Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) – The Cathedral Chapter of Saint Peter is an association of priests that was instituted in the 11th Century by the governing body of the Vatican Basilica. The history of the Chapter is that of a community that was at first a type of monastic life and later became a canonical structure, as it is today. It is a congregation that has always been dedicated to the daily liturgies and celebrations, charitable service, and management affairs of the Basilica. Fairly early on, the Chapter would become a place where Pontiffs would find their closest collaborators in ecclesial governing (after Leo IX, under whom the Chapter began in 1053, and after Eugenio III, with whom the Chapter obtained a more autonomous nature).
The history of continuity and close ties between the Chapter and the Vatican has been compiled in a three-volume work entitled, ““Il Capitolo di San Pietro in Vaticano dalle origini al XX secolo” [“The Chapter of Saint Peter’s Vatican Basilica from its beginnings to the 20th Century”], by Monsignor Dario Rezza, Vatican canon priest, and Mirko Stocchi, Archivist (published by Edizioni Capitolo Vaticano). It is a work that comes as the result of six-years’ research that hopes to serve as a means to transmit culture, something that is evident upon a first glance, as the work is filled with illustrations and even “charicatures” by Ghezzi. “A continual presence, voluntarily not showy, but faithful and persevering,” is that of the clergy of the Vatican Basilica, as defined by Pope Benedict XVI. It is a work, as Monsignor Rezza told Fides, that emerges from an archivist passion and a historical justification, beginning in 1400, as the time before has been recently studied by French and Germans. It is an unedited archive that is worth bringing into the light, in order to offer a general vision of the history of the Chapter and a parallel description of the Chapter’s activities within the urban society.
Msgr. Rezza mentions that “it gives a certain excitement to witness the discovery of certain parchments,” as well as many other discoveries. For example, in the Archive they have found Maps of Borgo, a cross-section of Roman life prior to the construction of the “Via della Conciliazione,” that show the impact that the Chapter had on the city. There is also the fact that it is thanks to the Chapter that we have the first Jubilee in history, declared by Pope Boniface VIII in 1300.
The main part of the first volume, presented at the “Oratorio del Gonfalone,” is completely dedicated to the clerical chapter. This treatise is preceded by a narration of the events that have has the Archive of the Chapter as their protagonist, since the foundation in the 12th-13th centuries until its transfer, in 1940, to the “Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana” (Vatican Apostolic Library). The history of the Chapter, as protagonist in the life of the Eternal City for a millenium, is a historiographical novelty (except for a volume published towards the end of the 18th century) as until now historiography has not given special attention to the totality and continuity of the Chapter’s history, but rather to its more or less underlying aspects in time and space.
The first volume also includes a historical-chronological list of the Cardinals and Archpriests of Saint Peter’s Basilica, and its Vicars: a brief biographical allusion of all those who have held this occupation, up until today. The last section of the first volume is an alphabetically-arranged catalogue of the Chapters of Saint Peter, that is, of how many have served in the Choir of the Vatican Basilica. This includes about 3,000 people that have served since the Pontificate of Sixto IV (1471-1484) until today. The second and third volumes, which will soon be published, cover the patrimonial situation of the Chapter and its relationship to other institutions, especially those of Rome, as well as the history of the Chapter and its clergy from a cultural and liturgical perspective and as an aid agent (especially in relation to health care institutions, such as the Hospital of “Santo Spirito in Sassia” in Rome). (PC) (Agenzia Fides 12/6/2008)
