

2. Certain fields within religious subject matter are covered by the following works: a) theology: G. B. Jaugey, Dictionnaire apologétique de la Foi catholique (Paris 1888); 4th ed., edited by Father Adhémar d’Alès (4 vols., ibid. 1911–22; plus 1 volume of indexes, ibid. 1931); Dictionnaire de théologie catholique, edited by A. Vacant, E. Mangerot, E. Amann (in progress; thus far 25 tomes, each in 2 vols., ibid. 1902–50); b) ecclesiastical history and geography: Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie ecclésiastique, edited by A. Baudrillart, A. De Meyer, E. von Cauwenbergh (in progress; thus far 11 vols., ibid. 1912–1949); c) canon law: Dictionnaire de Droit canonique, edited by A. Villien, E. Magnin, A. Amanieu, R. Naa (in progress; thus far 4 vols., ibid. 1935–49); d) Christian archaeology: J. A. Martigny, Dictionnaire des antiquités chrétiennes (ibid. 1855; 3rd ed. ibid. 1890); F. X. Kraus, Real-Encyclopädie der christlichen Altertümer (2 vols., Freiburg im Breisgau 1895–1908); Dictionnaire d'archéologie chrétienne et de liturgie, edited by F. Cabrel and H. Leclercq (in progress; thus far 14 tomes, each in 2 vols., Paris 1905–50); T. Klauser, Reallexikon für Antike und Christentum (in progress, thus far 5 fascicles, Leipzig 1942); e) Sacred Scripture: V. LIBBIA (II, col. 1576); f) sociology: Dictionnaire de sociologie, edited by J. Bricout, P. Mainage, and G. Jacquemet (suspended; thus far 4 vols. and 2 fascicles, Paris 1933–39); H. Sacher, Staatslexikon, 5th ed., 5 vols., Freiburg im Breisgau 1926–32). O. von Nell-Breuning and H. Sacher, Wörterbuch der Politik (in progress, thus far 4 fascicles, dealing with a related group of entries pending the compilation of the dictionary: Zur christlichen Gesellschaftslehre; Zur christlichen Staatslehre; Zur sozialen Frage; Zur Wirtschaftsdordnung, ibid. 1948–49); g) pedagogy: Lexikon der Pädagogik, edited by E. M. Roloff (5 vols., Freiburg im Breisgau 1913–17); Lexikon der Pädagogik der Gegenwart, edited by J. Spieler (2 vols., ibid. 1930–32).

Particular mention should also be made, for the excellent services they can provide in the study of and controversies over religion, of the following encyclopedias on religious subjects, though non-Catholic:

a) on Protestant subjects: Realencyklopädie für protestantische Theologie und Kirche, edited by J. J. Herzog (21 vols., Leipzig 1853–68), 3rd ed., edited by A. Hauch (21 vols., ibid. 1896–1908; plus 1 index volume, ibid. 1909, and 2 volumes of additions, ibid. 1913); Die Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart, edited by F. M. Schiele (5 vols., Tübingen 1909–13), 2nd revised ed. edited by H. Gunkel and L. Zacharnack (5 vols., ibid. 1927–31; plus 1 index volume, ibid. 1932); Encyclopedia of religion and ethics, edited by J. Hastings (12 vols., London–New York 1908–21; plus 1 index volume, ibid. 1926); b) on Jewish subjects: The Jewish encyclopädie, edited by J. Singer (4 vols., New York–London 1901–1906); Jüdisches Lexikon, edited by G. Herlitz and B. Kirschner (5 vols., Berlin 1927–30); Encyclopaedia Judaica, Das Judentum in Geschichte und Gegenwart, edited by J. Klatzin and J. Ellbogen (in the course of publication; thus far 10 vols., Berlin 1928–34); c) on Islamic subjects: Encyclopédie de l'Islam (4 vols., Paris 1913–36; plus 1 volume of supplements, ibid. 1938).