The Vatican Apostolic Archive, formerly dubbed the ‘Secret Archive’, is home to thousands of papal documents, including a letter from Mary, Queen of Scots, to Pope Sixtus V begging for her life. Nearby is the parish office which holds the ancestral records for St Peter’s Basilica.
Visiting these archives can be tricky, as family historian Danny Parrott has discovered. However, it was worth the wait when he found out more information about the life of his great great grandfather, a globetrotting missionary whose career began amid the palaces of St Peter’s.
MY BRICK WALL
In my youth, it
