Monique Benoît
Monique Benoît studied History and Italian at Concordia University in Montréal, before obtaining a Master’s degree in History at the University of Ottawa. She spent four years in Rome as a researcher in the Secret Vatican Archives and the Propaganda Archives. For what concerns the Propaganda Archives she drew up an inventory of documents relating to Canada during the pontificate of Leo XIII (1878- 1903). As for the Secret Vatican Archives, in collaboration with Gabriele Scardellato she worked at putting together two inventories of documents relating to North America. The first of these was the series “Francia” in the Archives of the Secretary of State of the Holy See. The second was in diverse series and collections of the Secret Vatican Archives. Upon returning to Canada, she worked as an archivist at Library and Archives Canada.
Victorin Chabot
Now retired archivist, Victorin Chabot worked during the major part of his career at the Public Archives of Canada, now known as Library and Archives Canada. He also taught archival science for more than three years as a visiting professor (professeur invité) at the Université du Québec en Outaouais. He presented a number of papers at the conferences of different organizations and he collaborated in the publication of numerous articles and books on archival science and history. Associated from the outset, as the representative of the National Archives, with the project for the cataloguing of the documents of Canadian interest in the archives and libraries of Rome that in 1977 had been undertaken with the Research Centre for the Study of Religion in Canada at Saint Paul University, he continued to the present day to collaborate with this project.
Luca Codignola
Born in Genoa (Italy) in 1947, Luca Codignola is full professor, specialized in the history of North America at the University of Genoa and associate professor of history at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax (Canada). He holds a first cycle diploma (laurea) from the University of Rome, an M.A in history from the University of Toronto and a doctorate honoris causa from Saint Mary’s University. He has published, among others, The Coldest Harbour of the Land 1621-1649 (Montreal, 1988), Guide des documents relatifs à l’Amérique du Nord française et anglaise dans les archives de la Sacrée Congrégation « de Propaganda Fide » à Rome, 1622-1799 (Ottawa, 1991), L’Amérique du Nord française dans les archives religieuses de Rome, 1600-1922, with Pierre Hurtubise and Fernand Harvey (Quebec, 1999), Storia del Canada, with Luigi Bruti-Liberati (Milan, 1999), Colombo e altri navigatori (Genoa, 2007), Le Saint-Siège, le Canada et le Québec, with Giovanni Pizzorusso and Matteo Sanfilippo (Viterbo, 2011), and Little Do We Know : History and Historians of the North Atlantic 1492-2010, ed. by M. Binasco (Cagliari, 2011). He has been involved since 1977 in the Roman Project, his contribution having above all to do with the Propaganda Fide Archives and minor Roman archives.
Gilles Durocher
Born in Hawkesbury, Ontario, Gilles Durocher did his undergraduate studies at the Saint-Jean-Marie-Vianney College in Montreal, followed by two years of philosophy at the University of Ottawa, then theology at Saint Paul University in Ottawa. He then joined the Public Archives of Canada, now known as Library and Archives Canada. Since retirement, he has been involved in the preparation of the Roman calendars for the on-line version now available on the Saint Paul University Website.
Pierre Hurtubise
Born in Ottawa in 1933, Pierre Hurtubise is the holder of licences in philosophy (1956) and theology (1961) from the University of Ottawa, a licence in Church History (1965) from the Gregorian University (Rome) and a doctorate in Modern History (1969) from the Université de Paris-Sorbonne. He has been from 1968 to 1985, professor of Church History at Saint Paul University as well as adjunct professor specializing in the history of New France at the University of Ottawa.
Rector of Saint Paul from 1985 to 1994, he has since resumed his teaching career and is presently holder of the Research Chair for the Religious History of Canada. He has written extensively in the fields of religious, social and cultural history. His latest publications are: La casuistique dans tous ses états (2005), Tous les Chemins mènent à Rome (2009) et Chroniques conciliaires (2014). He has been since 1977 coordinator of the Project: Calendars of Documents of Canadian Interest in the Archives and Libraries of Rome.
Jean-Marie LeBlanc
Born in Montreal in 1940, Jean-Marie LeBlanc obtained a licence-ès- lettres (history) from the Université de Montréal in 1965. The following year, through competition, he entered the service of the Public Archives of Canada now known as Library and Archives Canada. He was there from 1966 to 1987. From 1987 to 1996, he studied at Saint Paul University besides being from 1992 to 1996 executive assistant to the rector of the University. He obtained from this institution the following degrees: master in pastoral studies (counselling) in 1990, master in theology (biblical studies) in 1992 and licence in theology (biblical studies) in 1994. From 1996 to 2011, he was employed as archivist by the Research Centre for the Religious History of Canada as well as executive assistant of the Centre. He has been involved in the Roman Project as secretary of the Centre, but he also spent time verifying and correcting the contents of a number of calendars. Now retired since October 2011, he continues nevertheless, as consultant, his involvement in the project.
