CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA. - One may define, in general, the e. as a clear and distinct presentation of everything that is of interest in the field of letters, sciences and arts.
I. GENERAL NOTIONS
The term derives from the Greek ἐγκύκλιος παιδεία, "education, cyclic formation," or rather "formation that embraces the entire cycle, the complete system of teaching and culture": "iam omnia attingenda, quae Graeci τῆς ἐγκυκλίου παιδείας vocant," says Pliny, explaining precisely the subject developed in his Naturalis historia (I, 11; cf. also Quintilian, Inst. orat., I, 10, 1). And the complete cycle, though varying according to the culture of the times, crystallized in afirst phase, generally, around the seven liberal arts of the trivium and quadrivium. In a second phase, then, aims, criteria, methods and form changed until reaching the modern encyclopedias, which offer a tool of work that is easier, clearer and better organized.
According to content, the encyclopedia is universal if it embraces the whole of human knowledge in a more or less ample manner; special or particular if it treats of a single subject or even of a group of subjects, provided they are related (for example, an encyclopedia of dogmatic or moral theology or of liturgy and the Catholic missions or of Christian archaeology). According to form, it is divided into systematic, when the subject is treated by dividing it according to a logical and organic system (theology, philosophy, etc.); lexical or alphabetical, if instead the subject is divided into articles arranged alphabetically, for easier consultation whatever the subject treated. The lexical encyclopedia must not, however, be confused with dictionaries, which treat not only of language but also of technical and scientific terms; because these limit themselves to giving the definitions of the various senses of a word; whereas for an encyclopedia, even a special one, the word imports a subject to be developed amply, gathering around it all the useful and interesting information that the various fields of knowledge can offer.
One must, and it is very important, consider the encyclopedia also according to the spirit that informs the whole complex of its drafting, to which the judgments given concerning theories, persons and facts are adapted and on which they depend; thus one will have a materialist, Enlightenment, rationalist, communist encyclopedia, etc. In the light of these concepts one may therefore define a Catholic encyclopedia as that which, whether universal or particular, presents the whole of knowledge, or part of it, according to the Catholic spirit (which by no means signifies either partial, or subjective, or, as is commonly said, confessional, nor, still less, sectarian). This Catholic spirit requires, on the one hand, that Catholic doctrine be expounded and followed and, on the other, that in the judgments and in the evaluation of ideas, theories, persons and facts a criterion be followed that is fair, serene, objective, conformable to legitimate moral norms.
To these Catholic encyclopedias, universal and particular, the subject treated here is restricted.
II. SYSTEMATIC CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIAS
The history of these encyclopedias follows in its development the general history of encyclopedias and can be divided into two large, clearly distinct periods: the first embraces those prior to about the middle of the 17th century, the second those after it. The encyclopedias of the first period are all systematic and generally universal; they could, however, rather be called true libraries, aiming to replace recourse to other books, which at that time were not always easy to find in many copies, and formed from original passages, carried over, or intact and slightly modified from the best authors versed in the individual subjects, then put together by the compiler without excessive care to give the whole an organic and homogeneous fusion. Consequently, in these Catholic encyclopedias one finds little or no originality and criticism of sources; yet to them is owed the preservation of many passages of 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, can be said to have formed a true encyclopedia (logic, metaphysics, ethics, politics, rhetoric, biology, natural history, with hints and notices drawn from immediate experience), and the work of M. Porcius Cato that has come down to us in a few fragments, who had compiled a series of treatises on agriculture, rhetoric, medicine and the art of war, to counter the invasion of Greek culture, the most celebrated encyclopedias, collected and well known by Christian scholars, were the Disciplinarum libri IX of M. Terentius Varro, where each book contained the treatment of one subject; the Naturalis historia of Pliny the Elder, in 37 books, divided into 2493 chapters, with the list of the authors from whom the notices have been taken (146 Latin and 327 non-Latin and mostly Greek) and the note that the facts, recorded and taken from them, amount to 20,000 and one might better say to about 40,000; the De nuptiis philologiae et Mercurii of Martianus Capella, from the early years of the 5th century, where the subjects of the seven liberal arts are treated.
