Decreta Feriae IV
Item
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Country
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IT
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Name of institution (English)
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Archive of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
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Language of name of institution
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ita
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Contact information: postal address
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Piazza del Sant’Uffizio, 11, 00193 Rome
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Contact information: phone number
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0039 0669895945
0039 0669895945
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Contact information: email
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archive@cfaith.va
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Reference number
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ACDF, S.O. Decreta
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Type of reference number
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Archival reference number
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Title (English)
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Decrees of the Holy Office
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Title (official language of the state)
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Decreta Feriae IV
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Language of title
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lat
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Creator / accumulator
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Congregazione del Sant'Ufficio dell'Inquisizione
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Date(s)
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1548/1938
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Language(s)
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lat
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Extent
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369 storage units
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Type of material
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Textual Material
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Physical condition
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Good
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Scope and content
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The Decreta series is the only one that provides documentary material to enable the reconstruction of the decisions taken by the Congregazione dei Cardinali (Congregation of the cardinals) throughout the chronological period of its existence. It is composed of the minutes and decisions taken by the Congregation in the meetings of Feria IV, held only in the presence of the cardinals, and Feria V, in the presence of the Pontiff. It is the most important and complete source of knowledge for the history of the Congregation. As this series comprises minutes and decrees issued on the various cases, processes, and questions faced by the cardinal inquisitors, the Decreta is of essential importance for the history of the Jews in the Italian peninsula and beyond, and the supposed Judaizers mainly in Europe.
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Archival history
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Unlike other series of the Archivio della Congregazione per la Dottrina della Fede, the Decreta did not undergo the rearrangement of the late 18th century. Therefore, despite numerous dispersions, the original organisation of the series remains practically preserved. Many volumes have their own indexes. In 1922, the series was designated "Acta Congregationis Generalis S.O.".
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(source: SIUSA Archivi Inquisitoriali Italia)
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Administrative / Biographical history
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The history of the Roman Inquisition and its archive begins with the appointment of a commission of cardinals by Paul III (papacy: 1534-1549) with the bull "Licet ab initio", which took place on July 21, 1542. This congregation was intended to defend the Church from heresies, maintain the integrity of the faith, and identify and condemn errors and false teachings. In 1559, on the death of Paul IV (papacy: 1555-1559), the Roman people sacked and burnt the first seat of the Inquisition, located in via di Ripetta, thus causing the loss of much of the original documentation. In 1566, Pius V (papacy: 1566-1572) set up the seat of the congregation and its archive in the current palace. Initially, the archiving of the documentation was determined by the procedural activity carried out by the congregation. In the second half of the 18th century, a reorganisation by subject began, separating the criminal issues from the doctrinal ones and creating the series that still make it up today. During the 19th century, the Archivio della Congregazione per la Dottrina della Fede was subject to various movements and suffered considerable dispersions. With the union of Rome to the French Empire in 1809, it was transported to Paris by order of Napoleon. For the return of the archives to Rome in 1816, the Apostolic Delegate received the mandate to destroy the parts of the documentation not strictly essential to administrative activity. The criminal series was almost entirely burnt and only a few important trials were saved. During the Roman Republic of 1849, the complex of documents underwent further transfers and losses and, only in 1868, the part of the documentation necessary for the current administration was relocated to the palace of the Holy Office, while the oldest closed series remained kept in the Apostolic Palace until 1901. Then, this archival material was recovered and rearranged, forming the so-called Stanza Storica. This has remained the main structure of this archive until today. The Archivio della Congregazione per la Dottrina della Fede was open for consultation by scholars in 1998.
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(source: Archivio della Congregazione per la Dottrina della Fede official Website)
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Author of the description
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Andrea Cicerchia, 2022
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Bibliography
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Caffiero, Marina. 2004. Battesimi Forzati. Ebrei, Cristiani e Convertiti Nella Roma Dei Papi. Roma: Viella.
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Caffiero, Marina, and Lydia G. Cochrane. 2012. Forced Baptisms: Histories of Jews, Christians, and Converts in Papal Rome. The S. Mark Taper Foundation Imprint in Jewish Studies. Berkeley: University of California Press.
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Groppi, A., ed. 2014. Gli Abitanti Del Ghetto Di Roma: La Descriptio Hebreorum Del 1733. Prima edizione. I Libri Di Viella 187. Roma: Viella.
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Mazur, Peter. 2016. Conversion to Catholicism in Early Modern Italy. 1 [edition]. Religious Cultures in the Early Modern World 22. New York: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.
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Wendehorst, Stephan, ed. 2004. The Roman Inquisition, the Index and the Jews. Context, Sources and Perspectives. 1°. Studies in European Judaism 9. Leiden-Boston: Brill.
