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The Clementine Library
The Clementine Library
is named for Pope Clement XI (1700-21), the most distinguished member
of the Albani family of Urbino and Rome. The Catholic University
collection of approximately 10,000 printed books and pamphlets is about
one third of the books amassed by the Albanis over more than two
centuries. These volumes, which date from 1473 to the early nineteenth
century (the majority printed in the 16th, 17th, and
18th centuries), were acquired by Catholic University in 1928.
Over 1,000 volumes are law-related: Canon, Roman, and feudal law. They
include editions of the Corpus iuris
civilis and the Corpus iuris
canonici, along with glosses and commentaries; Rota decisions
relating to both the Church and the papal states; and reports of
councils and synods.
A major event in the pontificate of Clement XI was his issuing of the
bull Unigenitus against the
Jansenists in 1713. The Clementine Library contains some forty volumes
of pamphlets and broadsides relating to this event and its aftermath,
as well as monographs and Jansenist "Nouvelles Ecclesiastiques" from
the period.
 Other strengths of the collections
include Bibles, Jesuit material (especially relating to the Chinese
rites controversy), and a wide variety of devotional literature. The
science, history and literature sections are not large, but are of
considerable value. Included are Greek and Latin classics, poetical
works (including libretti) emanating from the Roman colleges in the
1620s, and 22 volumes of Le Mercure
francois covering the years 1605 to
1638.
The collection as a whole provides fine examples of the book arts of
the 16th to the 18th centuries. Many books were presentation
copies and were appropriately printed and bound, with highly elaborate
title pages and leather bindings richly adorned in gold. The largest
portion of the collection is bound in vellum, and there is a wide
variety of decorated paper bindings as well. An exhibit catalogue from
1989, Festina Lente,
describes and illustrates many of the bindings.
The Clementine Library is accessible by means of the original card
catalogue from the 1920s, and an in-house database which covers only a
small portion of the collection.
The collection itself contains three 18th century manuscript
catalogues for books housed in the Albani family library at Urbino.
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