The Irish Jesuit Archives has begun a new online catalogue, starting with the catalogue of St Stanislaus College, Tullabeg, Offaly. Catalogues for two other collections are also now available: one for the Waterford-born Jesuit and Irish language scholar Michael McGrath (1872-1946), and another on the Isle of Man Mission (1826-1837). Further collections will be added as time permits.
The project is the result of a collaboration between the Irish Jesuit Archives and Offaly History. It uses open source application AtoM. To make archival material discoverable online, the Irish Jesuit Archives’ catalogue allows users to search for names or keywords to find particular records and to browse by collection, name, subject, and place.
The mission of the Irish Jesuit Archives is to record the challenges, aspirations, and experiences of Irish Jesuits, documenting their successes and failures since 1575. Pope Francis, in addressing officials of the Vatican Secret Archives in 2019, compared archival work “to the cultivation of a majestic tree,” with archivists tending to the soil and roots, “in such a way that even the greenest and youngest branches of the tree may draw good sap for their future growth.” This archival endeavor is often “carried out in silence and far from clamor,” however, this online catalogue can help share the connected histories of the Society of Jesus.
The Irish Jesuit Archives is an institutional partner in the Jesuit Online Bibliography.