Historical Archives
The Archiepiscopal Archive of Santa Severina preserves the documents of the Archiepiscopal Archives Fund, the documents of the Chapter of the Cathedral of Santa Severina and the Diplomatic Fund
The Archiepiscopal Fund and the Capitular Fund, until 1974, were kept in two large wooden cabinets in the room adjacent to the Salone degli Stemmi; the Capitular Archival Fund, on the other hand, was kept in a wooden cabinet in the so-called “Room of the Treasure”, next to the Sacristy of the Cathedral.
In 1975 all the material was transferred to the “Salone degli Stemmi” and for the first opening to the public on April 1, 1984, the Archive was moved to some rooms located on the ground floor of the Episcopio.
It is currently located in two special rooms on the first floor of the Integrated Cultural Center Museum, Archive and Library of Santa Severina. The archival paper material is divided into six sections which are listed below:
I – it includes volumes of documents from the Archiepiscopal Fund found already sewn, together with some printed volumes belonging to the same collection;
II – it includes mainly loose documents of the Archiepiscopal Fund enclosed in folders with ties. The first 13 folders contain copies of the manuscripts of the Santoro protocol, transferred by competence, to the historical archive of Catanzaro;
III – it includes series of documents from the Chapter Fund found already sewn;
IV – it includes mainly loose documents from the Chapter Fund enclosed in folders with ties;
V – it includes the Marriage Fund of the Archdiocese of Santa Severina from 1922 to 1987;
VI – given by the Diplomatic Fund, it consists of 224 cards including whole parchments and fragments.
These are documents of a juridical-administrative nature, referring to over six centuries of ecclesiastical and civil history with information relating to the life of the district of the Metropolia of Santa Severina.
The oldest of the preserved documents is an edict (Bolla) of Pope Lucius III drawn up in Anagni in 1184. Directed to the Archbishop of the Meleto period, the precious document, in approving the previous concessions to his predecessor Andrea, assigns many other privileges, recognizing how metropolitan the seat of Santa Severina, which was raised to this honor in the ninth century by the Patriarch of Constantinople.
Users can directly access inventories, volumes and periodicals in the reference room.
HISTORICAL ARCHIVE
GALLERY
Archival documents are freely available, provided they are produced during an episcopate that ended at least 70 years ago.
Consultation of documents can only be carried out in the consultation rooms of the Archive, following a request on special forms to be presented to the staff.
Access to the deposits is forbidden to the public.
Documents that are in a bad state of conservation and those for which there is a risk of damage upon consultation are not currently available.
The Archives Superintendence of Calabria, on May 4, 1995, declared the Archiepiscopal Archives of Santa Severina of considerable historical interest.
The Diocesan Historical Archive adheres to the CEI-Ar project, a project promoted by the Italian Episcopal Conference for the reorganization and computerized inventory of ecclesiastical archives.
The software used for computerized cataloging is CEI-Ar Ts 1.5, updated in January 2019.
The means of support are printed inventories and computerized inventories.
Conservative restoration is a priority for the diocesan historical archive and from 2016 to date 1246 papers have been restored with chronological details ranging from 1500 to 1800.
Following the return of the restored papers, conferences and exhibitions were held for the presentation of the works themselves.
The study of the restored papers has also been the subject of school-work alternation projects in collaboration with the Liceo Classico “Pitagora” in Crotone.
The oldest of the preserved documents is a edict of Pope Lucius III drawn up in Anagni in 1184. Directed to the archbishop of the time Meleto, the precious document, in approving the previous concessions to his predecessor Andrea, assigns many other privileges, recognizing how metropolitan the seat of Santa Severina, which was raised to this honor in the ninth century by the Patriarch of Constantinople.
(By Elisa Cagnazzo)