SULL'ITALIANO LINGUA FRANCA NELLA CHIESA CATTOLICA MISSIONARIA. LA CORRISPONDENZA EPISTOLARE DI ROSENDO SALVADO, FONDATORE DI NEW NORCIA, Western Australia (1849-1860)

© 2016 Vita e Pensiero / Pubblicazioni dell'Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore.New contexts of use and archival material have been taken into account in the recent revaluation of the status of the Italian language before Unification. Among these contexts, the epistolary networks within the Catholic missionary Church represent an invaluable but still little investigated domain of Italian usage in the 19th century. This paper focuses on the letters that Rosendo Salvado, the Spanish founder of the New Norcia mission in Western Australia, sent in Italian to the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples in Rome between 1849 and 1860. While confirming the role of this language in the international communications of the Catholic clergy, these letters bring new evidence to research on 19th century non-literary written Italian.