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The Vatican Secret Archives , located in the Vatican City
Vatican City

Vatican City , officially the State of the Vatican City , is a Landlocked country sovereignty city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome, the Capital of Italy....
, is the central repository for all of the acts promulgated by the Holy See
Holy See

The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome, commonly known as the Pope, and is the preeminent episcopal see of the Roman Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church....
. These archive
Archive

An archive refers to a collection of historical records, and also refers to the location in which these records are kept.'Archives' are made up of records which have been accumulated over the course of an individual or organization's lifetime....
s also contain the state paper
State paper

A State Paper is a document or file kept by a government to record discussions, options and decisions by government officials, departments and civil servants....
s, correspondence, papal
Pope

The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church and head of state of Vatican City. The current pope is Pope Benedict XVI, who was elected April 19, 2005 in Papal conclave, 2005....
 account books, and many other documents which the church has accumulated over the centuries. In the 17th century, under the orders of Pope Paul V
Pope Paul V

Pope Paul V , born Camillo Borghese, was Pope from May 16, 1605 until his death....
, the Secret Archives were removed from the Vatican Library
Vatican Library

The Vatican Library , is the library of the Holy See, currently located in Vatican City. It is one of the oldest libraries in the world and contains one of the most significant collections of historical texts....
 and remained absolutely closed to Vatican outsiders until the late 19th century, when they were opened by Pope Leo XIII
Pope Leo XIII

Pope Leo XIII , born Count Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci, was the 256th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, reigning from 1878 to 1903, succeeding Pope Pius IX....
.

Vatican Secret Archives have been estimated to contain of shelving, 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.






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The Vatican Secret Archives , located in the Vatican City
Vatican City

Vatican City , officially the State of the Vatican City , is a Landlocked country sovereignty city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome, the Capital of Italy....
, is the central repository for all of the acts promulgated by the Holy See
Holy See

The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Bishop of Rome, commonly known as the Pope, and is the preeminent episcopal see of the Roman Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church....
. These archive
Archive

An archive refers to a collection of historical records, and also refers to the location in which these records are kept.'Archives' are made up of records which have been accumulated over the course of an individual or organization's lifetime....
s also contain the state paper
State paper

A State Paper is a document or file kept by a government to record discussions, options and decisions by government officials, departments and civil servants....
s, correspondence, papal
Pope

The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church and head of state of Vatican City. The current pope is Pope Benedict XVI, who was elected April 19, 2005 in Papal conclave, 2005....
 account books, and many other documents which the church has accumulated over the centuries. In the 17th century, under the orders of Pope Paul V
Pope Paul V

Pope Paul V , born Camillo Borghese, was Pope from May 16, 1605 until his death....
, the Secret Archives were removed from the Vatican Library
Vatican Library

The Vatican Library , is the library of the Holy See, currently located in Vatican City. It is one of the oldest libraries in the world and contains one of the most significant collections of historical texts....
 and remained absolutely closed to Vatican outsiders until the late 19th century, when they were opened by Pope Leo XIII
Pope Leo XIII

Pope Leo XIII , born Count Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci, was the 256th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, reigning from 1878 to 1903, succeeding Pope Pius IX....
.

Extent

The Vatican Secret Archives have been estimated to contain of shelving, 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." 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
Henry VIII of England

Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was also Lordship of Ireland and claimant to the Early Modern France. Henry was the second monarch of the House of Tudor, succeeding his father, Henry VII of England....
's request for a marriage annulment, and letters from Michelangelo
Michelangelo

Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni , commonly known as Michelangelo, was an Italian Renaissance Painting, sculptor, architect, poet, and engineer....
.

