Vatican Secret Archives

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Coat of arms of the Vatican City

The Vatican Secret Archives (Latin: Archivum Secretum Vaticanum), located in the Vatican City, is the central repository for all of the acts promulgated by the Holy See. These archives also contain the state papers, correspondence, papal account books,[1] and many other documents which the church has accumulated over the centuries. In the 17th century, under the orders of Pope Paul V, the Secret Archives were removed from the Vatican Library and remained absolutely closed to Vatican outsiders until the late 19th century, when they were opened by Pope Leo XIII.

Contents

[edit] Extent

The Vatican Secret Archives have been estimated to contain 52 miles (84 km) of shelving,[2] and there are 35,000 volumes in the selective catalogue alone: "Publication of the indexes, in part or as a whole, is forbidden," according to the regulations current in 2005. The Secret Archives support their own photographic and conservation studios.

According to the Vatican website, the oldest surviving document dates back to the end of the eighth century. "Transfers and political upheavals nearly caused the total loss of all the archival material preceding Innocent III."[3] From 1198 onwards, more complete archives exist, though documentation is a little scanty before the 13th century. Since that time, the documentation includes items such as Henry VIII of England's request for a marriage annulment, and letters from Michelangelo.

[edit] Access

Adjacent to the Vatican Museum, its entrance is through the Porta di S. Anna in via di Porta Angelica (rione of Borgo). There is no browsing, and selected scholars must ask in advance for the precise document they wish to see; thus, they must know in advance that such a document exists. The current Archivist is His Eminence Cardinal Raffaele Farina, with Jorge Maria Cardinal Mejia and Luigi Cardinal Poggi holding the position of Archivist Emeritus.

[edit] Opening of the archives

Customarily, documents are made available to the public after a period of 75 years. The Secret Archives are still separately housed.

In 1883, Pope Leo XIII opened archives dated 1815 or earlier to non-clerical scholars. (The first papal historian to make fundamental use of the Secret Archives was the sympathetic historian of the Papacy, Ludwig von Pastor.) Documents were next released in 1924, when the Secret Archives became open up to the end of the pontificate of Gregory XVI (June 1, 1846). Since then, the secret archives of subsequent pontificates have been opened as follows:

  • 1966: Documents from the pontificate of Pius IX (1846–78). Note that the opening of Pius IX's pontificate was originally planned during the pontificate of Pius XII.
  • 1978: Documents from the pontificate of Leo XIII (1878–1903).
  • 1985: From the pontificates of Pius X (1903–14) and Benedict XV (1914–22).

On 20 February 2002, Pope John Paul II took the extraordinary step of making available, beginning in 2003, some of the documents from the Historical Archives of the Secretariat of State (Second Section), which pertain to the Vatican's relations with Germany during the pontificate of Pope Pius XI (1922–39). The Vatican's reason for this action was "to put an end to unjust and thoughtless speculation."[4]

In June 2006, Pope Benedict XVI authorized opening of all the Vatican Archives for the pontificate of Pope Pius XI.[5] However, the files are not yet available for public review.[citation needed]

[edit] Archivists of the Holy Roman Church

[edit] Prefects of the Vatican Secret Archives

  • Giuseppe Garampi (9 September 1751 – 27 January 1772)
  • Fr. Mario Zampini (1772–82)
  • Fr. Gaetano Marini (1782–1815)
  • Fr. Callisto Marini (1782–1822)
  • Fr. Marino Marini (1815–55)
  • Fr. Augustin Theiner, O.S.A. (6 December 1855 – June 1870)
  • Bishop Giuseppe Cardoni (8 June 1870 – March 1873)
  • Carlo Cardinal Cristofori (14 April 1873 – 13 January 1877)
  • Fr. Francesco Rosi Bernardini (17 January 1877 – June 1879)
  • Joseph Hergenröther (9 June 1879 – 3 October 1890)
  • Agostino Cardinal Ciasca, O.E.S.A. (13 June 1891 – July 1892)
  • Luigi Tripepi (19 September 1892-May 1894)
  • Fr. Peter Wenzel (28 July 1894 – 24 May 1909)
  • Msgr. Mariano Ugolini (29 May 1909 – June 1925)
  • Fr. Angelo Mercati (22 May 1925 – October 1955)
  • Fr. Martino Giusti (1955 – April 1984)
  • Fr. Josef Metzler, O.M.I. (24 May 1984 – 1996)
  • Raffaele Farina (25 May 1997 – 25 June 2007)
  • Sergio Pagano, B. (7 January 1997 – present)

[edit] Other secret archives

There are other secret archives at the Vatican. An even more secret archive is kept by the Apostolic Penitentiary, which contains papal documents and other material that is not made public, as no one is allowed access due to the privacy of the confessor–penitent disputes for which the Penitentiary is responsible.[6] Nevertheless the Secret Archives are the main collection.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ See Pastor, History of the Popes, vol. III, 31.
  2. ^ Secret Archives Accessible Online, Zenit News Agency
  3. ^ The Vatican Secret Archives: The Past, Vatican website
  4. ^ Vatican Archivists Rush to Declassify WWII Documents, Catholic World News, February 20, 2002
  5. ^ Benedict XVI opens Archives on Pius XI, Zenit News Agency, July 2, 2006
  6. ^ See the Seal of the Confessional.

[edit] Further reading

Ambrosini, Maria Luisa. The Secret Archives of the Vatican. Boston: Little, Brown, 1969 (republished 1996). ISBN 0-7607-0125-3
Blouin, Francis X. et al. (1998). Vatican Archives: An Inventory and Guide to Historical Documentation of the Holy See. New York, Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-509552-9. 
Pastor, Ludwig von. The history of the popes, from the close of the Middle Ages: (drawn from the secret archives of the Vatican and other original sources). from WorldCat. Reprints: Periodicals Service Company (New York) and Schmidt Periodicals GmbH (Germany)
Borromeo, Agostino. L'inquisizione : atti del Simposio internazionale, Città del Vaticano ( The inquisition: actions of the international Symposium, Vatican City), Biblioteca apostolica vaticana, 2003. ISBN 88-210-0761-8

[edit] External links

[edit] News articles

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