Archivist of the Holy Roman Church.
The supreme direction of the Vatican Secret Archive, of which the Supreme Pontiff is the owner and exercises supreme governance and administration, is entrusted to a cardinal who bears the title of Archivist of the Holy Roman Church. He is appointed by papal brief and answers to the Pope regarding the preservation of archival material and the proper order of the office; under him is the Prefect of the Vatican Secret Archive, to whom is entrusted the custody of the archive along with the ordinary direction of scholarly work, staff, and services for admitting and assisting scholars who wish to conduct historical research (Regolamento dell'Archivio Vaticano, 1927).
The title is recent. In the earliest centuries, the preservation of the papal archive, and in particular of the registers of letters, was the responsibility of the primicerius notariorum, who was head of the chancery; from the beginning of the 8th century it was the duty of the bibliothecarius, who perhaps still depended on the primicerius but was an important figure, usually a bishop. Later, the office passed to the chancellor or vice-chancellor, until the archive was separated from the chancery and, recognized for its historical value, was united with the library; then, under Sixtus IV (1471–84), the secret library (bibliotheca secreta) was established alongside the public library (bibliotheca publica), under the unified direction of the cardinal librarian. Even after the Vatican Secret Archive was established as an autonomous institution (1611), entrusted to custodians or prefects, it continued to depend on the cardinal librarian, and it was only in 1879 that Cardinal Giuseppe Hergenröther was appointed Praeses Vaticani tabularii sive archivista Apostolicae Sedis. After his death (1890), prefects—cardinals or prelates—continued to be appointed; in 1917 Cardinal Aidan Gasquet received the title of Archivist of the Holy See, which he held together with that of Librarian of the Holy Roman Church, received two years later; since 1920 the current title of Archivist of the Holy Roman Church, united with that of Librarian, has remained fixed. Giulio Battelli