The writing of the
Catholic Encyclopedia began in 1905, under the supervision of five editors: •
Charles G. Herbermann, professor of
Latin and librarian of the
College of the City of New York • Reverend
Edward A. Pace, professor of philosophy at the
Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. •
Condé B. Pallen, editor and poet • Reverend
Thomas J. Shahan, professor of church history at the Catholic University • Reverend
John J. Wynne,
S.J., editor of the
Messenger of the Sacred Heart periodical RAC published the first edition of the
Catholic Encyclopedia. It released the volumes sequentially, the first two in 1907 and the last three in 1912: The five editors of the encyclopedia convened their first editorial meeting at the offices of the
Messenger in Manhattan. In addition to frequent informal conferences and constant communication by letters, the editors held 134 formal meetings to consider the plan, scope and progress of the multi-volume reference work This review process may have been accelerated by the reuse of older authorized publications. The editors received a
nihil obstat, a declaration of no objection, from Remy Lafort, an official church censor, on November 1, 1908. Archbishop
John Farley of New York then gave the first volumes of the
encyclopedia his
imprimatur. Publication of the
Catholic Encyclopedia began in 1907 with Volume 1 Aachen–Assize. It ended with Volume 15, Tournon–Zwirner, published in 1913. A first supplement was published nine years later in 1922; a second supplement in nine loose-leaf sections was published by The Gilmary Society three decades later, between 1950 and 1958. In 1912, a special completely illustrated, commemorative volume was awarded to those patrons who contributed to the start of the enterprise in 1907 by buying multiple encyclopedia sets early on. There was controversy over the presence of
The Catholic Encyclopedia on the shelves in
public libraries in the United States with
nativist protests that this violated the constitutional
separation of church and state, including a successful court appeal in
Belleville, New Jersey. The original
Catholic Encyclopedia was updated during the 1960s by the faculty of the Catholic University. The university published the
New Catholic Encyclopedia in 1967, followed by several supplements over the next three decades. Catholic University published a revised second edition of the New Catholic Encyclopedia in 2002, followed by more supplements.
Authors and sources The Catholic Encyclopedia and Its Makers states that: The work is entirely new, and not merely a translation or a compilation from other encyclopedic sources. The editors have insisted that the articles should contain the latest and most accurate information to be obtained from the standard works on each subject. However, "from standard works" allows that some of the articles from European contributors such as
Pierre Batiffol (French) and
Johann Peter Kirsch (German) had previously been published in whole or in part in Europe and were translated and edited for the Encyclopedia. Those who wrote new articles in English include
Anthony Maas and
Herbert Thurston. ==Online versions==