On these examples the first Catholic encyclopedias of the early Middle Ages were modeled: Flavius Magnus Aurelius Cassiodorus with his two treatises De institutione divinorum litterarum (PL 90, 1106-50) and De scribis et disciplinis liberalium litterarum (ibid., 1150-1218). Both works were, according to the author, to take the place of a teacher, and the first to introduce the study of Sacred Scripture, the second the study of the seven liberal arts. Then St. Isidore, bishop of Seville, must be considered, with his Etymologiarum seu Originum libri XX (PL 83, 893-914; 84). The work, a true encyclopedia of all the knowledge of his time, enjoyed worldwide fame; the title is due to the fact that every particular treatment begins with the etymology of the word; the content goes from the seven arts to the other profane sciences, then to the sacred ones, then to the customs and habits of peoples, to work tools, games, houses, etc. At bottom it is nothing but a compilation from Cassiodorus, Boethius, Varro, Pliny, Suetonius, etc., and the critical sense leaves much to be desired; nevertheless it preserves for us very many passages of lost works and makes known to us the degree reached by ancient erudition and by the desire that tormented everyone, to know and to learn. Of this work one may call a summary, and in some points a literal copy, that of Rabanus Maurus (d. 856), abbot of Fulda: De universo or De rerum naturis libri XXII (PL 111, 9-61a), presented to Louis the Bavarian in 847. There follows, but of much greater value and completeness, the Speculum maius of Vincent of Beauvais (Strasbourg 1474), divided into three parts: Speculum naturale (52 books, in which the world is described according to the order of creation); Speculum doctrinale (17 books, which treat all scholastic science concerning philosophy, the seven arts, the profane sciences); Speculum historiale (31 books, which recount 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 kingdom of God). Later a fourth part was added, Speculum morale, but it belongs to others and was composed after 1310. This work, truly grandiose, was compiled to satisfy the requests of St. Louis IX, king of France, and required the collaboration of many copyists who presented the extracts indicated for each author (the authors are about 450 and the works consulted 2000); it bears the title of Speculum because, according to the author himself, it embraces everything that is worthy of speculation.
Other compilers of the Middle and late Middle Ages also enjoyed great popularity in this genre of works: Brunetto Latini with his Li livres dou 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 13th century by Bono Giamboni; Honorius of Autun (d. about the middle of the 13th century) with the Imago mundi (PL 172, 119-87); Walter of Metz (d. in the second half of the 13th century) with the Imago du monde; Conrad of Megenberg (d. 1374) with Liber de natura rerum; Alexander Neckam (d. 1357) with De naturis rerum; Thomas of Cantimpré (d. between 1263 and 1280) also with a De naturis rerum; Bartholomew the Englishman, wrongly called of Glanville, Franciscan (d. in the second half of the 13th century) with De proprietatibus rerum (translated into the Mantuan dialect by the notary Vivaldo Belcalzer, at the beginning of the 14th century, with the title of Traitolo de scienza universal); Pietro Berchoire, Benedictine (d. 1362), with the Dictionarius (of 3500 entries) and Reductorium de proprietatibus rerum (imitation of the cited work of the Englishman); Pierre d'Ailly (d. about 1420) with Imago mundi; Gregor Reisch, Carthusian (d. 1525) with Margarita philosophica; Raffaele Maffei (d. 1522) with the Commentariorum rerum urbanorum libri XXXVII (Rome 1506); Giorgio Valla (d. 1499), De expetendis et fugiendis rebus, in 38 books (Venice 1501).
Disregarding other secondary names, some must be remembered in which the title of encyclopedia appears for the first time: J. F. Ringelberg, Lucubrationes vel potius absolutissima verborum (Basel 1541); Paolo Scalich, Encyclopaedia seu Orbis disciplinarum tum sacrarum, tum profanarum (ibid. 1559); M. Martini, Idea methodicae et brevis encyclopaediae sive adumbratio 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 remains the absence of mastery of the subject, the lack of critical sense and of organizing didactic art; they are nevertheless important for the history of the popularization of culture, because not everything in their whole is simple reproduction and repetition of the ancient; there is always, instead, something like a shifting mass that reflects the different assimilation that the compiler has made of it, and the evolution that the various branches of knowledge have undergone in the meantime.
