The San Giovanni in Laterano square with the Palace and the Basilica. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lateran_Palace
Prior to the XIII century, there was a lot of transfer of documents between different papal palaces as the official home of the Roman Catholic Church, The Vatican City, was not established until about 1377 by Pope Gregory XI (after Papacy returned from Avignon).
The Lateran Palace was the official residence of the Popes for more than one thousand years prior to the Papacy being moved to Avignon in 1309. Thus many private and important documents related to the Church were kept here. The original lateran palace was subsequently destroyed by fire during the time the Popes were at Avignon.
Image from: www.planetware.com/picture/rome-castel-santan...From about the XV century, the most sensitive documents pertaining to the interests of the Holy See were housed at Castel S. Angelo. This archive was established by Pope Sixtus IV. These archives remained here until they were transferred to the Vatican Secret Library in 1798 for safety reasons.
An interesting site to visit which has lots of information about the history of the Catholic Church is The Catholic Encyclopaedia.
No comments:
Post a Comment