The materials in this series document the process of beatification of Fray Magín Catalá. The records include transcripts of depositions taken circa 1885 and again in 1908-1909 during the beatification process of Fr. Magín Catalá. During these proceedings, sixty-two witnesses were called upon to provide testimony about the life and work of Fr. Catalá. While the documents focus primarily on canonical issues, they also contain information about life in the Santa Clara Valley in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Included are interviews with early Spanish colonizers who had knowledge of the Franciscan missionary and the era in which Fr. Catalá lived. Early Jesuit administrators and faculty from Santa Clara College involved with the beatification process included Jesuit Fathers Joseph Bixio, Nicholas Congiato, Joseph Caredda, Henry Imoda, Benedict Picardo, John Pinasco, Paul Raffo, and Aloysius Varsi.

Note: Materials are reproductions of the original documents held in the Archivio Segreto Vaticano (Vatican Secret Archives) and were obtained by Santa Clara University Library Archives & Special Collections in 1993. Box 1, Folder 7 contains a photocopy of "Witnesses in Català Beatification," a deposition transcript. The original document is held in the Archdiocese of San Francisco Archives.