| We have just heard that as of September 2001, the archive of photographs and other visual material on the catacombs, entrusted to the care of the Benedictine Sisters of Priscilla in Rome for many years, will be deposited into the archive of the Pontifical Commission for Sacred Archaeology on viale Napoleone III in Rome. A new list of regulations and prices went into effect in February of 2001 regarding permission to reproduce and publish images from the archive; the PCAS always reserves the right to grant or deny permission to reproduce images from the collection. Additional contact information can be found in the "archives" section of the International Catacomb Society website. International scholarship on catacombs, which has depended on the wealth of information from the Priscilla archive for the greater part of the twentieth century, owes an immense debt of gratitude to the "paziente e tenace dedicazione" (patient and tenacious dedication) of a small number of Benedictine sisters to preserve and enrich the archive.
A list of authors who have acknowledged the invaluable assistance of the "Priscilliane" in the prefaces to their works would produce a virtual bibliography for Christian Archaeology from the 1930s to the present. Reading these expressions of gratitude for the order of Pricilla, one is also struck by the compliments which invariably accompany the name, the collaboration which has enriched not only the published piece, but the author’s own quest for information about Rome’s Early Christian community. The bureaucratic process of preparing material for publication is a learning and very tiring experience for any academic, but when dealing with the Priscilliane, it became also a lesson in generosity, their willingness to share information and ideas.
The past tense used in the paragraphs above should be seen as much exaggerated, as the Priscilliane are still very much present in the activities and events that involve Christian Archaeology in Rome, and above all in the catacombs which they have vowed to keep as a special focus of their mission. The "historic memory" of archivists Suor Maria Francesca and Suor Annunziata remains as always on the via Salaria in Rome, as well as the living example they provide for scholars today of the true value of knowledge not to benefit or glorify the self, but enrich others. The Pontifical Commission of Sacred Archaeology is most fortunate to have this superior model to follow as it assumes full responsibility for access and publication of the lifelong labor of the Priscilliane.
Contributed by Jessica Dello Russo
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