Opening Day Collection

Cerreto, Scipione. Scipione Cerreto Napolitano. Della prattica mvsica vocale, et strvmentale. In Napoli, Appresso Gio: Iacomo Carlino, 1601.

The Opening Day Collection consists of books published prior to 1818, which the Vincentians presumably brought to the United States or acquired in the early days of the mission.

Created in France and Italy, the books were transported overland by horse and wagon, shipped in crates across the Atlantic, moved down the river through the Ohio Valley, or up river on the Mississippi and damaged by fire and water in 1866. Students read and studied them in seminaries and colleges in Perryville, St. Louis, Lemont and Denver. In 1995, the books were moved to the Special Collections Department at DePaul University Library.

The books are artifacts as well, reflecting the use made of them by their owners. They were part of these men's lives and reflect pride in ownership through signatures, owner notations and early library markings and bookplates. The books reflect ideas, interests and issues that were important to the original members of the Congregation of the Mission who came to Perryville, Missouri, to found a seminary in the second decade of the 19th century.