The Economics of Providence: Management, Finances and Patrimony of Religious Orders and Congregations in Europe, 1773-ca. 1930

During the French Revolution almost all monasteries and abbeys were suppressed and their possessions seized. Yet after the French Revolution many religious institutes were very successful in reestablishing themselves, sometimes accumulating large patrimonies, against the background of often hostile political force. This book deals with the question of how the religious orders and congregations rebuilt their patrimony, a necessary prerequisite for the growth of the number of religious, educational, and charitable services. The authors discuss the (real or supposed) wealth, the financial structures, and the management and juridical foundations of the orders and congregations in Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, Luxembourg, Belgium, Ireland, and the United Kingdom from the late eighteenth century to the 1930s.

Contributors: B. Bodinier, Université de Rouen; M. de Fátima Brandao, Universidade do Porto; M. Casta, Université de Picardie Jules Verne; J. De Maeyer, KADOC - University of Leuven; X. Dusausoit, Centre Scolaire du Sacré-Coeur de Jette; J. Frith, CAPA International Education, London; G. Gregorini, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Brescia; J. Koppen, VSAD Karel Cuypers; M. Luddy, University of Warwick; C. Mangion, Birkbeck, University of London; J. Oliveira, Universidade do Porto; P. M. Perluss, Université Pierre Mendes France Grenoble; R. L. Philippart, UCL et Directeur de l'Office National du Tourisme du Grand-Duché de Luxembourg; Fco. J. Fernández Roca, Pablo de Olavide University de Sevilla; G. Rocca, Dizionario Degli Istituti di Perfezione; B. Truchet; J. Tyssens, VUB; M. Van Dijck, Flanders Heritage and UHasselt