III. ALPHABETICAL CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIAS
From this point (the second half of the 17th century) we enter the second period of the history of encyclopedias, in which the adoption of alphabetical order was to bring greater ease of research and consultation; and not only that, but, precisely for this reason, was also to bring about a transformation of the method of treating the subject matter. There would still be universal encyclopedias, but there was a gradual tendency to distinguish humanistic encyclopedias from scientific ones, until reaching even more specialized encyclopedias for individual subjects; there was also a tendency to divide and subdivide topics, increasing the number of entries; the editor's work kept growing in proportion until it became almost original work; national encyclopedias gained ground and multiplied especially in the 19th century.In arousing and developing these various tendencies, the following cooperated: Francis Bacon of Verulam with his two works: Novum organum (London 1620) and De dignitate et augmentis scientiarum (ibid. 1625), in which he laid the foundations for the classification of the sciences and strengthened the predominance of the idea of the scholar; Louis Moréri, with Le grand dictionnaire historique ou le mélange curieux de l'histoire sacrée et profane (Lyons 1674, which had 20 editions, the last, that of Paris 1759, enlarged into 10 vols.); Giacomo Hoffmann with his Lexikon universale historico-geographico-chronologico-poetico-philologicum (2 vols., Basel 1677); Pierre Bayle, who intended to correct and expand Moréri's work with the Dictionnaire historique et critique (Rotterdam 1697).
At the beginning of the 18th century Vincenzo Maria Caronelli of the Minor Conventuals, cartographer of the Republic of Venice, began to publish his Biblioteca universale sacro-profana, on which he had worked for thirty years and which was to contain 300,000 entries in 45 volumes; but he went no further than the first seven (Venice 1701-1706; A-Caque) with a total of 30,260 articles. However, the true precursors of modern alphabetical encyclopedias were the various authors of the Grosses Vollständiges Universal-Lexikon aller Wissenschaften und Künste, better known under the name of its publisher G. H. Zedler (64 vols., with 4 suppl., Halle-Leipzig 1752-54) and Ephraim Chambers with his Cyclopaedia or universal dictionary of arts and sciences (2 vols., London 1728; enlarged and revised later by A. Rees, 2 vols., ibid. 1778-88; Italian trans. in 4 editions, Venice 1748-49 and 1769, Naples 1748, Genoa 1770-75). From the failed French version there originated, not long afterward, the great Encyclopédie (v.) of D'Alembert.
IV. UNIVERSAL CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA
This and other similar works, which derived from it in great abundance, often to the detriment of readers because of a spirit in various ways and to various degrees hostile to Christianity, spurred Catholics to counter the harm by compiling their own encyclopedias, impartial, complete and conscientious, which would safeguard the interests of their faith. Such universal encyclopedias are not many, but they bear excellent witness to the zeal and the praiseworthy effort of their compilers and publishers.The principal ones are: Allgemeine Realencyclopädie oder Konversations-Lexikon für das katholische Deutschland (13 vols., Regensburg 1846-50; 4th ed., ibid. 1880-90); Herders Konversations-lexikon (5 vols., Freiburg im Breisgau 1853-57; 3rd ed. in 8 vols., ibid. 1901-1908; 4th ed. under the title Der Graue Herder, 12 vols., plus 1 supplementary, ibid. 1931-35); Enciclopedia universal ilustrada europeo-americana, also known by the name of its publishers, the Hijos de J. Espasa (70 vols., Barcelona 1907-30; plus 10 appendix vols., ibid. 1930-33; and furthermore: supplement 1935, ibid. 1936; supplement 1936-39, 2 vols., ibid. 1944; supplement 1940-41, ibid. 1948); De katholieke Encyclopaedia (24 vols., Amsterdam 1933-38); its 2nd ed. is now in progress (so far 3 vols., ibid. 1949); Katerikhu Dajitsa (4 vols., so far I and II, Tokyo 1948-50 in 2nd ed.).
