WELT-BOTT, DER NEUE. - A collection of missionary letters and reports, published in the period 1726-61 and constituting 5 large tomes, divided into 9 volumes, comprising 40 parts, each of which contains from 100 to 120 booklets, numbered progressively, with their own title, preface and index.
The collection was begun in 1726 by Fr. J. Stöcklein (v.), who started by translating the Lettres édifiantes et curieuses (v.) of the French Jesuits, to which were added the Nouveaux mémoires des missions de la Compagnie de Jésus dans le Levant, published in Paris from 1715. However, the versions offered in German have a particular value, because they were made exactly from the original letters, whereas the French editors had introduced heavy abridgements and reworkings (cf. T. Chaney, Vie du p. Roman Hinderer de la C.d.J., Tournai 1889, p. 12). To these letters, many others were added, received directly from the missionaries, German Jesuits scattered throughout all the missions, with whom the editor had close relations; nor are the letters reproduced all from his confreres, but also from members of other religious Orders and from laypeople. The immense material was chosen and grouped according to a pre-established order. Noteworthy are the careful attention to historical and critical accuracy, on account of which letters lacking the heading, the author's signature, the date: day, month, year, place, were set aside; the vividness of the descriptions, the geographical explanations, the style and language, the edification (procured however without exaggerations or remarks that smacked of the marvellous and of reworking), the numerous maps and copper plates.
At the death of Fr. Stöcklein, 3 tomes in 5 volumes and 24 parts had been published, all issued at Augsburg-Graz: I, parts 1-8 (1726; 2nd ed. 1729); II, I, parts 9-11 (1727; 2nd ed. 1729); III, II, parts 12-16 (1729); III, I, parts 17-20 (1732); III, II, parts 21-24 (posthumous, edited by Fr. Karl Mayer, 1736). Fr. Stöcklein's successors generally adhered to his programme, and they did not lack material, because the German Jesuits in mission were continually increasing in number and extending their labours into new missions. Tomes IV and V were published in Vienna. Fr. Pietro Probst published vol. IV, I, parts 25-28 (1748); Fr. Franz Keller, vol. IV, II, parts 29-32 (1755); V, I, parts 33-36 (1758); Fr. Franz Xaver Socher, V, II, parts 37-40 (1761); of this last volume only one copy is known, in the possession of private individuals in Vienna (cf. A. Våth, s.v. in L. Koch, Jesuiten Lexikon, Paderborn 1934, col. 1838).
The collection, a precious source of information, read with avidity on its appearance in all the convents and at the courts of princes and of the emperor, can now be found complete only with difficulty.
Bibliography3 works
Celestino Testore