To encourage these studies, sometimes rendered difficult by the precarious economic conditions of the clergy, it would be most opportune if Ordinaries, according to the splendid tradition of the Church, were to restore dignity and efficiency to cathedral, collegiate, and parochial libraries.
Despite the despoiling and destruction they have undergone, many ecclesiastical libraries often possess a precious heritage of parchments, of books in manuscript or print, “eloquent testimony of the activity and influence of the Church, of the faith and generous piety of our ancestors, their studies and their good taste”.88Cf. Epistulam Emi Card. Petri Gasparri, a publicis Ecclesiae negotiis, ad Italiae Episcopos datam de 15 mensis Aprilis anno 1923: in Enchiridion Clericorum, Typ. Pol. Vat., 1937, p. 613.
These libraries must not be neglected receptacles for books but living structures with a room for reference and reading. Above all, however, let them be up to date and enriched with works of every kind, especially those relating to the religious and social questions of our times, so that teachers, parish priests, and particularly young priests may find there the doctrine necessary for diffusing the truth of the Gospel and for fighting error.