Access

Adjacent to the Vatican Museum, its entrance is through the Porta di S. Anna in via di Porta Angelica (rione
Rione

Rione is the name given to a ward in several Italian cities, the best-known of which is rioni of Rome. Unlike a quartiere, a rione is usually an official administrative subdivision....
 of Borgo
Borgo (rione of Rome)

Borgo , is the 14th historic district of Rome. It lies on the west bank of the Tiber, and has a trapezoidal shape. Its Coat of Arms shows a lion , lying in front of three mounts and a star....
). 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 catalogue is not complete. The Vatican estimates the linear length as about of shelving. The current Archivist is His Eminence
His Eminence

His Eminence is a historical style for high nobility, still in use in various religious contexts....
 Cardinal
Cardinal (Catholicism)

A cardinal is a senior Ecclesiology official, usually a Bishop , of the Catholic Church. They are collectively known as the College of Cardinals, which as a body elects a new pope....
 Raffaele Farina
Raffaele Farina

Raffaele Farina, Salesians of Don Bosco is an Italy Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He currently serves as Vatican Secret Archives and Vatican Library, and was elevated to the Cardinal in 2007....
, with Jorge Maria Cardinal Mejia and Luigi Cardinal Poggi holding the position of Archivist Emeritus
Emeritus

Emeritus is an adjective that is used in the title of a retired professor, bishop or other professional. Emerita was used for women, but is rarely used today....
.

Opening of the archives

Almost all organisations with archives have time restrictions on when their documents may be opened to the public, lest any documents have sensitive information that would be damaging if released. The Vatican Archives is no exception. 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
Pope Leo XIII

Pope Leo XIII , born Count Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci, was the 256th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, reigning from 1878 to 1903, succeeding Pope Pius IX....
 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
Ludwig von Pastor

Ludwig Pastor, later Freiherr von Campersfelden , was a German historian and a diplomat for Austria. He became one of the most important Catholic historians of his time and is most notable for his History of the Popes....
.) Documents were next released in 1924, when the Secret Archives became open up to the end of the pontificate of Gregory XVI
Pope Gregory XVI

Pope Gregory XVI , born Bartolomeo Alberto Cappellari, named Mauro as a member of the religious order of the Camaldolese, was Pope of the Roman Catholic Church from 1831 to 1846....
 (June 1, 1846). Since then, the secret archives of subsequent pontificates have been opened as follows:

  • 1966: Documents from the pontificate of Pius IX
    Pope Pius IX

    Blessed Pope Pius IX , born Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti, was Pope from June 16, 1846 until his death. His was the longest reign in Church history, lasting 32 years....
     (1846–78). Note that the opening of Pius IX's pontificate was originally planned during the pontificate of Pius XII
    Pope Pius XII

    Pope Pius XII , born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli , reigned as the 260th pope, head of the Roman Catholic Church and monarch of Vatican City, from March 2, 1939 until his death in 1958....
    .
  • 1978: Documents from the pontificate of Leo XIII (1878–1903).
  • 1985: From the pontificates of Pius X
    Pope Pius X

    Pope St. Pius X , born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto, was the 257th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, serving from 1903 to 1914, succeeding Pope Leo XIII ....
     (1903–14) and Benedict XV
    Pope Benedict XV

    Pope Benedict XV , , , born Giacomo Paolo Giovanni Battista della Chiesa, reigned as Pope from September 3, 1914 to January 22, 1922, succeeding Pope Pius X ....
     (1914–22).


On 20 February 2002, Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II

Pope John Paul II John Paul II is widely acclaimed as one of the most influential leaders of the twentieth century. He has been Pope_John_Paul_II#Role_in_the_fall_of_Communism in bringing down communism in Eastern Europe, as well as significantly improving the Roman Catholic Church's relations with Judaism, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and A...
 took the extraordinary step of making available, beginning in 2003, some of the documents from the Historical Archives of the Secretariat of State
Secretariat of State (Vatican)

The Secretariat of State is the oldest dicastery in the Roman Curia, the government of the Roman Catholic Church. It is headed by the Cardinal Secretary of State, Tarcisio Cardinal Bertone, and performs all the political and diplomatic functions of Vatican City and the Holy See....
 (Second Section), which pertain to the Vatican's relations with Germany during the pontificate of Pope Pius XI
Pope Pius XI

Pope Pius XI , born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti, reigned as Pope from February 6, 1922, and as sovereignty of Vatican City from its creation as an independent state on February 11, 1929 until his death on February 10, 1939....
 (1922–39). The Vatican's reason for this action was "to put an end to unjust and thoughtless speculation."

