The church of Sainta Maria Maggiore is one of the key Papal basilicas in Rome and the largest church in the city dedicated to Mary. Construction was started under pope Celestine I and consecrated in 434 by Sixtus III. Over the years it has been redecorated and augmented, the current coffered ceilling is gilded with gold from the New World donated by Queen Isabella of Spain ¹. The library has been managed by a seperate Archivist Canon since the mid 17th C, roughly 80 men have held that job since 1650. Apart from the documents and manuscripts of the Chapter proper, it contains the archives of the Sistine Chapel, the Pauline College and of the College of the Beneficed Clergy and Clerics, and 120 folders of manuscript scores from the Music Chapel. In 1939 Pope Pius XI had the majority of the archive transfered to the Vatican Library to form this Fond. ²

There are 125 signatures in the collection, renumbered when they were reorganized in 1986. Of those there have been 67 digitized so far. There is some inconsistancy in what was brought over and what remains at the chapter. There is no printed catalogue, but there is a summary catalogue in the appendix to Victor Saxer's Book

Catalogues

Saxer, Victor. « Appendice VIII. Le fonds de Sainte-marie-majeure à la Bibliothèque Vaticane ». Sainte-Marie-Majeure, Publications de l’École française de Rome, 2001, https://doi.org/10.4000/books.efr.1119

Sources

1. https://ceilingsineurope.weebly.com/blog/santa-maria-maggiore
2. http://www.vatican.va/various/basiliche/sm_maggiore/en/archivio/archivio_storico.htm
3. Biblioteca apostolica vaticana. (2011). Guida ai fondi manoscritti, numismatici, a stampa della Biblioteca vaticana. Biblioteca apostolica vaticana. pp. 527-530