The papers of Patriarch Albino Luciani (later Pope John Paul I) preserved in the Historical Archive of the Patriarchate of Venice have known very troubled events, as it is clear from the Report of Dr. Stefania Falasca contained in the Integration to the research of the Historical-Archival Commission of the Belluno phase of the Cause of canonization.
This documentary fund, in fact, sedimented in this Institute at different times, also linked to the different locations that the Historical Archive had in the premises of the Venetian Curia. Until 1986, the archival fonds of the Patriarchs and of the Venetian Curia, both for the deposit and for the historical part, were housed on the top floor of the Patriarchal Palace. Even though the two sections were located in different rooms, the practice was that the passage to the Historical Archives took place without notes or lists of deposits, leaving the archivists with the task of reorganizing and packaging these materials, which often lacked clear identification elements.
As far as the Luciani Papers are concerned, I think I can say that a first nucleus, placed in clearly identifiable envelopes, corresponds to the material sent to Rome following his election as Pontiff, returned to Venice immediately after his death and then transferred to the Historical Archive.
A second nucleus arrived in the Historical Archive of the Patriarchate probably already in 1979 or at the beginning of the Eighties by two different ways: a part together with the material of Patriarch Giovanni Urbani (died in September 1969) from the apartments of the Patriarch and another, smaller, coming from the Curia, probably those scattered papers remained in the office of Patriarch Luciani at the moment of his departure for the Conclave and taken in charge by the Apostolic Administrator (Monsignor Giuseppe Bosa) to attend to the ordinary administration of the Diocese. This material was in part ordered and bagged and therefore immediately identifiable as Luciani's fund, in part, due to an oversight, placed in a queue with the Urbani archives and confused with it.
A third and last nucleus, especially concerning the relationships with the Italian and Triveneto Episcopal Conferences, remained in the apartments of the Patriarchal Palace and was united before 1990 with the archives of Patriarch Marco Cè, immediate successor of Luciani. This last nucleus arrived in the Historical Archive of the Patriarchate after the death of Card. Cè (May 2014).
Finally, in the summer of 2015, the Historical Archive of the Patriarchate moved to the Seminary building, joining the Diocesan Library. On that occasion, all the loose material referring to Luciani was bagged and, taking advantage of the closeness to the Library, a further nucleus of archival material was recovered which, already located at the time of Patriarch Luciani in the modern section of the Library of the Patriarchal Palace, had been mixed up with the library nucleus and together with it had been donated in 2002 to the Diocesan Library.
Venice, 27 November 2020
[Note by Don Diego Sartorelli, Director of the Diocesan Library and Historical Archives of the Patriarchate of Venice]
