The Archives of the Jesuit Province of Toulouse Relating to Madagascar

In the Jesuit scheme of things the missionary fields of Madagascar and Maduré (that is, Madura in south India) fell to the Order's Toulouse province. What follows is a brief description of some of the materials relating to Madagascar in the archives of the Toulouse Jesuits, based on a recent short visit there. I might mention first the most important Jesuit missionary journal of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries relating to Madagascar. Like most missionary periodical publications, this particular journal underwent several changes of title. Beginning publication in 1838 as Lettres des Scolastiques de Vals, the title was later changed to Lettres du scolasticat de Vals, and then to Lettres de Vals. From 1882 to 1897 it was known as Lettres d'Uclès, then until 1901, again as Lettres de Vals; finally, from 1903 until 1914 it was called Lettres de Gemert. The Toulouse archives has a complete set of these, none of which was originally issued for public consumption and hence are difficult to locate. As each of the titles suggests, this journal consisted of letters written from missionaries in the field to their Apostolic Vicars. Such letters were then excerpted and summarized and sent on to Vals, a Jesuit training seminary, for circulation among the missionaries in training there. Originally the excerpts were handcopied and arranged by region: Madagascar, India, Oceania, etc., but later they were lithographed or printed.