Destruction of the Vatican library, art collections and museum, the unrivaled depositories of the world's cultural treasures, would constitute a tragic loss to both present and future civilizations.
In the spring of 1951, word was received by the Order that the Vatican would be receptive to suggestions about how such an eventuality could be avoided. The Order began consultations and on receiving approval initiated the monumental task of microfilming Vatican documents. This process occupied the better part of eight years.
Competent scholars first surveyed the manuscripts involved to estimate the probable cost of the project. Next a committee of world-renowned scholars was appointed to decide which documents should be microfilmed. This accomplished, a master list of all the material necessary for the microfilming on such a vast scale was compiled.
By the spring of 1952 a completely equipped microfilm laboratory, second to none in the United States and Europe, had been set up at the Vatican and photographing had commenced.
Under the supervision of personnel from St. Louis (Mo.) University, 815,000 feet of microfilm, representing 11 million pages of rare manuscripts, were recorded. The total number of manuscript cortices in microfilm copies is 30,500.
The Knights of Columbus Vatican Film Library, as it now is designated, is located on the first floor of the Pius XII Memorial Library at St. Louis University. The true importance of this library to the universal scholastic community cannot be adequately described.