LIBRARIAN OF THE HOLY ROMAN CHURCH. - Currently it is the title of the Cardinal to whom the high direction of the Vatican Library is entrusted; joined to it is that of Archivist of the H. R. C.
The first mention of a bibliothecarius in the pontifical curia is from the year 781, in a document in which a certain Theophilactus bibliothecarius appears as a witness; documents of doubtful authenticity recall him even earlier, but it seems that until then the preservation of the acts of the councils, of the registers of letters and generally of the books forming the Pope's library was the task of the head of the notaries, the primicarius notariorum. The librarian took part in the work of the chancery together with the notaries and the indices de clero; among the various forms of his title the most common is that of bibliothecarius Sedis Apostolicae. In the 11th century his position in the chancery became pre-eminent and as a rule he was chosen from among the suburbicarian bishops; from 1037 to 1144 the same person often bore the double title of cancellarius et bibliothecarius, which alludes to the double function of drafting documents and preserving the records of the Church. Subsequently the title of librarian disappeared as an attribute of the head of the chancery; nevertheless, until the early years of the 13th century there are the names of certain librarians among the indices, who by then were extraneous to it. At this same time the ancient pontifical archive, and with it the library, was dispersed.
The library reconstituted by Boniface VIII followed the Popes to Avignon and here was entrusted to the Dominican Francesco Tolomei, who held it until 1318; the office of librarian was then given to the Augustinians.
With the founding of the present Vatican Library, due to Nicholas V (1447-55), the character of the office came to change, since from then on it was entrusted to men of letters and scholars. Leo X appointed the first Cardinal librarian, who exercised the office by means of one or two custodians. In the last century the post was sometimes given to the Cardinal Secretary of State, who assumed its functions in the event of a vacancy; in recent times the librarian is chosen from among the porporati particularly distinguished for learning.