The General Archives represent the historical memory of the Order, from the XVI century to the present day, and contain a collection of written testimonies to its activity.

The Historic Archive is housed in Rome, at the International College of St Lawrence of Brindisi on the Ring Road (GRA) and its contents up until the year1946 are open for consultation. Documents from 1946 to 1988 are on the same site, while the current archives of the past 15 years (from 1988 onwards) are kept at the General Curia at Via Piemonte 70, 00187 Rome. This is in order to facilitate consultation by the Order’s central offices and secretaries.

The General Archives have various collections, of which the principal ones are:

• a collection of over 100 parchments;
• several volumes of Acta Ordinis and various registers;
• documents relating to the administration and government of the Order (the largest section of the Archives);
• about a thousand codices in paper and parchment;
• an iconographical section, various microfilms, some ancient seals and other varied material.

Material dating back to the first 100 years of the Order’s history is very limited, and also generally very sparse and fragmentary for the subsequent hundred years. From the second half of the nineteenth century onwards there is a regular flow of material and while not absolutely complete it does present certain richness, especially as a result of the suppression of the religious Orders in various countries.

Individual provinces/circumscriptions/missions of the Order have their own archives and usually preserve a wide variety of historical material about their growth and legislation, and about individual friars, houses institutions and social and charitable apostolates.

The General Archivist, Br. Vincenzo Criscuolo, can be reached by letter at:

C.P. 18382,
G.R.A. km 65.050,
00163 Roma

e-mail vcriscuolo@ofmcap.org

fax +39 06 660 525 32.