Regesta - Early History

Early History

The growth of the correspondence of the Holy See is evident even by the end of the 2nd century. Probably from a very early date a copy was made of papal documents before their dispatch, and that the collection of these documents was preserved at the seat of the central administration of the Roman Church. At that time high officials of the Roman State administration, the imperial chancery, the Senate, the consuls, the provincial governments, had all official documents entered in such volumes and preserved in the archives. The books in which these documents were entered were called commentarii regesta, the latter word from regerere, to inscribe.

The existence of such papal regesta can be proved for the 4th century and the succeeding era. In his polemic with Rufinus ("Apolog. adv. Rufinum", III, xx), St. Jerome refers to the archives (chartarium) of the Roman Church, where the letter of Pope Anastasius (399-401) on the controversy over the doctrines of Origen was preserved. There are also notices concerning the registration of papal letters in the documents of several popes of the 5th century. Thus Pope Zosimus in his letter of 22 Sept., 417, to the bishops of Africa refers to the fact that all the earlier negotiations with Coelestius had been examined at Rome (Coustant, "Epist. Rom. Pontif.", 955). Consequently copies of the documents in question must have existed. From this time onwards it remained the fixed custom of the papal chancery to copy the official papers issued by it in registers.