Team
Simon Beentjes (Project Coordinator)
Dries Bosschaert (Supervisor)
Mathias Smolders
Sinoj Jose Mathew
Project duration
2024-2025
Funding body
Amici Lovanienses
Research topics
Archival Science
Digital Humanities
The Second Vatican Council is a key event in the history of the Roman Catholic Church. It brought together bishops, theologians, and journalists from all over the world. As a result, the Council’s sources are also scattered across many different archives. Not all researchers have the means to consult these collections on site. The Center for Study of the Second Vatican Counil therefore wishes to make digitally available its most valuable collections describing the activities of some of the most important Belgian actors at the Council. The following collections are currently being digitized:
• Mgr. J.-E. De Smedt archives
• Mgr. G. Philips archives
• Mgr. J.-M. Heuschen archives
• Mgr. V. Heylen archives
• Mgr. C. de Clercq archives
• Mgr. W. Onclin archives
• Mgr. A. Janssen archives
In the light of developments in the field of linked open data, the project also aims to enrich the digitized source material with metadata that will make it possible to find related objects in other collections. In order to study the evolution of texts at the Council, it could be of enormous value to researchers to be able to digitally bring together different versions of a single conciliar draft that are currently stored in separate archives. In order to develop an infrastructure for such research applications, we are starting a dialogue with other institutions that manage collections of sources related to the Council.
Processes of Agency, Negotiation and Identity Construction: Lived Religion and LGBTQ+ in relation to Catholic Norms and Practices in Europe from Historical, Ethical and Practical Theological Perspectives 