Father José María Salaverri collection

Collection

Identifier: ML-078

Staff Only

Content Description

This collection contains books, pamphlets, research notes and images related to Marian artwork, especially the Annunciation.

Fr. Salaverri had been in communication with Fr. Johann Roten about his research and the collection. He made arrangements to send these materials to the Marian Library after his death. The Marian Library received this collection from the Comunidad Marianista Colegio el Pilar (Valencia, Spain) on February 27, 2018.

Dates

2005 - 2015

Creator

Salaverri, José María, 1926-2018 (Person)

Language of Materials

The primary language of the collection is Spanish. Some of Salaverri's sources are in the other languages.

Biographical / Historical

Fr. José María Salaverri, SM was born in Vitoria, Spain, on March 25, 1926. He grew up in France and then entered the Society of Mary (Marianists) in 1939. He served as the Superior General of the Society of Mary from 1981 to 1991. According to his testimony of religious life, Fr. Salaverri consecrated himself and all his works to the Blessed Virgin Mary. He died at the age of ninety-two on February 1, 2018. He was known for his joy and for his service to the order and the Church.

Extent

4 Linear Feet

Additional Description

Abstract

According to his book La Anunciación: Conversaciones con Fray Angélico (1998), Fr. José María Salaverri, SM had a lifelong fascination with the mystery of the Annunciation. He was born on the Feast of the Annunciation in 1926, and he always viewed the mystery as in some way "his" (14). For Fr. Salaverri, the Annunciation/Incarnation event is the central mystery of the Christian faith, a unique moment in which heaven and earth met and God became one of us (14-15). Writing in the latter half of the twentieth century, dubbed an "Age of Mary," Fr. Salaverri felt it apt to write a book on Mary through the lens of the Annunciation.

During his studies in 1945 at the University of Madrid, he encountered for the first time an original painting of the Annunciation by Fra Angelico in the Museo del Prado (13). Fr. Salaverri wrote that Fra Angelico painted this particular image to represent Luke's Annunciation account for a Church made up of laypeople who, generally, could not read (7-10). In his book, Fr. Salaverri reflects on the inner life and theological training that inspired Fra Angelico's paintings and shaped how he communicated this scene to the Church. The work of Fra Angelico reflects the "inexhaustible" inspiration of the Annunciation-Incarnation mystery for theologians, people in prayer, artists, and the whole world for the past two millennia (15, 220-222).

General

The organization of this collection is based largely on the folders that Fr. Salavaerri himself put together. Any additional folders were added for clarification. Most folders or boxes in the collection contain short lists of how many items Fr. Salaverri obtained by a given date.