The Redemptorist Archives and The Delmas Foundation Conclude 2024-2025 Grant Cycle
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May 9, 2025A recent discovery in the Wuenschel Shroud of Turin Collection was among the highlights of a year-long collaboration between the Archives and the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation of New York. A grant was made to employ a part-time cataloger to incorporate numerous titles to the archive’s library catalog, including many rare books.Among the items catalogued by Lorena Boylan was an antique map of the City of Turin, circa 1831, by G. B. Maggi. The detail in this lithograph is exquisite and shows the topography of the Piedmont. The Wuenschel collection is named for Father Edward Wuenschel, C.Ss.R., a member of the Baltimore Province and renowned expert on the Holy Shroud.
The collection itself is among the most important in the world and is being catalogued for the Redemptorist library, which can be accessed through the archive web page (https://1590.sydneyplus.com/genieplus/final/Portal/Default.aspx).A sampling of additional titles from this collection which Lorena recently catalogued includes the following: Justus Lipsius, Iusti Lipsi De cruce libri tres: ad ascram profanamque historiam utiles: una cum notis (Antwerp: Pantiniana apud Viduam and Ioannem Moretum, 1594). An early work on crucifixion as a form of execution.
Jean-Jacques Chifflet, Singular observations both from treatments and from sections of cadavers (Paris: John Richer, 1612). One of three works in the collection by Jean-Jacques Chifflet (1588-1660) a French physician and archaeologist.Frank C. Tribbe, I, Joseph of Arimathea: A Story of Jesus, His Resurrection, and the Aftermath: A Documented Historical Novel (Nevada City, CA: Blue Dolphin Publishing Co., 2000). An example of fiction with the Shroud as subject.Touring Club Italiano. The Holy Shroud and the Sacred Places of Turin and Piedmont (Milan: Touring Editore, 1998). A guide to the art and architecture of the Piedmont. This is the only US copy.
Many of the recently added books have unique features, such as antique bindings, book plates, or marginalia. Several of these items are drawn from libraries associated with the royal House of Savoy and are themselves indicators of Savoyard bibliography. With the cataloging of these books, over half of our rare book materials in the Wuenschel collection have now been processed. †