Posted on 01/02/2010 4:42:07 AM PST by NYer
The Holy See’s archives contain scrolls, parchments and leather-bound volumes with correspondence dating back more than 1,000 years.
High-quality reproductions of 105 documents, 19 of which have never been seen before in public, have now been published in a book. The Vatican Secret Archives features a papal letter to Hitler, an entreaty to Rome written on birch bark by a tribe of North American Indians, and a plea from Mary Queen of Scots.
The book documents the Roman Catholic Church’s often hostile dealings with the world of science and the arts, including documents from the heresy trial against Galileo and correspondence exchanged with Erasmus, Voltaire and Mozart. It also reveals the Church’s relations with princes and potentates in countries far beyond its dominion.
In a letter dated 1246 from Grand Khan Guyuk to Pope Innocent IV, Genghis Khan’s grandson demands that the pontiff travel to central Asia in person – with all of his “kings” in tow – to “pay service and homage to us” as an act of “submission”, threatening that otherwise “you shall be our enemy”.
Another formal letter in the archive highlights the papacy’s political role. In 1863 Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederate States, wrote to Pope Pius IX claiming that the civil war raging across America was entirely due to “Northern aggression”.
“We desire no evil to our enemies, nor do we covet any of their possessions; but are only struggling to the end that they shall cease to devastate our land and inflict useless and cruel slaughter upon our people.”
Other letters in the archive are more personal. In a 1550 note, Michelangelo demands payment from the papacy which was three months late, and complains that a papal conclave had interrupted his work on the dome
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
The Vatican uses the term “Secret” Even a link to it on their website.
What’s interesting about the Jefferson Davis letter isn’t its contents, which are simply typical of Southern rhetoric at the time, but that Davis apparently cared what the Pope thought. Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address” always struck me as peculiarly Catholic in thought, too. (Not saying Lincoln had any affinities towards Catholicism, just that I now wonder whether he may have also had some interest in how Catholics would regard the case he was laying out, for whatever reason.)
The pope never weighed in on the Civil War, to my knowledge, but shortly afterwards, consecrated the States to the Immaculate Conception.
You wrote:
“The Vatican uses the term “Secret” Even a link to it on their website.”
Right, but ‘secret’ means a somewhat different idea to someone who knows Latin than to an English speaker and the archives are open to scholars.
In other words, it ain’t so secret.
The Holy Grail, the date of the second coming, the body of the real Paul VI (who was replaced by a doppelganger), numerous Nazi artifacts, the robes worn by certain Vatican cardinals when they offer satanic worship and details of a top secret plan to bribe Orthodox patriarchs into selling out and reuniting under Rome.
And that's just for starters..............
I'm reminded of the poem, "Ozymandias".
I heard that they have the epistles of Mary Magdalene, Jesus’ body, and a letter by the Apostle Paul who says, “Suckers!!!!”
I better put in the /sarc tag :-)
All those socks which mysteriously disappeared from clothes dryers......How they ended up over there is an even greater mystery.
That's probably true, since those who had to write an index of documents didn't necessarily read them. It still doesn't explain why call it "secret." The suggests that it the Vatican is hiding something, which I don't think is the case. Why not just call it the Vatican Library?
That's understandable. But it doesn't explain the "secret" in its title. I mean, the universities don't call their libraries "secret" just because they have restricted access.
So basically Vatican’s Private Library (even though that is redundant) is really what is meant?
Great standup routine, but it doesn't answer my question. Tanks for trying.
Ah, now I understand! :)
http://asv.vatican.va/en/arch/secret.htm
The term «secret» (secretum), besides, since the XV Century, was used in both secular and ecclesiastical courts, for people or institutions close to the prince (in our case to the pope) and to his «familia». As a matter of fact, the trusty person of the prince, with whom he discussed the most reserved or delicate matters and it was often the person who prepared the respective documents, was called «secretarium». Therefore, in the family roles of the prince, apart from the secretarii, there was the «secret servants», the «secret cupbearer», the «Secret squire» etc. The same phenomenon could be seen also within the papal familia: where there were the secretarii, the camerarius secretus, the sacrista secretus, the secretus carver and other figures called in the same way.
Thanks, I learned something new about the meaning and spelling of the word secretary.
“To Peter, from Jesus. Good luck in Rome.”
From my understanding, that would be a reasonable thing to call it, but its worth noting that the Vatican itself doesn’t know everything it might find there.
Apologies for the duplicate-post!
You wrote:
“Why not just call it the Vatican Library?”
Because there already is a Vatican Library and it houses mainly books and art.
“Exactly. Most English-Latin Missals of what is now called the Extraordinary Form have sections of the Mass that the priest says “in secret.” he “secret” words are printed in millions of Missals. In the context, it simply means in a low voice.”
Be sure to drink your Ovaltine!!!
In practise, it’s kind of inconvenient at that part of the Mass to flip to the propers, so personally, as far as I am concerned “the secret” can REMAIN “a secret!” ;-D
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