V. PARTICULAR CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIAS
More than in the compilation of universal Catholic encyclopedias, Catholics of the various nations devoted their efforts to producing particular Catholic encyclopedias, which embrace wholly or in part religious and ecclesiastical subject matter, with or without reference to the other subjects that may relate to it.1. The following treat the whole of religious subject matter. Besides the Dictionnaire historique of F. X. Feller (v.), N.-S. Bergier, Dictionnaire théologique (3 vols., Paris 1788), more intent on combating the Enlightenment thinkers and the Encyclopedists than on positively developing the foundations of the Faith; it also has gaps, imprecisions 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., ibid. 1878-79), a concise work and still useful; J. P. Migne, Encyclopédie théologique (52 vols., Paris 1944-59); Nouvelle encyclopédie théologique (53 vols., ibid. 1851-59); Troisième et dernière encyclopédie théologique (66 vols., ibid. 1855-66); in all 90 dictionaries, in 171 vols., of which the individual ones treat alphabetically a branch of theology: dogma, liturgy, heresies, archaeology, missions, conversions, councils, cardinals, religious orders and knighthoods, objections against religion, etc.; a collection of much material not always well sifted 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, ibid. 1878-79); in many respects insufficient and unsifted, the work still retains a quite particular interest for the ecclesiastical institutions, events, personages and publications of the first half of the 19th century; H. Wetzer-B. Welte, Kirchenlexikon (13 vols., Freiburg im Br. 1847-60; 2nd ed. emended and updated by Cardinal J. Hergenröther and F. Kaulen, 12 vols., ibid. 1880-91, plus 1 vol. of index, ibid. 1903); M. Buchberger, Kirchliches Handlexikon (2 vols., Munich 1907-12) and Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche (10 vols., Freiburg im Br. 1930-38); Lessico ecclesiastico illustrato (4 vols., Milan 1901-1906); the work now appears in a new edition, which should rather be called a complete reworking and notable enlargement, in A. Bernareggi, Enciclopedia ecclesiastica (in the course of publication; so far 3 vols., Milan-Turin 1942-49); The catholic encyclopaedia (15 vols., New York 1907-12, plus 1 vol. of index, ibid. 1914, and 1 vol. of supplement, ibid. 1922); J. Bricout, Dictionnaire pratique des connaissances religieuses (6 vols., Paris 1925-28, plus 1 supplem. vol. 1929-33, ibid. 1933); G. Jacquemet, Catholicisme, hier, aujourd'hui, demain (in progress; so far 2 vols., Paris 1948-50); Enciclopedia de la Religión Católica, Barcelona 1949 (vol. 1 in progress).
THE PRESENT CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA
For Italy, however, there was still lacking an e. c. that could stand on a par with those mentioned for the various nations. This gap was to be filled by Father Abbot Giuseppe Ricciotti of the Canons Regular of the Lateran and Monsignor Pietro Barbieri of the Sacred Congregation of the Sacraments, who set about carrying out their plan in 1939, in the midst of the war period, gathering the editors and contributors, preparing the card index, assigning and reviewing the entries for the first letters. The circumstances of the time and the sheer size of the work, however, led them to think of more organic measures truly adequate to the purpose. The idea was taken up again at the end of the war, and so that there might be no lack of organic unity of effort and direction, and of the means necessary for the purpose, a Committee of persons of particular competence was set up, which, having appointed the director, the assistant directors and the members of the editorial staff, established the criteria and laid down the rules for the execution of the work. Begun in 1947, the work proceeded and proceeds rapidly and under supervision, and has so far presented the first five volumes (Vatican City 1948-50).2. They treat specific fields of religious subject matter: 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 index vol., ibid. 1931); Dictionnaire de théologie catholique, edited by A. Vacant, E. Mangerot, E. Amann (in progress; so far 25 tomes, each in 2 vols., ibid. 1902-50); b) Church history and geo-
graphy: Dictionnaire d'histoire et de géographie ecclésiastique, edited by A. Baudrillart, A. De Meyer, E. von Cauwenbergh (in progress; so 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; so 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 Br. 1895-1908); Dictionnaire d'archéologie chrétienne et de liturgie, edited by F. Cabrel and H. Leclercq (in progress; so far 14 tomes, each in 2 vols., Paris 1905-50); T. Klauser, Reallexikon für Antike und Christentum (in progress, so 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; so far 4 vols., and 2 fascicles, Paris 1933-39); H. Sacher, Staatslexikon, 5th ed., 5 vols., Freiburg im Br. 1926-32). O. von Nell-Breuning and H. Sacher, Wörterbuch der Politik (in progress, so far 4 fascicles, which treat a related group of entries while awaiting 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 Br. 1913-17; Lexikon der Pädagogik der Gegenwart, edited by J. Spieler (2 vols., ibid. 1930-32).
A particular mention is deserved, for the excellent services they can render in study and in religious controversies, also by the following e. of religious subject matter, but not Catholic: a) of Protestant subject matter: 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, ibid. 1909, plus 2 supplementary vols., ibid. 1913); Die Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart, ed. edited by F. M. Schiele (5 vols., Tübingen 1909-13), 2nd ed. thoroughly revised, edited by H. Gunkel and L. Zacharnack (5 vols., ibid. 1927-31; plus 1 index vol., ibid. 1932); Encyclopedia of religion and ethics, edited by J. Hastings (12 vols., London-New York 1908-21; plus 1 index vol., ibid. 1926); b) of Jewish subject matter: 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; so far 10 vols., Berlin 1928-34); c) of Islamic subject matter: Encyclopédie de l'Islam (4 vols., Paris 1913-36; plus 1 supplementary vol., ibid. 1938).
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