History of The Franciscan Institute Library

HISTORY OF THE FRANCISCAN INSTITUTE LIBRARY One of the primary purposes of writing history, along with the recording of events, is the recording of the names and actions of people so that contributions they have made to various fields of endeavor will be remembered. The early history of the Franciscan Institute Library revolves around the name of Fr. Mathias Faust (1879-1956). Fr. Mathias was responsible for seeing to the procurement of a large portion of the present day Institute collection. This includes the procurement of the rare books and Franciscana materials which had been at Holy Name College in Washington, D.C, but which later became part of the Institute collection. Fr. Mathias oversaw the putting together of both of these collections by the early years of the 1950s. Even now these materials easily comprise over 60% of the library of the Institute. It has been accurately noted concerning Fr. Mathias: Although burdened throughout his life with responsible administrative positions, he always retained an active interest in Franciscan learning and has made every effort to promote research scholarship among the friars. Fr. Mathias was born in Oberimbach, Germany (near Fulda) in 1879. His early days of study were at the Collegium Urbanum Fuldense. In 1892 he entered the Seraphic Seminary of St. Louis in 3 Harreveld, Holland. In 1896 he sailed for the United States and it 4 was in Paterson, N.J. that he entered the Order making his simple Two lengthy biographical notices can be found in Provincial Annals (Province of the Most Holy Name of Jesus). The first appeared in 6 (1947): 73-92, at the time of his appointment as procurator general. The second was an obituary which contains a rather complete chronology, in 13 (1956): 236-43. Other obituaries appeared in Acta Ordinis Fratrum Minorum 75 (1956): 247-48 and Thuringia Franciscana 11 (1956): 154-58. 2 Franciscan Studies 14 (1954): 333. 3 This seminary was primarily for candidates from the province of the Holy Cross (Saxony) but also accepted candidates from the province of St. Elizabeth (Thuringia). St. Bonaventure Monastery (Paterson, NJ) was at that time part of the custody of St. Elizabeth, dependent on the province of the same name. The province of the Holy Name was formed five years later in 1901. 70PAUL J. SPAETH profession on December 25. After studying philosophy at St.Stephen's Monastery in Croghan, N.Y., he made his solemn profession in 1901. He continued his studies both at Paterson and at Catholic University in Washington, D.C. culminating in his ordination to the priesthood in 1906. Almost at once Fr. Mathias found himself holding a long line of important administrative positions within the province and within the Order as a whole. He was master of novices (1908-1919), minister provincial (1919-1925, 1931-1937), guardian (1925-1928), provincial custos (1928-1931, 1937-1942), delegate general for North and Central America and adjacent islands (1942-1946), procurator general for the whole Order (1946-1951) and delegate general for American commissariats (1952-1956). Along with these offices Fr. Mathias was also active in parish work from time to time, visited the Chinese missions in 1936 and was visitor general no less than nine times. In spite of all these activities Fr. Mathias took the utmost interest in the promotion of learning and research among Franciscans in the United States. It was Fr. Mathias who acted as spokesman for the provincials in this country to applaud the first meeting of the Franciscan Educational Conference in 1919. In regard to that he writes, "There has not been, in recent years, an event which has given such genuine pleasure and hopeful satisfaction to the sons of St. Francis in this country . . . ." During his tenure as provincial and later as delegate general he saw to the establishment and equipping of three major research and study facilities in the province; namely, Holy Name College, The Franciscan Institute and The Academy of American Franciscan History. He felt that as the Franciscan apostolate in this country grew and the ties to Europe became less and less, there was a pressing need to foster research centers in America. He never envisioned that American Franciscans would...