ARCHIVIST OF THE HOLY ROMAN CHURCH.
- The supreme direction of the Vatican Secret Archive, of which the Supreme Pontiff “retains, with ownership, governance, and supreme administration,” is exercised through a cardinal who bears the title of A. of S. R. C. He is appointed by papal brief and is answerable to the Pope for matters relating to the preservation of the archival material and the proper functioning of the office; the prefect of the Vatican Secret Archive is subordinate to him, entrusted with custody of the archive together with the ordinary direction of the scholarly work, the personnel, and the services for the admission and assistance of scholars wishing to conduct historical research (Regolamento dell'Archivio Vaticano, 1927).
The title is recent. In the earliest centuries, preservation of the papal archive, and especially of the registers of letters, was the responsibility of the primicerius notariorum, who was head of the chancery; from the beginning of the eighth century, it was the responsibility of the bibliothecarius, who perhaps was still dependent on the primicerius, but must have been an important personage, since he was usually a bishop. Later, the office passed to the chancellor or vice-chancellor, until the archive was separated from the chancery and, considered in terms of its historical value, joined to the library; at that point, under Sixtus IV (1471–84), the bibliotheca secreta was established alongside the bibliotheca publica, under the unified direction of the cardinal librarian. Even after the establishment of the Secret Archive as an autonomous institution (1612), entrusted to custodians or prefects, its dependence on the cardinal librarian continued, and only in 1879 was Cardinal Giuseppe Hergenröther appointed Praeses Vaticani tabularii sive archivista Apostolicae Sedis. Upon his death (1890), there were again prefects, cardinals or prelates; in 1917 Cardinal Aidano Gasquet received the title of Archivist of the Holy See, which he retained together with that of Librarian of the Holy Roman Church, received two years later; from 1920 onward, the present title of A. of S. R. C., joined to that of Librarian, became permanent.