Authored by Lisa Brigandi
My object is a selection of pages from the Spiritual Journal of Walter Elliott. The image above is only one page from the series on “Mortal Sins.” Written sometime in the late 1800’s, this is a personal journal written by the Paulist priest, Walter Elliott. Elliott is best known for his book The Life of Father Hecker which is a biography of Father Isaac Hecker, who is considered the founder of the Paulist branch of Catholicism. Within the journal, Elliott explores many different religious topics such as Mortal Sin, the role of the Virgin Mary, and Hell.
This journal is written in ink on paper and is written in cursive. Elliott uses predominantly black ink but the pages are numbered in red and there are some sentences written in what appears to be pencil. Elliott makes heavy use of underlining and other techniques to stress words such as using thicker lines to create a bold-faced word. Elliott also uses some interesting abbreviations for repeated words such as “+c,” “Xst,” “H’n,” and “M.S.”.
Much of what I have learned about Walter Elliott and the Paulists has come from the Paulists’ website and previous experience with their archival collection. I know they strongly believe in sharing information with their parishes and want to share and be transparent with their history rather than hide it or keep it to certain members. Transcribing this document would enable a greater number of curious parishoners and laypeople access to Elliott’s words. In accordance with their mission statement, this would help the Paulists to reach out to those whose faith may be lost or those disillusioned by religion.
| dc.Title | Mortal Sins. Walter Elliott Spiritual Journal |
| dc.Creator | Elliott, Walter |
| dc.Subject | Death |
| dc.Description | Mortal sins |
| dc.Publisher | Lisa Brigandi |
| dc.Contributor | The Paulist Fathers |
| dc.Date | 1800s |
| dc.Type | Digital Object |
| dc.Format | 6 pages, scanned |
| dc.Identifier | https://hiddenheritagecollections.org/2014/02/walter-elliott-spiritual-journal-2/ |
| dc.Source | The Paulist Fathers |
| dc. Subject | diaries, Church history – 19th century, brothers (religious |
| dc.Language | En.- US |
| dc.Relation | |
| dc.Coverage | |
| dc.Rights | The Paulist Fathers |
Works Cited:
Elliott, Walter (1891). Life of Father Hecker. Project Gutenberg: 26 April 2006.
Retrieved from: http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/18283/pg18283.html
Elliott, Walter (n.d.). The spiritual journal of Walter Elliott: Mortal sin
[.tif filesimage_007 through image_00012]. Retrieved from Paulist Fathers Archive.
Paulist Fathers (2014). Who we are: Mission statement. Retrieved from:
http://www.paulist.org/about/mission-statement
Paulist Fathers (2014). Who we are: Paulist history. Retrieved from:
http://www.paulist.org/history/paulist-history