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The Catholic Encyclopedia, also referred to today as the Old Catholic Encyclopedia, is an English-language encyclopedia published by The Encyclopedia Press. The first volume appeared in March 1907 and it was completed in April 1914. It was designed to give "authoritative information on the entire cycle of Catholic interests, action and doctrine".

The encyclopedia was designed to serve the Roman Catholic Church, excluding information which has no relation to the Church and explaining matters from the point of view of the official Catholic doctrine, as it stood during the pontificate of Pius X. It records the accomplishments of Catholics and some others in nearly all intellectual and professional pursuits, including artists, educators, poets and scientists. While more limited than other general encyclopedias, it was far broader in scope than previous efforts at comprehensive Catholic encyclopedias, which had studied only internal Church affairs.

It also offers in-depth portrayals of historical and philosophical ideas, persons and events, from the Roman Catholic point-of-view. On issues that divide Catholicism from other Churches and Protestant ecclesial communities, the text consistently presents matters from the Catholic point of view. Since the encyclopedia was first undertaken in 1913, some of its entries are not up-to-date, either with respect to the secular domain or to the Catholic ecclesiastical world. In particular, it predates the Second Vatican Council, which introduced significant changes in Catholic practice.

The writing of the encyclopedia began on January 11, 1905 under the supervision of five editors:

• Charles G. Herbermann, Professor of Latin and Librarian of the College of the City of New York
• Edward A. Pace, Professor of Philosophy at The Catholic University of America, at Washington D.C.
• Condé B. Pallen, Editor
• Rev. Thomas J. Shahan, Professor of Church History at the Catholic University.
• Rev. John J. Wynne, S.J., Editor of The Messenger

The editors, all situated in the United States, had their first editorial meeting at the office of The Messenger, on West 16th Street, New York City. The text received a Nihil Obstat ("nothing hinders") from an official censor Remy Lafort on November 1, 1908 and an Imprimatur ("let it be printed") from John Cardinal Farley, who was Archbishop of New York at the time. This review process was presumably accelerated by the reuse of older authorized publications. In addition to frequent informal conferences and constant communication by letters, the editors subsequently held 134 formal meetings to consider the plan, scope and progress of the work, culminating in publication on April 19, 1913. A supplement was published in 1922.

The encyclopedia was later updated under the auspices of The Catholic University of America and a 17-volume New Catholic Encyclopedia was first published in 1967, and then in 2002. The New Catholic Encyclopedia is available online at some libraries.

In 1993, Kevin Knight, then a 26-year-old resident of Denver, Colorado, was inspired, during the visit of Pope John Paul II to that city for World Youth Day, to launch a project to publish the 1913 edition of the encyclopedia on the Internet. Knight founded the website New Advent to house the undertaking. Volunteers from the United States, Canada, France and Brazil helped in the transcription of the original material. The site went online in 1995 and the transcription was completed in 1997.

The 1922 supplement to the Encyclopedia is also in the public domain, but as of 2007 has not been placed on-line.

• New Catholic Encyclopedia
• Jewish Encyclopedia
• Encyclopædia Biblica
• List of encyclopedias

• 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia.
• Catholic Encyclopedia on New Advent (easy search, also offers this in CD form)
• Catholic Encyclopedia on Catholicity (search via www.googlesyndicatedsearch.com)