The Archives is the center of the historical memory of the Sisters of Charity, a historical jewel!
On Friday, July 21, 2023, the participants of Charism Month were guided in the discovery of the Historical Archives by Laura Caroselli, an archivist who is responsible for the study and preservation of the documents contained within this ancient repository of the history of their identity.
The Historical Archive of the Sisters of Charity holds centuries of history, and through its consultation we derive a snapshot of how the Institute has operated in the past. The General Council’s plan is, in fact, both to preserve the documents but also to make them available for consultation.
Some of the most significant documents, secured through temperature and humidity control, could be viewed by the Sisters of Charism Month. With a great emotion.
The Italian Bishops’ Conference (CEI) project
The contents of the archives are now being catalogued, thanks to a project of the CEI, which makes it possible to obtain funding for the restoration of papers that require intervention.
This is very important, because it allows Dr. Caroselli to sort the materials, define their level of readability, which varies based on chemical or mechanical reasons. In addition, the CEI offers software to create an inventory, which can be freely published.
Correspondence
At the moment, Laura Caroselli is working on rearranging the correspondences: these are letters that narrate the daily life of the sisters and beyond. They arouse a sense of beauty and curiosity at the same time, because of the gift of being able to read such intimate words from such distant times. Among the curiosities preserved within this correspondence are the pharmacological techniques with which the nuns treated themselves.
The archive is thus not a repository of papers, but a repository of humanity.
Laura Caroselli