In June 2006, Pope Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict XVI

Pope Benedict XVI is the List of popes and reigning Pope, by virtue of his office of Bishop of Rome, the head of the Roman Catholic Church and, as such, monarch of the Vatican City....
 authorized opening of all the Vatican Archives for the pontificate of Pope Pius XI
Pope Pius XI

Pope Pius XI , born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti, reigned as Pope from February 6, 1922, and as sovereignty of Vatican City from its creation as an independent state on February 11, 1929 until his death on February 10, 1939....
. However, the files are not yet available for public review.

Archivists of the Holy Roman Church

  • Agostino Cardinal Ciasca (19 May 1891 – 4 July 1893)
  • Luigi Cardinal Galimberti (25 June 1894 – 7 May 1896)
  • Francesco Cardinal Segna (4 July 1896 – 13 January 1908)
  • Francesco Salesio Della Volpe
    Francesco Salesio Della Volpe

    Francesco Salesio Della Volpe was an Italy Catholic Cardinal from a noble family. As protodeacon, he announced the election of cardinal Giacomo Della Chiesa to the papacy, at the end of the Papal conclave of 1914....
     26 October 1908 – 26 January 1911)
  • Mariano Rampolla del Tindaro (1912 – 16 December 1913)
  • Francesco di Paola Cassetta
    Francesco di Paola Cassetta

    Francesco Cardinal di Paola Cassetta was an Italy prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Congregation for the Clergy from 1914 until his death, and was elevated to the Cardinal in 1899....
     (14 February 1914 – 1917)
  • Francis Aidan Gasquet (28 November 1917 – 5 April 1929)
  • Franz Cardinal Ehrle (17 April 1929 – 31 March 1934)
  • Giovanni Mercati
    Giovanni Mercati

    Giovanni Mercati was an Italy Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Vatican Secret Archives and Vatican Library from 1936 until his death, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 1936....
     (15 June 1936 – 23 August 1957)
  • Eugène-Gabriel-Gervais-Laurent Tisserant (14 September 1957 – 27 March 1971)
  • Antonio Cardinal Samore
    Antonio Cardinal Samoré

    Antonio Samor? was an Italy Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He was elevated to the Cardinal in 1967....
     (25 January 1974 – 3 February 1983)
  • Alfons Stickler (8 September 1983 – 1 July 1988)
  • Antonio María Javierre Ortas
    Antonio María Javierre Ortas

    Antonio Mar?a Javierre Ortas S.D.B. was a Cardinal of the Catholic Church, and former prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments in the Roman Curia....
     (1 July 1988 – 24 January 1992)
  • Luigi Cardinal Poggi (9 April 1992 – 7 March 1998)
  • Jorge Maria Cardinal Mejia (7 March 1998 – 24 November 2003)
  • Jean-Louis Cardinal Tauran
    Jean-Louis Cardinal Tauran

    Jean-Louis Pierre Tauran is a France Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He currently serves as President of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue in the Roman Curia, and was elevated to the Cardinal in 2003....
     (24 November 2003 – 1 September 2007)
  • Raffaele Cardinal Farina
    Raffaele Farina

    Raffaele Farina, Salesians of Don Bosco is an Italy Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He currently serves as Vatican Secret Archives and Vatican Library, and was elevated to the Cardinal in 2007....
     (1 September 2007 – present)


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
    Joseph Hergenröther

    Joseph Hergenr?ther was a German Church historian and canonist, and the first Cardinal-Prefect of the Vatican Archives....
     (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.
    Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate

    The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate is a Roman Catholic religious order of the Roman Catholic Church founded on January 25, 1816 by Saint Charles Joseph Eugene de Mazenod, a French priest from Marseilles....
     (24 May 1984 – 1996)
  • Raffaele Farina
    Raffaele Farina

