Propaganda Fide 
123 
The archives are very well and systematically arranged. They are kept in 
a large room with a gallery, containing between six and seven thousand vol¬ 
umes. The very complete and reliable set of indexes is in a separate room, 
the office of the archivist, and there is a small study-room with a few reference 
books on missions. Practically all volumes likely to contain American material 
were examined and their contents listed. The character of the several series 
will be discussed in connection with the extracts made from each. In the case 
of nearly all original letters, etc., the method of binding is such that the last 
sheet is often separated from the rest, and it is often a matter of difficulty to 
find the endorsement. 
ATTI. 
This series forms the official journal of the meetings of the full congrega¬ 
tion. Each subject taken up is given a number to facilitate reference from the 
journal to accompanying documents. Each meeting or “ congregation ” as 
it is called, with its adjournments is a unit, and if a subject is taken up 
again it is renumbered. On each subject there is a “relation” by a cardi¬ 
nal to whom the matter has been referred, occasionally illustrative docu¬ 
ments, and finally the rescriptum , or note of action ordered. Since 1650 
the journal of each year has been kept in a separate volume. These volumes 
run generally to about five hundred folios, and are well indexed, there being 
also a general index to the whole series in the office. The original documents 
upon which the relations are based are preserved in two collections, the Scrit- 
ture Antiche, including all those down to 1669, which are arranged by coun¬ 
tries, and to which reference from the Atti is irregular and difficult; and the 
Scritture Corrispondenti agli Atti , from 1669, which follow the arrangement 
of the Atti. The date of the congregation, and the number of the subject, 
afford an absolutely simple method of referring from the one to the other, 
after this date. 
The whole of this series through 1830 was examined, and references to ma¬ 
terial pertinent to the subject follow: 
I . 27 1622-1624. 
f. 3. Feb. 4, 1622. Division of the whole world into provinces. 
II. 1625. 
June 13. no. 15. That the nuncio be requested to urge upon the King 
of Spain the nomination of a bishop in the province of Vera Pace in 
the Western Indies. 
no. 20. That the nuncio of Spain be requested to furnish the congrega¬ 
tion with more frequent information. 
July 21. no. 13. The mission of Father Bolivar to the Western Indies is 
ordered. 
no. 25. An order for the sending of missionaries to North America. 
Nov. 17. no. 24. Information from Father Simon Stock, regarding the 
island of Avalonia, between England and North America, and upon 
a passage found, through a river of North America, to China. 
III. 28 1622-1625. 
f. 43, no. 5. June 13, 1623. To secure the more ready admission by the 
royal ministers of missions of the Reformed Franciscans into the 
Indies. 
^Volume number actually not given. 
28 This is for the most part a duplicate of the two preceding. 
