Institutum Historicum Ordinis Praedicatorum
The Historical Institute of the Order of Preachers (Institutum Historicum Ordinis Praedicatorum) is a research institute of the Order, placed under the jurisdiction of the Master of the Order.
Its mission is to study the history of the Order of Preachers, to share the fruits of that research through scholarly publications, lectures, conferences and colloquia, to foster collaboration among Dominican and non-Dominican scholars, and to encourage the formation of a new generation of Dominican historians.
Over the decades, the Institute has produced major scholarly publications, supported research in archives and libraries, and helped renew the study of Dominican sources from the Middle Ages to the present.
Making Dominican Sources Known
The Historical Institute is especially known for its publications, which serve historians, theologians, archivists, students and members of the Dominican family.
The Institute’s library supports research on the history of the Order from the Middle Ages to the contemporary period. Its collections include sources, works of ecclesiastical and universal history, studies on the history of the Order, historical journals, reference works and materials connected with the former Liturgical Institute of the Order.
The volumes of the Monumenta are first published in 1896 by a group of Dominicans who became the forerunners of the historical institute founded in Rome at the Convent of S. Sabina in 1930. The critical editions of the Vitae Fratrum, the registers of the Masters, the general chapters, the Chronicles, the register of the letters of Raymond of Capua, the texts of some authors belonging to the Order, the Monumenta diplomatica Sancti Dominici, the Corpus Hagiographicum Sancti Dominici constitute the fulcrum of the series with the primary purpose of making known the sources related to the birth and the development of the Order from the middle ages to the contemporary period, investigating in particular the papers present in the archives of the General Curia.
View the collection here.
The volumes of Dissertationes started publication in 1931. The series collect monographic studies concerning the different aspects of the Order’s history with reference to its institutions and people, without setting aside particular moments in the history of the Order itself, including the Dominicans and the Church councils, the preaching and manuscripts that were the first instruments of work, liturgy, observance, inquisition, reforms, missions, development and evolution of individual congregations and provinces, and the iconography of the saintly founder.
Discover more about the collection here.
The journal, first published in 1931, contains articles on the history of the Dominican Order from the middle ages to the contemporary period based on the examination of primary sources. The topics include the history of the Order’s convents and monasteries, biographies, relations of the Order with other entities, and also the history of the way of thinking and philosophical thought. From 1931 to 2013, 83 volumes were already published, including one of the indexes and a monographic number of Complementa I in 2005. After a brief interruption of a two-year period, in 2016 a new series began, with articles subjected to peer review. Each volume is accompanied by two indexes: I. Index codicum manuscriptorum (Manuscripts of libraries and archive sources), II. Index Nominum.
Find more information about the journal here.
The bulletin – a bibliographic collection of studies concerning the Dominican Order – founded by Fra Simon Tugwell OP in 1992 has an annual cadence; except the volume published comprising two vintages (XVIII-XIX: 2009-2010). The individual bibliographic entries, preceded by a list of periodicals consulted (periodica recensa) and numbered in single line, are organized according to the diagram that follows: I. Notitiae, conventus historici, exhibitiones (conventions, seminars and study days), II. Dissertationes Universitariae (graduation thesis), III. Generalia (studies of a general nature), IV. De Locis (studies on the history of the institutions, divided geographically by continent), V. De Personis (studies on the individual representatives of the Order), VI. De Sodalitiis et Devotionibus (studies on brotherhoods and devotion to the Rosary). Each volume is accompanied by two indexes: I. Index nominums personarum et locorum notabilium, II. Index auctorum.
View the newsletter archive here.
“To promote and facilitate historical and scholarly works in the Order, to aid and inform those working outside the Order who are interested in our saints, theologians, and traditions; to be a link between the scholars who have given their lives to historical research.”
— Hyacinth Laurent, OP
In 1929, the General Chapter asked the Master of the Order, Br. Martin-Stanislaus Gillet, OP, to establish a historical school and to form Dominicans in historical criticism and related disciplines. In 1930, a college of historians was established at Santa Sabina in Rome. This became the Institutum Historicum Ordinis Praedicatorum.
The Historical Institute collaborates with the General Archive of the Order, the Postulator General, the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum), as well as other Dominican institutions and academic partners around the world.
The Institute is also a member of the International Union of Institutes of Archaeology, History and Art History in Rome. Through this network, it contributes to a broader scholarly conversation about the history of religious life, the Church, medieval studies, cultural memory and the development of Christian thought.
The President of the Institute, a friar of the Order appointed for six years by the Master of the Order, is in charge of coordinating the work of the Institute and possesses the authority to represent the Institute in the conduct of its affairs.
In his management of the Institute, the President is assisted by the Council, which consists of:
For more information, visit the website of the Institute.