    Raffaele Farina, Salesians of Don Bosco is an Italy Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He currently serves as Vatican Secret Archives and Vatican Library, and was elevated to the Cardinal in 2007....
     (25 May 1997 – 25 June 2007)
  • Sergio Pagano
    Sergio Pagano

    Sergio Pagano Barnabites is Vatican Library.Pagano was born in Genoa in 1948. He became a member of the Barnabites in 1966. He completed his studies in philosophy and theology in Rome, where he was ordained priest on 28 May 1977....
    , B.
    Barnabites

    The Barnabites, or Clerics Regular of Saint Paul is a Roman Catholic religious order....
     (7 January 1997 – present)

Other secret archives

There are other secret archives at the Vatican. An even more secret archive is kept by the Apostolic Penitentiary
Apostolic Penitentiary

The Apostolic Penitentiary, more formally the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Penitentiary, is one of the three tribunals of the Roman Curia....
, 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
Confessor

The title confessor is used within Christianity in several ways....
–penitent disputes for which the Penitentiary is responsible. Nevertheless the Secret Archives are the main collection.

See also

  • Actes et Documents du Saint Siège relatifs à la Seconde Guerre Mondiale
    Actes et Documents du Saint Siège relatifs à la Seconde Guerre Mondiale

    Actes et Documents du Saint Si?ge relatifs ? la Seconde Guerre Mondiale , often abbreviated Actes or ADSS, is an eleven-volume collection of documents from the Vatican City historical archives compiled by Jesuit historians Pierre Blet , Angelo Martini , Burkhart Schneider , and Robert A....
     (Acts and Documents of the Holy See relative to the Second World War)
  • Acta Apostolicae Sedis
    Acta Apostolicae Sedis

    Acta Apostolicae Sedis , often cited as AAS, is the official gazette of the Holy See, appearing about twelve times a year. It was established by Pope Pius X with the decree Promulgandi Pontificias Constitutiones , and publication began in January 1909....
  • Relations between Catholicism and Judaism
    Relations between Catholicism and Judaism

    This article on relations between Catholicism and Judaism deals with the current relationship between the Catholic Church and Judaism, focusing on changes over the last fifty years, and especially during the pontificate of Pope John Paul II....
  • Henry Denifle
    Henry Denifle

    Henry Denifle, in German language Heinrich Seuse Denifle , was an Austrian paleographer and historian....
    , sub-archivist at the Vatican (1883–1905)
  • Archive of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
    Archive of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith

    The archive of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in the Holy See , commonly referred to as the Archive of the Inquisition , contains the Roman Catholic Church documents dealing with doctrine and theology issues related to church teaching....
  • Vatican Film Library
    Vatican Film Library

    The Knights of Columbus Vatican Film Library in St. Louis, Missouri is the only outside-of-the-Vatican collection of over 37,000 works from the Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, the Vatican Library in Europe....
    , which contains microfilmed versions of some of the documents from the Archives, in St. Louis, Missouri
    St. Louis, Missouri

    St. Louis is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri, located near the confluence of the Mississippi River and the Missouri River. St....


Further reading

. The Secret Archives of the Vatican. Boston: Little, Brown, 1969 (republished 1996). ISBN 0-7607-0125-3
. . from WorldCat
WorldCat

WorldCat is a union catalog which itemizes the collections of more than 10,000 library which participate in the Online Computer Library Center global cooperative....
. Reprints:
. L'inquisizione : atti del Simposio internazionale, Città del Vaticano ( The inquisition: actions of the international Symposium, Vatican City), Biblioteca apostolica vaticana
Vatican Library

The Vatican Library , is the library of the Holy See, currently located in Vatican City. It is one of the oldest libraries in the world and contains one of the most significant collections of historical texts....
, 2003. ISBN 88-210-0761-8


External links

  • , including a history of the Secret Archives
  • , Catholic Encyclopedia
    Catholic Encyclopedia

