Monte-Pio de Montserrat

This antique original diploma belongs to the Catalan Mutual Aid Association Monte-Pío de Montserrat, founded in Buenos Aires in 1857. It is the oldest Catalan organisation in Argentina and the second founded abroad, preceded only by the Society of Benevolence of Natives of Catalonia in Havana. The piece is scarce: no other copies have been located in public or private collections, nor any previous sales records. At the top is the image of the Virgin of Montserrat, patron saint of Catalonia, flanked by the Argentine and Catalan flags, alluding to the integration of the migrant community. The composition is completed with classical ornamental motifs and careful typography. As a social document, this 1889 lithograph attests to the system of protection and mutual aid that the Catalans established in the Southern Cone before modern social-security systems. It is a document of interest for the study of the Catalan diaspora in Argentina and of the welfare and aid organisations of Buenos Aires.