Living Hope – Spring 2026
Claretian Archives Preserve and Inspire
Preserving a Living Mission: Inside the U.S. Archives of the Claretian Missionaries
Archives are a form of solid gold for history, a place for the collective memory of institutions and communities. They preserve the records—paper, photographs, audio-visual materials, and digital files—that document why decisions were made, how ministries evolved, and who was involved. For religious congregations, archives also safeguard spiritual heritage: the stories of vocation, service, and faith that define a charism across generations. In the United States, the archives of the Claretian Missionaries play a vital role in sustaining the memory that helps enable the Claretians to serve with intelligence, wisdom, and hope.
What Are Archives—and Why They Matter
Just ask Doris Cardenas, Claretian Provincial archivist in Chicago, that question. She dedicates her expertise to keeping Claretian history available and streamlined. “An archive houses unique materials with enduring value,” she says. “People assume that an archive is a storage facility and that we keep everything we are given, but that is not the case. Sometimes you must ask yourself if the material might be worth researching by someone in the future.
“Also, what does the material tell us about the congregation?” she says. “If not much or anything at all, it is discarded.”
At their core, archives are organized bodies of unique, unpublished records maintained for their lasting worth. They differ from libraries, which typically collect published materials. Archival holdings often include administrative files, correspondence, community chronicles, photographs, newsletters, sacramental registers, architectural drawings, publications, and ephemera. Today, they also encompass email, databases, websites, and digital photographs.
The ephemera can feed into the sense of humor that the Claretians and their archivists enjoy as they encounter so many items over time. Kristen Melkonyan, Claretian archival assistant, enjoys reviewing everything sent her way for the archives. “Any time I find materials that fill gaps in Claretian history, I’m happy!” she says. “I’m very excited by piecing together history and being able to present a mostly complete record of a place or person.
“Odd things are fun and funny . . . I recently opened an envelope and a long-deceased priest’s fake teeth fell out!”
Archives matter because they do “fill gaps” as they document heritage and identity, preserving the stories of ministries, missions, and individuals too. They also play a role in supporting governance and continuity. For the public, well-organized archives enable scholarship and learning, supplying primary sources for historians, journalists, and students.
The Special Role of the U.S. Claretian Archives
The Claretian Missionaries have long served in the United States through parish work, social outreach, publishing, and devotion. Their ministries include communication and evangelization initiatives such as Claretian Publications, and they steward the National Shrine of St. Jude in Chicago. The U.S. archives document this broad footprint: leadership records, province-level administration, formation programs, parish apostolates, social justice efforts, immigrant and multilingual pastoral work, missionary initiatives, and communications.
Their records are indispensable to the congregation’s history as well as daily functioning. Province leadership relies on archival documentation to understand past policies, track property and legal matters, and preserve institutional knowledge as personnel change. Researchers and many others use archival sources to trace the development of ministries, understand the reception of Vatican II and subsequent ecclesial movements, and study Catholic life in diverse American contexts. Devotional archives—letters, photographs, and publications—help illustrate popular piety, focusing on devotion to St. Jude, and the ways laypeople have partnered with the Claretians in mission.
The U.S. archives also complement the General Archive in Rome, which preserves records of the global congregation, including foundational
documents, general chapter proceedings, and worldwide correspondence.
There are 20+ mission-specifc content areas in a searchable online database. The photos and documents are fascinating to peruse. They include a deep well of information on subject areas such as:
St. Anthony Mary Claret: This collection contains facsimiles of photographs and artistic representations of St. Anthony Mary Claret, who founded the Congregation of the Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in 1849 in Vic, Spain. This collection also contains photographs taken on pilgrimages and of St. Claret’s canonization in 1950.
St. Jude Seminary: The Claretians established a high school seminary, St. Jude Seminary, in Momence, Illinois, in 1932. The original building and campus sat upon a twelve acre property that it eventually outgrew. The school educated boys with budding vocations to the priesthood and brotherhood (the seminary closed in 1970).
St. Jude Devotion: Honoring St. Jude, the Claretians established the devotion in February 1929 at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, Chicago. This rich collection traces how the devotion impacted a national audience and continues to grow.
Claretian Publications: Following St. Anthony Claret’s example, publishing became a prominent ministry of the congregation. Print publications directed to the lay community encouraged Catholic belief and practices and continues to thrive today.
Dominguez Seminary: In 1922, the Dominguez family donated the Dominguez Rancho to the Claretians. This first major gift enabled the Claretians to establish and later build a seminary on the ranch for the early American congregation in 1924. Today, the property serves as a retirement community.
Campus Ministry: The Claretians have engaged in campus ministry, a vital aspect of their mission for youth, at various universities across the country. This collection is organized by the university.
How Archives Are Organized and Preserved
Professional archival practice emphasizes original order (maintaining the creator’s arrangement when possible) and provenance (keeping records from the same source together). Claretian archival collections are typically organized into series reflecting functions: governance, formation, ministries and parishes, publications, finance, community life, and special collections (photographs, audio-visual, artifacts).
Jesse Koontz, assistant Claretian archivist, says that the physical environment is highly specialized for the archives. “Our repository is in a climate controlled environment, so the materials are stored in specific temperature and humidity settings meant for long term preservation,” she says.
Decisions for proper storage are based on the material and specific needs. “Most manuscripts are ne being stored in an acid free folder, for example, but we do also use plastic sleeves to protect them if they are particularly fragile or starting to tear,” Jesse says. “For books and audiovisual materials, we like to have two copies—one for researchers’ use and one that will remain untouched.”
Creating an outstanding and useful archival center requires not just dedication and organization-wide communication but also expertise. The three archivists working for the Claretians’ U.S. archive—Doris, Kristen, and Jesse—all hold master’s degrees in library and information science. Their academic training allows them to appraise, arrange, and describe content while applying familiarity with ecclesial structure, canon law, and congregational life to the archive.
They have a deep understanding of the congregation’s charisms, missionary priorities, and intercultural, multilingual contexts as well.
“I wanted to become an archivist because I love history,” says Kristen. “In my opinion, the best part of being an archivist is getting to work with history hands-on every day.”
“The end goal,” says Doris, “is to process collections in such a way that it will be understandable to people in the future long after we are gone."
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