Guide to Documents Relating to French and British North America in ...

Congregation, both the original documents and the proceedings were recorded in Congregazioni
Particolari. If discussed in a Congresso, no proceedings were recorded, but in every case a reply was
prepared, and the copy of this reply filed in Lettere.
Due to the above procedure, Lettere may be said to provide a key to the understanding of
Propaganda and its archives even better than Acta, in that Acta reflects only the documentary material
of SOCG, while Lettere reflects SOCG and all other series.
Most letters were written by Propaganda officials under the stimulus of incoming documents that
raised questions or simply new interests. In this instance, cross-references with other series (Acta,
SOCG, Congressi, Udienze, etc.) are likely to exist. In some cases Propaganda officials took the
initiative, and wrote letters that apparently did not spring from matters already under discussion. In this
second instance, obviously, no cross-references with other series exist.
Most volumes of Lettere contain an index or summary of contents at the end of the volume
itself. Some (vols. 32-39, 41-42, 44-52, 253, 257, 273-278), however, do not. There is also a good
index to the letters written between 1750 and 1755. 10
12. CONGRESSI
The Congressi series contains the original documents received by Propaganda and dealt with in
a Congresso. Congressi preserves letters, memoranda, petitions, short notes and documents meant for
the Congregation's internal use. They came from individuals, institutions, missionaries, vicars apostolic,
bishops, nuncios, cardinals, pontifical agents around the world and secret agents active in foreign lands.
As such, they do not differ substantially from the documents in SOCG. The reason why an incoming
document was filed under SOCG (and discussed in a General Congregation) or under Congressi (and
discussed in a Congresso) depended solely on the importance that the receiver (usually the secretary
or the prefect) attached to it. Obviously, documents considered trivial at the time may now be of great
historical significance.
Apparently, Congressi was not initiated at the beginnings of Propaganda. Although some subseries
have 1622 as their starting year, most of them seem to start in the middle of the seventeenth
century. While the prefect and the secretary met in Congresso before that time, the series is likely to
have been officialized only around 1668, when SOCG was reformed and organized chronologically
rather than geographically.
All the documents are bound in 1,451volumes, 129 of which were consulted for the purpose of
the Calendar. Congressi is divided into two parts and many sub-series. The subdivision into two parts
has little practical significance. In general, sub-series of the first part deal with mission territories, while
sub-series of the second part deal with the administration of Propaganda or with its institutes (colleges,
examinations of missionaries, staff, finances, etc.). This arrangement is rather irregular and cannot be
wholly trusted.
Much more important is the division into sub-series, according to the country of origin of the
documents or to the subject treated. Within each sub-series, volumes are filed according to a numerical
and roughly chronological sequence. Many sub-series are followed by a number of miscellaneous
volumes, which contain documents relating to the same geographical area or to the same matter treated
in the sub-series, but are usually undated. The volumes of Congressi have no indices or tables of
contents.
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