On 23 January 2023, at 17:00, the newest initiative of the Pontificia Università Gregoriana and the Archivum Historiae Pontificiae began: a series of permanent seminars on the history of the papacy, entitled Seminario permanente di Storia del Papato. The series opened with a lecture by Prof. Samu Niskanen, Associate Professor in the Department of Medieval History at the University of Helsinki, entitled L'Historia Apostolica di Aratore: la sua edizione e papa Vigilio. On this occasion, the Fraknói Research Group was represented by its Vatican Archives Research Resident, Katalin Nagy.
The lecture was opened by Roberto Regoli, Head of the Department of Church History and Associate Professor at the Pontificia Università Gregoriana, and Andrea Verardi, also Associate Professor at the Pontificia Università Gregoriana, who introduced the seminar series with encouraging words.
Prof. Samu Niskanen summarized his research on the edition of the Historia Apostolica by Aratore. The aim of his research is to study the circumstances in which medieval works were published. He explained that papal involvement in the publication of new works in the Middle Ages was a constant phenomenon from the fourth century onwards. In his case study, he focused on showing how the late antique writer Aratore's relationship with Pope Virgil drove his literary activity forward. He concluded his presentation with a monograph on Publication and the Papacy in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages.
