Vatican to give Queen copy of Henry VIII's divorce plea

The Times ^ | 9/2/2009 | Richard Owen

[markomalley]

A facsimile of an historic document from the Vatican Secret Archives in which English peers appeal to Pope Clement VII to annul Henry VIII’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon is to be given to the Queen tomorrow.

The 95 x 46cm (37 x 18in) parchment, which dates from 1530 and bears 81 red wax seals, is a key document of events leading to the schism between Rome and the Church in England.

Scrinium, a Venice-based publisher that promotes the historic and cultural wealth of the Vatican and reproduces treasures from its archives, said that the facsimile would be presented to Lady Roberts, the Royal Librarian since 2002. The collectors’ item normally costs €50,000 (£44,000).

The document, Causa Anglica, is the fourth treasure from the Secret Archives to be reproduced. It joins facsimiles of the papal bull announcing the first Jubilee or Holy Year in 1300, Munificentia Venetiarum, a 16th-century Venetian document on relations with the Church of Rome, and the Chinon Parchment, the record of the trial of the Knights Templar in the 14th century, in which they were exonerated of heresy. A second copy of the Henry VIII parchment is held at the National Archives at Kew, but it lacks the wax seals and is in parts illegible.

Vatican historians say that whatever the later causes of the schism, the “most immediate and determining cause” was Henry VIII’s “wish to get rid of his legitimate wife, Catherine of Aragon, daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, in order to marry Anne Boleyn.”

But Marco Maiorino, a Vatican historian of papal diplomacy, said the King’s other motive was to ensure succession, since Catherine, of whose six children only Mary Tudor survived, had failed to provide a male heir.

[mkjessup]

How about that, they can find a divorce plea for Henry VIII but nobody can cough up the original long form birth certificate for TKU.


[The Kenyan Usurper]

[markomalley]

How about that, they can find a divorce plea for Henry VIII but nobody can cough up the original long form birth certificate for TKU.

The Vatican Archives does not have the birth certificate. They may be "all knowing," but methinks there are limits. ;-)

[autumnraine]

That one document is the defining moment for America as well.

[wagglebee]

Didn’t the Times report a few months back that this was going to be given to Prince Charles and then they had to retract the story because it was a hoax?

[mkjessup]

I wasn’t suggesting the Vatican had 0bama’s birth certificate, I was observing that the Vatican can come up with a divorce plea hundreds of years old, but nobody on this side of the hemisphere can lay their hands on an original birth certificate allegedly issued in 1961 (or ‘57, whatever) and release it to the public.

I’d like to think that IF the Vatican had the 0bama BC, they would be happy to make it public considering that 0bama has more blood on his hands than King Herod, you know “suffer the little children” and all that.

[markomalley]

I wasn’t suggesting the Vatican had 0bama’s birth certificate, I was observing that the Vatican can come up with a divorce plea hundreds of years old, but nobody on this side of the hemisphere can lay their hands on an original birth certificate allegedly issued in 1961 (or ‘57, whatever) and release it to the public.

Please note the "wink" emoticon at the end of my prior post.

[mkjessup]

Oops. Missed that. Need more coffee. I’m still waiting patiently for the Dunkin Donuts Coffee-IV-Straight-to-the-Vein kit. lol

[Cheburashka]

Does it also have the big red stamp with the Latin equivalent of “REJECTED” that’s on the original?

[Alex Murphy]

A facsimile of an historic document from the Vatican Secret Archives in which English peers appeal to Pope Clement VII to annul Henry VIII’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon is to be given to the Queen tomorrow.

Does the Pope have a pile of these things sitting around, just waiting to be given away?

When the Prince [of Wales] presents the Duchess of Cornwall to Benedict XVI as his wife for the first time, he will receive a gift that may strike an unwelcome chord: a “luxury facsimile” of the 1530 appeal by English peers to Pope Clement VII asking for the annulment of Henry VIII’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon.

It is intended as a gesture to help to heal five centuries of schism between Rome and the Church of England, of which the Prince will one day be the head. It is also a reminder of the causes of the rift and of the Vatican’s stern views on divorce.

Related thread:
The Pope’s Gift For Charles And Camilla — His View On Divorce

[Brookhaven]

How about that, they can find a divorce plea for Henry VIII but nobody can cough up the original long form birth certificate for TKU.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

We can put a man on the Moon, but we can’t find Obama’s birth certificate?

[Flying Circus]

Correction: we used to be able to put men on the moon.

A free, optimistic, energetic, patriotic people endeavored to put men on the moon in 10 years and succeeded nearly 40 years ago. Today we are too decadent, cynical, conflicted and rule bound do do anything more than send 25 year old low-orbit craft up and down and even fail do do that well.

As a nation we no longer know which end is up so how can we expect to uphold what most people seem to think is an archaic rule from an obsolete document?

[Salvation]

Hope this doesn’t make St. Thomas More turn over in his grave!