Salesians and the Shogun:
unfolding story of documentary treasure-trove
VATICAN CITY/OITA (Japan): 5
February 2014 -- An
incredible story has been unfolding over these days. Perhaps
you have
noticed it, since it found mention in much of the major
international news coverage in the last week of January. In
brief, the story is this: A Salesian Italian missionary to
Japan, Fr Mario Marega, was an avid and astute collector (one
report
says 'hoarder') of anything that would throw light on the
history of
Christianity in Japan and especially the terrible times of the
Japanese
martyrs. In the end he had collected some 10,000 items, which
were
eventually sent to Rome, and to the Vatican Archives in
particular.
Monsignor Cesare Pasini, now head of the Vatican’s Apostolic
Library, said
the so-called Marega Papers represent the largest known civic
archive
of its kind. And in the week before the end of January, the
Vatican
library and four Japanese historical institutes have agreed to
inventory, catalogue and digitise these 10,000 documents. The
documents
come from the Bungo civic archive in the Oita Prefecture,
Japan, where
we know (see further on) Fr Marega worked as a Salesian. His
collection
of documents from the Bungo archive "reminds us of the
Christian
martyrs, along with those who could not withstand the trials,
and
constitutes extraordinary documentation for the study of
Christianity
in Japan," Pasini said. "In fact, experts on the subject know
of no
other collections of this size and breadth."
These are the bare bones of the story, but there is more to
it. The CNS
report, one of many concerning this story, tells us the
following:
Cardinal Raffaele Farina,
retired
prefect of the Vatican Library and himself a Salesian, said
the
documents at the Vatican were discovered "when the library
was closed
for restructuring from 2007 to 2010."
"We began studying what kind
of
documents there were and how many -- at first we did not
realize how
much was there," Farina told Catholic News Service Thursday,
the eve of
the feast of St John Bosco.
Farina already was familiar
with Marega's life as a selective and astute historical
hoarder.
As archivist of the Salesian
order
for a decade before moving to the Vatican, the cardinal
said, "I did
what I could" to gather papers from Marega that were stored
at the
former Salesian generalate in Turin, Italy, and at the
Salesian
University in Rome. The gathering and study of the Salesian
collection
took a leap forward as the order prepared for the
celebration in 2012
of the 75th anniversary of the establishment of its Japanese
province.
Farina credits Delio
Proverbio, an
orientalist at the Vatican Library, and retired Bishop
Francis Xavier
Mizobe of Takamatsu, Japan -- another Salesian -- for
discovering just
how extraordinary the documents at the Vatican were.
But there is still more to the story, and maybe something we
can add
that many do not know. All of the reports (you can find them
on CNS,
Catholic Herald UK, Asia news, Japan Daily Press, etc.) run a
comment
something along the lines of "An Italian missionary priest
took the 22
bundles of documents out of Japan in the 1940s and brought
them to
Rome." Was that really how it happened?
We are fortunate to have some 6,000 letters of the Venerable
Vincent Cimatti on SDL,
so it occurred to this writer that maybe, amidst that abundant
correspondence, there would be some addressed to Fr Marega,
and indeed
there are, 40 or more. Many of these make reference to his
historical
interests and skills. But there is one in particular
which may throw
light on how these documents got to the Vatican. To put it in
context,
Cimatti usually had two reasons for being back in Italy,
neither of
them to do with wanting to 'visit home'. As the Salesien
Superior in
Japan he needed to be back for General Chapters, but more to
the point,
he was also the Apostolic Prefect precisely for the area that
covered
Oita. The two prefectures of Oita and Miyazaki, which were
entrusted to
the Salesians from 1928, separated from the Fukuoka Diocese
and became
the Apostolic Prefecture of Miyazaki on January 28, 1935. Fr
Cimatti
was appointed the first ordinary. He resigned in 1940. In 1938
he would
have effectively been on his one and only 'ad limina' visit.
5 agosto 1938
Carissimo Marega,
Nell'udienza del S. Padre
presentai il Kojiki e il testo xilografato, che
esaminò qua e là con
compiacenza: mi disse di inviarti le più sincere
congratulazioni; da
parte sua esaminerà e lo farà collocare in un
posto d'onore della sua
cara biblioteca vaticana. Ti dà una benedizione
specialissima ed esorta
a lavorare intensamente anche in questo campo di apostolato,
che benché
indiretto non è meno importante e fruttuoso (Se credi
utile, fa'
pubblicare sui giornali. Da' tu la forma).
Consegnai una copia al Sig.
Don Ricaldone - espresse il desiderio fosse stampato dalla
SEI - alle
spiegazioni del Sig. Don Candela e del sottoscritto
comprese.
Sta' tranquillo per i tuoi
desiderata: macchina fotografica, nastri macchina, cose
necessarie per
la casa, ecc., Bibbia in ebraico, maiolica…
Dear Marega, [Italians commonly just use a surname in written
and spoken address],
In my audience with the Holy Father,
I presented him with the
Kojiki [8th century Japanese historical chronicle - were this
to be
indeed the case, the collection we are referring might be more
stunning
than people are really letting on, since it is the oldest
extant
chronicle in Japan! But it is clearly a copy], which he
obligingly took
a look through. He told me to send you his sincerest
congratulations.
For his part he would examine it further and have it given a
place of
honour in his dear Vatican Library. He sends you a very
special
blessing and encourages you to work really hard in this field
of
apostolate too, which indirect though it may be, is no less
important
and fruitful (and if you think it useful, have this published
in the
newspapers. Up to you what form you present it in).
I also gave a copy to Fr Ricaldone -
he has expressed the wish
that it be printed by SEI - with explanations from Fr Candela
and
myself included.
Rest assured regarding the things you
are after: camera,
tape-recorder, things for the house, Hebrew Bible, maiolica
[Renaissance ceramics - whatever that was all about!]
While it is unlikely that Cimatti
carried 22 packets with him to
the Holy Father, it seems likely that the audience with the
Holy Father
established the connection with the Vatican Library and would
have been
sufficient entrée for Fr Marega on a later occasion.
