Archbishop Charles Scicluna this morning “adopted” a 1608 document by Pope Paul V, which will be restored by the team at the Notarial Archives in Valletta.
The document, which will cost some €250 to restore, is a brief of Pope Paul V to the Inquisitor Evangelista Carbonesius, conferring the benefice of the church of St Nicholas at Mdina to Bernardus Fasanus of Aversa on the death of its previous holder, Michael Vimercatus.
It also orders that procurators should be installed to collect the income due ever since the death of its previous holder, and to hand over the proceeds, after all debtors had been satisfied, within six months.
Mgr Scicluna was given a tour of the archives where he was shown other restored documents, including Malta’s oldest poem, il-Kantilena.
He urged fellow Maltese to help restore the documents at the archives, which he called “monumental heritage”.
People can donate anything from €100 to €50,000 to help conserve documents.