    The Catholic Encyclopedia, also referred to today as the Old Catholic Encyclopedia, is an English language encyclopedia published by The Encyclopedia Press....
  • , Catholic Encyclopedia
  • , Catholic Encyclopedia
  • , New Catholic Dictionary, 1910 edition
  • , a detailed history, description and catalogue of archives
  • , article from Rotten.com
    Rotten.com

    Rotten.com is a United States-hosted shock site with a slogan of "An archive of disturbing illustration" operated by Soylent Communications.It is devoted to morbidity curiosities, primarily pictures of violent acts, deformities, autopsy or forensics photographs, depictions of sexual perversion sex acts, and historical curios that are distur...
  • by Anne Jacobson Schutte, Perspectives Online, Published by the American Historical Association, May 1999
  • , National Geographic, April 8, 2004
  • , January 18, 2005.


News articles

  • , from L'Osservatore Romano
    L'Osservatore Romano

    L'Osservatore Romano is the "semi-official" newspaper of the Holy See. It covers all the Pope's public activities, publishes editorials by important churchmen, and runs official documents after being released....
    , November 11, 1998. Address of Pope John Paul II to the participants of the International Symposium on the Inquisition at the Vatican, October 31, 1998. In attendance was the internationally renowned historian Carlo Ginzburg
    Carlo Ginzburg

    Carlo Ginzburg is a noted historian and pioneer of microhistory. He is most famous for his ground-breaking book, The Cheese and the Worms: The Cosmos of a Sixteenth Century Miller, which examined the beliefs of an Italian heretic, Menocchio, from Montereale Valcellina....
    . In 1979, Ginzburg sent to the then–newly-elected Pope John Paul II
    Pope John Paul II

    Pope John Paul II John Paul II is widely acclaimed as one of the most influential leaders of the twentieth century. He has been Pope_John_Paul_II#Role_in_the_fall_of_Communism in bringing down communism in Eastern Europe, as well as significantly improving the Roman Catholic Church's relations with Judaism, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and A...
    , asking that the archives of the Holy office (the Roman Inquisition
    Roman Inquisition

    The Roman Inquisition was a system of tribunals developed by the Holy See during the second half of the 16th century, responsible for prosecuting individuals accused of a wide array of crimes related to heresy, including sorcery, blasphemy, Judaizing and witchcraft, as well for censorship of printed literature....
    ) be opened. Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI
    Pope Benedict XVI

    Pope Benedict XVI is the List of popes and reigning Pope, by virtue of his office of Bishop of Rome, the head of the Roman Catholic Church and, as such, monarch of the Vatican City....
    , credited Ginzburg, and his 1979 letter, as having been instrumental in the Vatican's decision to open these archives.
  • , Zenit News Agency
    Zenit News Agency

    ZENIT is a Non-profit organization news agency that reports on the Roman Catholic Church and issues important to it from the perspective of Church doctrine....
    , October 29, 2002
  • [https://www.cwnews.com/news/viewstory.cfm?recnum=19460 Vatican to computerize archives from the Holy Office, Inquisition], Catholic World News
    Catholic World News

    Catholic World News is an online news service founded in 1996 by Philip F. Lawler, a former editor of the conservative Catholic magazine Crisis and employee of the Heritage Foundation....
    , December 5, 2002.
  • , BBC News Online
    BBC News Online

    BBC News Online is the website of BBC News, the division of the BBC responsible for newsgathering and production. The website is the most popular news website in the United Kingdom and forms a major part of BBC Online ....
    , June 15, 2004
  • , Zenit News Agency
    Zenit News Agency

    ZENIT is a Non-profit organization news agency that reports on the Roman Catholic Church and issues important to it from the perspective of Church doctrine....
    , June 15, 2004
  • , Zenit News Agency, June 24, 2004
  • , Catholic News Service, January 28, 2005
  • , CathNews, September 19, 2006
  • "Documents from newly opened Vatican archives indicate...", NewsVine.com, October 12, 2006