When I was at Winona, they let me out of Latin, because I already had had about 12 years of it before going there.  But did they give me a free period to study other subjects?  No.  Instead, they had me working in the library.  I was the one who unboxed all the books (some shipped over from the old seminary, others donated), organized them by subject, put them all on the shelves, created a card catalogue, etc.  And I also populated the "hell room" (it was an entire room with modernist or otherwise objectionable material.  They left it up to me to decide what should go in there.  As for where the concept of a "hell section" or hell room originated, I don't know.

I've heard a priest refer to the "hell room" in his Seminary. The seminarians were forbidden from reading anything there without special permission and for a serious reason.

Such a room of books is an understandable thing to have, as it is sometimes necessary to read the works of heretics and apostates in order to properly refute them.

I understand that, but I was wondering if this was a pre-V2 thing or not.

According to a talk I heard from Bishop Sanborn it is pre-V2.

Of course, as you got closer to Vatican II, I'm sure the hell section had about two books in it as most of the modernist tomes found pride of place in the main section.

Is there any docuмentation available for the origin/reason/creation of the Hell section?

Quote from: Malleus

Is there any docuмentation available for the origin/reason/creation of the Hell section?

Well, the use they have been put to makes it self-explicable: refutation of heresies from the words of the heretics themselves.

I know, I just mean something you could show someone who doesn't know about it.

Like, what would you say to someone who doesn't know what it is? What if the person asks you for evidence that such a thing existed?

Quote from: BTNYC

Quote from: Malleus

Is there any docuмentation available for the origin/reason/creation of the Hell section?

Well, the use they have been put to makes it self-explicable: refutation of heresies from the words of the heretics themselves.

I know, I just mean something you could show someone who doesn't know about it.

Like, what would you say to someone who doesn't know what it is? What if the person asks you for evidence that such a thing existed?

It was a practice instituted in seminaries, and therefore for seminarians. So, to be frank, it's none of a layman's business. But if you know someone who wishes to know more about it, direct him to a traditional priest. It was from the mouth of one that I first learned of the existence of this traditional seminary policy.

 

Quote from: BTNYC

I've heard a priest refer to the "hell room" in his Seminary. The seminarians were forbidden from reading anything there without special permission and for a serious reason.

Such a room of books is an understandable thing to have, as it is sometimes necessary to read the works of heretics and apostates in order to properly refute them.

I understand that, but I was wondering if this was a pre-V2 thing or not.

Prior to Vatican II there was an index of forbidden books which was put out by the Vatican. The purpose of teh "hell" room was to place copies of these books in a special room where there was limited access and where theologians could study those books for the purposes of refuting them.