Overview
The Provincial Archive of St Joseph's Province holds the records of the Passionist Congregation in England and Wales from the first foundation in 1842 to the present. The Archive is the responsibility of the Provincial Archivist and forms part of the broader archive of the combined St Joseph's and St Patrick's Province.
The physical archive is held at Douai Abbey, Woolhampton, Berkshire. A selection of the digitised holdings are presented on this website; the full catalogue of physical holdings is available at catholicarchives.co.uk.
Digitised Collections
The following collections have been digitised and are presented on this site or via the online catalogue.
Plateas
The official registers of each Passionist community, recording the formal life of the house: foundations, appointments, professions, ordinations, deaths, Visitation reports, and missions. Sixteen volumes digitised and viewable in full via the IIIF viewer.
Browse the Plateas →Spencer Diaries
Four volumes of the personal diaries of Fr Ignatius Spencer CP (1799–1864), spanning his time at Cambridge and on the Grand Tour, his Anglican ministry, his conversion to Catholicism, and his Passionist missionary work in England. Transcribed and held in the Archive.
Read the diaries →Photographs
Individual portraits and group photographs of Province members, spanning the 1860s to 1964. Also includes photographs of the retreat houses and their interiors, and records from the community at St Gabriel's, Highgate.
Browse photographs →Obituary Notices
Formal obituary notices for deceased members of the Province, compiled and circulated within the Congregation. Each notice provides a biographical summary of the subject's religious life and apostolic work. Pre-1964 notices are presented on the Members pages.
Browse Members A–Z →House Histories
Documented histories of fifteen Passionist retreat houses and mission centres across England and Wales, drawn from primary sources in the Archive including the Annals of the Anglo-Hibernian Province, the Plateas, and other manuscript records.
Browse Our Houses →Full Catalogue
The complete catalogue of physical holdings — including uncatalogued and undigitised material — is available on the AtoM archival platform at catholicarchives.co.uk. The catalogue follows ISAD(G) descriptive standards.
catholicarchives.co.uk →Physical Holdings
In addition to the digitised collections above, the physical archive at Douai Abbey holds a range of manuscript and printed material not yet available online. This includes correspondence, chapter records, mission diaries, printed ephemera, and further photographic material. Researchers wishing to consult physical holdings should contact the Provincial Archivist in advance.