The Secret Archives of the Vatican

The thrills of mystery and discovery pervade this intimate account of one writer's lengthy encounter with the secret archives of the Vatican, a vast collection of religious and historical documents covering more than a thousand years of history. The book, an outcome of the author's rare chance to visit almost all the archives - "twenty-five miles of shelved documents" - described how this awesome collection of knowledge came into being. In telling the story of the development of the archives, which were established in their present form by Pope Paul V in 1612 and opened to scholars in 1881, the author provides fascinating glimpses of what they contain. These glimpses make for some of the book's most riveting reading. Brought to life are events that led to such documents as the original report on the trial of Galileo and to papal attacks on Pico della Mirandola. The author penetrates the collection of avvisi, or newsletters, which were gossip columns that began appearing in 1565 and were illicit, anonymous, condemned by everyone, and read by everyone, especially the cardinals. Her look into the papal register - official and personal letters - of Gregory VII (1073-1085) reveals a pope of profound feeling and self-questioning, as well as affection - for Matilda, Countess of Tuscany. Young Beatrice Cenci emerges a tragic heroine, put to death with her brother and stepmother in 1599 by Pope Clement VIII for murdering her father - a sadistic, violent, and repulsive man. The series of records that deal mainly with marriage annulments show "questions more searching than a psychiatrist would venture." Of particular interest is the chapter on the saints and the process of canonization, which guides the reader through one of the most inaccessible archives of the church - the records of saints' lives in their most intimate detail, the result of long investigations of documents, witnesses, and evidence. 1996 Banes Noble hardcover, 11th printing. Maria Louisa Ambrosini and Mary Willis. The Secret Archives of the Vatican flow through history like a vast river. Much of the material is fragmentary, some trivial, some obscene; but there is much gold as well. Here are the records of the triumphal progress of Queen Christina into Rome; the trials of Galileo, Pico della Mirandola and Savonarola for heresy; Beatrice Cenci's murder of her father; the rise and fall of the Knights Templar; the Great Schism; and many other diverse people and events. And through it all there is the ordering logic of the the endless gathering of the written word, from bejeweled psalters to papal laundry lists, from the record of the sale of a fifty-cent indulgence to the Donation of Constantine. By their very nature, the documents in the Secret Archives constitute the living record of an all-too-human institution. - Google Books