Roberto Perin
A native of Montreal, Roberto Perin obtained his doctorate in History at the University of Ottawa in 1975. For two years he was an associate professor at the University of Edinburgh. Since 1977, he has taught at York University where presently he is a full professor at Glendon College. From 1983 to 1985 he directed the Canadian Academic Centre in Italy located in Rome. He participated in numerous international conferences in North America, Europe, Israel and India. His
study, Rome et le Canada: la bureaucratie vaticane et la question nationale (Boreal) received the John W. Dafoe prize in 1990. In 2008 he produced with the same publishers, Ignace de Montréal, artisan d’une identité nationale. He co-directed the following collective works: Arrangiarsi: The Italian Immigration Experience in
Canada (1989), Negotiating with a Sovereign Quebec (1992), A Concise History of Christianity in Canada (1996), Enemies Within: Italian and Other Internees in Canada and Abroad (2000). From 1993 to 2006, he was the editor of the series of booklets “Canada’s Ethnic Groups” of the Canadian Historical Association. From 2008 to 2010 he served as president of the Canadian Association of Italian Studies.
Giovanni Pizzorusso
Born in Lucca (Italy) in 1958, Giovanni Pizzorusso teaches modern history at the Gabrielle d’Annunzio University of Chieti-Pescara. He holds a doctorate (dottorato di ricerca) in the history of the Americas of the University of Genoa (1993). His dissertation: Roma nei Caraibi. L’organizzazione delle missioni catholiche nelle Antille francesi e in Guyana, 1635-1675 was published in 1995 by the Ecole française de Rome. Long-time frequenter of the Roman Archives, he has been involved in the Project : Calendar of documents of Canadian Interest, his specialty being the Propaganda Fide Archives, the Archives of the Holy Office and the Vatican Secret Archives. He is one of the co- authors of L’Amérique du Nord française dans les archives religieuses de Rome. Guide de recherche, edited by Pierre Hurtubise, Luca Codignola and Fernand Harvey (Quebec 1999) as well as of the collective work: Le Saint-Siège, le Canada et le Québec. Recherches dans les archives romaines, published in Viterbo in 2011 in collaboration with Luca Codignola and Matteo Sanfilippo. His main field of research is the history of the Catholic missions seen from a juridical, cultural and linguistic point of view. He is also interested by the phenomenon of contemporary Italian emigration, mainly to North America.
Matteo Sanfilippo
Born in Florence (Italy) in 1956, Matteo Sanfilippo, following a year of studies at the University of Ottawa (1983-84), received a doctorate in American history from the University of Genoa, followed by a post- doctoral in American Studies at the University of Rome III (1992- 1994). Researcher in modern history at the University “della Tuscia” (Viterbo) from 1994 to 2004, he is presently an associate professor at the aforementioned institution as well as a consultant at the Museum of Italian Emigration (Rome), scholarly co-ordinator for the journal Studi Emigrazione and co-director of the Archivo Storico dell’emigrazione italiana. He is especially interested in problems related to the migration of peoples and cultures from the Old to the New World, having devoted to this theme 22 works, at the same time editing 26 other books or special journal editions, while producing 255 articles or chapters in works dedicated to the same area of research.
Among other works, he is the author of L’affermazione del cattolicesimo nel Nord America.Elite, emigrant e chiesa cattolica negli Stati e in Canada (2003) and of Dagli indiani agli emigranti. L’attenzione della Chiesa romana al Nuovo Mondo. His publications earned him the Pierre Savard Prize in 2004 and the Radicitaloa Prize in 2005.
For almost thirty years he has been part of the team of researchers preparing an Inventory of documents of Canadian interest located in the libraries and archives of Rome. He is one of the co-authors of the research guide: L’Amérique du Nord français dans les archives religieuses de Rome that was published in 1999 by Editions de l’IQRC
(Québec), and in 2011 he published in collaboration with Luca Codignola and Giovanni Pizzorusso Le Saint-Siège, le Canada et le Québec. Recherches dans les archives romaines with the Editions Sette Città in Viterbo.
Gabriele Scardellato
Dr Gabriele Scardellato worked for several years as librarian/archivist with the Multicultural History Society of Ontario where he was director of research resources. His work with the Society included the Encyclopedia of Canada’s Peoples for which he was a consulting editor, bibliographer, and also contributor. He has taught a number of courses on Italian-Canadian culture , most recently in the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics at York University. Dr Scardellato has held the position of Research Fellow in Italian- Canadian Studies for the Mariano A. Elia Chair in Italian Canadian Studies at York University. He is now an associate professor in DLLL at York University where he teaches Italian-Canadian studies and is the chairholder of the Mariano A. Elia Chair in Italian-Canadian Studies. He has served as editor and/or managing editor of several journals including Polyphony: The Bulletin of the Multicultural History Society of Ontario, Annali Accademici Canadesi, Italian Canadiana, Ontario History and most recently Quaderni d’Italianistica. He has published widely both in Canadian ethnic studies and in Italian-Canadian immigration history.