Reorganization of the Archive of the Congregation of the Council

Research Project

Canon Law Cooperation Early Modern Period Historical Archives History of Christianity Knowledge of Normativity from the Sphere of the Religious Modernity Reference Work Roman Curia
Benedetta Albani

Since 2010 started in the Max Planck Institute for Legal History and Legal Theory (mpilhlt) a series of research activities concerning the history of the Holy Congregation of the Council. This dicastery was founded in 1564 by pope Pius IV who bestowed upon it the authority for the authentic interpretation of the disciplinary decrees of the Council of Trent and the surveillance of their proper application. The research is conducted in an interdisciplinary historico-juridical and long term perspective covering a period between the 16th and the 20th centuries.

In April 2013, in agreement with the Vatican Apostolic Archives (AAV), a project directed by Dr. Benedetta Albani and supported by an external researcher, was initiated in order to reorganize the archives of the Congregation and to ensure full usability for researchers.

The project will be structured in three phases:

  1. A general survey of the old part of the archive of the Congregation of the Council (1554-1922), which was incorporated into the AAV in different periods. In order to clarify some central steps in the history of the dicastery, the history of the archive will be investigated with special attention to the various deposits in the AAV.
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  2. Analytical inventory of the series of Positiones by the Congregation of the Council in which there are preserved the decisions taken by the Congregation about specific issues of interpretation regarding Tridentine canon law, requested by the faithful, by local ecclesiastical institutions or by other Roman congregations. Once the inventory will be concluded, it will be possible to reconnect to the section of the Positiones other archive series which are currently not available for scholars due to a lack of research tools. Also in preparation is a semi-analytical index of the Positiones series in replacement of previous manuscript research tools, in order to facilitate the consultation of the archival complex and furthermore to allow the acquisition of a more exhaustive knowledge of the content of the Positiones series.
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  3. The inspection and accurate description of the abundant material not yet inventoried, among which stand out different archival subseries: these documents will allow to improve the understanding of the functioning of the dicastery and its history.
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