The actual name of the Vatican archives is Archivum Secretum Apostolicum Vaticanum . The archives are housed in a section of the Vatican Library, adjacent to the Vatican Museum, at the northern boundary of Vatican City. With David Gibson, James Lurie. The Vatican Archives are often referred to as the Vatican Secret Archives, mostly due to a mistranslation of the Latin word secretum, which is actually closer in meaning to “personal” or “private” rather than “secret” or “confidential” as many think, but it could also have to do with the archive’s history of strict inaccessibility and reclusiveness from the outside world. FOR THE CHANGE OF THE NAME OF THE VATICAN SECRET ARCHIVE. As long as there was still an awareness of the close link between the Latin language and the languages that derive from it, there was no need to explain or even justify this title of Archivum Secretum. Add the first question. In that archive, there is a small portion that is "restricted". Fifty-three miles of shelving. This is largely due to its incomparable long and interesting history. What is “The Vatican Secret Archives”? However, there is one aspect that I think could still be useful to update, reaffirming the ecclesial and cultural aims of the mission of the Archives. With a documentary patrimony that spans twelve centuries ... Officially known as Archivum Secretum Vaticanum (latin) or Archivum Secretum Vaticanum (Italian), the Vatican Secret Archives (henceforth, Vatican Archives) concern documents related to the governance of the Universal Church that date back to the eighth century. There are many dubious claims about what might lie hidden in the Vatican Secret Archives – from alien remains and time travel devices to prophecies of impending Apocalypse – all of which position the Holy See as an implausibly powerful agent in the history and fate of mankind. Twelve centuries worth of documents. I order that this Apostolic Letter in the form of a Motu proprio be promulgated by publication in the daily newspaper L’Osservatore Romano, coming into immediate force upon publication, so as to be immediately incorporated into the official documents of the Holy See, and that, subsequently, it be inserted into the Acta Apostolicae Sedis. The basement of the Vatican houses 53 miles of shelf space with very limited access. Even the Vatican Secret Archives, for which the Roman Pontiffs have always reserved solicitude and care on account of the immense and important documentary heritage that it preserves, so precious for the Catholic Church as well as for universal culture, cannot escape such inevitable conditioning, in its now more than four centuries-long history. While it is true that the official opening of the Archive to researchers from every country was only in 1881, it is also true that between the 17th and 19th centuries many scholarly works could be published with the help of faithful or authentic documentary copies that historians obtained from the custodians and prefects of the Vatican Secret Archive. The Vatican’s Secret Archives houses one of the most iconic bastions of religion and culture ever. It consists of over 600 archival fonds and is stored on over 85 linear kilometres of shelving, some of which is in the Bunker, a two-storey underground vault below the Cortile della Pigna of the Vatican Museums. The truth behind the secret archives stems from a mistranslation of Latin. With the progressive semantic changes that have however occurred in modern languages and in the cultures and social sensibilities of different nations, to a greater or lesser extent, the term Secretum in relation to the Vatican Archive began to be misunderstood, to be coloured with ambiguous, even negative nuances. The Vatican’s Secret Archives, aka Archivum Secretum Apostolicum Vaticanum, are subject to wild conspiracy theories, and for good reason.With a name like that, who wouldn’t speculate? Why did they stop priests from marrying in the 11th century (1000 years after Peter the first married pope)? The name of the Vatican Secret Archives suggests intrigue and adventure, and perhaps that’s not far off, considering the documents it houses. Myth, conspiracy, rumor and imagination lie behind the contents of the Catholic Church’s deepest vaults, yet they are very real and, with some 35,000 documents … Secret Access: The Vatican takes viewers on an unprecedented journey inside the heart of … And the Church “is not afraid of history but, rather, she loves it, and would like to love it more and better, as God loves it!” (Address to the Officials of the Vatican Secret Archives, 4 March 2019: L'Osservatore Romano, 4-5 March 2019, p. 6). Thirty-five thousand volumes of the catalog. Jan 21, 2019 - Fifty-three miles of shelving. First, what is the Vatican? Jamie Theakston travels to Rome to meet church officials, expert archivists, scholars and authors to uncover some of the historical treasures stored in the Vatican Archives. ‘Secretum’ in Latin does not mean ‘secret’ as some may suppose. The Vatican’s Secret Archive might have sparked intrigue with the name, but, in reality, this is actually a mistranslation. Even the Vatican Secret Archives, for which the Roman Pontiffs have always reserved solicitude and care on account of the immense and important documentary heritage that it preserves, so precious for the Catholic Church as well as for universal culture, cannot escape such inevitable conditioning, in its now more than four centuries-long history. Key issues in the Vatican archives include the Golden Legend, the unpublished documents which might have been included in the Council of Nicea New testament of 325 AD.We KNOW the church needed reformation because of sexual misbehaviour etc. Today, the entire documentation kept in the Vatican Secret Archives occupies 85 kilometres of bookshelves and is constantly growing. Pope Francis has announced that the Vatican next year will open its secret archives containing World War II-era documents from the controversial papacy of Pope Pius XII. The “official history” of the Secret Archives dates back to 1612, when Paul V appointed Baldassarre Ansidei, former custodian of the Vatican Apostolic Library, custodian of the new archives. The Secrets of the Vatican Archives Get a sneak peek of the new version of this page. Just the name of the vault invokes mystery of the Catholic Church. The opening of the Vatican archives concerning Pius XII’s pontificate will shed much-needed light on his role during World War II –as long as the opening will be absolute and access to historians – unrestricted. In this way the structure of the Archive itself has gradually grown in view of its ever more demanding service to the Church and to the world of culture, always remaining faithful to the teachings and directives of the Popes. And in 2012, the Vatican Secret Archives put on a public exhibition of some of its most important documents in celebration of its 400th birthday. The archives are in fact made up of the private letters and historic records of past popes over the past four centuries. But that openness belies a few real secrets … I guess they confused "Secret Archives" with "Restricted Archives". The term Secretum, which has become the institution’s proper name and which has prevailed in recent centuries, was justified because it indicated that the new Archive, created at the behest of my predecessor Paul V around 1610-1612, was none other than the Pope's private, separate, reserved archive. Not to be confused with the Vatican Library or the Vatican Museum. Check out our January TV calendar for more! This is largely due to its incomparable long and interesting history. We did not need a scurvy ridden King Henry to cause it to happen. This is entirely the opposite of what the Vatican Secret Archive has always been and intends to be, which – as my holy predecessor Paul VI said – preserves “echoes and vestiges” of the passage of the Lord in history (Teachings of Paul VI, I, 1963, p. 614). View production, box office, & company info. This aspect concerns the very name of the institute: Vatican Secret Archive. Use the HTML below. This is how all the Popes always intended to define it, and this is how scholars still define it today, without any difficulty. Watch full-length episodes of PBS documentary series FRONTLINE for free. Twelve centuries worth of documents. Even the Vatican Secret Archives, for which the Roman Pontiffs have always reserved solicitude and care on account of the immense and important documentary heritage that it preserves, so precious for the Catholic Church as well as for universal culture, cannot escape such inevitable conditioning, in its now more than four centuries-long history. 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